Assessment
Standardized testing. Formative assessment. Competency-based learning. Report cards. Explore EdWeek’s full coverage of student testing
Webinars on Assessment & Testing
Browse and register for free professional development on all forms of testing students, including formative assessment, standardized testing, and more.
Special Report
Grading and Assessment: How to Best Measure Student Success
This report explores the impact of grading policies and practices on student assessment, and the impact of GPAs on students’ futures.
Special Report
Competency-Based Education: What It Is and How to Pull It Off
Competency-based education can upend more than a century of tradition in K-12 schools. How schools have made it work.
Special Report
Projects, Portfolios, and Performance Assessments
Alternatives to traditional testing aren’t new to schools but interest in them is resurging. What lessons did educators learn from the last go-around with performance measurement? What’s new now?
Assessment What 150 Years of Education Statistics Say About Schools TodayEven before there was a federal education department, there was a federal education statistics agency. The National Center for Education Statistics turns 150 this year and a look at its studies over those years shows just how much American schooling has grown and changed.Assessment Opinion Student Success in a Fast-Evolving World at Loveland High SchoolThe school's sights are focused on the future. Tomorrow's world will value critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, intellectual agility, adaptability, entrepreneurship, and effective communication (in every form). Loveland High School teachers and leaders know that traditional teacher-directed classes won't engage students or set them up for success in this fast-evolving world.
Assessment Personalized-Learning Case Studies: Lessons From 3 SchoolsThese mini-case studies examine three common struggles for personalized-learning schools: training teachers, differentiating instruction, and letting students work at their own pace.
Assessment Video The Aftermath of the Atlanta Test Cheating ScandalEleven Atlanta educators convicted of conspiracy in one of the nation’s largest cheating scandals are just now beginning their appeals, more than two years after they were sentenced to prison. Nearly 200 educators in Atlanta public schools were caught up in the scandal, suspected of erasing and correcting student answers on standardized tests, in order to boost scores. They were under enormous pressure from the federal No Child Left Behind law and from their own superintendent, Beverly Hall, who set targets even higher than the federal government. Thousands of students were impacted, and now, many years later, the district has set up a program to offer extra help to those students who remain in Atlanta public schools. We spoke with those at the heart of the case – an educator, the judge, the district attorney, and students who are about to graduate.Assessment Opinion What's Behind the Plateau in Test Scores?Recently released test results show a familiar pattern: stagnation after increases. What can schools do to break this trend?Assessment Digital Transition Delays NAEP Reading, Math Results Until SpringNew reading and math results from the Nation's Report Card will be delayed until spring as federal officials conduct studies to ensure this year's results are comparable to prior years.Assessment Thousands of Tests Scored Incorrectly in TennesseeThousands of tests were scored incorrectly in Tennessee. The vendor has fixed the problem, but it's taking a toll in a state that's endured several rounds of problems with its assessments.
Assessment Does Test Prep Harm Teaching? Maybe Not as Much as We ThinkExplicit test preparation is associated with small declines in the quality of lessons, but not consistently.Assessment Opinion World Class Work Takes Models, Practice, Revision and SupportWe've visited thousands of high schools around the world and seen young people doing world-class work both inside and outside the classroom. Here are the common conditions, cultures and connections we've observed that power this world-class work.
Assessment Independent Charter Schools Aim to Elevate Their StatusSupporters of independent charter schools want to get back to the charter movement's roots: creating schools that serve as education laboratories.Assessment Report Roundup High SchoolWhen students experience a rough freshman year of high school, they usually don't recover from it, finds a new study by the University of Chicago's Consortium on School Research.
Assessment Opinion Picking the Perfect Problem: The Heart of Project-Based LearningProject-based learning at its best provides a unique opportunity for students to develop a range of knowledge and skills inaccessible in more traditional models of learning. Projects must be designed to build students' understanding of content while also addressing real needs in the community that connect to student interests and abilities. Getting the three central criteria right - the curriculum, the students, and the context - leads to the perfect problem.Assessment New SAT Yields Higher Scores, But Don't Be FooledA record number of students from the class of 2017 took the revised SAT. But don’t try comparing this year’s scores to last year’s.Assessment Opinion Performance Assessments and Students with DisabilitiesPerformance assessments have the potential to ensure that instruction for students with disabilities is aligned with state standards.Assessment Good Common-Core Test Scores Get You Accepted to College in This StateSouth Dakota becomes the first state to offer guaranteed admission to students based on their performance on the Smarter Balanced exam.
