The Role of Performance Assessment in Preparing All Students for College, Career, and Life

• In Event: Designing Systems of Support and Accountability for Meaningful Learning: Early Lessons From State Efforts

Abstract

Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the United States’ approach to accountability has been largely focused on annual grade-level targets for proficiency, narrow definitions of knowledge (i.e. math, reading), and an almost exclusive on standardized selective response (i.e. multiple-choice) assessments to measure students’ performance (Linn, Baker, & Betebenner, 2002). This focus on measuring grade-level “proficiency” provides little useful information about students’ actual abilities (Darling-Hammond, 2014) and makes it difficult to monitor progress over time (Ho, 2008). In addition, a focus on limited subjects (i.e. math and reading) and assessment formats (i.e. multiple-choice items) has led to a narrowing of the curriculum (Dee, Jacob, & Schwartz, 2013), encouraged teaching to the test (Booher-Jennings, 2005; Jennings & Bearak, 2014), and has failed to provide meaningful information about the wide array of educational outcomes valued by society (Rothstein, Jacobsen, & Wilder, 2008).

In response to these shortcomings, 43 states and the District of Columbia have applied for and received waivers to the accountability requirements of NCLB and many have taken positive steps towards improving their systems of accountability by including multiple measures of performance and measures of student growth (Polikoff, McEachin, Wrabel, & Duque, 2014). In addition, some states have used this opportunity to integrate performance assessments in their state systems of assessment. Since performance assessments require students to construct an original response rather than simply recognize a correct answer, they can assess many of the “21st century skills”—critical thinking, inquiry, communication, collaboration—that are essential for success in college, career, and life but poorly measured by many traditional, large scale assessments (Conley, 2015; Turnipseed & Darling-Hammond, 2015).

This paper explores the role of performance assessment in supporting opportunities for meaningful learning by drawing on models from states in the 51st State Policy Working Group. This group of 11 states is using performance assessment to measure and further develop in students the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are essential for lifelong learning. Drawing on the efforts of these pioneering states and the resources that have supported their work, this paper clarifies the key issues policymakers and practitioners must address in using performance assessment, provides examples of how states are using performance assessment, and provides guidance for states regarding the educational materials, development, and use processes that support the integration of performance assessment in state systems of assessment.

Authors

• Elizabeth Leisy Stosich, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education

• Jon D. Snyder, Stanford University

• Katherine Wilczak, Stanford University