State Practices and Balanced Assessment Systems

• In Event: Toward Balanced Assessment Systems: Considerations for Implementation and Use

Abstract

This paper argues that the primary role of the state in promoting balanced assessment systems should be to create and support the right structures and conditions for district/school leaders and classroom educators to do their jobs effectively and improve student learning. States cannot design or implement balanced assessment systems on their own because they have limited control over the elements that comprise or influence local systems. Most decisions that impact the design and implementation of local assessment systems are made at the district, school, and classroom level. This is not to imply or suggest that the state does not have a critical role to play in supporting more balanced assessment systems. It is simply to acknowledge that the state serves a supporting role, which represents a difference in action not importance. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how states can have a positive and appropriate influence on the portfolio of assessments used by educators to support ambitious teaching.

Given the marginal influence state educational agencies (SEAs) have on local assessment decisions, an SEA’s effectiveness in promoting balanced assessment systems rests on its ability to create and promote structures, policies, and resources (e.g., tools, guidance) that (a) foster state-local trust and reciprocal accountability; (b) incentivize practices that prioritize students’ unique learning needs in addition to academic outcomes; (c) signal what is important to teach and for students to learn; (d) promote fair, appropriate, inclusive, and equitable assessment practices; and (e) discourage/mitigate assessment practices that perpetuate systemic inequities and/or work against efforts to create rich learning environments.

The paper begins by situating a state’s role in the design and implementation of balanced assessment systems within a larger sociopolitical context. Specifically, it considers how federal accountability and peer review requirements influence state assessment decisions and exert pressure on districts and schools that can trickle down to the classroom. Subsequently, it describes how these contextual factors result in state actions that impact the balance of assessment systems. Particularly it focuses on the outsized and often unclear way districts, schools, and classrooms use state summative assessment results to inform decisions aimed at improving student learning. And it notes the lack of systems thinking demonstrated by SEAs with respect to supporting the design and implementation of high-quality assessment practices due to concerns over local control. Next, the chapter compares what is under local versus state control with respect to the design and implementation of balanced assessment systems. This section serves to ensure the recommendations that follow are appropriately aligned to the decisions state education agencies, state boards of education, state legislatures, and state chiefs are tasked with and can reasonably change. Finally, the bulk of the paper focuses on high-leverage state actions that can promote the design and implementation of more balanced assessment systems within and across levels of the educational system.

Authors

• Carla Evans, Center for Assessment

• Erika L. Landl, Center for Assessment