Performance Assessment

This paper highlights the unique, authentic stories of six micro-credential initiatives, exploring the various approaches to micro-credential implementation at schools across the United States. We interviewed district administrators in Utah, Wisconsin, Florida, Arkansas, and Maryland to investigate effective strategies for using micro-credentials in professional development for educators. As micro-credentials continue to develop on a wider scale, this paper hopes to provide insight into the benefits and challenges surrounding this new model of teacher learning.

In this white paper, learn how the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment (MCIEA) has taken the first steps to build stronger statewide assessments that engage students and determine school success based on multiple, rich criteria. Hear how teachers at an elementary school in Revere, MA made the switch to school-wide implementation of performance assessments, and gain valuable background on the development of MCIEA's School Quality Measures Framework.

Standardized testing remains the predominant proficiency measure for students and schools, placing teacher and student focus on test-prep and lower order skills while maintaining achievement gaps that penalize underserved students. The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Assessment seeks to close this gap and change assessment measures on a state level by training teachers to become leaders in implementing student-centered performance assessments and encouraging state legislators to consider alternative, forward-thinking accountability systems.

This issue is an online supplement to VUE 46, which addressed the topic of performance assessment – a personalized and rigorous alternative to standardized testing that allows teachers to build on individual students’ strengths and foster more equitable learning outcomes.

VUE 47 adds current materials, offers opportunities for additional voices, and provides more examples of performance assessment. Because performance assessment is an active national conversation, the work continues; following VUE 46’s publication, important national conferences and other milestones occurred that we’re able to share here. This issue of VUE was produced as a partnership between the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the Center for Collaborative Education.

Against a backdrop of the opportunities provided by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the challenges posed for education by the new federal administration, this issue of Voices in Urban Education (VUE) proposes performance assessment as a personalized and rigorous alternative to standardized testing. Performance assessment provides an opportunity for educators in public schools and districts to more equitably meet the needs of students through the use of more relevant, engaging curriculum and instruction. This VUE issue was planned and produced as a partnership between the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the Center for Collaborative Education.

Relying on teachers’ assessments for the information currently provided by standardized test scores would save instructional time, better capture the true abilities of diverse students, and reduce the problem of teaching to the test. A California high school is implementing standards-based reporting, ensuring that teacher-issued grades function as reliable and valid descriptors of student academic performance. At the state level, the New Hampshire Department of Education is anchoring accountability in teacher-assessed performance tasks rather than in standardized tests. The article offers guidelines and caveats to those interested in pursuing this work.

Based on in-depth interviews with graduates from three Boston Public Schools with well-established performance-based assessment systems, this paper analyzes graduates’ preparation for future academic, professional, and personal endeavors. Overall, despite a few challenge areas, graduates who were interviewed say the study schools’ performance assessment systems contributed to their success in college and in the world of work.

This literature and field review offers a comprehensive understanding of previous efforts at scaling up the use of performance assessments across districts and states. Through systematic description and comparison of seven large-scale initiatives, the report identifies the strengths and vulnerabilities in each initiative. The review concludes with implications and recommendations that will support the success of using performance assessments in district and state accountability systems.

On December 10, 2015, President Obama signed the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) — a long-overdue replacement of its predecessor, No Child Left Behind. ESSA marks a new chapter in public education and we see some promising signs.“ESSA opens the door to enable states to rethink what schools and learning of the 21^st century should look like. If we believe that every school should nurture life-long learning in every student, in which classrooms are places of exploration, creativity, and discourse, where learning is meaningfully connected to the world outside the school walls, and in which teachers are respected and empowered to design engaging curricula and assessments, then state accountability systems should be recast and reimagined.”

Quality Performance Assessment: A Guide for Schools and Districts, published by CCE in 2012, looks at the process of making performance assessments that are rigorous, valid, and reliable and, at the same time, relevant and engaging for students. The guide leads readers through the process by using tools, protocols, and case studies that showcase various entry points and experiences.

Chapter 1 demonstrates how performance assessment at the school, district, and state levels can be a driver of professional development and student achievement. Chapters 2 through 5 provide a road map to the QPA Framework. Chapter 5 concludes with an examination of the power of networks of educators using performance assessments collaboratively.