Innovations in Assessment

The Next Generation of Curriculum-Connected Through-Year Assessments

What are Through-year Assessments?

Through-year assessment models administer multiple tests throughout the school year as part of an assessment system designed to produce a single summative score meeting federal and state accountability requirements. Instead of one single, high-stakes summative assessment at the end of the year, through-year assessment systems aim to accomplish three things:

  • Break up the summative assessment administration into multiple shorter tests throughout the school year
  • Connect what students learn to what they are tested on, providing timely feedback to teachers, students and families
  • Produce a summative score

Why Through-year Assessments?

At their core, through-year assessments differ from states’ traditional summative assessments by measuring student performance multiple times over the school year instead of during a single sitting close to the end of the year. States hope the administration of tests throughout the year creates opportunities to address long-standing, legitimate concerns expressed by students, families and educators about traditional end-of-year summative assessments’ inability to support teaching and learning because they are:

  • Disconnected from curriculum and instruction,
  • Provide results that do not inform instruction, and
  • Require undue time and resources

How are states exploring through-year models?

Interested in learning more about these models and other resources related to planning for transitioning to a through-year model? View our featured resources.

Montana

Instructionally Aligned Assessment System for ELA

  • Aligned with local curriculum scope and sequence
  • Flexibly administered

Instructionally Aligned Assessment System for Math

  • Organized around 12 “strands” that represent grade-level content
  • Can administer the testlets in any order, to fit their local scope and sequence

Nebraska

Nebraska’s Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) Growth

  • Multi-phase item-level adaptive design
  • Each test picks up where student left off

Kansas

Kansas’ Predictive Interim Assessment & Interim Tests

  • Optional assessment
  • Clusters of standards also assessed

Texas

Through-Year Assessment Pilot (TTAP)

  • Multi-stage adaptive
  • Final Score is used

Louisiana

Louisiana’s Curriculum-connected ELA through-year assessments

  • Test blueprints are curriculum based
  • 2 test forms to align with taught texts

Instructionally Aligned Assessment System for Math

  • Organized around 12 “strands” that represent grade-level content
  • Can administer the testlets in any order, to fit their local scope and sequence

Florida

Florida’s Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST)

  • Provides real-time performance data
  • Monitors student progress

Georgia

Putnam County Consortium’s Navvy System

  • Short web-based assessments
  • Flexible on-demand assessments to fit instructional schedule

North Carolina

North Carolina’s Personalized Assessment Tool (NCPAT)

  • 3 interims & flexible summative
  • Administered in any order

Virginia

Virginia’s Growth Assessments

  • Measures within-year growth

Delaware

Delaware’s Social Studies Through-Course Assessment

  • Focus on recently taught content
  • Teachers receive actionable feedback

Maine

Maine’s Through Year Assessment

  • Teachers receive interactive reports
  • Timely and actionable information for teachers

Indiana

Indiana’s Smarter Balanced Interims

  • Flexible — based on curriculum scope & sequence
  • Two forms for each interim used flexibly

Alaska

Alaska’s Map Growth/ Alaska System of Academic Readiness (AK STAR)

  • Two item-level adaptive tests
  • Immediate results from interim tests

What are viable regulatory pathways for states interested in using a through-year model for summative purposes?

While no fully operational through-year assessment systems have undergone federal peer review, a number of states are piloting such models they intend to use for federal accountability. ESSA codified into law an option for states to use “multiple statewide interim assessments that result in a single summative score that provides valid, reliable and transparent information on student achievement or growth” (Every Student Succeeds Act §1111, S.1177).

Education First explored with Foresight Law + Policy two viable pathways for states interested in transitioning their assessment system to a through-year model for accountability.

Viable regulatory pathways using a through-year model

Pathway 1:
Multiple Statewide
Interim Assessments

Design following ESEA requirements and build evidence for peer review
Ensure continued compliance with ESEA requirements by administering the innovative assessment and legacy state assessment to all students in pilot (double testing)
Submit State ESSA Plan Amendment with details of the innovative assessment system
Submit assessment for Peer Review after the first state wide administration but before the second and obtain USED determination
Design
Stage
Initial
Administration of
New/Innovative
Assessment
ESSA State
Plan
Amendment
USED State
Assessment
Peer Review
Process

Pathway 2:
IADA Innovative
Assessment System

Design following ESEA requirements and build evidence for peer review. Prepare and submit IADA application, receive IADA approval and demonstrate comparability of results throughout the demonstration period
Ensure continued compliance with ESEA requirements by administering legacy state assessment and determine by end of demonstration period if IADA should be administered statewide (no double testing)
Submit State ESSA Plan Amendment with details of the innovative assessment system
Submit assessment for Peer Review after the first statewide administration but before the second and obtain USED determination

Viable regulatory
pathways using a
through-year model

Pathway 1:
Multiple Statewide
Interim Assessments

Design following ESEA requirements and build evidence for peer review
Ensure continued compliance with ESEA requirements by administering the innovative assessment and legacy state assessment to all students in pilot (double testing)
Submit State ESSA Plan Amendment with details of the innovative assessment system
Submit assessment for Peer Review after the first state wide administration but before the second and obtain USED determination
Design
Stage
Initial
Administration of
New/Innovative
Assessment
ESSA State
Plan
Amendment
USED State
Assessment
Peer Review
Process

Pathway 2:
IADA Innovative
Assessment System

Design
Stage
Initial
Administration of
New/Innovative
Assessment
ESSA State
Plan
Amendment
USED State
Assessment
Peer Review
Process
Design following ESEA requirements and build evidence for peer review. Prepare and submit IADA application, receive IADA approval and demonstrate comparability of results throughout the demonstration period
Ensure continued compliance with ESEA requirements by administering legacy state assessment and determine by end of demonstration period if IADA should be administered statewide (no double testing)
Submit State ESSA Plan Amendment with details of the innovative assessment system
Submit assessment for Peer Review after the first statewide administration but before the second and obtain USED determination

Education First is working with states and assessment developers interested in testing and developing the next generation of through-year curriculum-connected assessments.

In the fall of 2021, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative seeded funding for Education First to work with assessment developers and state education agencies to pilot and test out through-year models. So far, Ed First has brought together three innovative assessment developers and engaged with leaders from 20+ state education agencies as part of a state advisory group and targeted state coaching.

If the grant program is successful, by June 2023, the project will have seeded multiple new assessment designs and test prototypes that can be available for assessment developers to subsequently develop into full-scale operational systems to take to market.

We have partnered with NWEA, New Meridian and CenterPoint Education to lead this work with their state and district partners.

Featured Resources

Resources will be updated on an ongoing basis.

Publication: What are Through-year Assessments: Exploring multiple approaches to through-year design

This publication outlines how 13 states hope through-year assessments will create more coherent assessment systems better aligned to instruction, provide more frequent and meaningful information on student performance to students, families and educators. View Resource >

Publication: Policymakers Guide to Through-Year Assessments: Addressing ESSA Painpoints

This guide is intended to support policymakers’ in considering how through-year assessments may advance the goals set forth by ESSA and address pain points experienced by stakeholders View Resource >

Webinar: What Are Through-Year Assessments?: Exploring Multiple Approaches To Through-Year Design

Members of the Ed First team share key findings and trade-offs from a landscape scan of 13 states testing or developing different types of through-year assessments. View Resource >

Blog: Using Equitable Design to Advance Through-Year Assessment

Blog post sharing key features of through-year models that Ed First is partnering with assessment developers and states to to prototype and scale for state-wide use. View Resource >

Publication: Connecting Curriculum to Summative Through-Year Assessments

Publication authored by Aneesha Badrinarayan and Dr. David Steiner exploring how state assessment designs can be anchored in curriculum to build coherence with what is being taught. View Resource >

Publication: Preparing for a Transition to a Through-Year Assessment System: Toolkit for State Leaders

A collection of tools, resources and reusable materials for state leaders considering or in the process of transitioning to an innovative assessment system. View Resource >

Resources from our partners

Additional resources about through-year assessments.

In Search of the “Just Right” Connection Between Curriculum and Assessment: Considering Options Between Curriculum-Specific and Curriculum-Agnostic State Assessment.

Center for Assessment. Dadey, N., and Badrinarayan, A. (2022, April 21).

Defining Through-Year Assessment and the Motivations Behind Through[1]Year Programs.

Center for Assessment. Dadey, N., Gong, B., Lorié, W., & Marion, S. (2021, Nov. 21).

From Through-Course Summative to Adaptive Through-Year Models for Large-scale Assessment: A Literature Review.

NWEA Research. Gianopulos, G. (2019).

Assessment Design and Implementation Considerations for the Montana Alternate Student Testing (MAST) Pilot Program.

 Brandt, C., D’Brot, J., Marion, S. (2022).

What Are Through-Year Assessments? Emerging Trends in Statewide Assessments.

Data Quality Campaign. Wallace, R. (2022, May 5).

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