What Does a High-Quality Assessment Look Like?

As states transition to new college- and career-ready standards, leaders need to be sure that the assessments they choose not only reflect those standards, but drive teaching and learning. In this document we summarize findings from assessment experts to help policymakers understand the issues to target when selecting assessments. In particular, we highlight the Council of Chief State School Officers’ Criteria for Procuring and Evaluating High-Quality Assessments, which lays out some of the major questions state leaders should ask when determining whether an assessment is high-quality.

This is a companion piece to our assessments “mythbusters” FAQ, which collects some of the best arguments we’ve heard for countering the claims, conspiracy theories and worries about the use of tests in general and new assessments aligned to Common Core standards specifically.