In partnership with the Walton Family Foundation, Education First developed a comprehensive “State of State Assessments: Part Two” report summarizing the challenges and opportunities for developing and implementing innovative summative assessment systems. The report builds on a 2018 “State of...
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Design thinking — which encourages a focus on users and rapid experimentation — can help identify and address a range of problems by focusing on those most affected by the problem. Originally designed for a business context, what might a...
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After a period of convergence, the K-12 testing landscape is once again looking more and more fragmented, concludes a new report from consulting group Education First. The report—really more a lean set of slides—walks through the complicated last few years of...
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In 2010, 46 states joined together in two different consortia (PARCC and Smarter Balanced) to create higher-quality, next-generation state summative assessments. Though these new tests have been consistently highly rated, today only 20 states are participating in either consortia. So what has happened to...
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In 2010, 46 states joined together in two different consortia (PARCC and Smarter Balanced) to create higher-quality, next-generation state summative assessments. Though these new tests were highly rated and received significant attention at the time, today only 20 states are...
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Over the last few months we’ve worked with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) to create – and launch – the How I Know: Designing Meaningful Formative Assessment Practice project. #HowIKnow was created in an effort to improve and...
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High-quality STEM education is necessary to grow our economy, meet workforce needs and inspire young minds; ESSA provides an opportunity for states to drive their STEM education forward. The report is grounded in our analysis of STEM in all 17...
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By design, the Common Core standards and other college- and career-ready expectations states have established recently were designed to have a ripple effect throughout the education system. A clearer focus on the writing, problem solving and critical thinking that are...
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Back when we started teaching almost 15 years ago, “assessments,” in our minds, were things like spelling tests and exit tickets. We mostly created them ourselves and learned through trial and error how to write questions that would help us...
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A lot has changed since 2010, when states began adopting Common Core State Standards and aligned assessments. Each year has seen some states attempt to change or repeal entirely the new standards and assessments, making for a constantly shifting landscape....
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