A New Era for Educational Assessment
David T Conley, PhD
Professor and Director, Center for Educational Policy Research
University of Oregon
President, EdImagine
DL2017 San Diego
March 31, 2017
What this session is about
 Introduces the Ten Principles of New Era Assessment.
 Builds understanding of the idea of system of assessments.
 Begins the process of applying the Ten Principles to creating systems of assessments.
 Shares examples of a range of assessment options.
 Considers the idea of a student profile for college and career readiness.
Agenda
9:00-9:20: Presentation: Learn the ten principles of new era assessments
9:20-9:40: Small group work: Generate examples of assessment practices that address
as many of the ten principles as time permits.
9:40-10:00: Sharing out: How are schools/districts/college/states addressing the ten
principles?
10:00-10:10: Presentation: Learn how to create a system of assessments that leads to a
student profile of college and career readiness.
10:10-10:30: Small group work: Begin the process of creating a new era assessment
model for your school/district/college/state.
Presentation: Ten principles for new era assessment
 Principle 1: New era assessment are focused on learner needs first and foremost.
Students are actors, not objects.
 Principle 2: New era assessments generate actionable information in addition to any
status measures or categorization.
 Principle 3: New era assessments have high cumulative validity.
 Principle 4: New era assessments view student development along a novice-expert
continuum.
 Principle 5: New era assessments ascertain learner understanding of the structure
of knowledge in addition to mastery of factual information.
Presentation: Ten principles for new era assessment
 Principle 6: New era assessments provide insight into the integration of knowledge
by learners and allow learners to apply knowledge in context.
 Principle 7: New era assessments inform instruction and learning more directly.
 Principle 8: New era assessments promote student ownership of learning and help
students identify interests and develop self-knowledge.
 Principle 9: New era assessments use data to create profiles of student as learners
in ways that aid individual development and goal attainment.
 Principle 10: New era assessments are conscious of equity issues and seek to
address them.
Small group work:
 Generate examples of assessment practices that address as many of the ten
principles as time permits.
 Think about existing practices, but also consider new and even hypothetical
practices.
 Appoint a recorder to keep track of examples for the principles you discuss.
 Feel free to raise issues that need to be addressed to implement the principles.
Sharing out:
 If you were going to start with one principle, which one would it be?
 Are you doing anything that addresses one or more principle? How’s it going? What
are the challenges?
 What examples do you have of schools/districts/college/states designing or
adopting assessments that address one or more of the ten principles?
 What challenges have they faced addressing these principles?
EXAMPLES
Assessments fall along a continuum ranging from those that
measure bits and pieces of student content knowledge to
those that capture student understanding in more integrated
and holistic ways.
Continuum of assessments
Parts & Pieces
Traditional/
on demand tests
Proficiency/Competency-based
Stand alone
performance tasks
Example: Advanced
Placement Literature
Writing Tasks
Standardized tests
on demand performance
tasks
Examples: Smarter
Balanced, PARCC
Holistic
Exhibitions
Example: Envision
portfolio defense
Curriculum-embedded
performance task
Example: SCALE
Performance Assessment
Resource Bank
Complex projects
Example: Learning
expeditions (EL schools)
Laundry list of assessment types
 SBAC/PARCC, PISA, NAEP, NGSS, ACT/SAT
 Performance tasks
→Standardized
 ThinkReady
 CWRA
 Shell Centre/MARS
→Teacher-generated
 Performance Assessment Resource Bank
 Projects
→ Coalition of Essential Schools
 Demonstrations
→ Central Park East Secondary School
→ Envision
→ High Tech High/New Tech High
 Self-reports
→ CampusReady/Conley Readiness Index
→ Other self-reports
 Social/emotional learning
→ Mission Skills Assessment
→ Character measures
 Interest inventories
→ Student aspirations and goals
→ Career interests and level of clarity about
career interests
→ General aptitude and interest areas
 Competency grading
Laundry list of assessment types
 Portfolio-type combinations of multiple
measures
→ School-based systems of assessment
 Graduation portfolio examples
→ Proto systems of assessments
 Teacher-designed tests
 Collaboration assessments
→ Mark Wilson, BEAR Lab, UC-Berkeley
 Institution-level measures
 New Hampshire PACE
→ Attendance
 California CORE districts
→ Discipline
 Kentucky
→ Failure rates by course
 Technology in new models
→ Online testing
→ New item types
→ AI scoring
→ Simulations, games, virtual reality
→ Dashboards
→ Climate
→ Parental engagement
→ Student engagement
→ Staff engagement/morale
Assessment for Learning Project (ALP)
Colorado Education
Initiative
Fairfax County
Public Schools
Learning Policy
Institute
One Colorado district and a BOCES of nine districts are expanding the work of the
Common Assignment Study to develop and validate learning progressions and
associated performance assessments. Additional districts will also use a readiness
tool along with coaching and resources to build performance assessment literacy.
Nine Virginia districts are working in a Networked Improvement Community to roll
out student-curated portfolios that demonstrate mastery of state/district Portrait of
a Graduate competencies, in a practice they call “student-led assessment.” One
participating district—Henry County Schools—is separately piloting a student
feedback system for high schoolers to advance personalized learning.
Seven California districts, four CMOs and several individual schools have formed the
California Performance Assessment Collaborative (CPAC). CPAC is supporting highquality performance assessment through a professional learning community of
schools and district leaders, as well as a research agenda and statewide advocacy
effort.
Large Countywide
and Suburban
School District
Consortium
Five member districts of the Consortium—including Fairfax and Virginia Beach in
Virginia—are rolling out common performance tasks and collaborating on
strategies to build educator capacity to implement high-quality performance
assessment.
New Hampshire
Learning Initiative
Five New Hampshire districts are piloting competency-based multi-age groupings
that incorporate interdisciplinary projects, blended learning and performance
assessment.
Jobs for the Future
Districts are implementing locally developed performance assessments based on an
overarching vision passed by the Virginia legislature to shift the state towards
system of assessments.
All ALP schools/districts


The Colorado Education Initiative
Project Name: Multi-District Performance-Based
Accountability Pilot


Hawai‘i Department of Education
Project Name: Culturally Responsive Assessment of HĀ
Outcomes


Fairfax County Public Schools
Project Name: Student-led Assessment Networked
Improvement Community in Virginia


Henry County Schools
Project Name: Making Feedback Matter


Del Lago Academy
Project Name: Science and Engineering Competency-based
Assessment


New Hampshire Learning Initiative
Project Name: NG2: Personalized Inclusive Education Pathways


WestEd
Project Name: Student Agency in Assessment and Learning


Lodestar School
Project Name: Digitally Enabled Student-Engaged Assessment


Leadership Public Schools
Project Name: Crowd-Sourced Grading


Center for Collaborative Education
Project Name: Performance Assessment for Learning MicroCredential


Learning Policy Institute
Project Name: California Performance Assessment
Collaborative


Summit Public Schools
Project Name: Assessment System for Habits of Success


Two Rivers Public Charter School
Project Name: Assessing Critical Thinking and Problem Solving


Large Countywide and Suburban District Consortium
Project Name: Measuring What Matters: Performance
Assessment Collaborative (PAC)
College and career readiness as a multiple-measure assessment challenge
The Four Keys model






Cognitive Strategies
Content Knowledge
Problem Formulation
Structure of
Knowledge
Research
Interpretation
Communication
Precision/Accuracy
Attitudes Toward
Learning
Foundational
Knowledge/Skills
Learning
Skills/Techniques
Transition
Knowledge/Skills
Ownership of Learning
College Choice/Fit
Learning Techniques
Reason for Attending
Financial Aid
College Culture
Self-Advocacy
15
Potential college and career readiness indicators
 Participation in challenging coursework
 Goal orientation and aspirations
 Expository writing skills
 Metacognitive skills
 Speaking/listening skills
 Engagement
 Learning strategies
 Collaborative skills
 Self-guided learning skills
 Technology skills
 Study strategies
 Exam prep skills/attitude
 Help-seeking strategies
 Effort-based mindset
 Ability to handle transitions well
 Creativity and expressiveness
16
Presentation: Creating a system of assessments that leads to a college and
career ready profile
 Requires more than a state reading and math test score or an ACT/SAT score combined with
HSGPA.
 Build off an explicit model of college and career readiness.
→See: Four Keys to College and Career Readiness
 Build student self-awareness and aspirations at the same time you’re building academic
knowledge and learning skills.
 Organize results in an enhanced transcript with additional information from other
measures.
→Tell colleges how to interpret this portion.
→Have a clear designation of level of college readiness achieved.
Elements of a college and career ready profile
 Content knowledge
→Knowledge tests with subtests
→Longitudinal scores
 Cognitive strategies
→Challenging performance tasks
→demonstrations
 Learning skills
→Evidence of skills such as time
management, study skills,
technology use
 Transition skills
→Clarity of goals for postsecondary
→Evidence of commitment to
succeed in college/workplace
 Personal disposition
→Goal orientation, persistence,
conscientiousness, positive traits
 Context information
→Family challenges, obstacles
overcome, school information
Small group work:
 Begin the process of creating a new era assessment model for your
school/district/college/state.
 Where could you begin?
 What resources would you need?
 What next steps would you take after this session is over?
 What are the key takeaways you go away from this session with?