Learning Portal Beta
Learning Portal Beta
State education agencies play a key role in developing, implementing and improving state assessment and accountability systems — two powerful levers to advance state priorities and ultimately improve outcomes for students. These systems provide essential information on student achievement and school quality and can incentivize and inform actions at the state, district and school levels — playing a vital role in state efforts to support student academic success. CCSSO supports states in building balanced assessment systems and designing meaningful and actionable accountability and reporting systems aligned to state priorities to improve outcomes for students.
Supporting School Accountability Systems
State accountability systems serve multiple purposes that support state priorities and school improvement efforts. Effective accountability systems signal priorities and establish performance targets for schools and districts, identify schools in need of support and incentivize local practices, inputs and supports that drive improved outcomes. They also provide timely, actionable information about school quality to inform state and local decision-making while fostering public trust and engagement in the education system.
CCSSO provides states with technical assistance, professional development, network opportunities and resources on accountability and reporting systems to support them in collecting and using meaningful data on student access and achievement.
Supporting State Assessment Systems
Balanced assessment systems provide students, families, educators and policymakers with valuable information on what students know and are able to do. CCSSO works with state leaders and national partners to support efforts to build balanced assessment systems, including formative, interim and summative assessments that provide meaningful and actionable data on student achievement. Specifically, CCSSO supports states in navigating technical challenges with administering large-scale assessment systems and building greater coherence among the various elements of an assessment system and other educational systems, including standards, curriculum, professional development and teaching and learning. CCSSO also hosts the annual National Conference on Student Assessment, which serves as a trusted forum for assessment practitioners to learn and reflect upon both current and emerging trends in education and educational assessments.
Explore some of the resources below developed by CCSSO and its Collaboratives.
A Common Language for Balanced Assessment Systems: The goal of this resource is to institute a common language related to the goals, characteristics and components of a balanced assessment system. State education leaders can use this resource as a starting point to establish a shared understanding of assessment systems and associated terminology.
A State Discussion Guide to Understanding, Developing and Sustaining Balanced Assessment Systems That Are Inclusive of All Students: This state discussion guide is designed to facilitate discussions within state education agencies about how to create and sustain a balanced assessment system that is inclusive of all students, including students with disabilities, English learners and English learners with disabilities. This resource was developed by CCSSO’s Assessment Standards and Education for Students with Disabilities (ASES), Balanced Assessment Systems (BAS) and English Learner Collaboratives in partnership with the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO).
Revising the Definition of Formative Assessment: In 2018, CCSSO’s Balanced Assessment Systems Collaborative (formerly Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers) updated its definition of formative assessment to better reflect current formative assessment research, theory and practice. This resource provides a detailed explanation of the changes made to the updated definition and digs into the key components of formative assessment and implications for student learning.
