Giving Compass' Take:

• EdSurge profiles a middle school in Virginia where learning looks a lot like playing, incorporating different assessment tools rather than standardized tests.

• Could this model work for other districts? Should funders in the education space work "playful assessment" programs into investment their investment strategies?

• Here's more on what empowering kids to play looks like in action.

A single hallway nestled inside Murray High School houses a newly redesigned middle school where students have been mapping out their colonization of Mars, organizing local and national election campaigns and designing labyrinthine escape rooms for the past three months.

Here at Community Public Charter School (Community Middle), students have been using vinyl cutters, 3D printers, hot glue guns and power drills, among a host of other props, in lieu of composition notebooks or Chromebooks.

And perhaps most novel, instead of traditional tests, they’re using “Sparkle Sleuths,” one in an emerging set of assessment tools to measure their mastery.

Part of the Albemarle County School District, Community Middle feels and functions differently than most other schools in America. The middle school has been in operation for 10 years, with innovation and the arts woven into its original charter. But it reopened this year with a new staff and a fresh design to realign with its mission to create learning experiences constructed around problems, projects and personal interests. In this new model, learning looks a lot like playing.

Read the full article about how playful assessment unseated standardized tests by Emily Tate at EdSurge.