Giving Compass' Take:

• Assessment experts and education researchers released a report that identifies seven strategies to make assessments impactful for students.

• How can donors support more impact assessment research? Why is this critical work for student growth? 

• Learn what makes for a  good student assessment. 

A report released Wednesday by assessment experts and education researchers suggests high-quality assessments could be an essential tool to identify learning loss and lead to effective intervention.

Representatives on the panel that contributed to the report, released by the Center on Reinventing Public Education, identified seven strategies to make assessments impactful:

  1. Take the first few weeks to rebuild relationships, focus on social-emotional learning, ensure well-being of students and communicate with parents.
  2. Identify the purpose assessments will serve by asking "Who is making what diagnosis to inform which actions?"
  3. Ensure assessments don't harm students by taking away from instruction, funneling students into remediation or misinterpreting results.
  4. Link assessment data, including formative assessments, to the curricula and teaching materials.
  5. Use formal interim assessments to guide school and district decision making around interventions and resource allocation.
  6. Tap parents as "co-teachers," allowing them to weigh in on their child's progress and weaknesses.
  7. Do not replace end-of-year summative tests with diagnostic assessments meant to gauge individual learning needs.

The report cautions against the misuse of diagnostic tests and doing more harm than good by making hasty or ill-informed decisions once data is collected.

Read the full article about impactful assessments by Naaz Modan at Education Dive.