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Student Assessment

Inventory for School Districts

DISTRICT ASSESSMENT CONTEXT

Tests play a crical role in improving teaching and

learning. They provide consistent measures that allow

teachers, parents, and students themselves to monitor

student progress, understand specic strengths and

weaknesses, and set learning goals. They help teachers

idenfy who needs support, who needs enrichment, and

what changes in classroom instrucon are needed. They

inform teachers’ understanding of how eecvely they are

advancing student learning. And, they can provide meaningful

learning experiences for students. However, while tests are

valuable, each test takes me and resources that could be

used for other acvies in the school day. Thus, it is essenal

to ensure that every assessment is used for an important

purpose and leads to acons intended to improve

student learning.

In too many districts, there is simply too much tesng. In

addion to statewide assessments, districts oen require

many more districtwide assessments. Students must also

take classroom-based tests and quizzes that are core to the

instruconal process. Students take sll other tests for college

admissions, placement or scholarships. Over me, school

districts or individual schools may add assessments championed

by a specic district leader, embedded in new instruconal

materials, or in response to a specic need such as evaluang

teachers without ever taking a comprehensive look at what has

outlived its usefulness. As a result, districts may have a plethora

of diagnosc, formave, interim and summave assessments as

well as assessments for special populaons. However, districts

have signicant control over which tests to administer and the

amount of me devoted to tesng. For example, a recent study

looking at district-mandated tests (excluding tests for special

CC BY 4.0 Achieve 2014. Districts may use or adapt. If modied, please attribute Achieve and re-title.

Across the country, educators, parents and students are saying that there is too much tesng

in our schools and that tesng is taking valuable me away from teaching and learning. These

concerns are legimate and merit aenon. School district ocials have the opportunity to

respond to concerns about over-tesng by leading a conversaon among educators and the

broader community that directly addresses the amount of tesng – and points the way toward

a more coherent, educaonally-sound approach to assessment.

This Student Assessment Inventory for School Districts is a tool district leaders can use to take

stock of their assessments and assessment strategy, and do so from a student perspecve.

The tool supports a process by which districts evaluate the assessments students are taking,

determine the minimum tesng necessary to serve essenal diagnosc, instruconal and

accountability purposes, and work to ensure that every district-mandated test is of high quality,

is providing the informaon needed for specic school and district purposes, and is supported

by structures and rounes so that assessment results are actually used and acon steps taken

that will help students. We encourage local district leaders who use this inventory to discuss the

outcome with parents and the school board. What tests have been eliminated? How will the

remaining tests be used, and why are they important?

is version of the Student Assessment Inventory for School Districts is current as of October 8, 2014.































































STANDARDS AND ASSESSMENTS

















































































The Student and the Stopwatch: How Much Time do American Students Spend on Tesng?

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

















•













•



•









































































































Districts (or teams) should answer the following quesons to plan the inventory:

1. What is the district context in which the inventory is being considered (e.g., implementaon of new standards and/or

assessments, parent or school board concern about tesng load)?

2. What are the objecves of the student assessment inventory?

3. What would indicate to the district that the process was a success?

4. What individual or individuals are responsible for the success of this process?

5. Will the district bring in an external party/consultant to assist with the inventory?

6. How will the results of the inventory be communicated to district policymakers (e.g., school board), school leaders, parents,

students and the community?

7. Who will collect the informaon needed for the inventory table? How will they access this informaon?

8. How will the district communicate to necessary pares that these individuals will be collecng this informaon?

9. What is the scope of the inventory? Which assessment should be included and excluded from the inventory table?

Based on

this scope, what informaon is needed?

10. What groups should be convened or surveyed to help provide answers (e.g., groups of teachers and other assessment users)?

How will they be convened (e.g., in focus groups by grade level or subject) and/or surveyed?

11. What individual or enty has the authority to act on the results of the inventory? Who will be making the recommendaons?

12. Are there other districts with whom it would be useful to collaborate during this process?















































 























  

 



for example



 









 



 







 









 





 



 



 













 



 







 















 

 

As districts

reach this point, it will be crucial for them to reengage

with teachers, parents, students or others who deeply

informed the inventory process to review potenal

opons and decision points.





 









 







 

•





•













 





• 



•





•







 



•







•





If the district is interested in evaluang alignment and

quality of assessments, they can use resources such as

Student Achievement Partners’ Assessment Evaluaon Tool

individually or in partnership with other districts. If these are

“o-the-shelf” assessments, districts may wish to work with

other districts that use the same assessments to determine

if alignment and quality evaluaons have already been

conducted, and to work with vendors in concert to demand

improvements. It may also be helpful to ulize the Council of

Chief State School Ocers’ (CCSSO) Criteria for High-Quality

Assessments Aligned to College and Career Readiness.







Number Recommendation Rationale Authority

Timing of

Recommendation

Action Steps

Example

Discontinue use of

PLACE ELA beginning

in January 2015

Redundant with ELA

Grow test

Superintendent Sept. cabinet meeting

Need to write proposal

memo with supporting

evidence

Inventory Table

Name of Individual(s) completing the table

Date

Optional Category: English Language Arts

(e.g., grade level, subject)

Name of assessment (Example)

PLACE ELA

Entity requiring

assessment

state – SEA or other

agency; district; or school

District

Grade(s) tested 5-8

Course(s) or subjects

tested

ELA

Which students are

eligible or required to

take assessment?

All students in these

grades who are also

required to take regular

state assessment

Type of assessment

summative; interim/bench-

mark; formative; diagnostic

Benchmark

Number of years

assessment has

been administered

in the district

5 years

To which content

standards is the

assessment aligned?

(source of alignment

verication)

Common Core State

Standards (Independent

review by Dr. Anne Jones

using Student Achievement

Partners Assessment Eval.

Tool)

Intended purpose(s) of

the assessment

Measure student knowl-

edge of ELA standards in

reading comprehension

Intended use(s)

of the

assessment

Predict ELA performance

on state assessment and

inform instructional practice

Users of the assessment District assessment staff

and teachers

Do users of the

assessment use it for its

intended use(s)?

Yes (district)

No (educators)

STUDENT ASSESSMENT INVENTORY FOR SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Federal and/or state accountability, district accountability, predicve, diagnosc, instruconal uses (e.g., grouping), high school grad-

uaon, student promoon/retenon, factor into course grades, college admissions, teacher evaluaon, Advanced Placement credit,

Internaonal Baccalaureate, English language prociency, internaonal comparisons, other uses.

To what degree do users

of the assessment nd it

useful or not useful?

1 – not useful

2 – somewhat useful

3 – useful

4 – very useful

Explain why.

2 – district staff nd it

accurately predicts

performance on state

assessment, but that the

results are not useful

for educators to inform

instruction

Type of administration Paper booklet/scantron

Item type(s) Selected response

Accommodations Braille edition of assessment

Test administration time 150 minutes (includes 15

minutes of instructions

read aloud by teacher)

Testing window 10/1–10/15 and 3/1–3/15

Test frequency Given twice a year, in

October and March

Time between test

administration and

results to users

24 hours for raw data

to district; 3 weeks for

analysis

Vendor Tests4Schools

Contract expiration date 4/1/2015

Entity that holds contract District

Annual cost

(total and per student)

$38,000 total, $19.00 per

student (grades 5-8)

Funding source(s) Local funds

Inventory Table

STUDENT ASSESSMENT INVENTORY FOR SCHOOL DISTRICTS





 Can my district modify the inventory table?



















 My team does not agree on the type of assessment —

formave, interim, etc. We all seem to have dierent

ideas about what these terms mean. What do we

do? 



The Role of Interim

Assessments in a Comprehensive Assessment System





 this framework











 What is the dierence between the assessment’s intended

purposes and uses?













 How do we know if users are using the assessment for its

intended uses? 













 How do we know to what degree users nd the

assessment useful and why?

















 What are some ways to tell if an assessment is aligned to

the content standards? 



























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Student Assessment Inventory for School Districts

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