For Every Child, Multiple Measures: What Everyone Wants
As policymakers consider a new blueprint for education improvement and significant education reform initiatives, the study, For Every Child, Multiple Measures: What Parents and Educators Want From K-12 Assessments, conducted by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) and Grunwald Associates, gauges the assessment needs of parents, teachers and district administrators – those with the most practical and personal experience with the day-to-day impact of assessments and accountability on the ground.
Findings from the nationally representative study summarize which assessments parents and educators found most useful, the most relevant and most cost effective. The findings reveal considerable areas of consensus on these topics, as well as important differences, misconceptions and needs:
· Parents, teachers and district administrators hold similar views regarding their top priorities for education, what assessments should measure, how well different assessments meet their needs, how assessment results could be better used and who should make instructional decisions
· Parents, teachers and administrators want comprehensive assessment that measures individual student learning in every academic subject and on the tangible and intangible skills that signal competence in today’s world
· Timeliness of assessment results – and time to talk about them – matter
· Many district administrators want more assessments to support student learning
· Parents are more concerned than teachers with how well their children compare to other students within and outside of their districts
· Administrators and teachers disagree on the usefulness of new assessments pegged to Common Core State Standards, which more than 40 states will implement in 2014.
Learn more at http://www.nwea.org/every-child-multiple-measures .