About Us
About Assess4ed
Assess4ed.net is a unique online community of practice. It assists states and districts in making the shift to online and computer-based student assessment, including implementing the RTTA program by the 2014-15 school year. Assess4ed.net supports communication and collaboration between the private and public sectors, and – within states, districts, and schools –emphasizes the important roles for curriculum, assessment and technology staff necessary for implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and their assessment.
Assess4ed.net features webinars, resources, discussions, synchronous and asynchronous chats and other opportunities for communication and collaboration among assessment, curriculum and technology staff at the state and district levels regarding getting ready for online assessment. States and districts with significant experience as well as companies involved with statewide implementation of large-scale technology-based projects provide much of the content.
Assess4ed.net is part of the Connected Online Communities of Practice (COCP), funded by the U.S. Department of Education under contract (ED-PEP-10-C-0059) with the American Institutes for Research in partnership with five organizations, including the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA). To learn more about the project, visit edcocp.org.
About SETDA
Founded in the fall of 2001, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is the principal association representing the state directors for educational technology. Based in the Washington, DC area, SETDA works collectively and in partnership with other national organizations and serves as a forum for inter-state collaboration and cooperation on a range of issues, including the identification and sharing of research and best practices, the establishment of public-private partnerships, state-federal relations and advocacy, and professional development for state educational technology directors and staff. For more information go to www.setda.org
About assessment in 2014
To help states develop the next generation of assessments that align with the CCSS, the U.S. Department of Education allotted $350 million, from the Race to the Top competition, to fund two larger consortia focused on summative assessments for the general student population—Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). It also established two smaller consortia focused on assessments for special needs students—Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) and the National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC). The new assessment systems developed by the consortia will be implemented starting with the 2014–15 school year, and the assessments will be delivered online.