Performance Counts: Assessment Systems that Support High-Quality Learning

This article authored by Linda Darling Hammond for CCSSO, outlines the criteria for a Student Assessment System, which should:

• address the depth and breadth of standards as well as all areas of the curriculum, not just those that are easy to measure.
• consider and include all students as an integral part of the design process, anticipating their particular needs and encouraging all students to demonstrate what they know and can do.
• honor the research indicating that students learn best when given challenging content and provided with assistance, guidance, and feedback on a regular basis.
• employ a variety of appropriate measures, instruments, and processes at the classroom, school, and district levels, as well as the state level.
• engage teachers in scoring student work based on shared targets.