This article shows how learning progressions — describing how students’ skills develop over time — can support teaching and assessments. It begins with a brief overview of research on learning progressions under the CBAL project, in order to demonstrate how test performance supports inferences about student competency. The article then proceeds to illustrate the theoretical framework using argumentation learning progressions and present assessment items designed to measure the skills addressed by the progressions.
The CBAL initiative aims to build a model for an innovative K–12 assessment system that documents what students have achieved (of learning); helps identify how to plan instruction (for learning); and is considered by students and teachers to be a worthwhile educational experience in and of itself (as learning) (Bennett, 2010).
