Learner Variation and Well-Being
From Evidence to Ecosystem: Inclusive Measurement as the Infrastructure for School Transformation
Assessment results arrive. What needs to be in place for educators to use them? Christina Cipriano’s case study examines measurement designed with educators and students, alongside the staffing, routines, and tools needed to act. Drawing on Project Flourish’s work in more than 200 schools, it helps district teams consider how measures can work together to support teaching, student support, and school climate. Read the inclusive measurement case study.
Belonging, well-being & mental health: A district guide to considering measures
Before adding another student survey, decide what you’ll do with the results. This guide helps district leaders compare measures, check the supporting evidence and accessibility, and plan a manageable pilot. Tool profiles and a decision worksheet show what to ask before choosing a survey or other measure, including who will interpret students’ responses and take responsibility for acting on them. Read the belonging, well-being, and mental health guide.
Responsible Inference Engines: Safeguarding Students with Learning Differences in the AI Era
What should an AI-enabled assessment be able to tell us about a student, and how would we know that conclusion is sound? Eric Tucker’s case study examines responsible AI for learners with learning differences. It addresses Universal Design for Learning, human oversight, transparency about how algorithms work, and accessibility built into assessment design. The guidance asks developers to examine the evidence behind their systems and the civil rights protections those systems must respect. Read the responsible AI case study.
Useful & Coherent Assessment Systems
Rethinking the Test Pile: Every Test Needs a Purpose and a Plan for Action
What happens after students finish a test? This guide draws on Education First’s research and Achievement Network’s accounts of practice to help leaders connect assessment choices, curriculum, and support for teachers. Bring an upcoming adoption or renewal to the review. Name the decision the results will inform, who will use them, and what support those people need to act. Read Every Test Needs a Purpose and a Plan for Action.
Before Adoption: Screening Assessment Technology for Safety and Quality
Before buying, piloting, or renewing an assessment tool, ask the provider to show how it works for your intended use. This guide brings together assessment quality, privacy, security, child safety, AI risks, and day-to-day operations. It helps teams decide who will request evidence, examine provider claims, plan for failures, and define where human oversight is needed. Pause the decision when important risks or questions remain unresolved. Read the assessment technology screening guide.
The Public Life of a State Test: New Meridian and Montana’s MAST: Using Evidence Centered Design to Improve Public Debate Regarding Consequential K-12 Assessment
A score arrives. A teacher asks, “Now what?” Eric Tucker’s case study examines New Meridian and Montana’s MAST through-year assessment, where reports arrive during the school year alongside a year-end result. It asks what evidence would show that scores are trustworthy, reports help teachers act, the design fits classrooms, and the benefits justify the burden. For leaders weighing assessment promises, it offers a way to sharpen the conversation: What would we need to see to change our minds? Download the case study here.
Which assessments give teachers information they can use in their next lesson? Scott F. Marion and Carla M. Evans examine what makes an assessment useful for instruction: insights into students’ strengths and needs tied to specific learning goals. The case study shows why the test’s design, the classroom context, and teachers’ interpretation of results all matter. Download the case study here.
Conceptualizing and Evaluating Instructionally Useful Assessments
From Evidence to Instructional Practice: Four Lenses for Understanding Achievement Network’s Assessment Design
What can a wrong answer tell a teacher about tomorrow’s lesson? Eric Tucker and Michelle Odemwingie explore Achievement Network’s work in Madison, Carlsbad, and Honey Dew, where educators bring student responses into lesson planning, coaching, and conversations with colleagues. They also examine how those experiences are shaping Compass Math, designed to connect prior learning with the curriculum ahead. The question that keeps everyone honest: once teachers try something different, what does students’ next round of work reveal? Download the case study here.
Measures of Early Success
What Should We Look for in Early Learning Measures?
An early learning measure can be easy to use and still leave a team unsure what to do next. Measures of Early Success profiles seven tools and examines what they measure, the quality of the measurement evidence, the experience of using them, their usefulness, and whether they can work at a larger scale. Use the guide to review reports and test whether results help with a specific local decision. Begin with a pilot, compare the evidence with what happens in practice, and expand when the intended use is supported. Read Measures of Early Success.
Centering the Voices of Assessment Users in the Advancement of Early Learning Measures
Children, educators, families, and administrators all have a stake in early learning assessment. This case study follows the Measures for Early Success Initiative as they help shape measures from the start. It examines what the measures capture, the quality of the evidence, the experience of using them, their usefulness, and their ability to work at a larger scale. Designing and testing with users can reveal problems with time demands, accessibility, bias, and classroom fit before a tool is widely adopted. Download the case study here.
Using Technology To Measure Future-Readiness Skills
How can educators see skills that don’t fit neatly into a test answer? Emily Hanno explores how technology might help assess executive function, communication, and collaboration through students’ everyday work. Researchers in the Student Upward Mobility Initiative are studying whether information recorded during digital activities can offer clues about executive function while adding little assessment time. At Harvard, researchers are examining children’s spoken responses with language models. Overdeck’s investments in OKO Labs and PeerTeach explore communication and collaboration in practice. Read more here.
High School
Making High School Learning Count Beyond Graduation
Do students’ records show what they can do and help them take their next step? High School Should Open Doors explores next-generation assessment, extended transcripts, and success data beyond graduation. The briefing offers practical questions about evidence, access, advising, and educator capacity. Start with one existing pathway: examine what students demonstrate, whether partners recognize it, and where graduates encounter barriers. Use that inquiry to identify a feasible improvement with clear responsibilities. Read the flipbook.
How can students show the skills they develop in school, at work, and in their communities? This case study examines assessment of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and other skills. It explores tasks grounded in real situations, different ways for students to demonstrate learning, and responsible uses of AI. For leaders, the next question is how to connect those goals with trustworthy evidence, reports people can use, and support for educators. Download the case study here.
A Skills-Based Vision for Assessment, Insight, and Educational Improvement
Assessment in the Service of Learning: An Example from AP® Art and Design
What can assessment look like when it documents learning as it unfolds? This AP Art and Design case study shows how portfolios, inquiry, feedback, experimentation, and revision can make student thinking visible while supporting motivation and metacognition. Transparent rubrics and exemplars help students understand expectations and use feedback during the learning process. For leaders, the example raises a question: where could portfolios strengthen the connection between assessment, instruction, and deeper learning? Download the case study here.
