STATES SUPPORTING ASSESSMENT OF
DEEPER LEARNING AND ORGANIZATIONAL
TRANSFORMATION
David T. Conley, PhD
CEO, EPIC Professor, U of O

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
EPIC: Educational Policy Improvement
Center

Eugene/Portland, Oregon

David Conley, CEO

SCALE: Stanford Center for Assessment,
Learning, and Equity

Ray Pecheone, Director

SCOPE: Stanford Center for Opportunity
Policy in Education

Linda Darling-Hammond, Co-Director

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• World-class Knowledge and Skills
• Personalized Learning
• Student Agency
• Performance-based Learning
• Anytime, Anywhere Learning
• Comprehensive Systems of Support

World-class Knowledge and Skills… students acquire, practice, and demonstrate the various dimensions of learning that lead to college and career readiness throughout the disciplines.
An important component of this work is defining, recognizing and demonstrating a clear vision of student success

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


Knowledge – mastery of rigorous content and the facile application or transfer of what has been learned to novel situations.
Skills – the capacities and strategies that enable students to learn and engage in higher-order thinking, meaningful interaction with the world around them, and planning for the future
Dispositions – Socio-emotional skills or behaviors
(sometimes referred to as habits of mind) that associate with success in both college and career

Leading states should take action to define the goal of CCR reform.
Codify in state policy/law a definition of college, career, and civic-
readiness consistent with next-generation/studentcentered/deeper learning (see CCSSO ILN CCR Definitional
Elements) to drive policy and practice
Establish a clear commitment in policy and practice to innovation, evaluation, and continuous improvement
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Leading states create a clear “line of sight” to drive policy/ practice and continuous improvement.
Realign program requirements, applications, reporting, and funding to key goals/areas; enhance funding flexibility where appropriate/ needed.
1.
Learning Process – Standards, Curriculum, Instruction
2.
Assessment, Accountability, Supports
3.
Human Capital – Teachers and Leaders
4.
Infrastructure – Time and Technology
5.
System Learning – Innovation
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Three Phases of EPIC/SCOPE/SCALE
Technical Assistance
Educate state leadership on the Continuum of
Assessment of
Deeper Learning
Conduct environmental scans of each state policy context.
Assist state leadership in plans to implement performance assessment.

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Three Phases of EPIC/SCOPE/SCALE
Technical Assistance
Educate state leadership on the
Continuum of
Assessment of
Deeper Learning
Conduct environmental scans of each state policy context.
Assist state leadership in plans to implement performance assessment.

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Traditional
State
Assessments
New CCSS
Assessments
Common
Performance
Tasks
Learning Tasks
Student-
Designed
Projects
CONTINUUM OF ASSESSMENT FOR DEEPER LEARNING
Standardized, multiple-choice tests of routine skills
Examples:
WKSE-CRT,
OAKS
Standardized tests with multiple-choice and openended items, plus 1-2 day performance tasks
Examples:
SBAC and
PARCC
Standard performance tasks lasting 1-
3 weeks that demand more integrated skills
Examples:
C-PAS and
SCALE NY
Performance tasks that require students to carry out inquiries, analyze findings, and revise
Examples:
C-PAS and
SCALE OH
Longer, deeper investigations lasting 2-3 months requiring students to initiate, design, conduct, analyze, revise, and present their work
Examples:
Envision
Schools, NY
Performance
Standards
Consortium, IB

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Three Phases of EPIC/SCOPE/SCALE
Technical Assistance
Education state leadership on the
Continuum of
Assessment of
Deeper Learning
Conduct environmental scans of each state policy context.
Assist state leadership in plans to implement performance assessment.

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 Interviewed state leadership
 Gathered extant data from websites, waiver requests, and other public documents
 Analyzed across states for trends, themes, commonalities, and nuances
 Viewed the analysis as a continuing process
 Learning about ILN districts, state policy plans and directions

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Policy Definition of College & Career Readiness
State Fiscal Status
Governance Structure
Current and
Past
Assessment for Deeper
Learning
Accountability System
Assessment System
Flexibility for Innovation

Draft only
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Define CR
Measure CR
Acct’y
Emphasis
Grad Exams
Consortia
Perf Assmt
Waiver MM
Fiscal Impact
Alignment
KY
Yes
ME NH
Yes-MLR CCSS
ACT
EOC
Yes
Yes
SAT
NCLB
(2017)
No
No
(future)
NCLB only
No
PARCC SBAC
Prior
Future
Yes
Prior
Current
Comp
SBAC
Current
Local
Comp
=
+
=
LC
=
LC
OH
Yes
OR
No
WV
No
WI
Yes
No
(2015)
PARCC
EOC
No
No
(future)
NCLB other
Yes
No
(future)
ACT
NCLB NCLB
No No
PARCC SBAC SBAC SBAC
Pilots Prior
Writing
Writing Prior
Yes Yes Yes Yes
=
+
—
+
=
+
—
LC

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
Several states are moving toward including CCR indicators in state accountability systems in various ways

Wide range of prior experience with performance assessment. What’s the legacy?

Tangled underbrush of current and former assessments complicates introduction of new models

Strong interest in student-centered measures that help individualize learning

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
Proficiency demonstration is a motivator in several states for more complex, deeper assessments

Real capacity issues in all states at state level

Very little evidence of significant HE involvement/ownership or clear plan for stronger alignment

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
An Assessment System vs a System of Assessments:
What measures should be collected for high-stakes decisions, and which ones inform classroom instruction, and how do they combine for a student-centered profile of readiness?

“Local Control” and SEA Leadership: How do we take local innovation to scale?

Where do we go from here?

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Three Phases of EPIC/SCOPE/SCALE
Technical Assistance
Education state leadership on the
Continuum of
Assessment of
Deeper Learning
Conduct environmental scans of each state policy context.
Assist state leadership in plans to implement performance assessment.

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
Direct support for assessment development, piloting, and implementation

Professional development / technical assistance to build educator / system capacity

Facilitation of higher education involvement

Treat this work as rapid prototyping exercises that are both bottom-driven and top-supported

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
Working with Chalkboard TIF districts and other interested parties to implement ThinkReady as a means to assess the Essential Skills not measured on
OAKS/SBAC

Consulting with Governor’s Office Education Policy
Advisors on strategies to create multiple measure system of college and career readiness

Share and learn from other ILN states’ pilot initiatives to assess college and career readiness

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Kentucky’s recent legislation created “innovation zones” and opened new door to design and pilot new systems of defining and measuring a more comprehensive definition of readiness.
New Hampshire’s ESEA waiver request puts forth a new theory of action for accountability built on a balanced system of assessments to measure readiness in a competency-based system. The state will be piloting performance tasks as part of this balanced system of assessments.
Ohio is entering a critical year scaling up its OPAPP initiative, building educator capacity to administer performance tasks and linking tasks to forthcoming PARCC assessments.

Then one last thought…