/benchmark-testing Benchmark Testing en-US 2021 (c) Education Week Thu, 03 Oct 2024 19:50:22 GMT /teaching-learning/a-districts-experiment-what-happens-when-schools-do-less-testing/2024/10 Los Angeles Unified will excuse some schools from periodic assessments. Supporters hope it will inspire new ways to measure learning. Thu, 03 Oct 2024 19:50:22 GMT /teaching-learning/a-districts-experiment-what-happens-when-schools-do-less-testing/2024/10 /teaching-learning/teachers-say-those-ubiquitous-every-few-months-tests-dont-always-capture-whats-taught/2023/08 The vast majority of schools use them, but not all teachers think they accurately measure student progress. Wed, 23 Aug 2023 21:06:47 GMT /teaching-learning/teachers-say-those-ubiquitous-every-few-months-tests-dont-always-capture-whats-taught/2023/08 /teaching-learning/picking-an-interim-assessment-do-this-first-say-school-leaders/2023/07 Two district leaders explain how they evaluate interim assessments—and why having access to external reviews would be "huge." Mon, 31 Jul 2023 20:58:31 GMT /teaching-learning/picking-an-interim-assessment-do-this-first-say-school-leaders/2023/07 /teaching-learning/interim-tests-are-used-everywhere-are-they-good-measures-of-student-progress/2023/07 A recent attempt to look under the hood of interim assessments is on hold after several test providers wouldn’t commit to participation. Fri, 21 Jul 2023 21:43:52 GMT /teaching-learning/interim-tests-are-used-everywhere-are-they-good-measures-of-student-progress/2023/07 /sponsor/illuminate-education/address-the-el-opportunity-gap-with-assessment Supporting the needs of English learners (ELs) is highly complex and diverse Mon, 04 Apr 2022 19:56:36 GMT /sponsor/illuminate-education/address-the-el-opportunity-gap-with-assessment /teaching-learning/opinion-its-time-we-begin-using-assessments-to-look-forward-instead-of-back/2021/06 69´«Ã½ do not get much value from high-stakes tests. Many are now allowing schools to use better assessments to guide student learning. Sun, 20 Jun 2021 11:39:15 GMT /teaching-learning/opinion-its-time-we-begin-using-assessments-to-look-forward-instead-of-back/2021/06 /leadership/opinion-what-does-covid-learning-loss-actually-mean/2021/02 COVID-19 learning loss is a big topic. Unfortunately, there has been limited discussion on specifically what is being lost. Wed, 10 Feb 2021 12:49:13 GMT /leadership/opinion-what-does-covid-learning-loss-actually-mean/2021/02 /teaching-learning/inside-a-procurement-dispute-in-north-carolina/2019/08 North Carolina officials' switch in reading-test vendors just weeks before the new school year got underway is spotlighting the often murky process of contracts and procurements for K-12 services. Wed, 21 Aug 2019 01:26:47 GMT /teaching-learning/inside-a-procurement-dispute-in-north-carolina/2019/08 /teaching-learning/opinion-the-u-s-education-system-is-very-inefficient-fact-or-fiction/2018/02 Marc Tucker responds to critics of the comparative method of research and details the value that it brings to public policy analysis. Thu, 01 Feb 2018 15:41:40 GMT /teaching-learning/opinion-the-u-s-education-system-is-very-inefficient-fact-or-fiction/2018/02 /leadership/opinion-a-stunning-report-from-the-national-conference-of-state-legislatures/2016/08 A new report from a bipartisan group of state legislators shows how U.S. states can learn from the world's top performers and build an education system to compete with the very best. Tue, 09 Aug 2016 16:00:06 GMT /leadership/opinion-a-stunning-report-from-the-national-conference-of-state-legislatures/2016/08 /policy-politics/opinion-measuring-the-immeasurable-the-schools-we-want-and-the-problem-of-assessment/2016/03 Marc Tucker discusses a recent trip to several Hong Kong schools and how they showed what is possible for delivering a rich and empowering education. Thu, 31 Mar 2016 10:30:15 GMT /policy-politics/opinion-measuring-the-immeasurable-the-schools-we-want-and-the-problem-of-assessment/2016/03 /teaching-learning/opinion-top-performers-offer-u-s-much-more-effective-models-of-teacher-pd/2016/01 NCEE's groundbreaking research on teacher professional learning was the topic of conversation recently among some of the leading voices in education, including Lily Eskelsen García, Linda Darling-Hammond, and Joshua Starr. Thu, 21 Jan 2016 11:15:18 GMT /teaching-learning/opinion-top-performers-offer-u-s-much-more-effective-models-of-teacher-pd/2016/01 /leadership/opinion-the-iceberg-effect-a-reply-to-james-harvey-and-charles-fowler/2015/11 Marc Tucker responds to a recent criticism of international education comparisons. Thu, 19 Nov 2015 11:15:09 GMT /leadership/opinion-the-iceberg-effect-a-reply-to-james-harvey-and-charles-fowler/2015/11 /teaching-learning/types-of-assessments-a-head-to-head-comparison/2015/11 This chart provides a guide for distinguishing different kinds of student assessments. Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:44:18 GMT /teaching-learning/types-of-assessments-a-head-to-head-comparison/2015/11 /teaching-learning/opinion-to-diane-ravitch-and-anthony-cody-really/2014/09 Marc Tucker responds to Diane Ravitch and Anthony Cody and their critique of the report "Fixing Our National Accountability System." Thu, 18 Sep 2014 13:37:12 GMT /teaching-learning/opinion-to-diane-ravitch-and-anthony-cody-really/2014/09 /teaching-learning/opinion-education-research-reflections-on-the-gold-standard/2014/08 Continuing his series on education research, Marc Tucker argues that the United States should use industrial benchmarking to learn about the characteristics of effective education systems. Wed, 13 Aug 2014 20:15:38 GMT /teaching-learning/opinion-education-research-reflections-on-the-gold-standard/2014/08 /teaching-learning/opinion-pasi-sahlberg-on-finlands-recent-pisa-results/2014/02 Marc Tucker interviews Pasi Sahlberg about Finland's fall in the rankings on the 2012 PISA. Fri, 14 Feb 2014 14:30:11 GMT /teaching-learning/opinion-pasi-sahlberg-on-finlands-recent-pisa-results/2014/02 /policy-politics/opinion-shanghai-teacher-quality-strategies/2014/01 A look at how Shanghai is able to both produce high quality beginning teachers at low cost and continuously improve the skills of teachers already in the workforce, leading not only to impressive performance on PISA but better student outcomes overall. Thu, 30 Jan 2014 14:53:01 GMT /policy-politics/opinion-shanghai-teacher-quality-strategies/2014/01 /teaching-learning/opinion-tom-loveless-on-hukou-in-china/2014/01 Marc Tucker explains that while China's policies regarding migrant students are problematic, these are slowly being changed. In the meantime, Shanghai's education system still has much to teach the rest of the world. Fri, 24 Jan 2014 15:34:03 GMT /teaching-learning/opinion-tom-loveless-on-hukou-in-china/2014/01 /teaching-learning/opinion-pisa-denial-another-flavor/2014/01 Marc Tucker refutes critics of PISA who claim that we can ignore the poor performance of US students because the test doesn't measure the things that really matter. Fri, 10 Jan 2014 15:15:19 GMT /teaching-learning/opinion-pisa-denial-another-flavor/2014/01 /leadership/opinion-response-to-the-brookings-institution-attack-on-pisa/2013/12 Marc Tucker and Andreas Schleicher respond to charges from Tom Loveless that the PISA results for Shanghai are suspect. Thu, 26 Dec 2013 15:21:05 GMT /leadership/opinion-response-to-the-brookings-institution-attack-on-pisa/2013/12 /policy-politics/opinion-the-meaning-of-pisa/2013/12 Marc Tucker explains how the results of the latest PISA assessment ought to inform America's education policy reform agenda: we should be basing it on the strategies employed by the top performing education systems in the world. Thu, 05 Dec 2013 17:27:29 GMT /policy-politics/opinion-the-meaning-of-pisa/2013/12 /policy-politics/opinion-leading-educational-change-international-perspectives/2013/11 Helen Janc Malone closes the International Perspectives on Education Reform Blog with a call for collective action and a comprehensive approach to educational change. Fri, 01 Nov 2013 10:58:56 GMT /policy-politics/opinion-leading-educational-change-international-perspectives/2013/11 /policy-politics/opinion-the-finnish-paradox/2013/10 Pasi Sahlberg explores a central role play has inside and outside the school context as a foundation for positive child development. Thu, 31 Oct 2013 04:05:13 GMT /policy-politics/opinion-the-finnish-paradox/2013/10 /policy-politics/opinion-tensions-and-paradoxes-in-singapores-education-system/2013/10 Pak Tee Ng discusses how two secondary education admission policy changes are raising questions about fair assessments and holistic education. As Ng states, "On one hand, we send signals to broaden the definition of success. On the other hand, we may have inadvertently set up more areas for competition." As he further explains, "education reform is seldom, if ever, merely an education issue. It is deeply entwined with societal culture... The debate is a process of national soul searching about what education really means to us as a society." Wed, 30 Oct 2013 04:20:53 GMT /policy-politics/opinion-tensions-and-paradoxes-in-singapores-education-system/2013/10 /policy-politics/opinion-whole-system-change/2013/10 Helen Janc Malone introduces the final blog week with a theme "whole system change." Sun, 27 Oct 2013 21:30:07 GMT /policy-politics/opinion-whole-system-change/2013/10 /teaching-learning/opinion-naep-timss-linking-study-how-well-are-we-really-doing/2013/10 Marc Tucker questions the results from a recent NCES study linking NAEP and TIMSS scores. Fri, 25 Oct 2013 18:24:19 GMT /teaching-learning/opinion-naep-timss-linking-study-how-well-are-we-really-doing/2013/10 /teaching-learning/opinion-from-schooling-to-learning-in-india-how-can-we-take-everyone-along/2013/10 Rukmini Banerji and Madhav Chavan offer a compelling case for the use of literacy and numeracy assessments as tools to understand progress and gaps in student learning in India. Thu, 24 Oct 2013 04:04:39 GMT /teaching-learning/opinion-from-schooling-to-learning-in-india-how-can-we-take-everyone-along/2013/10 /teaching-learning/opinion-the-price-of-standardized-testing-in-russia/2013/10 Elena Lenskaya offers a sobering lesson in the unintended consequences of standardized testing--teaching to the test and learning to the test. Wed, 23 Oct 2013 10:30:37 GMT /teaching-learning/opinion-the-price-of-standardized-testing-in-russia/2013/10 /leadership/opinion-using-fair-comparisons-to-stimulate-school-improvement-in-australia/2013/10 Barry McGaw discusses the implementation of a national curriculum, customized student testing, and an online school assessment tool designed to stimulate system-wide improvement in Australia. Mon, 21 Oct 2013 04:02:22 GMT /leadership/opinion-using-fair-comparisons-to-stimulate-school-improvement-in-australia/2013/10