Building state assessment from the classroom up: Why nebraska has forsworn high-stakes testing in favor of district-tailored measures - education

School Administrator, Dec, 2001 by Douglas D. Christensen

Our nation has taken up the call to standards and the results have changed everything about the way our schools and state education agencies do business. These changes have extended from the classroom to the boardroom and from the schoolhouse to the statehouse.

For most states, the biggest change has been a reliance on single, mandatory and often standardized tests to assess whether students meet the standards set for them. It is unfortunate we hold such high regard for these summative measures, which have little power to change what actually happens in the classrooms.

The goal of assessment is to improve teaching and learning and thereby improve student achievement. Therefore, it makes sense to build assessments from classrooms up and to build assessments within and upon the program of curriculum and instruction.

Much of the power of assessment is lost when it is not integrated into classroom activities. Assessment built at the classroom level makes it easier for teachers to identify those who are (or are not) learning and what they are (or are not) learning. With this information at their fingertips, teachers can make changes immediately rather than waiting until the end-of-year assessments are administered and scored--when it is too late to help struggling students.

Alignment Work

Nebraska was one of two states that did not have a comprehensive, state-mandated, single-test system. (Iowa is the other one.) But that has changed. Now Nebraska's plan for assessment and accountability is state-mandated, but it is based on a foundation of formative classroom or school-based assessments. It also calls for districts to create their local assessment systems with guidance from the state department of education.

Nebraska's School-based, Teacher-led Assessment and Reporting System, known as STARS, provides accountability for reporting how well students are doing against the standards while protecting the local curriculum and ensuring that the teachers have the power to decide how they will assess their students' learning. Teachers are encouraged to integrate teaching and assessment rather than regard teaching and assessment as distinct and separate from each other.

Under the STARS plan, local districts create an assessment plan that outlines how they will assess student learning against the standards. The plan has two parts.

First, districts must select a norm-referenced test from the five approved by the department of education. Roughly 30-35 percent of Nebraska's standards at grades 4, 8 and 11 are addressed by the five state-approved norm-referenced tests. The department used independent assessment experts from the Buros Institute of Mental Measurements to determine which standards at which grade levels are met by the NRTs. (School districts may access this information on the Nebraska Department of Education s Web site.)

Second, districts must plan for how they fill in the blanks for the other 65-70 percent of the standards not addressed by the norm-referenced tests. Most districts created "wrap-around" assessments to fill in the gaps where the standards were not met by the approved NRT. Some districts administered one of the approved NRTs as well as a comprehensive curriculum-based assessment created or purchased by the district.

For the STARS plan to succeed, the leadership and effort must come at the local level with guidance and support from the state. The state has provided the framework of state model standards that local districts may use to create their own. Or districts may adopt the model standards. Either action requires a local conversation about what it is that students should know and be able to do.

The state ensures that each intermediate service region in the state has at least one person trained in the assessment development process who is ready to provide training at the local level.

The state also has used its discretionary federal monies to provide grants to schools so that teams of teachers can be paid stipends for developing local assessments. In most districts, teams of teachers work during the summer to develop their standards, align their curriculum and instructional activities and create their local assessments.

In addition, the state has conducted leadership workshops for principals and superintendents on how to lead the process in their schools. Most school districts have either designated a principal or selected a lead teacher to shepherd their district through the process.

Through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the first cohort of educators is enrolled in a program of study and mentoring. They will be the first educators to receive certification as assessment leaders. We also worked with all the teacher training and administrator training institutions to ensure future teachers and administrators graduate with the necessary knowledge and skills to lead and implement standards and assessments in their schools and districts.

Testing the Test

Districts are held accountable for the quality of the assessments they develop and are provided guidelines for what good assessment looks like so they know what they are being held accountable for and build their assessments accordingly.