Organizations

Information and services from educational organizations each with a unique mission yet a collective belief in the value of balanced assessment. Take a look through their resources, projects, and materials and take away useful ideas.

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Organizations

Achieve
A bipartisan government and corporate group emphasizing academic achievement, improved assessments, and stronger accountability. You’ll find information from accountability and sustainability to college/career readiness.

ASCD: Learn, Teach, Lead
ASCD offers extensive resources and programs to support excellence in teaching, learning, and leadership. Assessment information ranges from policies and standardized testing to classroom measures of learning.

NWEA: Assessment Literacy
Offers comprehensive perspectives on assessment including purposes, types, quality indicators, gathering and interpreting evidence of learning.

AAIA: Association for Achievement and Improvement Through Assessment
Explores and advises on all facets of educational assessment from policy to classroom practice and standardized tests.

Center for Assessment: NCIEA
Focuses on improving student achievement through their work with a range of educational organizations on the design and implementation of effective assessment and accountability practices.

CSAI: The Center on Standards & Assessment Implementation
The mission of this collaboration between WestEd and CRESST is to provide information and resources that promote effective, engaging, and efficient, assessment practices from the policy to the local level. Their resource library  is a rich source of information for all interests and through all grade levels.

The Gordon Commission
Studies policy and practice, evaluates the state of educational assessment, and generates recommendations for assessment that is beneficial to improving educational outcomes today and in the future.

Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation
A coalition of professional organizations that collaboratively develop standards for personnel, program, and student evaluation.

Kathy Schrock’s Guide
This was one of the first and remains one of the most comprehensive teacher resource sites on an array of educational topics. In relation to assessment and technology there is much to delve into.

National Center for Fair and Open Testing
This group works to ensure that the evaluation of students and schools is fair, valid, and educationally beneficial. Rather than relying solely on standardized testing, it encourages balance in educational assessment through the use of a wide range of measures.

National Council on Measurement in Education
A professional organization providing resources and services to individuals involved in educational measurement including assessment, evaluation, and testing.

NWEA
Measuring What Matters” includes resources and ideas for improving educational assessment from large-scale to local. Topics include assessment literacy, policy, research, testing, growth measures, and professional learning.

Phi Delta Kappan International
PDK seeks to support education through leadership, dissemination of research, and development of the next generation of educators.

Toolbox for Authentic Assessment
Developed by Jon Mueller, a college professor, this site includes strategies and standards for authentic assessment. He clearly explains how to develop authentic assessment and offers exemplars of them.

Professional Organizations that provide information on assessment for their constituents on achievement, leadership, policy, and more current topics

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Foundations and Institutions

Brookings Institution
Their thoughtful research and ideas on the importance of a universally well-educated citizenry address many current topics from global issues to local perspectives. Sponsors the Brown Center’s research on education policy.

Edutopia: The George Lucas Educational Foundation
Offers a wide range of resources on teaching and learning and comprehensive assessment information from large-scale to alternative. The site includes readings, videos, and webinars. You are welcome to join groups on many topics from middle school to futurists.

Learning Policy Institute
Conducts and communicates high quality research to improve educational policy and practice. Advances evidence-based practices that support and empower equitable learning for each and every child.

Nellie Mae Education Foundation
Emphasizes public awareness, teacher ownership, effective assessment systems, and preparation of students for life after high school.  It is also the hub for “Students at the Center”.

PEW Center on the States
Pre-K, K-12 and Higher Education are the educational topics of the PEW Foundation. Its research, trends, policy, and view are comprehensive and informative.

RAND Education
RAND is a non-profit institute that seeks to improve policy and decision making in all areas of education through the use of impartial research, accurate data, and objective analysis.

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University/Research

AERA: American Educational Research Association
One of the oldest assessment organizations, AERA is “concerned with improving the educational process by encouraging scholarly inquiry related to education and evaluation and by promoting the dissemination and practical application of research results.”

CRPE: Center for Reinventing Public Education
The Center for Reinventing Public Education is based at the University of Washington conducts independent research and policy analysis on a range of K-12 public education reform issues. Productivity, choice, teacher quality, leadership, and reform are amongst their priorities.

CRESST: Center for Research, Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing
Based at UCLA, this organization conducts rigorous research studies and evaluations of educational programs. It emphasizes the design and use of effective assessments that improve learning outcomes.

SCOPE
“The Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) was founded in 2008 to foster research, policy, and practice to advance high quality, equitable education systems in the United States and internationally.” Website includes current projects, publications, and news on topics relating to assessment systems, performance assessment and assessing deeper learning

ERIC Assessment
This is a clearinghouse for educational assessment and evaluation. There’s a large amount of information, but the full text links require sifting through ads and links to non-education sites

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Government and Policy

NATIONAL

The Nations Report Card from the National Center for Education Statistics: National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
This U.S. Department of Education site summarizes the assessment of what students know and can do based on the NAEP test. It includes State and National scores about a variety of content areas and subgroups.

United States Department of Education
A good starting point for learning more about national issues: standards, policy, budgets, data, and educational research.

What Works Clearinghouse
The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Science summarizes research on effective interventions and practices. If offers recommendations, practice guides, and in-depth studies on improving instruction and assessment.

Institute for Educational Sciences
Independent evaluation and research on educational policy, practices, and statistics that informs evidence-based decision making

STATES

Education Commission of the States
This vast site offers big-picture perspectives on educational policy and practice, research analysis, updates on current issues, and numerous publications that support the exchange of ideas, information, and experiences among the states.

Council of Chief State School Officers
An organization of educational officials who head departments of primary and secondary education in the United States. They bring together leadership on high leverage issues such as workforce, standards, data, innovation, and advocacy.

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FUTURE LEARNING: 21st C., Global, Project Based

The Economist: Preparing Students for the Future
Admittedly, we will not be able to predict the skills needed in the future but they will surely include problem solving, emerging technology, social-emotional skills, and critical thinking.

PBL Works
Information that supports project-based learning as a pathway to deeper learning and describes strategies for assessing them.

P21 Partnership for 21st Century Skills
A national coalition of education and corporate organizations that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student. They fuse three Rs with the four Cs: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.

Curriculum 21
From Heidi Hayes Jacobs, advice and services for updating and mapping curriculum in the 21st century. Her Clearinghouse holds many useful links and resources.

Center for 21st Century Skills at Education Connection
Dedicated to creating opportunities for students to grow and thrive as citizens of the 21st century through the convergence of art, business, technology, innovation, and science.

Asia Society
Supports the development of global competencies in all learners with a range of resources and programs with a special emphasis on 21st century competencies and their assessment

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development/PISA
PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment, is an international test for 15-year-olds in schools throughout the world. Reading, math, and scientific inquiry are measured in the context of skills needed for adult life. Here is where you can find the framework.

International Association for Educational Assessment
A global forum for sharing professional expertise and cooperative research on educational assessment around the world. The site includes research, conferences, and emerging practices.

ISTE International Society for Technology in Education
Considers topics in assessment ranging from digital literacy, to students tech skills, and assessment of 21st century skills