Transforming Statewide High School Assessment Systems: - Achieve

Although the graduation policies in Oregon and Rhode Island are relatively new, each state sees performance assessments as a promisingmeans to expand the knowledge and set of skills that high schools assess and to influence the quality of teaching and learning. Measuringcollege and career readiness through performance assessments will require significant guidance and monitoring from the state, but thesetwo states’ experiences demonstrate the possibilities of this approach.Ohio: Piloting a Next-Generation Assessment System and Common Performance MeasuresIn 2007, Achieve and McKinsey & Company released a study that benchmarked Ohio’s education policies against internationalbest practices. 41 One key recommendation is that, while Ohio’s assessment system is in good shape, it should be strengthened toinclude more measures of college and career readiness, including performance measures and classroom-based tasks.Ohio leaders also have determined that its current 10th grade high school assessments have several unintended consequences.These unintended consequences include:Teachers feeling pressure to teach to the test, to focus on students who are “barely proficient” and near the cutoff forpassing, instead of focusing on stretching students to their potential.The tests focusing on basic, rather than college- and career-ready, skills and having low-level tasks instead ofquestions that emphasize higher-order thinking and reasoning skillsIn response, the Ohio Department of Education has launched a pilot program to design Ohio’s “next generation” assessmentsystem. The pilot program has several key design principles:Ohio’s assessment system should involve teachers more as partners.Assessment data should inform education decisions for all students and be driven by the curriculum, rather than theother way around.The system should measure all high school standards, not just those that can be tested on paper-and-pencilassessment.The system should signal college and career readiness for 11th and 12th graders.Multiple measures are important to gain a complete picture of student learning.The system should help assess and meet the legislative intent of Ohio’s new college- and career-ready graduationrequirements.The system should assess “21st-century skills” as well as academic skills—including learning and innovation skills;information, media and technology skills; and life and career skills’ flexibility and adaptability.To meet these goals, the pilot program will engage a representative sample of volunteer school districts (who will be selectedthrough an application process) to develop a curriculum-embedded performance assessment model collaboratively in English,mathematics and/or science for the 11th and 12th grades. In addition, participating districts will receive professional developmentand support to design course syllabi and performance tasks, use scoring rubrics and align the tasks with college-ready expectations.The assessment model will be consistent across the participating districts and will be piloted during the 2009–10 school year. 42Transforming Statewide High School Assessment Systems: A Guide for State Policymakers 37