K-12 schools across the country administer a range of student assessments. But a new survey of K-12 educators reveals a troubling gap between assessment and instruction.
For example, almost all respondents (93%) say it is important to be able to personalize instruction based on assessment results. Unfortunately, only 37% agree strongly that their assessment tools allow them to do so.
The survey also shows that educators want help closing the gap. The good news is that school leaders can deliver this support and strengthen learning.
Struggles across the board
The survey sheds light on why teachers have trouble personalizing instruction. Fewer than half of respondents strongly agree that they can pinpoint student needs (38%), measure students’ progress toward specific learning targets (44%), or give assessments at the right point in a student’s learning journey (46%).
Nor are educators’ struggles confined to a particular type of assessment. According to the survey, classroom assessments for formative use are the most effective, but only 46% of respondents consider them very effective. Even fewer say that teacher-created assessments (45%), progress-monitoring assessments (39%), or interim/benchmark assessments (38%) are very effective.
Add it all up, and you have a recipe for frustration among teachers and students alike.
How to help
So what can school leaders do to address these issues?
In the survey, respondents identify the top three areas where they seek support:
- Training teachers to administer assessments
- Involving teachers in assessment design
- Figuring out how to connect assessment and instruction
Amy Reilly, Pearson’s Vice President of Assessment Product, is encouraged to see training at number one. Many teachers don’t receive enough guidance to know how and when to use each assessment tool, she says. “Assessments vary based on their purpose, and often teachers end up using the results in ways they weren’t designed for.”
Even when teachers employ the appropriate assessment, they must understand the intended uses, the skills being measured, and how the test design supports gauging growth, among other considerations. To master all that takes training.
To make the most of training, school leaders should start by reviewing how their teachers use assessments.
Three tips for connecting assessment and instruction
Tip #1: Conduct training sessions during the school year
It is more convenient to provide training during summer months, when students aren’t in school. But nothing compares to training teachers while they’re reviewing their own students’ data. “Teachers naturally become more engaged in training when they’re evaluating test results from their own students,” Reilly says. “They’re more likely to connect with the protocol for using the assessment data as intended.”
Tip #2: Make sure that assessment design follows best practices
The survey shows that educators want to be involved in assessment design. Such involvement can strengthen the connection between assessment and learning. But school leaders still need to ensure that their assessment tools follow principled design practice and are built on data and a sound measurement model.
Reilly notes, for example, that many teachers pull questions from large item banks. These banks often haven’t been reviewed by educators to ensure alignment to the state academic standards, which ensures valid and reliable data. They may not have been reviewed for bias or stereotyping either.
Tip #3: Improve assessment literacy to avoid misusing data
Teachers need reliable learning evidence from their assessments, but it’s all too common for schools not to generate such data. Reilly recounts the case of a district that came to Pearson for help. “The district created its own assessments and would use one item per standard to determine whether the student had mastered that standard or needed more instruction,” she says. “The problem is that a single item per test doesn’t provide enough data to make inferences about student mastery. Worse, the teachers had no idea whether that single item was easy or hard. In short, the district wasn’t using assessment items properly and wasting the time of both teachers and students.”
Ultimately, the best way to support student learning is to deploy a high-quality, comprehensive, and cohesive assessment system — and train educators on how to use it.
The Pearson Assessment for Learning Suite is a collection of measures and learning resources that makes it easy to assess your students’ academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs while making data-informed decisions to support them. Learn more
Pearson Assessment for Learning Suite
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