Through-year assessment is enjoying a surge of attention, with more than a dozen states designing, piloting, or implementing versions of this assessment model to replace their current end-of-year summative test for accountability. Through-year programs may provide benefits, but will also demand significant tradeoffs. Because through-year programs pose many conceptual, technical and practical challenges, states will have to make even harder choices among competing priorities than typical testing programs demand.
This paper explores three clusters of important considerations about through-year assessment, and provides practical recommendations for each: (1) their conceptualization and design; (2) their relationship to curriculum and instruction; and (3) their logistical and technical challenges.
The paper includes an appendix of through-year programs states are using or considering, organized into common models. The authors conclude by urging states to carefully interrogate the trade-offs inherent in any through-year assessment program, bearing in mind their state’s vision and goals.
Watch our webinar based on this paper.
Related resources:
Papers:
- An Introduction to Considerations for Through-Year Assessment Programs: Purposes, Design, Development, Evaluation
- Content Progressions & Clustering Across Instructional Materials: Viability for Supporting the Design of a Through-Year Assessment Model
- Using Interim Assessments in Place of Summative Assessments? Consideration of an ESSA Option
Blog posts:
- Face It: Tests Have Consequences: Evaluating the Validity of Through-Year Assessments
- Through-Year Assessment: A Radical Renegotiation of the School Accountability Contract
- Can a State Test Inform Instruction? The Typical, the Improbable, and the Possibilities in the Messy Middle
- All I Wanted for Christmas Was a Through Year Assessment System that Promotes Deeper Learning
- But Will It Work in Practice? Practical Challenges to the Use of Through-Year Assessment for Accountability
- Collaboratively Learning About Through Year Assessments: It Will Take a Village to Fulfill the Opportunities of Through Year Assessment Systems
- Educating Pablo: A Play About Through Course Assessment Systems
- Could Two Through Year Assessment Designs Provide Both Summative and Instructional Information?
- Why Has it Been So Difficult to Develop a Viable Through Year Assessment System?
Presentations from The Center’s convening on through-year assessment
