Assessment

A number of studies have examined the value of feeding back into the classroom the results from frequent assessment of students. One approach that has been studied provided teachers with weekly performance graphs on individual students Children in classrooms in which teachers received this feedback performed at significantly higher levels than students in classrooms in which the performance graphs were not available. Other studies have shown that student performance is enhanced still further when instructional materials tailored to each student's progress are provided to teachers along with student performance graphs.

The existing research on the positive effects of frequent classroom assessment suggests the potential of a system that would link statewide content standards, to end-of-year statewide performance assessments, to frequent classroom-based assessment of individual student progress towards year-end goals, to instructional materials individualized to each student's needs. Elements of such a system are in place or are being built here and there, but no state or district is anywhere close to having a seamless, coherent assessment system of the type I've described.