Ask an Expert: Understanding the Educational Assessment Landscape

Across the country, state and district leaders are grappling with stalled pandemic recovery, particularly in mathematics and reading achievement. After conducting initial school visits and reviewing recent accountability assessment results, leaders from the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) wanted to take a closer look at the Territory’s assessment landscape as part of a broader effort to improve student performance. Territory policymakers—who prepare an annual report with a summary of learning for every school—turned to REL Northeast & Islands for timely, practical guidance on assessment practices to inform their recommendations.  

To meet that request, REL Northeast & Islands called on its Ask an Expert (AAE) service to curate evidence-based information and practice-based resources on assessment. Content experts from the AAE team created an overview of assessment types, including how they fit into the education landscape to support high-quality instruction and improve student outcomes. They then shared the findings with members of the USVI Board of Education and Department of Education  in a two-hour virtual meeting. In this blog, we provide highlights from the presentation to support other education leaders as they navigate their own assessment landscape and accountability systems. 

Educational Assessment Types 

In general, educational assessments can be grouped into two broad categories. Assessments for learning occur during the learning process, helping educators track student understanding. Assessments of learning occur after instruction, measuring group-level progress or achievement in relation to specific standards.  

While definitions can vary, most assessments can be considered either diagnostic, formative, interim, or summative (see our fact sheet for a breakdown of each).  

A critical feature of assessment within education systems is coherence—alignment and consistency among assessments and the instructional vision, supported by a shared understanding of how students learn. For an assessment system to be coherent, each type of assessment must work together to inform student achievement, as each produces data with specific strengths and limitations for decision-making.  

The table below summarizes the purpose, gives examples, and lists the inherent strengths and limitations of each assessment type.   

Purpose, Examples, Strengths, and Limitations of Each Assessment Type 

Who Uses Assessment Data and Why 

Each of these assessment types serves a distinct purpose, and different education interest groups rely on them to support particular educational and instructional decision-making. No single assessment can meet everyone’s needs, but collectively they can provide multiple sources of evidence to create a more complete picture of student learning. Below we describe some possible use cases. 

• Students can use formative assessments to identify their strengths and areas for improvement. With support from the adults in their lives, they can then monitor their progress to make adjustments in their learning strategies​. 
• Teachers use diagnostic and formative assessment to adjust their instruction and tailor their support to individual students​. Teachers also use interim or benchmark assessment to monitor progress toward grade-level expectations, adjust pacing, or return to specific concepts. 
• School leaders primarily use interim or benchmark assessments to monitor progress, and summative assessments to evaluate overall school performance. This may be supplemented by diagnostic data when making decisions about interventions​. 
• State leaders typically use summative assessments to monitor system performance across schools, districts, and student groups, close equity gaps, evaluate policies, and fulfill accountability requirements. 
• Families and communities use different assessments to understand progress and advocate for students​. The closer the interest holder is to the student, the more they rely on formative information, and the further from the student/classroom, the more they rely on summative information. 

Questions to Guide Assessment Choice 

To improve student performance, school, district, and state leaders can map their assessment systems to ensure consistency among assessments and the instructional vision, establish a coherent system that specifies how results will be interpreted and used, identify areas of duplication, and note any gaps.  

When leaders review their assessment systems, they can also address local concerns. For example, this review can help to determine if there is a mismatch between assessment design, purpose, and use, and resolve confusion, such as, “Why don’t all tests directly inform instruction?” 

To start this process, leaders can build a shared understanding about how different assessments are designed and how design features shape the intended use. Next, they can make intentional choices about which assessment to use and for what purpose. Leaders can start by asking these three questions: 

1. What decision needs to be made, and does it align with the intended purpose of the assessment results? Asking this first clarifies what evidence is needed and which assessment fits. For example, a teacher receives their interim assessment results and wants to use them to decide how to adjust their daily in-the-moment instruction. Interim assessment results, however, typically show student progress toward standards and don’t provide real-time evidence to inform daily instructional decisions—a mismatch between the question and tool. Interim assessment results are better at answering the question, “Are students on track toward standards or broader learning goals?” If the teacher started with the question, “How do I adjust my daily instruction?” they would find that formative assessment results are better suited to provide the appropriate evidence. Emphasizing the decision to be made and then aligning it with the intended purpose of the tool helps to ensure the correct use of assessment results.  
    
2. What can’t the assessment tell us? ​Asking about the constraints of an assessment can create an evidence boundary so that the limits of a specific assessment are known before decisions are made. For example, interim assessment results can’t explain why students performed the way they did—additional evidence may be needed to answer this question. Identifying what the assessment does not do can help prevent over-interpretation of scores and misuse of the data. 
    
3. What else is needed?​ It is important to ask this question even if the appropriate assessment is identified. Asking this can help determine if the assessment will provide all the information that is needed.​ In the example above, the teacher wanted to adjust their in-the-moment instruction, but to do this well, several different types of formative assessments might be needed (e.g., questioning, observations, exit tickets) to decide how to adjust instruction. Asking this question encourages using multiple measures, which helps limit over-emphasizing some assessments over others. 

USVI’s Response 

USVI leaders left little doubt about the impact of the guidance the AAE provided.  In a note to the AAE team following the presentation, members wrote: “The comprehensive analysis you provided concerning summative, interim, diagnostic, and formative assessments significantly enhanced our collective understanding of the distinct purposes, methodologies, and implications associated with each assessment framework. Your expertise provided our leadership teams and stakeholders with meaningful guidance as we continue strengthening educational policy, instructional efficacy, and systemic accountability throughout the Territory.”  

Recommended Resources: 

• Making Sense of Educational Assessment. This REL Northeast & Islands fact sheet examines the different purposes for and types of educational assessment.  
• A Common Language for Discussing the Goals, Characteristics and Components of Balanced Assessment Systems. This technical guidance and conceptual framework document establishes a common language and terminology for balanced assessment systems. 
• Implementing Balanced Assessment Systems: A Practical Guidebook for Districts and Schools. This practice guide provides research-informed implementation guidance.  
• A Policymaker’s Guide to State Summative Assessment Systems. This guide provides information for policymakers around state summative assessment systems.  
• A State discussion Guide to Understanding, Developing and Sustaining Balanced Assessment Systems That Are Inclusive of All Students. This is a discussion guide and framework for practice-oriented guidance. 
• 2025 Policy Priorities What States Can Do to Improve Assessment and Accountability Systems. This guide provides organizational policy recommendations.