Lead with Learning How States Can Foster and

Lead with Learning: How States Can Foster and Scale Assessment Innovation Through ESSA 28 June 2017 Roneeta Guha Learning Policy institute Gene Wilhoit Executive Director Center for Innovation in Education

ESSA’s Guiding Messages • • • High Learning Goals with Latitude Public Engagement Better Assessments Turn Around Low Performers Use Resources to Support Learning

Accountability for Meaningful Learning in the 51 st State – State and Local Partnership Locally selected assessments of student progress (i. e. , DRA) K-2 3 -4 5 -6 7 -8 9 – 10 11 -12 CCR State Validation Assessment Graduation Portfolio Disaggregated Data Assessment Quality Assurance (reviews local assessment plans) 3

States are continuing focus on assessment of and for learning, shifting relative emphasis from of to for 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2025 Assessment OF Learning (PARCC, Smarter Balanced) Assessment FOR Learning (ALP, etc. )

Fundamentally Rethinking Assessment

The Assessment for Learning Project (ALP) focuses on formative assessment as a high leverage practice to improve student outcomes through lines of inquiry called a Learning Agenda: A Learning Orientation • How can assessment support a broader definition of student success? • What assessment practices most effectively empower students to own and advance their learning? • How can we build educator capacity to gather, interpret, and use evidence of student learning to enhance instruction? • How does assessment for learning inform broader contexts of accountability, policy, and system design? • How can we pursue equity through assessment for learning?

The Assessment for Learning Project (ALP) works through Grant Making as Collective Learning and Field Building to: A Learning Community • Generate assessment solutions that measure what matters most in support of deeper learning • Develop proof points that create productive dialogue between local assessment innovations and the policy contexts within which they live • Develop tools and resources – such as an Equity Lens for Assessment Practice – for widespread transfer and adaptation • Galvanize the field to #rethinkassessment States need political will, stronger evidence of success, more models for how it could work, and more pressure from the grassroots to set the stage for policy change The goal is to strengthen the local work on assessment and find more deliberate ways for it to begin influencing state policies and decisions

Grantee Lines of Inquiry – Performance Assessment Grantee Work Learning Questions Fairfax (VA) – leading a 13 district consortium NIC investigating student-led assessment as a means to deeper learning • Can the introduction of complex projects as part of graduation requirements build student agency and counterbalance the influence of traditional summatives on instruction? • Can districts working collaboratively produce sufficient evidence and support to influence policy and support broad scale adoption of student-led assessment as an integral part of their overall systems of assessment? Ed. Week – What Happens When Students Design Their Own Assessments?

Grantee Lines of Inquiry – Performance Assessment Grantee Work Learning Questions Center for Collaborative Education, with Cntr for Teaching Quality and Rhode Island DOE Piloting a microcredentialing system for practitioners in designing performance tasks in personalized, proficiency-based • Can we do a better job of joining professional learning to high academic expectations if we engage teachers in performance-based learning through collaborative inquiry, using real student work, and support them to develop their own agency as learners? • Can we contribute transformation of culture in schools by validating the assessment expertise of practitioners and preparing them to lead shifts in practice, if we create a set of micro-credentials in assessment and support a cohort of teacher leaders in attaining them? systems See first prototype here

Grantee Lines of Inquiry – Performance Assessment Grantee Work Learning Questions Del Lago Academy, small school in Escandido CA • Implementing Next Generation Science Standards competencies • using digital badges validated by industry and college partners • See first prototype here How can K 12 partner with industry to develop meaningful assessments that certify scholars as ready for internships and industry -level work? If performance assessment is the application of skills to meaningful tasks in context of instruction, what happens when you transfer application to real world tasks? Are badges an effective way to bundle and transfer performance tasks as evidence of learning to other contexts and constituencies?

California Performance Assessment Collaborative (CPAC) Presented at the CCSSO National Conference on Student Assessment • Roneeta Guha • June 28, 2017

What is CPAC? The California Performance Assessment Collaborative (CPAC) is statewide network of schools and districts working to advance innovative performance assessments, which tap into students’ higher order thinking skills to perform, create, or produce something with realworld applications. These can include portfolios or senior exhibition projects. The defense is an important part of the process.

Shared CPAC Principles 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Assessments aligned to competencies Rubrics and/or clear criteria of competence Multiple opportunities for revision Collection and/or exhibition of evidence Authentic audience Continuous improvement Student ownership Reflection Equity

Current CPAC Participants 40+ schools across 12 districts and 6 school networks Districts Networks Fresno Unified* Big Picture Hayward Unified Linked Learning Jefferson Union High Envision Long Beach Unified* High Tech High Los Angeles Unified* Internationals Oakland Unified* New Tech Pasadena Unified* Sacramento City Unified San Diego Unified San Francisco Unified* San Mateo Union High Sequoia Union High *Active district participation

Four strands of work within CPAC 1. Policy 2. Practice 3. Research 4. Communications Current Opportunity: CPAC schools and networks of schools who are engaged in (or want to develop) capstone projects / portfolios for graduation will: ü Collaborate for learning and sharing ü Document and research learnings and growth ü Contribute to state and district policy discussions

Policy § Contribute to state-level policy conversations about how highquality graduation performance assessments can serve as viable alternatives to standardized tests. § Influence more districts to adopt local graduation policies that require students to successfully complete a performance assessment for graduation. § Shift higher education admissions policies away from traditional test measures and toward the inclusion of performance assessments that provide a more holistic view of students’ mastery of critical skills and their potential for postsecondary success.

Practice § Convenings focused on problems of practice – – § § Workshops Student panels Classroom visits Observation of defenses Webinars Newsletters Site visits Practitioner steering committee

Research Four profiles completed – more to come.

Communications § CPAC Webpage § Blogs § Articles § Videos

Check out our webpage! learningpolicyinstitute. org/proj ect/cpac

Visit ALP website www. assessmentforlearningproject. org Read first ALP Milestone Report here Contact us Gene. Wilhoit@gmail. com Roneeta Guha