When Assessment Doesn’t Inform Teaching and Learning, What Needs to Change?

April 17, 2026

What good is a test if it doesn’t improve teaching or learning? Assessment is only as useful as the decisions it informs. When assessment tools are fragmented, poorly designed, or disconnected from classroom reality, educators are left with data but not direction. In this Spotlight, we explore three recent WestEd resources that examine what it takes to build assessment systems, practices, and tools that genuinely support teaching and learning.

Take Stock of Your Assessment Systems

Many schools and districts have no shortage of assessments, but having many tools is not the same as having an effective system. In this recorded webinar, WestEd’s Julie Webb and Tiffany Katanyoutanant explore the key characteristics of coherent and effective local assessment systems and how education leaders can align them with their vision for teaching and learning.

Viewers will come away able to

• identify the key characteristics of coherent and effective local assessment systems;
• evaluate their current assessment system for coherence and effectiveness;
• align assessment tools with local education agency teaching, learning, and improvement goals; and
• apply key elements for achieving coherence across classroom, school, district, and state levels.

Watch Building Assessment Systems Aligned With LEA Teaching and Learning Goals

Make Feedback a Part of the Learning Process

What if students didn’t just receive feedback but also learned to seek it out and use it to move their own learning forward? That’s the promise of formative assessment done well. This blog post explores how formative assessment practices build learner agency and how to foster the skills and mindsets that help students actively guide their own progress.

The post draws on research showing that when teachers use formative assessment effectively, students learn at roughly double the rate compared to classrooms without it. Readers will learn how to

• shift classroom dynamics so that teachers and students share responsibility for assessing progress rather than placing that role solely on the teacher;
• teach the four building blocks of learner agency: metacognition, self-efficacy, learner autonomy, and self-regulation; and
• create a schoolwide learning culture grounded in trust, collaboration, and mutual respect that supports these practices across classrooms.

Read How Formative Assessment Develops Student Agency in the Classroom 

Design Science Assessments for Students to Engage In

Districts across the country are adopting new assessments to improve student outcomes. In this webinar recording, WestEd experts Jenny Sarna and Jill Wertheim examine what distinguishes a high-quality science assessment from one that merely generates test scores.

The session explores how innovative assessment design aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards can provide educators with the insights they need to strengthen instruction while giving students a compelling reason to engage. Viewers will come away able to

• identify innovative assessment design features that provide meaningful, timely data to improve instruction;
• understand how the Next Generation Science Standards reshaped learning goals and what that means for effective science assessment today; and
• recognize the critical decisions leaders must make to align resources, policies, and systems so that assessment supports high-quality instruction.

Watch What Leaders Need to Know About Science Assessments