Developing a Standards-Based Assessment System: A Handbook
“This book is like a 101 course for teachers and administrators interested in developing standards-based assessment systems. It’s foundational. It outlines the general steps involved, one by one, and also highlights several challenging, overarching issues educators often face when creating and implementing such systems.
“We wrote the book, in part, because of the interest from teachers who were using some WestEd-developed assessments for career-technical students [Assessments in Career Education (multiple-choice/short written-response exams) and the Career-Technical Assessment Program (an assessment system including a portfolio, project assessment, and written scenarios)]. Many of the teachers were finding the assessments very effective in their classrooms, and they wanted to be able to step back and understand the bigger picture — why standards-based assessment is important, how standards are developed, how different types of assessments can benefit students and teachers, and how assessments can be developed from scratch or customized to meet specific needs. Our overall goal was to provide information to help teachers begin to answer questions like these.
“While it is true that developing and implementing standards-based assessment systems is time-consuming, many educators say that it is well worth the time. The assessments in such systems can provide valuable learning opportunities for students. For example, many teachers swear by cumulative assessments such as portfolios and projects that allow students to refine their work over time, in light of feedback from teachers and others. These types of assessments help students master content knowledge, as well as learn a host of important life skills, such as the ability to plan and carry out complex activities, manage time effectively, solve problems, and evaluate and improve their own work.
“One of the things I’ve heard from a number of teachers is how much assessments help them sharpen their teaching. For example, many career-technical teachers have been surprised by the overall lack of detail in students’ written responses to essay-like test questions. Certain that their students knew more than was on the paper, they asked them the same questions verbally. By using guiding questions to help students elaborate, the teachers confirmed that many of their students were quite knowledgeable, just not well-practiced in conveying their knowledge in writing. These teachers were able to help students improve their writing skills—as well as get credit for all they had learned.”