Assessment

Look beyond high-stakes testing to learn about different ways of assessing the full range of student ability -- social, emotional, and academic achievement.

Overview

Assessment for Understanding

Standardized tests aren't the only way of gauging student achievement. Through various measures, including portfolios, presentations, and tests, educators are using performance assessments to measure what students know and can do. Watch an introduction video.

History

Comprehensive Assessment: A Short History

Comprehensive assessment embraces the whole system of assessing student understanding as a mechanism to improve teaching and learning. Learn more.

Experts

What the Experts Say

Educators and researchers share their views on why authentic assessment is a critical piece of the learning process. See what the experts say.

Research

Research: Integrating Assessment into Classroom Practice

Assessment is the single most effective instructional strategy to increase learning. Learn about the key comprehensive assessment practices that have been shown by research to promote learning. Dig deeper.

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Making Failure Harder Work Than Passing

Last comment 3 days 8 hours ago

38 676 71,954 views

Mastering Self-Assessment: Deepening Independent Learning Through the Arts

Last comment 1 day 2 hours ago

5 49 4,588 views

Making Learning Meaningful and Lasting

Last comment 1 week 6 days ago

6 637 28,250 views

Mastering Self-Assessment: Deepening Independent Learning Through the Arts

Tue, 10/04/2016 - 10:00

5 49 4,588 views

Making Failure Harder Work Than Passing

Wed, 09/30/2015 - 10:00

38 676 71,954 views

How are we identifying gifted students? And is it working?

Mon, 08/09/2010 - 15:10

15 9 1,449 views

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Assessment Videos See More Videos

Photo of students sitting in a large circle

The Intensified Socratic Seminar Assessment Guide

Download two blank assessment handouts, one for peer evaluation of student performance in Socratic seminar discussions, one for student self-assessment.

3 2,414 views

Individual Learning Plan

Download the student learning plan template used at KIPP King Collegiate High School to help students monitor their own growth and development.

1 11,348 views

Student Feedback Survey

Use this short survey to let students provide feedback on their classes.

1 5,553 views

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Article

U.S. Math Scores Fall in Global Rankings

The latest PISA rankings show a decline in U.S. math scores, but experts say that focusing on successes at home may be more important.

2 265 1,206 views

An illustration of a heart and a brain on a weighing scale measured at equal weight.

Article

Assessment: We Cannot Improve at Scale What We Cannot Measure

Assessment needs to directly connect with the goals of a school or district -- this is not the case with the current standardized testing system.

1 20 4,587 views

Schools That Work

Mastering Self-Assessment: Deepening Independent Learning Through the Arts

Develop your students' ability to self-assess by showing them examples of mastery, equipping them with technical vocabulary, and providing them with opportunities to practice peer critique.

5 49 4,588 views

A female teen is standing in a school hallway talking to a male teacher; there are dance fliers on a bulletin board on the wall beside them.

Article

7 Steps to Becoming a Data-Driven School

Learn to access the right data: the why (why do your students not get it?) and the how (how can you reteach content to stick?).

3 68 11,831 views

A stack of four notebooks are on a classroom desk with three pencils lying on top of them. A blurred out chalkboard is shown in the background.

Article

Interactive Notebooks: No Special Hardware Required

Here's an old-school interactive tool: a spiral-bound notebook set up as a simple, functional system for students to create, write, and explore ideas all in the same place.

22 1,919 24,629 views

Graphic of a start flag attached to a hammer

article

13 Free Teacher Downloads for Back to School

All of Edutopia’s downloadable and printable back-to-school resources are collected here for easy classroom reference.

3 1,984 60,606 views

A closeup of a young girl with pigtails in a yellow long sleeve shirt, black pants, and glasses kneeling down, connecting white tubes together, creating a table with a young boy who is squatting.

Article

Assessment in Making

As we integrate maker education into the curriculum, we should determine whether it raises test scores, how it aligns with standards, and how we can assess making.

2 197 13,039 views

Pages

Article

Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding

Through alternative formative assessment, teachers can check for student understanding without falling back on the tedious or intimidating pop quiz.

43 735 476,394 views

article

Resources for Understanding the Common Core State Standards

Explore an educator's guide to websites, organizations, articles, and other resources looking at the new system of standards and how they will be assessed.

37 2,340 399,370 views

article

What Are Some Types of Assessment?

There are many alternatives to traditional standardized tests that offer a variety of ways to measure student understanding, from Edutopia.org's Assessment Professional Development Guide.

2 72 382,468 views

Article

8 Strategies for Teaching Academic Language

Edutopia blogger Todd Finley explains how academic language differs from social language and offers eight specific strategies for teaching the vocabulary that students require to succeed in the Common Core and on the SAT.

36 290 310,755 views

article

Why Is Assessment Important?

Asking students to demonstrate their understanding of the subject matter is critical to the learning process; it is essential to evaluate whether the educational goals and standards of the lessons are being met. From Edutopia.org's Assessment Professional...

2 182 309,789 views

Article

Using Webb's Depth of Knowledge to Increase Rigor

Norman Webb's Depth of Knowledge Levels is a system that categorizes tasks according to the complexity of thinking required to successfully complete them.

6 240 271,639 views

article

How Should We Measure Student Learning? 5 Keys to Comprehensive Assessment

Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond shares how using well-crafted formative and performance assessments, setting meaningful goals, and giving students ownership over the process can powerfully affect teaching and learning.

58 1,080 256,910 views

Pages

Newsome Park elementary student holding a worm from the worm bin

Article

Assessment Professional Development Guide

An overview of the Edutopia professional development guide for understanding the many ways to assess student learning in the classroom.

79 29,699 views

Classroom Guide: Top Ten Tips for Assessing Project-Based Learning

This guide will inspire and expand your thinking about effective assessment for project-based learning. Tips are organized to follow the arc of a project: planning, launch into active learning, and then a culminating presentation. Reflection is the final...

2 3,450 106,724 views

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