This guide uses the term assessment which is defined as “The process of obtaining information that is used to make educational decisions about students, to give feedback to the student about his or her progress, strengths, and weaknesses, to judge instructional effectiveness and curricular adequacy, and to inform policy.” (AFT, NCME, NEA, 1990, p.1)

A district assessment plan is defined as the district's purposes and practices related to the identification, collection, and use of student achievement, demographic, program, and perception data for decision-making leading to the improvement of teaching and learning.

The following four guiding principles for assessment included in this Evidence of Student Success Guide are adapted from Cherry Creek School Board Policy on Assessment and Evaluation. Cherry Creek, Colorado, 1997.

1. Clear Purpose - Simply stated, the overarching purpose of all assessment activity is to enhance student performance and growth. Specifically assessments that relate to 8 purposes within 3 general areas:

• Improvement of student learning
   
  • Assessments provide data to help teachers create an instructional focus for their classrooms and for individual students.
  • Assessments provide data to support and validate teacher judgements of student proficiency.
  • Assessments allow teachers to monitor student progress over time.
  • The assessment process must include feedback of results to students and parents.
     
• Improvement of instructional programs
   
  • Assessment data allows us to monitor student achievement related to instructional program objectives.
  • Assessment data provide the basis for school profiles that can be used for school improvement.
  • Assessment data help us to evaluate school and district programs. These data provide valuable insights to curriculum alignment efforts.
     
• Public accountability and support
   
  • Assessment reports inform the Board of Education, school communities, and our district community as a whole about the quality of district educational programs, and provide comparative information about district programs and others in the nation.
     

2. Quality Data - Widely recognized standards of quality guide the selection of publishers, tests, and the development of district created assessments.

   These five quality standards are adapted from Guiding Principles For Performance Assessment: Proceedings of the 1994 National Association of Test Directors Annual Symposium. (1994) and Linn, Baker, and Dunbar (1991). These include:

• Meaningfulness. An assessment should evaluate content or processes that are important and meaningful to students, teachers, and parents.
   
• Technical rigor. Assessments must meet standards of validity, consistency, and reliability. This is especially important if assessment results are part of “high stakes” decisions. District-created assessments must be pilot-tested and results examined to assure acceptable levels of technical quality. Classroom assessments must meet appropriate levels of technical rigor.
   
• Generalizability. Assessment results should reveal valid insights about student knowledge and skill beyond the specific task(s) of the assessment. For example, results on a performance assessment of mathematics should yield information that generalize to the student's overall mathematics knowledge and skills.
   
• Cost Effectiveness. Quality and usefulness of the information from assessments must be weighted against the costs of collection, reporting, and interpretation. Such costs must take into account the participation time of test developers, teachers, administrators, and students.
   
• Equitability/Protection of Students. Assessment content and format are examined for potential inequitability in terms of systematic ethnic, socioeconomic, or gender bias prior to any recommendation for district use. Even though all tests have a bias, results should be examined to minimize adverse effects or impact.
   

3. Multiple Indicators - No single assessment or assessment type provides a complete picture of what students know and can do. Therefore, no single test score determines student proficiency or ensures inclusion in special programs. Teachers view student performance as a profile that includes assessment results, performance on classroom projects and activities, teacher observations, and informal classroom assessments. No single assessment provides a complete picture of the effectiveness of a program or a school. In other words the three elements of multiple indicators are:
    
   • Multiple tests
   • Multiple modalities or ways to demonstrate proficiency
   • Multiple times or testing opportunities
      
   Regarding the topic of multiple indicators, Stiggins research indicates there will be a benefit in student achievement to match assessment targets to assessment methods. He provides a plan for matching assessment methods with achievement targets which follows.

   	Selected Response	Essay	Performance Assessment	Personal Communication
   Know
   Reason
   Skills
   Products
   Dispositions

    

   (Richard J. Stiggins, Student-Centered Classroom Assessment. 2nd edition, 1997 Prentice-Hall inc.
    

4. Culture of Assessment - In making evaluative decisions, the major focus is on the educational value that programs and curricula add to individual students and to student groups over time. The culture of assessment implies measuring and reporting growth over and above the economic, demographic, and prior knowledge characteristics that students bring to learning situations.
   • Student growth towards proficiency
   • Communication of assessment information
   • Informed judgements about learning and teaching
   • Understanding and using assessment results that lead to
     
     • improved standard-based instruction
     • continuous improvement over time at district, school, and classroom level
     • informed decision-making
     • equity for all students
     • research-based practices

Wisconsin's Standard and Assessment Center directors believe a successful school uses assessments to gather evidence to create the portrait of a successful student. Good principles of assessment dictate determining acceptable performance at the onset of any task. One example of a successful student has been generated by the Maple School District around the following 7 characteristics:

• Knowledgeable person
• Socially responsible citizen
• Collaborative worker
• Effective communicator
• Complex thinker
• Self-directed learner
• Healthy individual