Classroom Observations: How a District Has Gained a 360-Degree View of the Whole Child with Robust Assessment Data
by
For years, there has been pushback from caregivers, students, and educators that “teaching to the test” has been the undoing of education. There is a perception that every minute spent taking a test, whether it’s day-to-day formative assessments or mandated end-of-year summative assessments, cuts into instructional time and hinders learning. According to Dr. Laine Bradshaw, Executive Partner, Measurement & Learning at Pearson, carefully designed assessments can do more than measure learning. They can promote active learning and retrieval, while providing the data educators need to understand what students have mastered and where additional support is needed.
Dr. Bradshaw notes that assessment data can provide granular insights into a student's learning journey, helping educators identify both mastery and skill gaps that may require intervention. The data can be used to understand student mastery and define achievement and skill gaps. Educators can then fill these gaps with classroom interventions, such as reading and math specialists, that add an extra layer of educational support for teachers.
Data is also used to designate small groups, make summer school decisions that help bridge education gaps, and even improve attendance. At Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) #80 in Arizona, they use assessment data holistically to assign a risk level to students based on their attendance, behavior, and course grades. “Teachers use these risk levels to start conversations with students and their caregivers about the barriers they are facing and whether they need additional supports such as a counselor or social worker,” explains Jennifer Fletcher, Ph.D., Assistant Superintendent of PreK-12 Student Services for CUSD.
Assessments are Active Learning Occasions
Dr. Bradshaw notes that it’s imperative to use classroom assessments as active learning occasions, not just for data collection. “We work with school districts to create assessments that give students rigorous, high-quality, complex tasks to complete,” she explains. “It is an opportunity to use their brain, without a book, notes, or peer discussion, to consider and solve a problem. These active learning occasions engage students in a way that can actually strengthen student understanding.”
Dr. Bradshaw points to cognitive science research showing that when students work deeply with a problem, they draw on long-term memory to retrieve knowledge and make connections that support learning. She notes that this retrieval process plays an important role in strengthening and solidifying learning.
“We help districts understand that assessment occasions require students to actively retrieve knowledge in a way that simply sitting and listening to someone explain a concept does not,” says Dr. Bradshaw. “Listening to a concept is a more passive type of learning. We design assessments that truly engage students and promote this knowledge retrieval process.”
Chandler Unified School District Turns Opposition into Opportunity
Chandler Unified School District (CUSD), the 2nd-largest district in Arizona, has invested significant energy in recent years in building systems around assessments and the resulting data. “Post-COVID, we received a lot of feedback about the number of assessments,” notes Dr. Fletcher. “Teachers, students, and caregivers didn’t understand why they were being administered and how the data was being used.”
CUSD used this opposition as an opportunity to develop the district’s Balanced Assessment Framework pyramid, which defines every assessment and its purpose. “Over the last four years, we’ve spent a lot of time educating our staff about the pyramid and getting them to hone in on those critical assessments that can actually help drive student success,” notes Dr. Fletcher. “The Balanced Assessment Framework helps to communicate the timing and relevance of each assessment to parents and educators, and ensures that data makes sense and is usable.”
Evaluating the Assessment Burden
CUSD also created the pyramid to re-evaluate assessment burdens and ensure they don’t take away from instructional time. “It’s vital to find a balance between assessments and instruction, so several years ago, we conducted an analysis to calculate the number of minutes a child spends testing at each grade level. It was essentially an autopsy report,” explains Dr. Fletcher. This autopsy helped the district cull unnecessary assessments but also build a case for their use.
Dr. Bradshaw agrees that it’s important to weed out multiple assessments designed for the same purpose. This can happen when a new assessment framework is adopted, but the old assessments weren’t dropped, so you end up doing both. Pearson helps clients to define the purpose of each assessment, the system they’re using, and whether there are duplicates.
“When we work with school districts, we hear these concerns about the assessment burden all the way up to the state and national level,” she explains. “This is why we advocate for a balanced assessment portfolio that avoids redundancy and focuses on the specific purposes of each assessment. We want to build a portfolio comprised of assessments that provide the needed signals, but not assessments with results that no one will actually use.”
CUSD Data Analysis Protocol
CUSD also developed a Data Analysis Protocol to help educators determine what they are trying to learn from assessment data and the decisions it can inform. There are 4 steps to this data analysis protocol:
1. Describe the data
Describing the data helps answer what students can do well and what they are struggling with.
2. Interpret the Data
Look for patterns and trends that address the purpose, as well as unexpected ones.
3. Reflect on the Data
Reflecting on the data challenges teachers to ask themselves:
- What do I know, and what do I still need to know?
- What is my frame of reference?
- What role did I play in these results?
4. Develop a Plan and Change
The ultimate goal of this data analysis protocol is to develop a continuous cycle of improvement by asking:
- How will I address each student's needs and the class’s needs?
- How will I monitor and adjust my teaching?
- What high-yield teaching strategies will I implement?
CUSD believes that good data analysis requires frequently reviewing data, using quality data, and triangulating data. Data triangulation involves using multiple data sources to identify patterns and inconsistencies, helping the data user better understand each student and their needs.
The Pearson Assessment for Learning Suite is a category of K–12 assessments that support educators, caregivers, and students in improving their educational outcomes. Within the suite, our products include state standards-based measures for interim and formative purposes, skill-based screeners and progress monitoring tools to support MTSS/RTI programs, and additional screeners for early literacy, dyslexia, and behavior. Together, as part of a system of assessments, they form powerful insights into the needs of students.