Creative thinking is essential for career success in the information age. According to the World Economic Forum, creative thinking ranks as the fastest growing and second-most important skill among employers. Creative thinking also ranks above artificial intelligence (AI) and big data in terms of companies' skills-training priorities for workers.…

Currently, the perceived use of critical theoretical frameworks to shape instruction in public K-12 education is undergoing intense scrutiny in popular and political debate. Chief among such frameworks has been Critical Race Theory (CRT), which, at the time of this writing, has been legally banned or restricted in eighteen states -- with similar…

This research synthesizes studies that used a Digitalized Interactive Component (DIC) to assess K-12 student performance during Computer-based-Assessments (CBAs) in mathematics. A systematic search identified ten studies, including four that provided language assistance and six that provided response-construction support. We reported on the one…

Background: This paper presents the process taken by a nonprofit educational organization to create authentic evaluation tools for Food Education in K-12 schools. Development was a collaborative effort between organization staff and teachers during an Evaluation Summit. The program background, development of the Summit, and plans for post-Summit…

Educators and researchers have been interested in supporting sentence-level language comprehension for struggling readers, but it has been challenging to research. To investigate the properties of sentences that might be useful targets for future research in instruction and assessment, we coded several features of the items in a computer-adaptive…

In the present article, we present a systematical review of previous empirical studies that conducted formative assessment interventions to improve student learning. Previous meta-analysis research on the overall effects of formative assessment on student learning has been conclusive, but little has been studied on important features of formative…

Since March 2020, COVID-19 has required the implementation of remote learning options in K-12 public schools across North Carolina, ranging from fully online classroom experiences to hybrid scenarios in which students attend school both in person and remotely. In some locales, students continue to attend school in person most of the time, but with…

There is a growing call to reconsider current approaches to national and state assessment system policies and practices. State and local education agency leaders, educators, community leaders, and advocates have voiced concerns that current state assessment systems--defined primarily by end-of-year multiple-choice tests--are unable to meet…

Education officials have long hoped that the statewide academic assessments most students take each year could be used not only for accountability but also to guide instruction. Congress established the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) program in 2015 to help address this goal, offering up to seven states temporary flexibility…

This appendix volume supplements "Evaluating the Federal Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority: Early Implementation and Progress of State Efforts to Develop New Statewide Academic Assessments. Evaluation Report. NCEE 2023-004" analyzing the early progress of the first five assessment systems participating in the Innovative…

Education officials have long hoped that the statewide academic assessments most students take each year could be used not only for accountability but also to guide instruction. Congress established the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) program in 2015 to help address this goal, offering up to seven states flexibility from…

Studies have suggested that the effective use of school self-evaluation is one of the best ways of improving schools. Several countries use school self-evaluation as an accountability measure and quality assurance framework to improve schools' and students' academic performance. This article examines teachers' understanding of school…

Using narrow test scores as the only means of accountability does not serve students, teachers, or schools. Jonathan E. Collins writes that policy makers and educators should consider accountability as an education system designed to be accountable to the best version of students. This means assessing outcomes that policy makers too easily…

Science and engineering practices (SEPs) and crosscutting concepts (CCs) constitute a significant part of "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" (NRC 2012). As teachers, the role of the authors is to highlight the pivotal role that both scientific knowledge and the practices used to generate knowledge play in learning. This article…

Numerous headlines have proclaimed just how far behind students have fallen since the COVID-19 pandemic first shuttered schools in March 2020. Many of these headlines report test score changes in "months (or years) of learning" from recent studies. Despite the accessibility (and therefore popularity) of the "months of learning"…