Resources
MCIEA
MCIEA Fact Sheet
A quick synopsis of MCIEA and our work with Massachusetts educators over the last year.
GreatSchools Wanted to Disrupt Online School Ratings. But Did It Make Neighborhood Segregation Worse?
by Daniel Vock
This MotherJones report explores the damage caused by reductive school rating systems and how MCIEA serves as an alternative solution.
How 6 Mass. Communities Are Imagining Life Beyond MCAS
by Max Larkin and Carrie Jung
This WBUR report highlights some of the schools and leaders in MCIEA laying the groundwork for assessment change in Massachusetts.
The New Accountability
This four-page flyer gives a comprehensive look at MCIEA's vision, principles, and goals, as well as the work we've accomplished thus far.
A quick synopsis of MCIEA and our work with Massachusetts educators over the last year.
GreatSchools Wanted to Disrupt Online School Ratings. But Did It Make Neighborhood Segregation Worse?
by Daniel Vock
This MotherJones report explores the damage caused by reductive school rating systems and how MCIEA serves as an alternative solution.
How 6 Mass. Communities Are Imagining Life Beyond MCAS
by Max Larkin and Carrie Jung
This WBUR report highlights some of the schools and leaders in MCIEA laying the groundwork for assessment change in Massachusetts.
The New Accountability
This four-page flyer gives a comprehensive look at MCIEA's vision, principles, and goals, as well as the work we've accomplished thus far.
Accountability Systems
In Search of a Better Accountability System
by Dan French
Through more than 20 years of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), we have lived with a uniform definition of accountability, that of a standardized test used to make determinations of student learning and school and district progress. It is time to question some of the assumptions underlying this practice.
The Best of Both Worlds
by Jack Schneider, Joe Feldman, and Dan French
Relying on teachers’ assessments for the information currently provided by standardized test scores would save instructional time, better capture the true abilities of diverse students, and reduce the problem of teaching to the test. The article offers guidelines and caveats to those interested in pursuing this work.
Creating Systems of Assessment for Deeper Learning
by David Conley and Linda Darling-Hammond
This report describes how state policymakers and education leaders can strategically design systems of assessment and accountability in ways that support learning for students, educators, and systems, alike. Drawing on research and successful practices in the United States and abroad, the report offers a blueprint for new systems of assessment that are able to support the development of deeper learning skills, to generate instructionally useful diagnostic information, and to provide insights about a wider range of student capacities.
by Dan French
Through more than 20 years of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), we have lived with a uniform definition of accountability, that of a standardized test used to make determinations of student learning and school and district progress. It is time to question some of the assumptions underlying this practice.
The Best of Both Worlds
by Jack Schneider, Joe Feldman, and Dan French
Relying on teachers’ assessments for the information currently provided by standardized test scores would save instructional time, better capture the true abilities of diverse students, and reduce the problem of teaching to the test. The article offers guidelines and caveats to those interested in pursuing this work.
Creating Systems of Assessment for Deeper Learning
by David Conley and Linda Darling-Hammond
This report describes how state policymakers and education leaders can strategically design systems of assessment and accountability in ways that support learning for students, educators, and systems, alike. Drawing on research and successful practices in the United States and abroad, the report offers a blueprint for new systems of assessment that are able to support the development of deeper learning skills, to generate instructionally useful diagnostic information, and to provide insights about a wider range of student capacities.
Performance Assessment
Teacher Learning Through Assessment: How Student Performance Assessments Can Support Teacher Learning
by Linda Darling-Hammond and Beverly Falk
This paper describes how teacher learning through involvement with student-performance assessments has been accomplished in the United States and around the world, particularly in countries that have been recognized for their high-performing educational systems. The authors discuss how teachers' engagement with performance assessments influences their understanding of the standards and their students' abilities.
Quality Performance Assessment Tools and Resources
Performance assessment is a rich field and ample resources are available to guide our collective thinking and practice. Quality Performance Assessment tools are available for download; Access to this content is complimentary, but you will be asked to register.
New Hampshire's Performance Assessment of Competency Education (PACE)
NH PACE is a first-in-the-nation accountability strategy that offers a reduced level of standardized testing together with locally developed common performance assessments. These assessments are designed to support deeper learning through competency education, and to be more integrated into students’ day-to-day work than current standardized tests.
Ready for the Future: The Role of Performance Assessments in Shaping Graduates’ Academic, Professional, and Personal Lives
by Laurie Gagnon
Based on in-depth interviews with graduates from three Boston Public Schools with well-established performance-based assessment systems, this paper analyzes graduates’ preparation for future academic, professional, and personal endeavors. Overall, despite a few challenge areas, graduates who were interviewed say the study schools’ performance assessment systems contributed to their success in college and in the world of work.
Performance Assessment at Center for Collaborative Education
Read about Quality Performance Assessment in more detail. The Center for Collaborative Education hosts a variety of reports and articles on assessment on its website.
by Linda Darling-Hammond and Beverly Falk
This paper describes how teacher learning through involvement with student-performance assessments has been accomplished in the United States and around the world, particularly in countries that have been recognized for their high-performing educational systems. The authors discuss how teachers' engagement with performance assessments influences their understanding of the standards and their students' abilities.
Quality Performance Assessment Tools and Resources
Performance assessment is a rich field and ample resources are available to guide our collective thinking and practice. Quality Performance Assessment tools are available for download; Access to this content is complimentary, but you will be asked to register.
New Hampshire's Performance Assessment of Competency Education (PACE)
NH PACE is a first-in-the-nation accountability strategy that offers a reduced level of standardized testing together with locally developed common performance assessments. These assessments are designed to support deeper learning through competency education, and to be more integrated into students’ day-to-day work than current standardized tests.
Ready for the Future: The Role of Performance Assessments in Shaping Graduates’ Academic, Professional, and Personal Lives
by Laurie Gagnon
Based on in-depth interviews with graduates from three Boston Public Schools with well-established performance-based assessment systems, this paper analyzes graduates’ preparation for future academic, professional, and personal endeavors. Overall, despite a few challenge areas, graduates who were interviewed say the study schools’ performance assessment systems contributed to their success in college and in the world of work.
Performance Assessment at Center for Collaborative Education
Read about Quality Performance Assessment in more detail. The Center for Collaborative Education hosts a variety of reports and articles on assessment on its website.
School Quality Measures
School Quality Beyond Test Scores
This quick one-page flyer offers a comprehensive overview of the school quality measures and how they offer a more holistic view of what makes a good school.
Student Survey-based Measures of School Quality
by Michael P. Kelly, Richard Feistman, Jack Schneider, and James Noonan
This report explores whether seven of twelve student perception measures of school quality are reliable and uni-dimensional based on 2016 pilot data. In light of that analysis, the report also proposes suggestions for the continued improvement of those measures.
Why Multiple Measures?
by Jack Schneider
This white paper discusses how existing accountability systems are not measuring all of what matters in public education, and they are holding schools accountable for only a narrow slice of their full mission. Multiple measures can ameliorate many of the most obvious flaws in present measurement and accountability systems by expanding the number of school quality indicators.
Beyond Test Scores: Introducing the MCIEA School Quality Measures
by James Noonan
What makes a good school? The MCIEA School Quality Measures project considers what each unique school community brings to the table by considering multiple measures of school quality, rather than creating a rigid, zero-sum standard.
Appreciative Inquiry for School Quality
Compiled by James Noonan
A collection of tools and protocols for describing, understanding, and acting upon MCIEA's School Quality Measures.
MCIEA School Quality Measures Reliability Analyses: Results from the 2016 - 2017 Student and Teacher Surveys
by Edward J. Kim
This brief white paper explores the reliability of the SQM survey scales and how these findings have impacted the SQM student and teacher surveys moving forward.
Building a Better Measure of School Quality
by Jack Schneider, Rebecca Jacobsen, Rachel White, and Hunter Gehlbach
This article reviews the development of the school quality framework used by MCIEA and explores how it can give parents and community members a fuller and more nuanced picture of schools.
Visions of Education Podcast: Measuring School Quality with Jack Schneider
In this episode of the Visions of Education podcast, hosts Michael and Dan discuss measuring school quality with Jack Schneider, Director of Research for MCIEA.
The (Mis)measure of Schools: How Data Affect Stakeholder Knowledge and Perceptions of Quality
by Jack Schneider, Rebecca Jacobsen, Rachel White, and Hunter Gehlbach
Researchers conducted a randomized experiment, using a modified deliberative polling experience to test how parents and community members would respond to a broader array of school performance data. This article examines the influence of test scores and more holistic measures of school quality in shaping public understandings of familiar and unfamiliar schools.
This quick one-page flyer offers a comprehensive overview of the school quality measures and how they offer a more holistic view of what makes a good school.
Student Survey-based Measures of School Quality
by Michael P. Kelly, Richard Feistman, Jack Schneider, and James Noonan
This report explores whether seven of twelve student perception measures of school quality are reliable and uni-dimensional based on 2016 pilot data. In light of that analysis, the report also proposes suggestions for the continued improvement of those measures.
Why Multiple Measures?
by Jack Schneider
This white paper discusses how existing accountability systems are not measuring all of what matters in public education, and they are holding schools accountable for only a narrow slice of their full mission. Multiple measures can ameliorate many of the most obvious flaws in present measurement and accountability systems by expanding the number of school quality indicators.
Beyond Test Scores: Introducing the MCIEA School Quality Measures
by James Noonan
What makes a good school? The MCIEA School Quality Measures project considers what each unique school community brings to the table by considering multiple measures of school quality, rather than creating a rigid, zero-sum standard.
Appreciative Inquiry for School Quality
Compiled by James Noonan
A collection of tools and protocols for describing, understanding, and acting upon MCIEA's School Quality Measures.
MCIEA School Quality Measures Reliability Analyses: Results from the 2016 - 2017 Student and Teacher Surveys
by Edward J. Kim
This brief white paper explores the reliability of the SQM survey scales and how these findings have impacted the SQM student and teacher surveys moving forward.
Building a Better Measure of School Quality
by Jack Schneider, Rebecca Jacobsen, Rachel White, and Hunter Gehlbach
This article reviews the development of the school quality framework used by MCIEA and explores how it can give parents and community members a fuller and more nuanced picture of schools.
Visions of Education Podcast: Measuring School Quality with Jack Schneider
In this episode of the Visions of Education podcast, hosts Michael and Dan discuss measuring school quality with Jack Schneider, Director of Research for MCIEA.
The (Mis)measure of Schools: How Data Affect Stakeholder Knowledge and Perceptions of Quality
by Jack Schneider, Rebecca Jacobsen, Rachel White, and Hunter Gehlbach
Researchers conducted a randomized experiment, using a modified deliberative polling experience to test how parents and community members would respond to a broader array of school performance data. This article examines the influence of test scores and more holistic measures of school quality in shaping public understandings of familiar and unfamiliar schools.