The most traditional type of assessment used for accountability is based on norm-referenced tests, where results compare students to each other. By default, results of norm-referenced tests require that half of all students be ranked as “below average.” Norm-referenced tests have been the focus of much criticism over the years.

A child psychiatrist who studied students from low-income neighborhoods In New Haven, Connecticut, developed the Comer Process which focuses on child development in urban schools. The Comer process is based on six interconnected pathways which lead to healthy child development and academic achievement. The pathways are physical, cognitive, psychological, language,

Allows students to show their mastery of a specific skill. In most performance-test scenarios, students are required to perform a complex skill or procedure or create a product to demonstrate that they can apply the knowledge and skills they have learned. The instructor or examiner will typically observe this performance

Instructors ask students to prepare a collection of class assignments and submit them for assessment. Since portfolios contain a collection of student work and can contain a range from the academic period under assessment, they offer a more accurate picture of a student’s achievement than a single test or project

Give students the option to use books and notes in exams and thus encourage them to learn to apply knowledge rather than just attempt to memorize material. In other words, this assessment alternative provides a solid basis for students to master knowledge and skills and to demonstrate their mastery appropriately.

Takes ownership of the potential for students to rely on the knowledge of others; providing students the opportunity to take multiple-choice exams in a group or in pairs. This testing approach allows students to discuss the materials and “teach each other.” To some extent, this approach can also increase the

Are a growing phenomenon in the United States. The process of managing the organization of classrooms by grade is challenging. The multiage classroom operates according to the following principles: First, students were included in the classroom for at least a two-year span in chronological age. Second, each student in the

Is a school scheduling configuration in which students K-12 students in the United States attend school year-round, with intermittent breaks scheduled throughout the year. Year-round schools are usually set up as single-track (ST) with unified attendance or multi-track (MT) with staggered attendance programs. Some schools use a combination of the

The correlation between students who are removed (suspended or expelled) from school and those who end up in prison at some point in their lives. Students who are removed from school, either temporarily or forever, also drop out of high school at much higher rates than students who are never

The program was designed to “increase the pool of available teachers from a broader, more diverse background particular among the State’s lowest performing elementary schools.” In essence, the program hopes to increase the low number of minority male teachers by offering scholarships to qualified applicants. There are other programs around