21st Century Learning

This report outlines the findings of a SCOPE series on student performance assessment. The series includes seven other commissioned papers examining what has been learned over several decades about the use of performance assessments for measuring higher-order thinking and performance skills....

The link below contains multiple articles and videos which explore professional accountability.  Authors include: Linda Darling Hammond, Jon Snyder, Michael Fullin, Santiago Rincón-Gallardo, Andrew Hargreaves, and Travis J. Bristol.

This article addresses the questions, “How should we evaluate the quality of teaching?” and “What kind of evaluation system will move all California teachers on a path of improvement throughout their careers?” The article, adapted from a report written by a group of accomplished California...

A district’s graduate profile organizes a comprehensive range of expectations for student learning into a clear, cohesive vision of college and career readiness. By starting with the end in mind—a high school graduate who is prepared for postsecondary learning and the 21st-century workplace—a...

The Nellie Mae Education Foundation (Nellie Mae) has invested in connecting the dots across diverse areas of research on the optimum conditions for student learning through the Students at the Center initiative. This work has shaped the foundation’s definition of student-centered learning—the...

High Schools for Equity documents the practices and outcomes of five urban high schools in California that do an extraordinary job of preparing their students for success in higher education, productive careers, and a fulfilling life. The schools, which are non-selective in their admissions and...

This article builds on Darling-Hammond, Wilhoit, and Pittenger’s (2014) new paradigm on Accountability for College and Career Readiness by focusing on one of its three pillars—professional accountability.

The article begins by offering a conceptual framework for professional ...

The purpose of this resource from CCSSO is to assist states who are interested in redesigning or reconsidering aspects of their accountability systems to better align with “next-generation” learning models designed to produce college and career ready outcomes for all students.

This paper seeks to clarify the responsibilities of policy makers to create the conditions for an effective accountability system that produces substantial improvements in student learning, strengthens the teaching profession, and provides transparency of results to the public. The authors point...

In this article, David Conley focuses on how to assess meaningful learning in ways that promote student achievement while simultaneously meeting system accountability needs.  This article presents a vision for a new system of assessments, one designed to support the kinds of ambitious teaching...

This paper is one of eight written through a Stanford University project aimed at summarizing research and lessons learned regarding the development, implementation, consequences, and costs of performance assessments.  This particular resource examines why the use of test-based accountability to...

This paper is the culminating report of a Stanford University project aimed at summarizing research and lessons learned regarding the development, implementation, consequences, and costs of performance assessments.  The focus of this paper is outlines how schools must teach disciplinary...

The paper begins by comparing the Farrington model with other models of learning strategies, proceeds to considering examples of innovations in the field, and concludes by identifying implications for the field moving forward. The paper includes specific guidance on how performance assessments ...

This brief outlines how the Envision Schools Charter Management Organization and the Stanford University School Redesign Network have collaborated to design a set of performance-based assessments for high school students that are both rigorous and credible, and are designed to build students’...

This report by Ace Parsi and Linda Darling-Hammond is intended to familiarize state boards of education with performance assessments and help policymakers address some of the thorniest issues around these assessments: purpose, sustainability, reliability, accountability, policy...

In this paper, David T. Conley, well-known for his influential research on college readiness, draws on a wealth of recent research to argue that the time is ripe for a major shift in educational assessment, from an over reliance on standardized tests of math and reading, which tell us little...

With the goal of re-envisioning the state’s assessment and accountability system to support improvements in the rigor and quality of curriculum and instruction, to help students prepare for college, and to signal college readiness and careers, Ohio developed an assessment and standardized ...

In this paper, David Conley and Linda Darling-Hammond describe how two multistate assessment consortia are being designed to measure how well students achieve the goals of the Common Core State Standards. As planned, the new consortia assessments should be a significant advance over most states...

This resource provides a detailed guide on how to train teachers to formally score student performance assessment work that has been submitted for a grade, as a part of graduation portfolio requirement, for a diploma endorsement, or as part of a college application (summative purposes...

This resource focuses on the importance of adopting multiple policies to adequately help schools focus on “21st century skills,” deeper learning competencies—the ability to use knowledge to think critically and solve problems, to communicate effectively, to collaborate, to reflect on learning—...