California

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...

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 research paper finds that teacher candidates’ Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT) scores, a performance assessment that measures their capabilities as future teachers, are significant predictors of their later teaching effectiveness as measured by their students’...

This research brief describes practical and measurable indicators of career as well as college readiness that the state and districts can look to as they develop accountability plans. The report includes specific information about how performance assessment can be used to measure student...

This report from Linda Darling-Hammond and David Plank profiles the role of California's new accountability system. California’s new accountability system is different from the previous system in nearly every important respect. The new system is grounded in the concept of reciprocal...

In this paper, Bae and Darling-Hammond propose three types of performance indicators for use in California's redesigned accountability system to measure and support career and college readiness. The report includes specific guidance for the use of performance assessment to measure both college...

This brief provides lessons for assessing new college- and career-ready standards, including Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), based on California's experiences with the California Learning Assessment...

Authored by Joel Knudson, Stephanie Hannan, Jennifer O’Day, and Marina Castro, this brief charts the lessons from the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) of the early 1990s that can inform state efforts to assess new college- and career-ready standards. The CLAS included performance...