The conversation focused on federal and state policy on student assessment, with an eye to identifying policies that would promote best assessment practices. More specifically, the panel discussed questions such as:

• Is the current assessment regime, with its strong focus on standardized exams, providing useful and actionable information on student, teacher and school performance? Useful diagnostic information on individual student needs?
• What role should other assessments, such as performance assessments, play in American education?
• What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of standardized exams and of performance assessments?
• What would the ideal assessment regime look like?

Panelists

Ann Cook, Executive Director, New York Performance Standards Consortium; co-Founder, Urban Academy Laboratory High School

Steven Glazerman, Senior Fellow, Mathematica
SLIDES

Stuart Kahl, co-founder, Measured Progress.

Moderator: Clifford Janey, Senior Research Scholar, Boston University School of Education; Albert Shanker Institute Board Member

Sponsored by the Albert Shanker Institute and the American Federation of Teachers, this conversation series is designed to engender lively and informative discussions on important educational issues. We deliberately invite speakers with diverse perspectives, including views other than those of the AFT and the Albert Shanker Institute. What is important is that these participants are committed to genuine engagement with each other.