NWEA Spark Community

It seems like everywhere we look right now, we are amidst a sea of change. We have new government, a new economy, even a new flu virus! And our education world, as many of you live and breathe every day, is no exception. But maybe in this sea of change there is great opportunity -- to influence our educational system’s relationship with testing. 

According to this press release, U.S. Department of Education officials and invited experts will collaborate with the public in developing the next generation of assessments and are seeking feedback in looking at innovative and effective methods.

This is a chance to lend voice to the idea of education being truly kid-centric. Our hope is that we can now move to assessments that truly measure student growth and give educators data in real-time to make important adjustments to instruction.

Some of the questions the USDOE is hoping to answer include:

• What is the vision for a new assessment system?
• How would it be constructed?
• What would the tests look like?

As an educator who will be impacted by decisions made, what would you want to make sure they hear? We’d love to get your thoughts in our Forum.

For additional reporting on this topic as well as dates and locations of the meetings being held, see Education Week’s recent article.