Multiple measures of student progress are needed to know how students are doing and to target instruction to best meet their needs. Each day, our teachers use informal (sometimes called “formative”) assessments to find out where students are and to make changes in their plans and activities for the next day. We also use overall (sometimes called “summative”) assessments to measure student learning for a unit, a course, or content area. Some of these overall assessments include annual statewide tests.
In Washington State, students are regularly tested to measure their progress as they move through school. In high school, they must pass specific exit exams or state-approved alternatives to be eligible to earn a certificate of academic achievement/high school diploma.
In our schools,we use a variety of measures to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness our educational programs. This is accomplished by developing the tools and maintaining data needed by district staff and the public. Individual student data is shared with parents, class data with teachers, school data with principals, and district data with the school board and the public to help make informed decisions.
District and school-level results on statewide tests are available online at the OSPI Washington State Report Card website.
OSPI Washington State Report Card
Ready Washington has a communications toolkit for learning more and communicating about Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and Smarter Balanced assessments.