As states review, refine, and implement new academic standards, professional learning activities,also known as professional development (PD), should be scheduled in order to support educators. At the request of a state education agency, the Center on Standards and Assessments Implementation (CSAI) conducted a scan of six states' PD opportunities…

The recommendations in this brief create a framework for using data effectively to make instructional decisions. The availability of student-level data for educators has pushed forward the movement to strengthen the role of data to guide instruction and improve student learning. While improvements in technology and assessments, as well as recent…

This report provides a summary of the 17 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plans submitted by May 31, 2017 to the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of this report is to provide an at-a-glance look at how states articulated decisions related to standards, assessment, accountability, and instruction of English learners in their submitted…

This update discusses what states are doing to mitigate the trend of parents keeping their children out of statewide assessments. Over the last few years, the United States has seen growing opposition to statewide assessments, as evidenced in the increasing numbers of parents (or guardians) who are deciding not to have their children participate…

In the past year, a number of states have eliminated the requirements for high school exit or graduation examinations and retroactively issued diplomas to students who had completed all other graduation requirements but had not passed the required examinations. On the other hand, some states have begun to require students to pass a civics test as…