FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ralph Rogers, ralphr@stanford.edu
Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education
650.725.8600
Stanford, CA—Understanding Language-Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity (UL-SCALE) and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) in collaboration with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) are pleased to announce the opening of the Performance Assessment Resource Bank (PARB)—an online resource for K–12 teachers, administrators, and policy makers.
This new website, www.performanceassessmentresourcebank.org, is designed to serve as a platform for sharing high-quality performance assessments and resources curated from educators and organizations nationwide and building community among the educators and leaders who use, develop, and share these important tools. It includes performance assessment tasks and support resources for designing a system of assessment and building educator assessment literacy and capabilities, all focused on deeper and more meaningful learning.
While assessment in the United States has focused largely on “bubbling in” answers on multiple-choice tests, educators are searching for better, more authentic, and higher quality assessment tools that measure the complex thinking necessary for success in our modern world. Scaling up performance assessment requires high-quality tools and content.
"Educators need higher quality assessment tools that measure the complex thinking necessary for success in our modern world. That’s why we’re launching the Performance Assessment Resource Bank,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, Ed.D., Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus at Stanford University Graduate School of Education. “It features free high-quality performance assessments and resources vetted by experts at the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. This innovative approach provides an expanding resource base through community collaboration and sharing, all focused on more meaningful learning.”
This innovative approach provides a growing resource base through community collaboration and sharing features that will support an expanding network of performance assessment content developers. Assessment resources, initially created by experts, will grow in breadth and depth because the site enables educators to work together, adapt, pilot, and provide feedback on existing tools, contribute new content, and build a performance assessment community.
The website, now in its nationwide rollout, features:
- Free, open access.
- A growing library of high quality performance tasks, portfolio frameworks, learning progressions, research, and other assessment resources, all developed by educators and organizations and vetted by experts trained by UL-SCALE at Stanford University.
- Personalized dashboards with saved resources for each community member.
- A user rating system to guide content selection and facilitate continuous improvement of content.
- The ability for registered users to share resources via email, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
Initial contributors of tools and content to the resource base include:
- Literacy Design Collaborative
- Educational Policy Improvement Center
- Center for Collaborative Education
- Deeper Learning Student Assessment Initiative members (Envision Schools, New Tech Network Schools, ConnectEd for California, and Asia Society International Studies Schools Network)
- New Hampshire Task Bank
PARB Collaborators
This new and innovative approach to assessment was created through a partnership between the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) and Understanding Language/Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (UL-SCALE), with the participation of member states of the Innovation Lab Network of the CCSSO.
About UL-SCALE
Understanding Language/Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity (UL-SCALE) is a recently merged research and practice center based at Stanford University that focuses on both language and performance assessment in K-16 settings. UL-SCALE provides technical expertise and support to schools, districts, and states that have committed to adopting performance-based assessment as part of a multiple-measures system of assessments to evaluate student learning and school effectiveness.
About SCOPE
The Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) fosters research, policy, and practice to advance high-quality, equitable education systems in the United States and internationally.
About CCSSO
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is committed to creating a public education system that prepares every child for lifelong learning, work, and citizenship. CCSSO's promise is to lead chiefs and their organizations in this effort by focusing on those state-driven leverage points they are uniquely positioned to address-and increasing their capacity to produce students ready to succeed as productive members of society.
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