In the RAND Corporation report “New Assessments, Better Instruction?Designing Assessment Systems to Promote Instructional Improvement.”,researchers conducted a series of literature reviews that focused on topics such as high-stakes testing, performance assessment, and formative evaluation.
Their findings suggest that there are a wide variety of effects that testing might have on teachers’ activities in the classroom, including
- changes in curriculum content and emphasis (e.g., changes in the sequence of topics, reallocation of emphasis across and within topics);
- changes in how teachers allocate time and resources across different pedagogical activities (e.g.,focusing on test preparation); and
- changes in how teachers interact with individual students (e.g., using test results to individualize instruction).
The report also identifies a number of factors (e.g., student characteristics and district and school policies) that mediate the relationship between assessment and instructional practices.
The authors suggest that the role of tests would be enhanced by policies that ensure tests mirror high-quality instruction, are part of a larger, systemic change effort,and are accompanied by specific supports for teachers.