Resource

Enhancing Peer Review: Supporting Innovation in State Assessment Systems

October 2024

Samuel D. Ihlenfeldt, Sanford Student, Susan Lyons, Nathan Dadey, Ellen Forte, Phoebe Winter

Description

The report "Enhancing Peer Review: Supporting Innovation in State Assessment Systems," provides strategic recommendations for addition language that could be added to the peer review guidance for Title 1 state assessments. The report is designed to encourage innovation in state assessment systems while maintaining the high standards required by the U.S. Department of Education's peer review process.

The recommendations are divided into three categories: aligning the peer review process with its intended purpose, surfacing proven opportunities for innovation, and clarifying unexplored opportunities. Key recommendations include encouraging states to clearly define assessment components, providing examples of validity evidence, and expanding examples to include innovative scoring methods, such as AI-enabled scoring and diagnostic classification models. By expanding the examples of acceptable evidence for innovative assessments, the report seeks to empower states to pursue new assessment models while ensuring compliance with federal standards. These recommendations aim to support states in developing more flexible, equitable, and innovative assessment systems under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).