State education officials have developed a new online resource to help schools assess student learning levels when classes resume.
The California Department of Education’s Guidance on Diagnostic and Formative Assessments offers tools and best practices for educators to determine how far along students are in key content areas. Officials stressed that none of the assessments are required.
“Due to the school closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, we all have concerns about learning gaps and share educators’ desires to have useful diagnostic assessments when students return,” State Superintendent Tony Thurmond said in a news release. “This has especially impacted our most disadvantaged and vulnerable students, many of whom lack access to the technology needed for distance learning.”
Thurmond said the new resource offers “multiple ways to measure a student’s learning without exacerbating the trauma they have experienced in recent months.” It also includes strategies to help educators accelerate learning, he said.
The Guidance on Diagnostic and Formative Assessments can be found on the California Department of Education’s website.