Support Formative Assessments to Measure Student Progress

Please take time to ask your Senators and Representative to support formative assessments to measure student progress. Formative assessments contribute to teachers' knowledge of student learning, students' awareness of their own progress, and teachers’ and students’ knowledge of what to maintain or change to foster learning. Formative assessments -- or multiple ways of reading student progress, done over time and incorporated into the learning process -- are  are essential in order to paint an accurate picture of what students know and are able to do.

To call:  Contact the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, give your zip code and the operator will connect you to your legislator’s office (you will need to repeat this to contact all three of your legislators).  Please leave the message above.   You can do this 24 hours a day and leave a voice mail if necessary.   

To write in support of this issue:  Use the letter template below.

Please take a few minutes to edit the letter in the template after paragraph two to add a brief personal example demonstrating the importance of evaluating teachers by multiple factors.

• NCTE is a partner in the Connected Learning Coalition which created this position statement
• For your information, the NCTE Legislative Platform calls upon policymakers at all levels to support equitable, fair, and valid assessments that advance, not merely measure, student learning by:
  • Reforming accountability guidelines so that the consequences of high-stakes tests do not increase inequities in our education system, narrow the curriculum, or drive instructional planning and decision making. 
  • Enacting measures that support teachers and teaching teams in developing formative, performance-based assessments designed to engage students in their own learning and to inform instruction.
  • Funding professional learning and providing time to analyze results of assessments for the purpose of improving student learning.