The Colorado Department of Education suggests including assessments that have a common scoring system and allow for comparisons across schools, districts, and states, such as the CSAP, The National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, and others. Policy Studies Associates reports that many schools link their goals to broader state goals that are measured periodically by their state's assessment programs. In this way, schools can examine results for several purposes. Schools should not rely solely on standardized test to evaluate student achievement, the Colorado Department of Education warns. Schools should include classroom assessments that provide additional information such as writing samples, projects, experiments, speeches, demonstrations, and more.
Many elements can derail an evaluation plan.
Districts that lack resources for the evaluation may want to seek help from the program's developer or funding source. Key stakeholders in the process also may not have the skills or experience needed to work cooperatively together. Lack of knowledge is not the only barrier to a successful evaluation. Many educators fear evaluation, thinking that the data will be used against their schools to expose inadequacies and jeopardize funding. Obviously, the evaluation findings must be reported.