The Next Generation of Assessments: A Contrast and Comparison
Created by Dr. Jann Hunter
Traditional Standardized Assessment
 Misleading regarding college and career
readiness without the need for remediation
 Tests are isolated to skills and facts only
 Tests basic skills only
 Does not catch the full spectrum of what the
student knows and is able to do
 Designed to “teach the test”
 Based upon standards that may have been
“dummied down” by the state, resulting in
deceiving parents and students
 Students can guess the answers
 Students engage with non-authentic texts
that were contrived specifically for the test
Next Generation Assessment (Such as PARCC
and SMARTER Balance)
 Provides clear assessment of student’s
preparedness for college and career without
the need for remediation
 Designed to assess the learning standards
o Learning Standards are:
 Rigorous
 Globally competitive
 Consistent across states
 Tests critical thinking skills
 Tests complex student learning attributes and
abilities
 Students are required to thoughtfully
consider their answers without the ability to
guess
 Test design follow a rigorous and dynamic
model of test questioning
 Students engage in authentic literary and
information texts (excerpts are used from
published text forms including illustrations)
 Is consistent with a high bar of success for
nation-wide analysis
 Correlating formative assessments are
currently in progress
 Supports high quality instruction in classroom
 Makes use of smart technology
o Provides students with realistic,
relevant, complex performance tasks
o Provides immediate and/or timely
feedback
o Computer adaptive
o Provides accommodations for a range
of students
 Assessments are instructionally useful
(students are engaged and learning during the
test)
 Assessments document student growth to be
used by districts, schools teachers, and
students
 Will better measure:
 o Higher order thinking skills that are
vital to success in our current global
economy
o Are aligned to 21st century skills
 Being on track for college and
careers
 Analyze and solve complex
problems
 Communicate clearly
 Synthesize information
 Apply knowledge
 Generalize learning to other
settings
 Test questions are completely aligned to the
CCSS standards without deviation

U.S. Department of Education (2010). Beyond the Bubble Tests: The Next Generation
of Assessments – Secretary Arne Duncan’s Remarks to State Leaders at Achieve’s
American Diploma Project Leadership Team Meeting. Retrieved from
https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/beyond-bubble-tests-next-generation-assessments-
secretary-arne-duncans-remarks-state-leaders-achieves-american-diploma-project-
leadership-team-meeting