Choosing Quality
Assessments

Choosing high-quality assessments is an integral component of the SLG process.  A quality assessment provides an indication of the degree to which a teacher has impacted his or her students’ learning in the course. For assessment data to facilitate collaborative inquiry and conversations between educators and evaluators, assessment data from multiple points in time should be available. For clarification, it is not required to have more than one type of assessment to measure the SLG. It is necessary to have assessment data available from multiple points in time to facilitate conversations around the educators’ impact on student learning.

Nevada Regulations require that the assessments must show ALL of the following: 

• Alignment with content standards/NVACS and curriculum,

• Alignment with the intended level of rigor, and

• Psychometric quality of validity and reliability to the highest degree feasible. 

If practical, educators should use standardized assessments to measure their SLG.  If no assessment matches the identified content standards on which the SLG has been set, the educator may elect to modify an existing assessment or develop a new assessment so long as it is reviewed to ensure validity and reliability. 

Additionally, steps should be taken between educators and evaluators to collaboratively monitor the use of each source of student growth and achievement and calibrate the scoring thereof. Further, a school or school district should continually monitor the assessments used to measure the Student Learning Goal to ensure that they incorporate the features above.