Assessment Capacity Survey

Dear Superintendents, Principals, Teachers and District Personnel,

In 2009, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) conducted a survey to determine what aspects of the current assessment system Colorado educators think are important and what potential changes should be considered.

As a next step in preparation for rolling out a new assessment system of balanced and instructionally relevant assessments—a “Next Generation” assessment system—CDE must determine what support teachers and administrators might need to most effectively use assessment data to help you improve student learning. To inform the development of a new assessment system, CDE contracted WestEd to develop and administer, and analyze data from online surveys to determine the capacity of Colorado schools to implement assessment reform and explore opportunities for improving the state’s Next Generation assessment system.

Two online surveys—one targeting teachers and one district administrators—were developed by WestEd through an iterative process that incorporated input and feedback from CDE. These surveys were conducted online using the Survey Monkey system.

This report summarizes the results of the online surveys:

Responses will be very useful in helping CDE support teachers, students, schools, and districts as it develops the next assessment system for Colorado. CDE will share results with the Assessment Stakeholders Committee and the Assessment Subcommittees to help inform their decisions.

If you have questions about the objectives of the survey or the survey itself, please contact Jennae Bulat at jbulat@wested.org or Andrina Aragon at aragon_a@cde.state.co.us.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this important initiative!