Introduction
Assessments play an important role in school improvement
practices, providing stakeholders with important information
about students’ academic performance and growth during
a school year. Data from assessments allow parents to
recognize when students are making progress and when
students’ academic needs are not being met. Such data
allow educators to intervene early with students who are
behind and to push higher-achieving students to perform at
even higher levels.1
Educators and policymakers use different types of
assessments for different purposes, including summative,
formative, and interim assessments. Summative assessments
are generally given at a specific point in time such as the
end of an instructional unit, the end of a semester, or
the end of the school year. These assessments intend to
measure student progress or whether a student has met a
set of content standards.2 A final exam in a biology class
is an example of a summative assessment. Summative
assessments are typically given statewide or district wide,
but also can be given at the school or classroom level.
Summative assessments often take a full class period or
instructional block to administer, but they are generally given
less frequently than interim or formative assessments. In
Tennessee, data from statewide summative assessments form
an important component of the state’s accountability system,
impacting important decisions made at the school, district,
and state levels.
Formative assessments are an integral part of the
instructional process. They provide immediate feedback
to teachers and students, indicating if shifts in teaching or
learning must occur to improve students’ progress toward
mastery on standards or skills. These assessments are short
in nature and can take anywhere between a few seconds to a
small portion of a class period. A reading or math quiz is an
example of a formative assessment. Formative assessments
can be individualized to meet the needs of different
students. Teachers often use formative assessments on a
daily basis to gauge students’ understanding of content and
to get the feedback they need to make adjustments to their
instruction.3
Interim assessments, sometimes called benchmark
assessments, generally fall between formative and
summative assessments. Interim assessments aim to
evaluate students’ progress toward mastery on a set of
specific academic goals or standards and are designed to
inform decisions at the classroom, school, or district level.
Often, school or district leadership identifies which interim
assessments to administer, rather than the teacher. The
results of these assessments can serve many purposes,
3
including predicting a student’s performance on an end-ofyear assessment, evaluating a program or type of instruction,
or identifying gaps in student learning.4 In Tennessee, many
districts implement interim assessments to predict student
performance on Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment
Program (TCAP) assessments. Schools and teachers also use
interim assessment results to inform professional learning
opportunities for teachers, to identify students in need of
intervention, and to adjust classroom instruction to better
meet the needs of students.
While state and federal laws require Tennessee’s statewide
summative assessment to be implemented in every school
district,5 there has been increased discussion at both the
state and national levels about the amount and value of
testing. Parents, educators, and policymakers have voiced
concerns about reduced instructional time, the quality of
assessments, and the culture surrounding assessments in
Tennessee. Since TCAP achievement and end of course ѕ