At NWEA, we understand that data from the assessments we create plays a critical role in supporting student-centered instruction, and in informing the systems, policies, and investments that support equal opportunity for all students to learn. As we partner with states and the districts to create systems that positively impact all students, we apply an equity lens to test design, content development, and integration of accessibility and accommodations.

This episode will explore elements of culturally responsive teaching, supportive environments, and the actions that educators and leaders can take to create a space where students belong, feel valued, and thereby are more likely to take risks, make mistakes, and build a sense of self-efficacy that will serve them well in their academic journeys and in their lives beyond school.

This session examines elements of student ‘voice and choice’ as critical enabling elements needed to build in students that kind of self-efficacy that will help them thrive and meet their full potential as learners.

At NWEA, we’re partnering with states to create balanced assessment systems that prioritize learning and teaching. It’s time for unified approaches that support educators in challenging every student, increase opportunity for schools and students to show growth, and drive the systems-level actions needed to foster educational equity. Reimagine assessment and accountability with us.

Learn how Nebraska Department of Education partnered with NWEA® to co-create a new, student-centered approach to statewide assessment by integrating district and state measures using an adaptive through-year assessment model. This comprehensive approach streamlines testing, prioritizes student engagement, provides timely instructional feedback, and accurately measures student performance over time.

When district and state assessments feel disconnected, value and purpose are questioned. Faced with challenges, Alaska DEED partnered with NWEA® to create an innovative statewide assessment system that would enable districts to continue administering MAP® Growth while reducing overall testing and increasing the value of summative tests. Learn how Alaska shifted from a stand-alone summative test to a balanced system focused on teachers and students.

Teachers have tremendously complex jobs and a constantly shifting ecosystem of expectations, yet despite shifts across so many other areas of educational practice, building student agency remains a key desired classroom outcome that educators generally recognize as an area of need. This conversation will give teacher voice to the importance of student agency, varied practitioner views on the opportunities and challenges related to building student agency, and a frame for the season that will prepare listeners to hear about topics ranging from supportive environments and goal setting to meeting the unique needs of students with disabilities and emergent bilinguals.