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It lays out key purposes, connects theories of action to validity arguments, and identifies major technical design features spanning content structure, administration, design decisions, logistical considerations, and aggregation. 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Smarter Balanced provided generous financial support but allowed complete freedom for the authors in terms of content. Smarter Balanced arranged a very efficient review from several experienced state department employees from the Smarter Balanced consortium states who represented diverse backgroundsand perspectives. Their comments helped improve the content, organization, and accessibility of the paper immensely.  \nThe Center for Assessment also has supported the authors’work on through-year assessment and related topics over the past several years. In particular, the Center for Assessment sponsored a convening in 2021 around the topic of through-year assessment (National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, 2021) . Many of the ideas build on in this paper were developed for that convening. We also profited quite a bit from the insightful comments from many of those who attending the 2021 convening.  \nWe also gratefully acknowledge the suggestions and contributions of many, especially the insightful reviews of Carla Evans, Charlie DePascale and Catherine Gewertz. Of course, any errors or shortcomings in this paper are the responsibility of the authors.  \nSuggested citation:  \nDadey, N., & Gong, B. (2023) . An introduction to considerations for through-year assessment programs: purposes, design, development, evaluation [Research report] . Retrieved from Smarter Balanced website: [https://portal.smarterbalanced.org/library/en/2023-sb-consideration-of-technical-issues.pdf](https://portal.smarterbalanced.org/library/en/2023-sb-consideration-of-technical-issues.pdf)  \nTable of Contents  \n\n| INTRODUCTION | 1 |\n| --- | --- |\n| BACKGROUND, DEFINITIONS, AND MOTIVATIONS | 3 |\n| Background | 3 |\n| Definition | 3 |\n| Additional Purposes | 5 |\n| Logistical Purposes | 6 |\n| Monitoring Purposes | 7 |\n| Instructional Purposes | 7 |\n| An Aside on Interim Assessments and Balanced Assessment Systems | 8 |\n| THEORIES OF ACTION AND VALIDITY ARGUMENTS | 9 |\n| Theory of Action | 10 |\n| KEY TECHNICAL DESIGN FEATURES | 18 |\n| Content Structure | 19 |\n| “Full Domain” Approach | 20 |\n| “Modular Standards Sub-Domain” Approaches | 21 |\n| “Modular Standards” Approaches | 23 |\n| Alternative Approaches | 25 |\n| Connecting Content Structure to Purpose | 26 |\n| Administration | 29 |\n| Design Decisions | 29 |\n| Logistical Issues | 30 |\n| Aggregation | 31 |\n\nEMERGING EXAMPLES OF THROUGH-YEAR ASSESSMENT PROGRAM DESIGN 33  \nGrading Model 33  \nAdaptive for End of Year Model 34  \nMastery Sequence Model 34  \nSupplemented Summative Subscores Model 35  \nTable of Contents (continued)  \n\n| EVALUATING THE TECHNICAL QUALITY OF THROUGH-YEAR ASSESSMENT |  |\n| --- | --- |\n| DESIGNS AND ASSESSMENTS | 36 |\n| SUMMARY AND VIEW TO THE FUTURE | 38 |\n| REFERENCES | 39 |\n| APPENDIX A: HISTORY OF THROUGH-YEAR ASSESSMENT | 42 |\n\nAPPENDIX B: PURPOSES WITH ADDITIONAL DETAIL AND IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGN 45  \nIntroduction  \nState summative assessments have been a fxture at least since the 1990’s as a requirement for receiving federal Title I funds. Recently there has been much interest in “through-year assessments,” which aim to fulfll the summative purposes required by federal law, and address an additional purpose or purposes, such as reducing overall testing time or providing more timely instructional information. Designing and implementing a high-quality assessment that serves a single purpose is challenging, and so it is not surprising that designing and implementing through-year assessments that fulfll multiple purposes well has also proven to be very challenging.  \nFrom our years of supporting those i","cbCaiaQE1i8v3jMt","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiaQE1i8v3jMt","pdf",1326131,49,"English","# INTRODUCTION\n## BACKGROUND, DEFINITIONS, AND MOTIVATIONS\n## THEORIES OF ACTION AND VALIDITY ARGUMENTS\n## KEY TECHNICAL DESIGN FEATURES\n## EMERGING EXAMPLES OF THROUGH-YEAR ASSESSMENT PROGRAM DESIGN\n## EVALUATING THE TECHNICAL QUALITY OF THROUGH-YEAR ASSESSMENT\n## SUMMARY AND VIEW TO THE FUTURE\n## REFERENCES\n## APPENDIX A: HISTORY OF THROUGH-YEAR ASSESSMENT\n## APPENDIX B: PURPOSES WITH ADDITIONAL DETAIL AND IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGN","[{\"question\":\"What does the paper aim to do for through-year assessment programs?\",\"answer\":\"It identifies essential considerations for designing or evaluating through-year assessment programs, focusing on purposes, design, development, and evaluation across technical and logistical dimensions.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper treat the concept of through-year assessments?\",\"answer\":\"It emphasizes there is not a single “through-year assessment,” but many possible designs, each shaped by user context and intended purposes, along with distinct challenges and trade-offs.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the paper emphasize validity and theories of action?\",\"answer\":\"It links theories of action to validity arguments so that technical design features and system decisions support the intended purposes while meeting educational and feasibility constraints.\"}]","An Introduction to Considerations for Through-Year Assessment Programs - Purposes, Design, Development, Evaluation | PDF",1792059483,123]