Alternatives to High-Stakes Testing
Frequently Asked Questions about the Consortium

Q4: How does the Consortium Assess Its Students?

Consortium schools believe assessment is a crucial aspect of education, and of securing public trust in our schools. Therefore:

• Consortium schools use a system of performance-based assessment.

• Consortium schools require students to engage in time-intensive, in-depth research projects and papers.

• Rigorous performance tasks require students to:
  • think like historians;
  • solve problems like mathematicians;
  • conduct experiments the way scientists do;
  • critically interpret works of literature;
  • speak and write clearly and expressively.

• The Consortium's assessment system adopts the time-honored tradition of the Ph.D. defense:
  • students must orally present and defend completed work to external assessors.