Reflections from the Measuring What Matters Webinar
Written by: Elisabeth Lamoureaux, Professional Learning Director for Leadership and Implementation
Most schools do not have a shortage of assessments.
Leaders are navigating state requirements, district-mandated screeners, curriculum-based checks, vendor tools, diagnostic assessments, and progress monitoring systems. There is rarely a shortage of assessments or data.
What is often missing is clarity.
As a former school leader and now a partner with districts to strengthen literacy systems, I see that frustration around assessment rarely stems from volume alone. It stems from misalignment and misunderstanding. Teams often struggle to answer basic questions:
- What assessments are we using across our system?
- What is the purpose of each, and who takes them and when?
- What question is each assessment designed to answer?
- How are we using the data to inform instructional, intervention, and system-level decisions?
- What decisions should this data drive, and are they actually being made?
- Where do we have redundancy, gaps, or unanswered literacy questions?
Without clarity, even high-quality assessment systems become fragmented. Data sits unused. Measures are duplicated unnecessarily. Instructional decisions often miss the underlying skill gaps that matter most.
Purposeful assessment is not a technical issue. It is a leadership responsibility.
Brené Brown speaks about standing on strong ground, clarity about what we know, and what guides our decisions. Purposeful assessment lays a strong foundation in schools. It anchors decision-making in evidence rather than urgency.
Assessment only drives student growth when it is purposeful, aligned, and actionable. Leaders set that tone.
If assessment is a leadership responsibility, then clarity cannot be optional. It must be designed, protected, and revisited.
Leadership Priorities for Purposeful Assessment
Here are the leadership priorities highlighted in the webinar, numbered for focus:
1. Purpose Must Drive Every Assessment Decision
Different types of assessments answer different questions. Leaders must ensure the purpose of each tool is clear:
- Screeners identify students at risk and highlight system-level needs (Types of Reading Assessment Data Used in Schools)
- Diagnostics guide targeted instruction and intervention (Sample TRL Phonics Diagnostic; Sample Phonemic Awareness Diagnostic)
- Curriculum-embedded assessments provide immediate, actionable feedback for instruction
- Progress monitoring tracks growth over time
- State assessments inform program and system-level decisions
Using assessments outside of their intended purpose leads to misalignment and confusion. Purposeful leadership ensures data drives decisions, not just reporting.
2. Screening Is About Risk, Not Immediate Grouping
A common misstep is jumping straight from screening results to grouping students. Screening is not designed to create skill groups.
Screening answers:
- Who may be at risk?
- How severe is the risk?
- Are there Tier 1 system concerns?
Screening does answer why a student is struggling or identify the specific skill gaps for each student. Leaders must resist the urge to use one tool for multiple purposes.
3. Diagnostics Should Be Strategic, Not Automatic
Diagnostics provide in-depth information on a student’s specific skills and learning needs to guide targeted instructional decisions.
Leadership guidance:
- Not every student flagged at risk needs a full diagnostic battery
- Use diagnostics when progress monitoring or screening data show limited growth or a student’s learning profile is unclear
- Intervention placement tests may provide sufficient guidance in some cases
- Interpret results carefully; overuse or isolation of diagnostics can lead to misinterpretation
Every minute spent on assessment is a minute away from instruction. Purposeful use maximizes both teacher time and student learning.
4. Curriculum-Embedded Assessments Drive Daily Instruction
Often referred to as unit assessments, lesson checks, exit tickets, or independent work, these brief, timely assessments are aligned to taught content and learning targets. When used intentionally, they guide daily instructional decisions and help teachers adjust instruction in real time.
Key leadership tips:
- Keep assessments brief and tightly aligned to specific learning targets
- Use results immediately to guide reteaching, pacing adjustments, or enrichment
- Use formative checks to inform daily instruction
- Use summative measures to evaluate mastery after sufficient instruction
5. State Assessments Inform Systems, Not Daily Instruction
State-level assessments provide reliable and valid system-level data. They help leaders answer:
- Where are achievement gaps?
- Which grade levels are trending up or down?
- Are our programs producing equitable outcomes?
Leaders must help teams interpret these assessments in context and use them for strategic system decisions. These assessments should not be used for diagnostic or placement decisions at the individual student level.
6. Alignment and Leadership Clarity Are Critical
Assessment is not optional. The real work is ensuring coherence across multiple measures. Leaders should regularly audit their assessment systems and ask:
- Where are we using assessment data outside its intended purpose?
- Where do we have redundancy or gaps?
- What literacy or language questions remain unanswered?
- Are there assessments that should be discontinued because they lack evidence of measuring what they claim to measure?
Additional resources to support this work include:
