1. Project Planning o Collaborate with A&A team staff to finalize research questions and priority educational partner groups. o Develop a project plan and timeline that balances representative input with efficiency. o Ensure methods intentionally capture perspectives across all six educational regions and account for differences in district/school size, geography, and community context. 2. Educational Partner Input o Collect input from a focused but representative set of stakeholder groups, including: LEA and school leaders (superintendents, principals, assessment coordinators) Classroom teachers Community members (e.g., school boards, students and families, other local voices) o Use streamlined methods (e.g., statewide survey plus a small number of strategically selected focus groups or interviews) to gather representative insights while respecting participants’ time. o Ensure rural and small LEA voices are intentionally included, not just those from larger LEAs. 3. Data Collection and Analysis 1. Gather and analyze data related to: Educational partner understanding of assessment purposes and practices Extent of balanced assessment system use across LEAs Current practices and barriers in using assessment data Priority needs for tools, training, and resources o Identify key trends, gaps, and promising practices o Disaggregate findings where possible to highlight differences in commonalities across regions, LEA sizes, and community contexts. 4. Findings and Recommendations o Provide a report summarizing key findings, themes and recommendations. Report must be formatted as an accessible Word document. o Provide an educational partner-friendly summary presentation for broader communication. Presentation must be formatted as an accessible PowerPoint. o Address how needs and priorities may vary across regions, rural vs non-rural LEAs, and different LEA sizes. o Highlight 3-5 actionable priorities that the A&A team can reasonably support statewide.
