Recently completed research studies suggest that the implementation of systems that assess students in math and reading 2 to 5 times per week and provide rapid feedback of the results to students and teachers can be extremely effective in engaging students and raising student achievement. Based on best evidence syntheses of effect sizes, it appears that rapid assessment is, on average, 8 times as effective as a 10% increase in per pupil expenditure, 9 times as effective as voucher programs, 140 times as effective as charter schools, 14 times as effective as increased accountability, and at least 6 times as effective as comprehensive school reform. When cost information is factored into the analysis, rapid assessment appears to be even more advantageous, in some cases several hundred times more cost-effective than the alternatives.

The research findings are discussed in more detail in Raising Student Achievement Through Rapid Assessment and Test Reform (available through Teachers College Press: http://store.tcpress.com/0807747238.shtml). Research suggests that rapid assessment systems support teachers in individualizing instruction, ensuring that students encounter tasks within their zones of proximal development, and providing feedback regarding progress that tells students when they are successful. This structure improves student beliefs that they can control their academic performance, engaging students and fostering greater work effort, which typically results in improved performance, reinforcing even stronger beliefs that they can be successful, which reinforces work effort in a mutually reinforcing and self-perpetuating cycle. According to a high school history teacher in the McKinney Independent School District, which has implemented rapid assessment systems district-wide:

When they began the program here three years ago, my observations were that you never saw students just before school sitting in the hall or before school sitting on a ledge somewhere reading. That just never happened. It’s changed the culture of the school. They have their books with them all the time.

According to teachers and principals, children are checking out more books from the library. A principal of a Title I elementary school traced this to the impact of the Rapid Assessment programs:

I [compared the number of] library books checked out, and we had quadrupled [the number] for the year. Children were reading like never before. The most important piece is that it makes children want to read. If nothing else, reading is a big topic of discussion in McKinney. Student comprehension is a big topic among administrators in our school. Reading and reading levels, that wasn’t something that we talked about before Rapid Assessment. I believe that Rapid Assessment has made the difference.

Teachers traced the impact of rapid assessment to the effect of feedback in fostering emotional commitment to work effort. An 11th grade history teacher explained:

They wanted, they craved that immediate feedback, they had to know immediately. That’s the big part of it, getting that emotional buy in from a student, they’re going to be emotionally tied to that result.

Teachers felt that the Rapid Assessment feedback gave children more control over their learning, and this control gave them enjoyment. A 4th grade teacher in a Title I elementary school explained:

I know the students enjoy that freedom, that ability to be in control of their own learning in reading and math. When I say, “Okay, we need to do Math Assessment,” they get excited because it’s usually on their own level, they get to go at their own pace, they’re not pushed, they’re not rushed, and they get to manage themselves. I think that’s why they enjoy it.

Teachers were extraordinarily enthusiastic about the effect of the Rapid Assessment programs on student motivation. Teachers felt that rapid feedback can foster pride and excitement about achievement. Students “love” the immediate feedback and control that the assessment programs gave them over their learning. Teachers felt that the key to improved student motivation and engagement was that the rapid assessment program allowed students to monitor their own success and progress from one level to the next and to see when they are successful. Teachers felt that this feedback gave students pride in their achievements.

All but one teacher reported that Reading Assessment and Math Assessment had a positive impact on student motivation. Teachers felt that students were empowered by the knowledge that they were strong in certain areas and weak in other areas, and if they focused on the weak areas, they could improve their reading and math skills. Thus, students were less likely to make global judgments about being “stupid” or “not good at math.” A principal of a Title I elementary school explained:

They love it, it’s just incredible. The math thing is just incredible to me. The Math Assessment, if you skip it, they just go nuts. They are so motivated by that piece…What I think it does is it empowers the kids. They know what their weaknesses are, know what their strengths are, know what they’ve got to work on: “I know I need to work on this to make progress.” We had kids before that just thought they were bad at math—it’s overwhelming, but if you can see where your weaknesses are and how you can shore those up, then it’s a whole lot more [manageable]. It’s exciting; it’s interesting to talk to the kids, because they get really fired up about math and the reading, too. They can tell you exactly what books they’ve read. They’ll talk about authors. Whereas before they just thought they were stupid. They didn’t realize that it had anything to do with [their effort]. I really think it makes a huge difference. The reading just happens; it’s just so automatic that it just happens.

Teachers traced the impact of the Rapid Assessment programs to the motivational effect of experiencing repeated, incremental success. A 9th grade algebra teacher explained it as “kids feed on success:”

Kids feed on success, and anything that allows them to be successful, they get excited about, and that program can be developed and operated in such a way that students are going to have success. You start them at a point where they’re going to have success, and that is a big motivator. [Whereas before] they were not having success, [they felt that] “I can’t do this, I’m a failure, I’m wasting my time,” but if they have success, they begin to change that thought.

Teachers felt that the combination of individualized curricula and rapid feedback was especially helpful for low achieving students, breeding success and confidence by breaking objectives into manageable increments and hiding achievement differentials. A middle school math teacher explained:

Particularly for low performance students; they feel they can have success. Let’s say I have a 7th grader who really only performs at a 5th grade level. So I have him assigned to the 5th grade library. He really doesn’t know that; the other kids don’t really know that but he’s feeling success, because he’s moving through the objectives successfully. So it gives him confidence. Success breeds success; that gives him confidence in everything.

A recurring theme was the positive impact of the individualized curricula and rapid assessment on children’s self esteem. Teachers talked about the impact on students who previously did not like reading or math. Rapid feedback can also motivate children with dyslexia. A 2nd grade teacher talked about the effect of rapid feedback in building her student’s self confidence, independence, and intrinsic motivation to read:

My dyslexic child was just so defiant. So we started using the program. Well, he just took off . . . Now he’s gone 5 to 6 weeks, building that confidence through using the program. He’s doing it totally on his own. At reading time, out comes that book, he’s going to the library, he’s right back. This week alone, he read six books and he’s got 100% accuracy. And I truly think it’s all because of that program, just the way its set up that it triggers that intrinsic motivation. Everyone wants to be a winner, and when you see it in black and white, you see yourself progressing, a light bulb goes on, “Hey, look at me. I can do it.”

Teachers felt that a big part of the Rapid Assessment program’s success was that differentials in achievement among students were hidden in a way that allowed each child to feel successful. A 2nd grade teacher explained:

My special ed child is actually in a 1st grade library. Everyone else is in the 2nd grade library. But he doesn’t know he’s in the 1st grade library. [The program] spits out [problems] just like everyone else’s, but it’s on a 1st grade level. He can do it on his own and he is achieving such success with no outside help. So his sense of accomplishment is just huge. He will work through that 1st grade library and then start on the 2nd grade, and never know that he’s any different than the other kids. So you have a huge impact there, really huge impact.

Teachers of special education and Emotionally/Behaviorally Disturbed (EBD) students felt that the Rapid Assessment programs helped them to handle the logistical task of meeting the needs of different students, and by doing so, freed them to work more effectively. Teachers reported that the combination of individualized curricula and rapid feedback helps them to keep students with learning disabilities with their nondisabled peers. An elementary school special education teacher talked about this as “a wonderful thing”:

For students with a learning disability, [our aim] is keeping them with their nondisabled peers to the maximum extent possible. And Rapid Assessment makes that happen. I just got a student who has a learning disability and is in 4th grade, but is functioning at the 2nd grade level in math. That student can be with his buddies, in his classroom, doing Math Assessment. He’s just in a different [Rapid Assessment] library. It’s just wonderful because it keeps that kid with his peers. They like it. I think the biggest thing is every child here in a Rapid Assessment program has the opportunity to be really successful. Every child did not have that chance at my other school, because there was no mechanism to do that. There’s no way a teacher can individualize instruction to that extent. And this is a way to individualize instruction in reading and math. It’s amazing. It’s a wonderful thing.

To the extent that low-achieving students lack self-efficacy and engagement, rapid assessment and individualized instruction may be a more precise intervention than increased educational expenditures, competition through voucher programs and charter schools, or increased accountability, and may be more likely to improve student achievement. Unlike the alternatives, which simply provide more resources or more pressure, it appears that rapid assessment leads to student feelings of control and emotional involvement, and this reinforces student engagement and achievement. This may explain why rapid assessment has a larger effect size than the alternatives. Increased spending may increase the resources that are available to teachers, choice and competition may increase pressure on teachers, and accountability may increase pressure on students and teachers but of the five policies, the available evidence suggests that rapid assessment is more likely to increase student self-efficacy, engagement, and achievement.