ALT Classroom assessment research in the U.S. has shifted away from the examination of teacher-made tests, but such tests are still widely used & have an enormous impact on students’ educational experiences. Given the major shifts in policy in the U.S., including the widespread adoption of the Common Core Standards, I argue that researchers should examine the tests & quizzes that teachers create & administer in order to determine whether those policies have had the intended impact on teachers’ assessment practices. Furthermore, these inves­tigations should be grounded in discipline-specific conventions for developing & demonstrating knowledge. I propose a framework for analysing mathematics exams that focuses on alignment with learning goals, cognitive complex­ity, variety of task formats, attentiveness to culture and language, & clarity of expectation. This framework is meant to be used formatively, helping researchers, administrators, & teachers iden­tify strengths & areas for growth.

ALT There is renewed interest around including performance assessments (PAs) in state & local assessment systems to spur positive changes in classroom instruction and student learning. Previous research has identified the external conditions that mediate the role of assessment in changing instructional practices. We extend that work by focusing on the internal classroom conditions that support improvements in student learning. We identified 6 key instructional practices from 3 teacher quality frameworks that may result from policy changes that include complex, PAs. For each practice, we explored the bidirectional relationships among the instructional core of students, teachers, & content. We argue that altering these relationships requires teachers and students to have both the disposition and the capacity to change, & we identify the assumptions that need to hold for those changes to occur in response to the inclusion of performance assessments in state &/or local assessment systems.