In 1993, The National Science Foundation funded Balanced Assessment for the Mathematics Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Eduation in developing a large collection of innovative mathematics assessment tasks for grades K to 12.

The tasks were design to help students become proficient in demonstrating their mathematical knowledge through developing their critical thinking and mathematical actions: to conceptualize or model a problem, to perform necessary calculations or transformations, to recognize and generalize results, and to communicate solutions and understanding of the concepts.

In addition to the written problems, training workshops and instructional materials were offered to teachers to use the assessment tasks in classroom settings. The aim was to provide teachers with a strong working model of what good assessment looks like, and how it can be used effectively.

The original library of mathematics assessment tasks developed during the project remains freely available on the Balanced Assessment Project website. Please visit hgse.balancedassessment.org for more information.