Moving the Needle: NHLI Releases Landmark “PLACE at Five Years” Impact Report

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NORTH HAMPTON, NH — June 2026 — The New Hampshire Learning Initiative (NHLI) has officially released its milestone publication, PLACE at Five Years: A Report on the Growth of the New Hampshire Learning Initiative’s Performance Learning and Assessment Consortium for Educators. Funded by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation—and featuring critical educator pathways made possible by ongoing teacher support funded by the National Education Association (NEA)—the extensive report documents the evolution, expansion, and structural outcomes of New Hampshire’s premier classroom-centered professional learning network.

The report details how the PLACE project has matured over five years, from an alternative state assessment pilot into a deep, sustainable professional learning system that now spans 35 school districts and 7 diverse academic content areas across the state.

The Big Headline: 92% of Educators Report Meaningful Shifts in Classroom Practice

At the heart of the newly released findings is data from the 2025–2026 participant survey, capturing the direct experiences of educators working within the consortium. The system-wide impact is undeniable: 92% of surveyed teachers reported moderate-to-significant changes in their day-to-day instructional practice as a direct result of their engagement with PLACE.

Rather than treating assessment as an isolated testing event, educators within the network are successfully redesigning classroom experiences to focus on deep, transferable learning skills.

“The more that I participate in PLACE, the more confident and competent I feel with performance learning and assessment. I truly hope that it continues beyond this year, because it is incredibly valuable for educator growth and student learning.“

— PLACE Educator Survey Response

Key Findings: How New Hampshire Classrooms Are Evolving

The quantitative evidence gathered across 71 comprehensive educator responses outlines exactly how instructional and evaluative practices are shifting:

• Increased Performance Assessments: 50 of 71 surveyed teachers reported increased use of rich, authentic performance-based learning tasks in their classrooms.
• Stronger Competency Alignment: 39 educators noted a tighter, more deliberate alignment between daily student evidence and school learning targets.
• Elevated Formative Strategies: 38 teachers reported integrating advanced formative assessment routines that prioritize continuous feedback and student self-reflection over simple task completion.
• The Power of Cross-District Collaboration: Collaborative discussions with peers were rated the most impactful aspect of the project, selected by 65 of 71 participants.

Teacher Leadership as a Stable Infrastructure

Unlike traditional, outsourced professional development models, PLACE treats local teacher leadership as the primary engine for educational sustainability. The report highlights a remarkable stabilization metric: 95% of PLACE teacher design leads and learning community leads have remained in their districts and in the profession over the five-year project window.

Furthermore, 90% of these individuals were original teacher leaders in the historic NH PACE project (2014–2020). This exceptional continuity has allowed New Hampshire to preserve and extend its deep professional expertise over a decade, shifting it smoothly into a flexible, district-centered model.

Federal Validation: Aligning Accountability with Learning

The report contextualizes these local triumphs within a rigorous evaluation framework aligned with the federal Institute of Education Sciences (IES) review of the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA). The federal evaluation confirmed that New Hampshire was a clear national leader, operating as the only early IADA system ready to administer an operational innovative assessment within its first year.

While the historical PACE framework demonstrated that a competency-aligned performance assessment system could be successfully built for state accountability, PLACE at Five Years showcases the next step: moving that technical capacity out of state compliance silos and directly into local, daily classroom instruction.

Access the Official Publication

As NHLI celebrates five years of network growth, the organization looks forward to partnering with local school boards and administrators to address ongoing implementation conditions, such as protecting teacher collaboration time and aligning grading systems to competency-based evidence.

The full publication, featuring comprehensive participation maps, data visualizations, and district implementation frameworks, is now officially available to the public.

👉 Download the Full Report: PLACE at Five Years (PDF)

👉 Explore Interactive Performance Learning & Assessment Resources

Media & Project Contact

New Hampshire Learning Initiative (NHLI) 

• Executive Director & PLACE Project Director: Ellen Hume Howard
• Director of Deeper Learning: Kathleen White

Website: nhlearninginitiative.org