I appreciate the CURRV model developed by Peter Afflerbach. CURRV is an acronym for- Consequences, Usefulness, Roles and Responsibility, Reliability, and Validity (Shearer et al., 2019). Assessments need to be looked at through this lens. If the assessment is deemed fit to be used, it should successfully guide teaching practices.
Schools should use assessments as a screening instrument to find students that are not on par with their peers and to have a baseline. When a student performs poorly on a screening, a diagnostics test should be done to find where the difficulty lies. When a student begins receiving additional support in the area the need help in they should be given progress monitoring tests to see if the intervention plan is working (Shearer et al., 2019).
When assessments are used effectively it looks like students know the learning goals and are learning. Instruction is adapted to meet students immediate needs. Feedback is given to students and they are able to act upon it.
Risks from using data depends on the validity of the assessment and how the student responded to the assessment. Some things to consider are did the student try their best, were they distracted, did they answer the questions on their own, or did the way the test was given get in the way of them showing what they actually know?
Reference
Shearer, B. A., Carr, D. A., & Vogt, M. (2019). Reading specialists and literacy coaches in the real world. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press
Literacy- Thoughts, Ideas, and Practices 