Test Security: Expanding Our Ideas to Support Score Integrity
Test security has typically focused on preventing, detecting and acting on irregularities. But it should also support fairness and equity.
Read MoreCategory: Technical Issues
You Can Get the Accountability System You Want (Part 2)
States complain that ESSA bars them from getting the accountability systems they really want. We present three examples of systems that show otherwise.
Read More
You Can Get the Accountability System You Want (Part 1)
States can have the school accountability systems they value by minimizing the footprint of the Every Student Succeeds Act.
Read More
Three Common Misconceptions About State Assessments
Experts shed light on key aspects of state testing: comparability, proficiency, and instructional utility.
Read More
Data, Data, Everywhere. Why So Hard to Use?
States have an abundance of education data. But to use it well, states need good data management practices.
Read More
Perfect Test Comparability Is a Sign of Failure
The federal innovative assessment pilot has hobbled the testing improvements it aimed to promote. We can change that by rethinking test comparability.
Read More
Face It: Tests Have Consequences
An assessment’s negative or positive consequences are just as important as other dimensions of assessment quality, and should be part of test validity evaluations.
Read More
Guidance for Addressing N-Size in School Accountability and Reporting Systems
Decisions regarding the minimum n-size for accountability indicators can make a big difference in the design and implementation of school accountability systems.
Read More
Student Growth Measures for Accountability: No, You Don’t Need a Vertical Scale
Student growth measures for accountability do not require a vertical scale and, in fact, may be hampered by one.
Read More
A 10-Step Guide for Incorporating Program Evaluation Into the Design of Educational Interventions
We explain how to incorporate program evaluation in education after you have organized your program to connect it to your evaluation.
Read More
But How Do We Know It’s Working?
Program evaluation can demonstrate the desired outcomes of educational initiatives, programs, and other “things” are coming to fruition.
Read More
Advancing Contemporary Validity Theory and Practice
Based on Remarks Given During a Town Hall Session at the 2022 NCME Conference I was honored to participate in a validity “town hall” at last week’s NCME conference with […]
Read More
User-Friendly Documentation and Validation Processes (Part 2)
Documentation Makes for a Good System. What Makes for a Good System of Documentation? A Vision with Documented Strategy and Tactics Validity is the ultimate goal of any system. The […]
Read More
User-Friendly Documentation and Validation Processes (Part 1)
Supporting A Vision with Documented Strategy and Tactics Professionally and personally, we often have projects or tasks where we define desired goals or outcomes, and sometimes even identify the steps […]
Read More
Collaboratively Learning About Through Year Assessments
It Will Take a Village to Fulfill the Opportunities of Through Year Assessment Systems “Through year” or “through course” assessment systems are rapidly proliferating as an alternative to the single, […]
Read More
Trying to Serve Multiple Uses with Through Year Assessments
Assumptions, Claims, and the Evidence Needed to Support Them Assumptions lead to claims about the types of inferences and uses that an assessment system is intended to support. Strong assumptions […]
Read More
Including Missing Data in the Estimate of the Impact of the Pandemic on Student Learning
Part 3: The Practical Implications of COVID-19 Learning Loss Studies It has been a year since COVID-19 made it impossible for states to administer state assessment programs last spring. Since […]
Read More
Making Sense of Recent COVID-19 Impact Studies by Interim Assessment Vendors
Part 1: The Practical Implications of COVID-19 “Learning Loss” Studies It has been a year since COVID-19 made it impossible for states to administer state assessment programs last spring. Since […]
Read More