Spring 2021 Conference Season: The Sequel

Center Participation at the NCME and CCSSO NCSA Virtual Conferences

We welcomed the Spring 2021 conference season with Center participation in national and regional virtual education conferences that occurred virtually in April. 

In this post, we highlight the presentations that Center associates and former interns will be delivering in June at the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) virtual conference and the National Conference on Student Assessment (NCSA) sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers. The Center is well represented at both conferences. 

NCME: Bridging Research and Practice – June 8-11

Although the bulk of the NCME conference will take place June 8-11, Damian Betebenner presented his work, Assessing COVID-19 Impacts on Assessment and Learning using Star Interim Assessments,in one of the sessions featured in late May.

Other sessions also focus on issues related to testing in spring 2021 and the impact of the pandemic on education and assessment:

• In a debate session organized and chaired by Will Lorié, Scott Marion will take a stand on Spring 2021 test results during The Value of Assessment Data from Spring 2021 (June 9).
• Leslie Keng, Michelle Boyer, and Scott Marion share their paper,  Into the Unknown: Assessments in Spring 2021 (June 10).

The Center’s work on innovation in assessment is featured in three sessions:

• Carla Evans, Chris Brandt, and Nathan Dadey will address issues related to innovative assessment systems in Designing and Evaluating Innovative Assessment Systems: Combining Research and Practice(June 11).
• Carla Evans will discuss a standard-setting approach used with the New Hampshire PACE program in Applying Contrasting Groups Standard Setting Methodology to a Performance Assessment Program (June 9).
• Will Lorié will present Framework for Rule-Based Scoring of Technology Enhanced Items (June 11).

Other sessions are focused on timely issues and questions in educational measurement and assessment:

• Scott Marion will participate in an organized discussion addressing the implementation of educational standards in, The AERA/APA/NCME Standards: Is it time to revisit the policy of self-enforcement?
• Brian Gong will participate in two sessions related to federal peer review of state assessment programs: Peer Review: Effects on State Tests and Testing (June 9), and Coffee Chat: Federal Peer Review: Opportunities and Challenges for Educational Measurement (June 11).
• Chris Domaleski will serve as discussant in a session chaired by former Center intern Luciana Cancada titled Topics in Measuring Growth (June 9), and will also participate in an organized discussion, Remembering “Career” in College and Career Readiness (June 11).

The work of the Center’s 2020 summer interns and their mentors will also be featured in sessions throughout the conference:

• Maura O’Riordan (mentor Chris Domaleski) A Framework for the Evaluation of Assessment Accommodations (June 9).
• Sanford Student (mentor Brian Gong) Tiered Claims: A New Approach to Claims about Students in NGSS Assessment (June 9).
• Alexandra Stone (mentor Carla Evans) NH Performance Assessment of Competency Education Student Outcome Evaluation after Five Years (June 11).
• Tong Wu (mentor Michelle Boyer) Understanding the Impact of Rater Inaccuracies on Test Score Scales (June 11).
• 2019 intern Tuba Gezer,  (mentor Brian Gong) Examining English Language Learner’s Proficient in Terms of Gaps (June 10).

Finally, we cannot move on from the NCME conference without acknowledging the tremendous work over the past two years of our own Leslie Keng, who along with Susan Davis-Becker has served as 2021 NCME Annual Meeting Co-Chair. 

NCSA: Re-Imagining Assessment – June 21-23

Center professionals will join our state partners and others at the annual Council of Chief State School Officers’ National Conference on Student Assessment. Within the framework of the conference theme, Re-Imagining Assessment, we will participate in several sessions dealing  with ways assessment has had to be re-imagined in 2020 and 2021:

• Scott Marion and Nathan Dadey will address the opportunity for states to supplement state test data with other critical information in the session, The Perfect Opportunity to Collect Opportunity-to-Learn Data (June 21).
• Juan D’Brot will explore how state accountability leaders face constantly changing state and federal policy in the session Navigating Rough Waters of Assessment Policy, Practice, and Implementation (June 21).
• Juan will also join state and local educators in a session titled Successfully and Equitably Measuring Student Achievement during a Pandemic (June 21).
• Finally, Juan will participate in a session highlighting efforts by states and districts to address ELs and COVID-19 titled The long-term impact of COVID’s dual losses for English learners – English language development and academic content – where do we go from here? (June 22).
• Chris Domaleski will serve as discussant for a session titled COVID Impact on High School Graduation Tests and Considerations (June 22).
• Damian Betebenner will participate in Using Interim Assessment Data to Measure COVID’s Impact on Learning, a session that offers national, state, and local perspectives (June 23).
• Brian Gong will join in a discussion titled Disrupted Assessment Policy and Practice: Recommendations for the Future (June 23).

Of course, the Center is also looking beyond 2021 to imagine what assessment could be in the future.

• Scott Marion will join in a discussion of Advances in Validity Evidence for Alternate Assessments (June 22).
• Scott and Center Board member Lorrie Shepard will address a critical question during the session, Rebalancing Assessment Systems: What Can We Do Now and in the Future to Support Balanced Systems of Assessment? (June 21).
• And in a partial answer to that question, Carla Evans will participate in the session, Balanced Assessment Systems Start with Assessment Literacy (June 22).

While we are looking forward to spring 2022 when we are confident we will be joining our colleagues at in-person conferences, we are also planning for one more special virtual conference in 2021. The Center’s annual Reidy Interactive Lecture Series (RILS) will once again be offered as a series of virtual webinars beginning September 15. The theme for the RILS 2021 is Design Innovation in Educational Assessment Systems.