Scott Marion to Assume New Role at the Center for Assessment
Dr. Scott Marion, the executive director of the Center for Assessment, will step down from that post effective September 2025. Scott isn’t leaving the Center, however; he’ll be deepening and expanding upon his work. Dr. Henry Braun, chair of the Center’s Board of Trustees, announced that Dr. Chris Domaleski, the Center’s longtime associate director, will become its executive director next September.
“I have loved every minute of my work and leadership at the Center the past 21 years,” Marion said. “I’m excited to continue that work, with more freedom to write and think while doing what I love most: partnering with states and districts to solve thorny problems of practice.”
Scott joined the Center as a senior associate in 2003. He became the associate director in 2005 and served in that role through 2015 when he became the executive director. Scott began his career as a field biologist and outdoor educator. He earned his Ph.D. in educational measurement at the University of Colorado Boulder and served as Wyoming’s assessment director.
In this next stage of his work at the Center, Scott will continue working with states, districts, and other Center clients to conceptualize and design innovative and balanced assessment systems that support instruction, program support, evaluation, and other critical uses. He draws on a bank of expertise that only continues to deepen: In 2024, he co-edited the National Academy of Education’s Reimagining Balanced Assessment Systems and co-authored (with Carla Evans) Understanding Instructionally Useful Assessment. He is eager to collaborate with others to bring the ideas in these books to life in real-world practice.
Dr. Braun expressed gratitude for Scott’s many years of extraordinary leadership and for helping the Center become the preeminent organization for technical and policy work on assessment and accountability issue. He commended the Center on its organizational stability and thoughtful succession planning, and said the Board is “thrilled to welcome Chris as the next executive director.”
Chris Domaleski is a nationally recognized leader in assessment and accountability, who has been with the Center for 16 years, starting as a senior associate in 2008 and serving as associate director since 2015. During his time at the Center, Chris has worked with multiple states to design and implement innovative assessment and accountability systems, coordinates several state technical advisory committees, and co-leads the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) State Collaborative on Accountability Systems and Reporting.
Chris earned a Ph.D. from Georgia State University in research, measurement, and statistics. He regularly publishes his research and presents at national conferences and is the former associate editor for the prestigious Journal of Educational Measurement.
Prior to joining the Center, Chris was the associate superintendent for assessment and accountability at the Georgia Department of Education.
“I’m honored to be invited to serve as the Center’s next executive director,” Domaleski said. “I’m committed to building on the Center’s strong foundation to sustain and grow our influence on improved assessment and accountability practices.”
Contact: Catherine Gewertz, editorial director, cgewertz@nciea.org
About the Center for Assessment
We help state and district education leaders design, implement, and evaluate assessment and accountability practices to improve student learning and increase equity in important educational experiences and outcomes. More on our website: nciea.org.