Charlie DePascale

A Little Less IRT, A Little More IRS

It is clear to even the staunchest advocates of state testing and test-based accountability that item response theory (IRT) is not the best foundation on which to build models of school performance, let alone school effectiveness. It is time, therefore, to shift our accountability focus from IRT and building better tests to lessons we canContinue reading “A Little Less IRT, A Little More IRS”

The Best of Both Worlds

The concept sounds so appealing: The Best of Both Worlds. You can enjoy the advantages of two different situations or opportunities at the same time. You can have your cake and eat it too. It’s the American Dream – a Party in the USA! But is it really possible to have the best of bothContinue reading “The Best of Both Worlds”

IADA: Starting from Scratch

I suggested in my last post that the word “innovation” does not means the same thing to those of us in the assessment community that it does to the rest of the world. That in itself should not come as a surprise to anyone familiar with our work. Lots of words mean something different toContinue reading “IADA: Starting from Scratch”

IADA and the Comparability Fallacy

The recent Request for Information by the USED related to improving the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) has produced a spate of posts, letters, articles, etc. related to comparability. Spate is such a lovely onomatopoeic word. And so appropriate to describe the arguments being made about comparability. Spate. It feels like some sort of formalContinue reading “IADA and the Comparability Fallacy”

We Made it Through the Rain … Again

I know that I’m once again conflating Barry Manilow and Taylor Swift with that title, but if the soggy shoe fits… Perhaps a more appropriate title in anticipation of the impending Speak Now re-release (July 7, pre-order now) would be The Rain Show (Taylor’s Version). For on Saturday evening, my daughter and I attended ourContinue reading “We Made it Through the Rain … Again”

AITA

It’s a fairly common occurrence for me not to recognize or know how to interpret the various emojis, acronyms, and hashtags I encounter while scrolling through the latest on Taylor Swift, the local sports teams, my favorite #GBBO contestants, and a little assessment and measurement angst – iykyk, right. The most recent case: the lettersContinue reading “AITA”

To Dreaming Things That Never Were

“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’” – George Bernard Shaw The quote above is from Shaw’s play, or collection of plays, Back to Methuselah. I’ve read that the full play covers the time period from Adam and Eve in theContinue reading “To Dreaming Things That Never Were”

All Systems Go!

Seriously, systems, that is comprehensive and balanced assessment systems: It’s time for you to go. After much deliberation and a bit of soul-searching, I have come to the conclusion that it is time to retire the use of the word systems when discussing or describing educational tests or assessment programs. I’ll admit that letting goContinue reading “All Systems Go!”

“When I’m Sixty-Four”

Will you still need me, will you still feed me When I’m sixty-four? If turning 64 this week wasn’t enough to make me feel old and ask the questions posed above, the fact that the Wikipedia page for Paul McCartney’s iconic song feels it’s necessary to explain that the Beatles were an “English rock band”Continue reading ““When I’m Sixty-Four””

NCME & Me

As I read the tweets and posts from the NCME community assembled in Chicago this week, I find myself back here in Maine reminiscing about my five conference trips to Chicago since 1991. There are the memories of discovering deep dish pizza, walking in fascination along the wall of stones (fragments of history) at theContinue reading “NCME & Me”