Charlie DePascale

How Arne Works

Charlie DePascale During my August trip to Minnesota I was able to check two books off of my summer reading list: Relativity – The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein and How Schools Work by Arne Duncan. As the old joke goes, one was a book that asked me to rethink basic conceptsContinue reading “How Arne Works”

My Miss Brooks

Our Miss Brooks was a highly successful comedy series on radio and early television that followed the life and career of a fictional high school English teacher, Connie Brooks. My Miss Brooks, Ann Brooks, was a highly successful teacher of the fifth and sixth grade Advanced Work Class at the Mather School in Dorchester, MassachusettsContinue reading “My Miss Brooks”

Ten Years of Taylor

‘The end of an era, but the start of an age…’ In honor of the end of The Eras Tour and Taylor’s 35th birthday, reposting my 2018 post, Ten Years of Taylor.

Rebranding Educational Measurement

Charlie DePascale When I think about educational measurement the first thing that comes to mind is a high-fructose corn syrup commercial from about 10 years ago. On one side there is the man who holds, but cannot articulate, the widespread, but ill-defined, perception (misperception?) that high-fructose corn syrup is inherently bad. On the otherContinue reading “Rebranding Educational Measurement”

Give Me A Lever

Charlie DePascale I realized very early in my career that the law of the lever, as explained by Archimedes in some variation of the quote above, was critical to my success. In short, there was little that I could do on my own as an assessment specialist, or psychometrician, to improve education; but working inContinue reading “Give Me A Lever”

If I Did It

Confessions of a Psychometrician By OJ Simpsons Paradox with Charlie DePascale Charlie – As we waited six long months for the release of the 2017 NAEP results, some wondered whether we would ever know the whole story; what really happened that February when NAEP reading and math went digital. Now that those results have beenContinue reading “If I Did It”

It’s about time

Charlie DePascale We have all asked the question, “Where did the time go?” As troubling as that question can be, more recently, I find myself pondering an even more vexing question, Where did time go? Every day, it seems as though time has been removed as a dimension or component of some part of our livesContinue reading “It’s about time”

Bring back valid tests

Charlie DePascale Those of us of a certain age can recall when it was acceptable to talk about valid tests. One could make the claim that a test was valid; or more often as a precocious graduate student, question whether a test was valid. Some version of the phrase a test is valid to theContinue reading “Bring back valid tests”

Implausible Values

Equating in the early part of the 21st century Charlie DePascale Our field is facing a crisis brought on by implausible values. The values which threaten us, however, are not the assessment results questioned above. Those are only the byproduct of the values which our field and society have adopted with regard to K-12 large-scaleContinue reading “Implausible Values”

My 12 Memories of Christmas

As time goes by, certain memories of Christmases past become stronger than others. Most are filled with family, food, music, and fun; but a few other things manage to creep in as well. On Christmas 2017, here is a list of my 12 memories that mean Christmas to me. The First Noel My sister, 2Continue reading “My 12 Memories of Christmas”