While joining the rest of the world in mourning Pope Francis, there has also been another Francis weighing heavy on my heart and mind these past two weeks. A few days before Pope Francis passed away, my cousin Frank succumbed to the aggressive form of brain cancer he had been fighting these past few months.
Author Archives: Charlie DePascale
Watching for White Smoke, Waiting for a Call
At some point in the next few weeks, my church is going to select a new leader. If called upon, I will serve to the best of my ability. If not, I will do the same.
A Mile In My Shoes
This week, turning 66, it’s shoes that are on my mind. As the poet said, we are shaped by the lessons of humanity taught to us by our elders and will be known forever by the tracks we leave. In my case, a lot of those lessons and tracks they helped shape involve shoes.
Nothing Is Certain Except Tests and Taxes
Happy Tax Day! April 15. That one day each year that Americans are focused collectively on a massive, state-run, data collection enterprise. Seems like the perfect time to reflect on that other state-run data collection activity in which we are all so engaged; that is, PK-12 state testing.
DEI – Putting Our Best Foot Forward
Just about three years ago, with large-scale testing already under attack, the field embraced DEI as recompense for past sins and a pathway to relevance. Now, just as we are starting to take our first tentative steps, the concept of DEI itself is under attack. How do we, as a field and assessment community stand tall?
Suffering Fools Gladly
It was fun when April Fools’ Day came once a year. But what do we do to survive when every day feels like April Fools’ Day, when you’re sure that virtually every report, post, or announcement must be a joke.
Public Education as a Metaphor for Opening Day
Opening Day of the 2025 baseball season is upon us. Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don’t care if I never get back! But we do have to come back; and when we do, there’s a lot of work to be done in public education. Put me in coach. I’m ready to play today!
The Fair, Reliable, & Valid Sex
In the midst of all of the current chaos and disrupted careers, I thought this a good time to step back and reflect on the question that LinkedIn has been posing at the top of my feed in honor of International Women’s Day and National Women’s History Month: Who are the women who have influenced your career?
What Do We Want From AI?
In this week’s behind the scenes look at how Charlie’s mind works, we consider the question what is it that we want from the use of AI technology to support educational assessment and accountability, and to improve education, in general.
Are Personalization and Generalization Compatible?
At the risk of overgeneralizing, I am beginning to think that unless we are very careful the current emphasis on personalization is likely to have a negative effect on generalization – long a goal of K-12 education. How can the two concepts coexist, can we achieve better generalization through personalization, or are personalization and generalization, in fact, incompatible?
