Assessment – Embrace the Absurd

Into The Great Known

In my last post, Right Before Our Very Eyes, I called on assessment specialists to focus their efforts on understanding and explaining observed scores. This post, which could have had the same title, is a reminder that, in general, educational assessment involves dealing with known quantities. The purpose of 99.9% of educational assessment is not toContinue reading “Into The Great Known”

Right Before Our Very Eyes

It’s time for educational measurement, or at least assessment specialists, to say goodbye to latent traits, hidden constructs, and true scores. They are useful concepts, in theory. In practice, well, they really haven’t helped us provide useful information to stakeholders, and that is the name of the game. Admit it, you were a bit skepticalContinue reading “Right Before Our Very Eyes”

A Christmas Carol (Testing Version)

State testing was dying; to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The actions, or more aptly put, the inactions taken by the assessment community over the years had signed the death warrant. It seemed clear that all that remained was to wait for the bell to toll. Times up. Pencils down. ItContinue reading “A Christmas Carol (Testing Version)”

Gender – Our Achilles Heel

For as long as I can remember, gender has been a sore spot in large-scale assessment. Often overshadowed in the media and federal regulations by race and ethnicity, it is a difference in test results by gender that can cause the most trouble for those of us in testing. The problem, you see, is thatContinue reading “Gender – Our Achilles Heel”

Choosing Our Battles Wisely

We appear to be in a lull in the storm that has been battering large-scale assessment, in general, and state assessment programs, in particular, for the last several years. Knowing that the next band of thunderstorms is on the horizon, this may be a good time to assess our situation to determine what it isContinue reading “Choosing Our Battles Wisely”

Do Re Mi-ting Expectations

Let’s start at the very beginningA very good place to startWhen you read, you begin with A-B-CWhen you sing, you begin with Do-Re-Mi When you report state test results, you begin with … What do you begin with when reporting state test results? I know that testing begins with hopes, dreams, and aspirations (pernicious orContinue reading “Do Re Mi-ting Expectations”

That Ragged Old Item

Each year they arrive ready to change the game Developers and psychometricians with freshly minted degrees As eager to disrupt as we were eager to please. So, I wasn’t surprised when the bold one exclaimed with disdain, I remember that sandwich cut into six slices! Students deserve better items, no wonder we’re in crisis! IContinue reading “That Ragged Old Item”

Track 13 – What’s The Plan?

As usual, in Mastermind, track 13, Taylor Swift said it better than I ever could. If you fail to plan, you plan to failStrategy sets the scene for the tale So, as Jessica Baghian asked on Twitter, “What’s the plan?” – “the specific plan chiefs and governors articulate to address kids’ needs.” Of course, beforeContinue reading “Track 13 – What’s The Plan?”

Midnights (NAEP edition)

It’s not very often that one weekend is framed by two such highly anticipated and consequential events. On Friday, Taylor Swift released her 10th studio album, Midnights. On Monday, we have the release of the 2022 State NAEP results, described by many as the most important/significant/consequential release in the history of NAEP. It’s almost tooContinue reading “Midnights (NAEP edition)”

I Blog, Therefore I Am

We live in a world where the gap in time between having a thought and sharing it with the world has been all but eliminated. Case in point, this is the 200th post I have published since launching my blog in 2015, with 141 of those (70%) coming in the three years since my retirementContinue reading “I Blog, Therefore I Am”