Category Archives: Assessment

Vive La Variance!

To educate is to change. Instruction and learning are about change. Educational measurement is defined by variance. Literally. The fundamental concepts in the field are expressed in terms of variance. One of the first techniques that we learn as eager young graduate students is analysis of variance. Without variance, our lives as psychometricians, much likeContinue reading “Vive La Variance!”

Adrift at “C” with IRT

For the past three decades we have weathered the storm of test-based accountability in a skiff called IRT. Buttressed only with a few psychometric tools, loosely defined unidimensional latent constructs, and the promise of measurement invariance we have been buffeted by wind and waves, sometimes taking on water, sometimes finding ourselves run aground in shallowContinue reading “Adrift at “C” with IRT”

Render Unto Caesar What Is Caesar’s

How do you innovate in large-scale state testing while continuing to meet federal assessment and accountability requirements? That, essentially, was the question addressed by the Center for Assessment team and state leaders in the final session of the Center’s virtual Reidy Interactive Lecture Series (RILS). Specifically, the session featured interviews with leaders in states currentlyContinue reading “Render Unto Caesar What Is Caesar’s”

On a Whim and a Prayer

You win a multi-year contract for a new, innovative state assessment program.  You spend the next six months staffing up, getting the project infrastructure in place, and working with the state to begin the initial design and development process.  A new governor takes office and the assessment program and your contract are canceled immediately. MuchContinue reading “On a Whim and a Prayer”

Another Term Bites The Dust

Florida Man Steals $33,000 Worth of Rare Coins, Cashes Them in for $29.30 Florida Man Fire Bombs Garage That Impounded His Car, Hits His Own Vehicle Florida Man Bastardizes The Term Progress Monitoring We have come to expect, even look forward to, the zany “news” stories that begin with the two-word phrase, “Florida Man.” AtContinue reading “Another Term Bites The Dust”