I’m feeling a bit nostalgic for the good old days when standardized tests were described as “thermometers” – a relatively simple tool that did one thing and did it well. Thermometers, like standardized tests, are still ubiquitous. Why have we abandoned that easily understood metaphor?
Category Archives: Assessment
Everything Looks Worse in Black and White
There’s a lot to reflect on as we reach the midpoint of 2025, but one story that’s stuck in my craw is the performance of Black and White students on the 2024 NAEP tests. Not the achievement gap per se, we are all too well aware of that, but rather the lack of overlap between the two groups. I’m not sure what to make of that.
Educational Testing: To Protect and To Serve
I’ve concluded that you can learn a lot about a field from its conference themes. How it views itself, how it thinks others perceive it, and how it wants others to see it. As my colleagues refresh their Rocky Mountain High at the second of three national gatherings in Denver this conference season, I began to ponder an appropriate theme for educational testing.
Innovative or In Over Our Heads
Why is innovating in educational assessment so difficult? Is there an invisible string, a common thread, connecting the chain of so-called innovations that have either never produced fruit, died on the vine, or failed to even sprout?
Approaching The Limit of Equating State Tests
Since my last post, several people have asked what I meant by my claim that virtually every decision related to the operation of state testing programs since 1990 has made equating more difficult. In this post, I make my case and discuss whether in the calculus of equating state tests we are approaching our limit.
Fundamentals and Flaws of Standards-Based Testing
I am excited to use this week’s blog post to introduce my new book, Fundamentals and Flaws of Standards-Based Testing: Lessons Learned Across Three Decades in Educational Assessment, published by and available from Routledge.
A Commitment To Communicate
Andrew Ho, in his NCME presidential address, defended his use of metrics such as weeks, months, and “years of learning” citing what he dubbed as “the accuracy-engagement tradeoff” while asking “Can good communication enable better accuracy and engagement?” My response, as Andrew suggested is the answer to all such questions, is “It depends.”
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?
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?
Embrace the Absurd 