Life – Page 2 – Embrace the Absurd

To Ron, With Love

How do you thank someone who was a constant presence in your career in large-scale testing from its very beginning in 1989 all the way through to 2018 when a conversation with him helped you realize it was time to move on to a new phase of your life? Where do I begin to tellContinue reading “To Ron, With Love”

Matrix Sampling: Resurrected

It is impossible to read an article or hear a presentation about the future of large-scale state testing without some discussion of matrix sampling. If your primary concerns about large-scale testing are time and cost, the answer is matrix sampling. If your primary concern is coverage of comprehensive and complex standards like the Next GenerationContinue reading “Matrix Sampling: Resurrected”

You Can Go Home Again

Last week, I attended my very first NEERO conference. Seems a strange thing to say about a conference I have gone to 31 times since April 1989 when I made that very same drive over the Piscataqua River Bridge on I-95 from Maine to New Hampshire, took Exit 7 near the bottom of the bridge,Continue reading “You Can Go Home Again”

Policymakers Dig the Long Ball

Opening Day! On Opening Day 2021, I attempted to embody the spirit, if not the skill, of A. Bartlett Giamatti and engage in the real pastime of the true baseball fan, to wax poetic about baseball as the perfect metaphor for life. In that post, I recounted the central position that baseball, in all of itsContinue reading “Policymakers Dig the Long Ball”

Throwing A Wrench Into State Testing

For more than two decades now it has sat here on the corner of my desk. A rusty, humbling reminder that some aspects of this thing that we call large-scale testing are simply beyond our ken. There are those times when we know we’ve done everything right, followed all the rules, operationalized best practices, andContinue reading “Throwing A Wrench Into State Testing”

Lessons Learned

I learned a lot in the Boston Public Schools. I learned to read and to like reading. I learned enough math to have a successful limited run in the role of a high school math teacher and to set myself up for a career in educational measurement and assessment. I learned some Latin, and enoughContinue reading “Lessons Learned”

Inventing State Assessment

Spoiler Alert: This post may reveal information about Inventing Anna that you don’t want to know yet. Content Warning: This post may reveal information about the Race to the Top Assessment Program that you have tried to forget. As I watched Inventing Anna, the Shonda Rhimes version of the Anna Delvey story, unfold before meContinue reading “Inventing State Assessment”

Our House

It was February 1992 when my wife and I moved into this house that has now been our home for 30 years. It’s the house where we became a family when our daughter arrived in 1993. While I can’t say that our house is a very, very, very fine house we have made this placeContinue reading “Our House”

Looking Back on the Memory Of

With my daughter successfully defending her dissertation (Way to go, Dr. Mary, PhD!), my thoughts this week were filled with memories of my own graduate school experiences: my defense, dissertation, and most of all, my advisor, John Stecklein. Also stirring those memories this week are the accomplishments of another young woman, his granddaughter, Lee Stecklein,Continue reading “Looking Back on the Memory Of”

Second Thoughts

Eugenics. It’s the original sin of measurement and testing. Our Curse of Cain. Our Cross to Bear. Of all of the controversies included in Historical and Conceptual Foundations, eugenics may be the one most directly related to testing and the use of tests. It is also the controversy that receives the most direct attention inContinue reading “Second Thoughts”