45.038 - Published but Copyright-Relaxed Messages: A Viable Ploy for Promoting Assessment Literacy?

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

This presentation will represent an editor’s personal stance regarding both the potentials and perils of the assessment-literacy enhancement tactic under consideration in the symposium. The presenter will focus not only on those aspects of such a “copyright-relaxed segments” publication strategy from the perspective of a publishing house, but also—based on the editor’s own experiences—the likely responses of authors to the proposed ploy for enhancing assessment literacy.

The rationale for this proposed symposium is that the session attempts to supply a direct, albeit partial, answer to a profound question posed early in the AERA Call for Submissions to the 2019 annual meeting: “ The question for education researchers is how, in a so-called ‘post-truth’ political era when evidence is shunted and emotion is exploited, can we make our research matter to lessen inequality and increase educational opportunities?” Because so many of today’s key educational decisions are dependent on students’ test performances, how can educators successfully lessen inequality and increase educational opportunities if those educators do not truly comprehend what educational tests can and cannot do?
Early on in this proposed symposium it will be contended that increasing the assessment literacy of diverse educational stakeholders constitutes the most cost-effective way to improve schooling. Because assessment-literate individuals understand the most significant fundamentals of educational assessment, they can help reduce the number of mistaken educational decisions currently diminishing the success of our schools. For instance, assessment-literate decision-makers can avoid evaluating schools via students’ scores on tests unaccompanied by evidence of evaluative suitability. Fewer assessment-rooted mistakes will, almost automatically, improve the quality of schooling.
Although firing-line teachers and administrators would surely benefit if they were more assessment literate, enhanced assessment literacy would also be beneficial in the education-related deliberations of such groups as parents of school-age children or school board members. Assessment literacy, for the proposed symposium, will be defined as follows: Assessment literacy consists of an individual’s understandings of the fundamental assessment concepts and procedures deemed likely to influence educational decisions.
The chief reason that increased assessment literacy represents such a cost-effective way to boost school effectiveness is that, in contrast to such expensive interventions as, say, providing smaller numbers of students per class, the costs of increasing assessment literacy can be downright trifling. An innovative procedure for doing so will be the focus of the proposed symposium. The assessment-literacy suggestion under consideration is for educational publishers to include in their assessment-related books several copyright-relaxed, “assessment-literacy messages” (ALMs) aimed at specific target audiences.
These ALMs might take the form of brief op-ed essays dealing with a selected assessment understanding such as “How to Enhance the Fairness of Classroom Tests” or a few explanatory paragraphs dealing with such topics as “The Precision of High-Stakes Testing.” Each ALM would be accompanied by an atypical copyright notice allowing the use of the ALM—for purposes of promoting assessment literacy—in print or digitally (secured electronically from the publisher’s website). The thrust of the proposal, clearly, is to get key assessment information out to those who can benefit from its use.
After a moderator’s introductory description of the symposium’s focus (including the essentials of the ALM proposal) and its intended operation, four editors from prominent educational publishers will present their personal reactions to the proposed tactic. An experienced educational researcher will then react to the presenter’s comments. Lengthy small-group and, thereafter, whole-group discussions will conclude the session.

Sub Unit

• Division H - Research, Evaluation and Assessment in Schools

Chair

• W. James Popham, University of California - Los Angeles

Presenters

• Arnis Burvikovs, Corwin Press

• George Johnson, Information Age Publishing, Inc.

• Genny Ostertag, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development

• Regina Ward, TC Press

Discussant

• David C. Berliner, Arizona State University