Personalization in the Service of Equity: What, Why, How, and for Whom?

Session Type: Organized Discussion

Abstract

The growing recognition of the need to address longstanding issues of social justice is causing some education departments to revise content standards and some assessment organizations, and many members of our field, to rethink traditional definitions of equity and fairness. Evolving definitions include the need to account for differences in sociocultural backgrounds, funds of knowledge, interests, values, and practices that individuals from diverse cultures bring to learning and assessment.
In keeping with this need, a variety of approaches to assessment have been proposed. Among those approaches are culturally responsive assessment, socioculturally responsive assessment, antiracist assessment, culturally sustaining assessment, justice-oriented assessment, and universal design for assessment. These approaches put into focus various student groups, some targeted (e.g., African-American students, English learners, students with disabilities) and others more broadly constituted (e.g., minoritized learners). The goal of this organized discussion is to interrogate the idea that rather than conceptualizing approaches to assessment around such groupings, it might be more productive substantively, logistically, and politically to design for the individual—i.e., to personalize. Among the questions the panel will address are what does such design entail, how might we know if it was successful, and what conceptual and technical issues might it raise.

Sub Unit

• Individual Papers, Innovation Demonstrations, Coordinated Sessions, or Organized Discussions

Session Organizer

• Randy Bennett, ETS

Presenters

• Temple Lovelace, Assessment for Good

• Blair Lehman, Brighter Research

• Aneesha Badrinarayan, Learning Policy Institute

• Sandip Sinharay, EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE