Re-envisioning Fairness: Far-reaching Implications for Measurement and Assessment Research and Practice

Session Type: Organized Discussion

Abstract

The educational measurement community is experiencing heightened concerns for fairness and educational assessment faces increased criticism of its role as a perpetuator of system inequities. The proposed organized discussion will address conference themes — reducing inequities and dismantling racial injustices — through examining the treatment of fairness in measurement and assessment with implications for future research and practice. The anticipated revision of the current edition of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA, NCME, 2014) could not be more timely as the current Standards position fairness as one of three key foundations. Along with validity and reliability, fairness undergirds assessment design, development, validation, and use. This notion of fairness deals with technical concerns that are largely under the control of measurement professionals, whereas issues related to equality of opportunity and the distribution of resources and privilege in our society are currently excluded from the Standards. Five scholars, whose work has been deeply impactful in the areas of assessment and measurement (across large-scale and classroom assessment) will focus on the meaning of fairness in contemporary measurement and assessment, address the conceptual and methodological challenges in adopting new approaches to fairness, and consider implications for research and practice.

Sub Unit

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

Session Organizer

• Alison Bailey, UCLA

Moderator

• Jose Felipe Martinez, UCLA - School of Education and Information Studies

Presenters

• Jade Caines Lee, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

• Guillermo Solano-Flores, STANFORD UNIVERSITY

• Rochelle Michel, Smarter Balanced

• Randy Bennett, ETS

• Ye Tong, NBME