16.023 - Developing Design Principles for Improving State Assessment Items to Support More Valid and Equitable Measurement

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Recent changes in federal policy (ESSA, Dec 2015) regarding state assessments have created new opportunities to rethink the way state assessment and accountability systems are designed. In rethinking their state assessments, state education agencies should reconsider what their tests actually measure and why the quality of assessment items matters. In this symposium, presenters provide an in-depth analysis of a selection of large-scale assessment items to illuminate design features of high-quality items across a range of assessment item formats (e.g., selected response, short constructed response, extended response/ performance-based, technology-enhanced). The goal is provide greater transparency about what state assessments measure, and what kinds of knowledge, understandings, and skills can be measured by different item formats.

Sub Unit

• Division D - Measurement and Research Methodologies / Division D - Section 1: Psychometrics, Measurement, and Assessment

Chair

• Raymond Lee Pecheone, Stanford University

Papers

• Evaluating Item Quality in Large-Scale English Language Arts Assessments - Nicole Renner, Stanford University

• Evaluating Item Quality in Large-Scale Mathematics Assessments - Vinci Daro, Stanford University; Kari Kokka, University of Pittsburgh

• Evaluating Item Quality in Next Generation Science Standards Assessments - Jill Wertheim, Stanford University; Nicole Holthuis, Stanford University; Susan E. Schultz, Stanford University

• Evaluating Item Quality in Large-Scale History Assessments - Daisy A. Martin, Stanford University

Discussant

• Pascal D. Forgione