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Pages 1-16

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From page 1...
... Advances in the cognitive sciences have broadened the conception of those aspects of learning that are most important to assess, and advances in measurement have expanded the capability to interpret more complex forms of evidence derived from student performance. The Committee on the Foundations of Assessment, supported by the National Science Foundation, was established to review and synthesize advances in the cognitive sciences and measurement and to explore their implications for improving educational assessment.
From page 2...
... In the context of large-scale assessment, the interpretation method is usually a statistical model that characterizes expected data patterns, given varying levels of student competence. In less formal classroom assessment, the interpretation is often made by the teacher using an intuitive or qualitative rather than formal statistical model.
From page 3...
... What matters in most situations is how well one can evoke the knowledge stored in long-term memory and use it to reason efficiently about current information and problems. Therefore, within the normal range of cognitive abilities, estimates of how people organize information in long-term memory are likely to be more important than estimates of working memory capacity.
From page 4...
... Children have rich intuitive knowledge of their world that undergoes significant change as they mature. Learning entails the transformation of naive understanding into more complete and accurate comprehension, and assessment can be used as a tool to facilitate this process.
From page 5...
... Measurement models currently available can support the kinds of inferences that cognitive science suggests are important to pursue. In particular, it is now possible to characterize student achievement in terms of multiple aspects of proficiency, rather than a single score; chart students' progress over time, instead of simply measuring performance at a particular point in
From page 6...
... Much hard work remains to focus psychometric model building on the critical features of models of cognition and learning and on observations that reveal meaningful cognitive processes in a particular domain. If anything, the task has become more difficult because an additional step is now required determining in tandem the inferences that must be drawn, the observations needed, the tasks that will provide them, and the statistical models that will express the necessary patterns most efficiently.
From page 7...
... The interpretation model must incorporate this evidence in the results in a manner consistent with the model of learning. Validation that tasks tap relevant knowledge and cognitive processes, often lacking in assessment development, is another essential aspect of the development effort.
From page 8...
... Alternatives to on-demand, census testing are available. If individual student scores are needed, broader sampling of the domain can be achieved by extracting evidence of student performance from classroom work produced during the
From page 9...
... Information Technologies: Opportunities for Advancing Educational Assessment Information technologies are helping to remove some of the constraints that have limited Assessment practice in the past. Assessment tasks no longer need be confined to paper-and-pencil formats, and the entire burden of classroom assessment no longer need fall on the teacher.
From page 10...
... Technology also makes possible data collection on concept organization and other aspects of students' knowledge structures, as well as representations of their participation in discussions and group projects. A significant contribution of technology has been to the design of systemsfor implementing sophisticated classroom-basedformative assessment practices.
From page 11...
... These constituencies include educational researchers, test developers, curriculum specialists, teachers, and policy makers. Recommendation 2: Funding should be provided for a major program of research, guided by a synthesis of cognitive and measure11
From page 12...
... Research on new statistical measurement models and their applicability should be tied to modern theories of cognition and learning. Work should be undertaken to better understand the fit between various types of cognitive theories and measurement models to determine which combinations work best together.
From page 13...
... Considerable time and effort should be devoted to a theory-driven design and validation process before assessments are put into operational use. Recommendation 7: Developers of educational curricula and cLassroom assessments should create tools that will enable teachers to implement high-quality instructional and assessment practices, consistent with modern understanding of how students learn and how such learning can be measured.
From page 14...
... Policy makers should also promote the development of assessment systems that measure the growth or progress of students and the education system over time and that support multilevel analyses of the influences responsible for such change. Recommendation ill: The balance of mandates and resources should be shifted from an emphasis on external forms of assessment to an increased emphasis on classroom formative assessment designed to assist learning.
From page 15...
... 15 P Overview and Backgroun
From page 16...
... They help principals and superintendents document the progress of individual students, classrooms, and schools. And they help policy makers and the public gauge the effectiveness of educational systems.


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