Knowing What Students Know The Science and Design of Educational Assessment (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 291-314
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From page 291... ...
As presented in Chapter 4, a wide array of statistical measurement methods are currently available to support the kinds of inferences that cognitive research suggests are important to pursue when assessing student achievement. Meanwhile, computer and telecommunications technologies are making it possible to assess what students are learning at very fine levels of detail,
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From page 292... ...
In this final chapter, we discuss priorities for research, practice, and policy to enable the emergence of a "new science of assessment." First, however, we summarize some of the main points from the preceding chapters by describing a vision for a future generation of educational assessments based on the merger of modern cognitive theory and methods of measurement. A VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF ASSESSMENT In the future envisioned by the committee, educational assessments will be viewed as a facilitator of high levels of student achievement.
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From page 293... ...
Within an education system, teachers, administrators, and policy makers will be working from a shared knowledge base about how students learn subject matter and what aspects of competence are important to assess. Resource materials that synthesize modern scientific understanding of how people learn in areas of the curriculum will serve as the basis for the design of classroom and large-scale assessments, as well as curriculum and instruction, so that all the system's components work toward a coherent set of learning goals.
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From page 294... ...
The committee believes the potential for an improved science and design of educational assessment lies in a mutually catalytic merger of the two foundational disciplines, especially as such knowledge is brought to bear on conceptual and pragmatic problems of assessment development and use.
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Before discussing specific implications for research and practice and presenting our recommendations in each of these areas, we would be remiss if we did not note our concern about continuing with the present system of educational assessment, including the pattern of increasing investment in large-scale assessment designs and practices that have serious limi295
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From page 296... ...
a set of beliefs about the kinds of observations that will provide evidence of students' competencies, and (3) an interpretation process for making sense of the evidence.
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From page 297... ...
That opportunity should not be lost just because every theoretical and operational detail has yet to be established for the design and implementation of assessments based on a merger of the cognitive and measurement sciences. There is much that can be done in the near term to improve assessment design and use on the basis of existing knowledge, while an investment is being made in the research and development needed to build assessments appropriate for the educational systems of the 21St century.
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From page 298... ...
argues that research results cannot be applied directly to classroom practice, but must be transformed by practitioners; that is, teachers need to participate in creating new knowledge. In a report to the National Education Research Policies and Priorities Board of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, a panel of the National Academy of Education argues that federal agencies should fund research in Pasteur's Quadrant as well as basic research (National Academy of Education, 19991.
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From page 299... ...
Furthermore, there is an ongoing need to accumulate, synthesize, and disseminate existing knowledge- that is, to construct the cumulative knowledge base on assessment design and use that lies at the center of Figure 8-1. Expanding the Knowledge Base Recommendation 2: Funding should be provided for a major program of research, guided by a synthesis of cognitive and measurement principles, focused on the design of assessments that yield more valid and fair inferences about student achievement.
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From page 300... ...
· Research on assessment design should include exploration of systematic and fair methods for taking into account aspects of examiners' instructional background when interpreting their responses to assessment tasks. This research should encompass careful examination of the possible consequences of such adaptations in high-stakes assessment contexts.
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From page 301... ...
Furthermore, there is a vital need for research on ways to make a broader range of measurement models usable by practitioners, rather than exclusively by measurement specialists. Many of the currently available measurement methods require complex statistical modeling that only people with highly specialized technical skills can use to advantage.
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From page 302... ...
The committee firmly believes that the kinds of examples described in this report all of which are currently being used in classrooms or largescale contexts" represent positive steps toward the development of assessments that can not only inform but also improve learning. However, for these kinds of innovations to gain more widespread adoption, work is needed to make them practical for use in classroom and large-scale contexts, and evidence of their impact on student learning is needed.
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Further analysis of these and other examples would help illuminate the principles and practices of assessment design and use described in this report. Several important and related directions of work need to be pursued.
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Recommendation 5: Federal agencies and private-sector organizations concerned about issues of assessment should support the establishment of multidisciplinary discourse communities to facilitate cross-fer~dlization of ideas among researchers and assessment developers working at the intersection of cognitive theory and educational measurement. Many of the innovative assessment practices described in this report were derived from projects funded by the NSF or the fames S
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From page 305... ...
Research focused on these arenas will enhance understanding of practical matters related to how students learn and how learning can best be measured in a variety of school subjects. Educational Tools and Materials Recommendation 6: Developers of assessment instruments for classroom or large-scale use should pay explicit attention to all three elements of the assessment triangle (cognition, observation, and interpretation)
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From page 306... ...
A key feature of the approach to assessment development proposed in this report is that the effort should be guided by an explicit, contemporary cognitive model of learning that describes how people represent knowledge and develop competence in the subject domain, along with an interpretation model that is compatible with the cognitive model. Assessment tasks and procedures for evaluating responses should be designed to provide evidence of the characteristics of student understanding identified in the cognitive model of learning.
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From page 307... ...
As described in Chapter 7, computer and telecommunications technologies offer a rich array of opportunities for providing teachers with sophisticated assessment tools that will allow them to present more complex cognitive tasks, capture and reply to students' performances, share exemplars of competent performance, engage students in peer and self-reflection, and in the process gain critical information about student competence. Recommendation 8: Large-scale assessments should sample the broad range of competencies and forms of student understanding that research shows are important aspects of student learning.
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From page 308... ...
All of these points are equally true for classroom assessments. The use of assessments based on cognitive and measurement science will also necessitate different forms of reporting on student progress, both to parents and to administrators.
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From page 309... ...
However, teachers need to understand how to use tools that can yield valid inferences about student understanding and thinking, as well as methods of interpreting data derived from assessments. In addition, school administrators need to provide teachers with ample opportunities to continue their learning about assessment throughout their professional practice.
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Recommendation 11: 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. Another arena through which research can influence practice is education policy.
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From page 311... ...
If a state assessment were not designed from the same conceptual base as classroom assessments, the mismatch could undermine the potential for improved learning offered by a system of assessment based on the cognitive and measurement sciences. To be sure, coherence in an educational system is easier to wish for than to achieve particularly in an education system with widely dispersed authority such as that of the United States.
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From page 312... ...
. Developing and implementing a system of multiple assessments would likely be more costly than continuing with the array of tests now being used by states and school districts.
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From page 313... ...
The problem is that the vital purposes of informing and improving education through assessment are being served only partially by present assessment practices. The principles and practices of educational assessment have changed over the last century, but not sufficiently to keep pace with the substantial developments that have accrued in the understanding of learning and its measurement.
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From page 314... ...
The investment required to improve educational assessment and further develop the knowledge base to support that effort is substantial. However, this investment in our children and their educational futures is a reasonable one given the public's legitimate expectation that assessment should both inform and enhance student achievement.
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