This week, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CSSO) held its annual National Conference on Student Assessment<\/a> in Atlanta where education professionals, including individuals and leaders from federal, state, and district agencies, as well as test publishers and administrators, educational consultants, university faculty and other experts gathered to discuss the critical role of assessment in the education system. Underscoring our mission to advance science, HumRRO experts gave presentations and served as a discussant at NCSA.<\/p>\n In the session, \u201cChanging How We Assess Science: Perspectives from the National and State Levels,\u201d Emily Dickinson, Ph.D., senior staff scientist at HumRRO, and her co-presenters updated attendees on revisions to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science framework.<\/p>\n The revisions, overseen by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), are informed in part by research designed to understand the landscape of state science content standards and curricula. Dickinson shared a summary of a 2021 HumRRO study comparing content outlined in the NAEP science framework with state content standards that were not part of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).<\/p>\n Using computer algorithmic and human review by staff and national science experts, the HumRRO study found substantial differences between NAEP content and standards for states that are not direct adopters of NGSS. Such gaps may result in assessments that don\u2019t adequately measure the true state of science achievement in the United States.<\/p>\n When examining the content covered by the full set of states\u2019 science standards, the study found many state statements do not overlap in content with any NAEP statement:<\/p>\n Experts rated the least amount of content overlap between NAEP and states\u2019 standards at grade 12. As with a prior NAEP-to-NGSS comparison conducted by AIR, experts also rated the least amount of overlap in content between NAEP and states\u2019 standards for the physical science domain, especially at grades 8 and 12.<\/p>\n \u201cScience experts noted that states whose standards are based on the National Resource Council (NRC) K\u201312 Science Framework have more in common with NAEP than states whose standards are not based on the NRC framework,\u201d said Dickinson.<\/p>\n At the conference, participants also had the opportunity to discuss lessons learned from assessment results over the past several years, especially in light of disruptions and changes caused by the pandemic. HumRRO Principal Scientist Art Thacker<\/a>, Ph.D., presented \u201cThe Application of Virtual Meetings with Standard Settings,\u201d exploring the various aspects of deciding to use a virtual standard setting process, the development and implementation of the available procedures and tools, and the outcomes of using a virtual process.<\/p>\n Standard setting is an essential activity for any assessment program where performance level cut scores are required before reporting student performance on the assessment. Due to the pandemic, it was necessary to determine ways to conduct these as virtual meetings while establishing procedures, protocols, and tools for conducting valid standard settings virtually. During his presentation, Thacker shared lessons learned from these programs with a focus on the future application of virtual standard settings.<\/p>\n Thacker also served as a discussant in the session, \u201cImplications of Psychometric Issues and Policy Decisions on SY20-21 Summative Assessments.\u201d In the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years, sweeping changes to statewide summative assessments and accountability were made in response to the pandemic. These changes impacted students, schools, and districts in a variety of ways and led to many foreseeable and some unanticipated consequences. Thacker provided his expertise and context to the discussion on implications of technical adjustments to policy decisions and their effect on accountability and state trends.<\/p>\n By sharing their expertise and knowledge, Dickinson and Thacker continued HumRRO\u2019s tradition<\/a> of honoring our mission as a nonprofit to give back to science and the profession.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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