September 27th – 28th, 2018
Portsmouth Harbor Events and Conference Center
100 Deer Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801
Conference Overview
In recent years, assessment and accountability have become charged terms to many. How did we get to this point and what can be done? How do we make good on the Center’s mission to improve student learning through more meaningful assessment and accountability practices. There's no doubt that we have learned a lot over the past 20 years about designing and implementing high quality assessment and accountability systems. However, as a field, we must do more to develop the perceived and real utility of these systems to improve outcomes for all students.
The 2018 RILS program will focus on supporting the Center’s mission to leverage assessment and accountability as part of efforts to increase student learning. In particular, we will identify strategies to design and implement systems that promote equity, defined as improving outcomes for student who are traditionally underserved. We will reflect on but not be constrained by prior practices. Our hope is to understand the pitfalls, build on the best ideas, and identify new directions to realize the promise of assessment and accountability as key pieces in an overall strategy to improve student achievement.
Agenda
Thursday, September 27th
| 8:00 |
Breakfast |
| 8:30 |
Welcome and Introduction to RILS at 20 |
| 8:50 |
Opening Address: What have we learned? |
| 9:10 |
Overview of Barriers to Assessment System Implementation and Introduction to Concurrent Sessions |
| 9:25 |
Transition to Concurrent Session #1 |
| 9:30 |
Concurrent Session #1 A. The politics and policy of assessment system design B. Challenges of assessment literacy C. The commercialization, proliferation, and incoherence of assessments |
| 9:50 |
Transition to Concurrent Session #2 |
| 9:55 |
Concurrent Session #2 A. On being specific: identifying uses and developing systems to match B. Curriculum and balanced assessment systems C. Challenges of assessment literacy |
| 10:15 |
Transition to Concurrent Session #3 |
| 10:20 |
Concurrent Session #3 A. On Modular Assessments within a Balanced Assessment System B. The politics and policy of assessment system design C. Curriculum and Balanced Assessment Systems |
| 10:40 |
Transition to Full Group |
| 10:45 |
Moving Toward a Research and Practice Agenda for Balanced Assessment Systems |
| 11:00 |
Panel discussion
|
| Noon |
Lunch |
| 1:00 |
Accountability: An unfulfilled promise? |
| 1:15 |
Promoting More Effective Accountability Systems |
| 1:45 |
Response |
| 2:00 |
Ideas in Action: Conversations with Innovators
|
| 3:00 |
Break |
| 3:15 |
Group Discussions |
| 4:30 |
Closing Comments |
| 4:45 |
Adjourn Day 1 |
| 5:30 |
Evening reception |
Friday, September 28th
| 8:00 |
Breakfast |
| 8:30 |
Introduction to Validation Sessions |
| 8:40 |
Validation through System Coherence: Designing for Coherence: ESSA, Perkins, and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act |
|
Discussant |
|
| 9:05 |
Validation of ESSA Accountability Systems |
|
Discussant |
|
| 9:30 |
Validation in the Midst of Change: A framework for evaluating and supporting comparability across assessment programs |
|
Discussant |
|
| 9:55 |
Break and transition to small groups |
| 10:10 |
Small Group Discussions Invited Expert Respondents:
|
| 11:00 |
Transition to large group |
| 11:05 |
Validation Sessions: Discussant Closing Comments
|
| 11:45 |
Wrap-Up/Concluding Thoughts |
| Noon |
Lunch |
| 1:00 |
Adjourn |