Cara Cahalan Laitusis, Ph.D., is a nationally recognized leader in the accessibility and fairness of large-scale assessments. She works with departments of education, testing organizations, and researchers around the world to implement and advance approaches to measurement for all learners.
She works with states and test developers on innovative approaches to the design of assessments and score reports to enhance access and engagement for all learners (and the adults who teach them). She is also working on approaches to the integration and simplification of many different testing guidelines and standards for test development: Universal Design, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Culturally Responsive Assessment, Peer Review, and the Standards for Educational and Psychological Measurement.
Cara was the principal investigator on multiple research grants funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER). Her research on innovations in assistive technologies, like text-to-speech and refreshable braille, provided examples of how states and testing companies could incorporate accessible innovations into the design of digital assessments. In addition, her research on extended testing time informed a major change by testing companies to stop the practice of “flagging” test score reports for individuals with disabilities.
Prior to joining the Center, Cara was a school psychologist in Connecticut and New Jersey and a Research Center director at ETS, where she oversaw research on improving formative and summative assessments for K12 student learning and teacher licensure.
She received a Ph.D. in school psychology from Fordham University, where she completed her practicums at public schools in both the United States and Ghana. Cara is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and a nationally certified school psychologist. She is currently a member of the APA Coalition on Psychology in the Schools, the APA Presidential Task Force on Test Norms for Diverse Populations, and the Education and the Educating All Learners Alliance (EALA).
Recent and Relevant Publications
Walker, M. E., Olivera-Aguilar, M., Lehman, B., Laitusis, C., Guzman-Orth, D., & Gholson, M. (2023). Culturally responsive assessment: Provisional principles. (ETS Research Report). Educational Testing Service.
Laitusis, C.C. with American Psychological Association (2023). Top 20 Principles of Psychology for Teaching and Learning of Students with Disabilities.
Supalo, C. A., Guzman-Orth, D., King, T., Laitusis, C., & Steinberg, J. (2023). Towards Inclusive Science Education: Accessible Practices and Perceptions within an NGSS Context for Students who are Blind or have Low Vision.Journal of Blindness Innovation and Research.
Laitusis, C.C. (2022) Fairness and Accessibility: Challenges and Solutions in Scoring Performance Assessments. In J. Jonson & K. Geisinger (Eds.) Fairness in educational and psychological testing: Examining theoretical, research, practice, and policy implications of 2014 Standards.
Lee, D., Buzick, H, Sireci, S.G. Lee, M. & Laitusis, C. (2021). Embedded Accommodation and Accessibility Support Usage on a Computer-Based Statewide Achievement Test. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation, v26 (25).
Buzick, H.M., Rhoad-Drogalis, A., Laitusis, C.C., & King, T.C. (2019). Teachers’ Views of Their Practices Related to Common Core Standards-Aligned Assessments. (ETS Research Report RR–19–40). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Laitusis, C.C., King, T., Cavalie, C., James, K., & Finnegan, A. (2018). Special Education Needs Feasibility Study. OECD commissioned study for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). (See full report here.)
Hansen, E. G., Loew, R., Laitusis, C.C., Kushalnager, P., Pagliaro, C.M., & Kurz, C. (2018). The Usability of American Sign Language Videos for Presenting Mathematics Assessment Content.Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, eny008.
Guzman-Orth, D., Laitusis, C., Thurlow, M., & Christensen, L. (2016). Conceptualizing Accessibility for English Learners and English Learners with Disabilities taking English Language Proficiency Assessments: What Do We Know, and Where Do We Go from Here? (ETS English Learners Series 16-17). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Buzick, H. M., & Laitusis, C. C. (2010). Using growth for accountability: Measurement challenges for students with disabilities and recommendations for research. Educational Researcher, 39(7), 537–544.
Laitusis, C.C. (2010). Examining the impact of audio presentation on tests of reading comprehension. Applied Measurement in Education, 23 (2), 153–167.
