Bringing Educators, Leaders, and Policymakers Together
Events for the passionate changemakers working to improve educational assessment and accountability.
Great work is never done alone. Our events provide an open space for great discussion, idea sharing, collaboration, and inspiration among a wide range of leaders, thinkers, and practitioners in the field – all with a shared commitment to improving outcomes for students.

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Assessment and Accountability to Monitor and Support Learning Recovery
September 22, 2022 - September 23, 2022

This year’s RILS focuses on how state and district leaders can use assessment and accountability to both monitor and support learning recovery as we emerge from the dark cloud of the pandemic.
Thursday, September 22
9:00 Welcome: Best Practices in Using Assessment to Monitor and Support the Recovery
Scott Marion, Executive Director, Center for Assessment
9:15 From Impact to Recovery: How Pandemic Studies Help Inform Recovery Efforts
Damian Betebenner, Center for Assessment
Charity Flores, Indiana Department of Education
Darin Nielsen, Utah State Board of Education
Robert Lee, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
10:45 Break
11:00 Framing Pandemic Impact and Recovery: District Perspectives
District Perspectives Resources
André Rupp, Center for Assessment
Erika Landl, Center for Assessment
Pandemic Impacts and Recovery Efforts: Gwinnett County
Debbie Durrence, Gwinnett County (GA) Public Schools
Miranda McLaren, Gwinnett County (GA) Public Schools
Pandemic Impacts and Recovery Efforts: Shelby County
SCPS Resource materials
Adam Hicks, Shelby County (KY) Public Schools
12:15 Lunch
1:15 Focusing on the Formative Assessment Processes to Accelerate Learning
Carla Evans, Center for Assessment
Jeri Thompson, Center for Assessment
Caroline Wylie, ETS, Principal Research Scientist/Research Director, K-12 Teaching, Learning and Assessment
Christine Landwehrle, Assistant Superintendent, NH SAU 39
Joe Yahna, Principal (PK-8), Josiah Bartlett Elementary School (NH SAU 9)
Chantel DeNapoli, Elementary Math Specialist, Concord School District (NH SAU 8)
Kathy White, Director of Deeper Learning, New Hampshire Learning Initiative
3:30 How Do We Know If Recovery Strategies Are Working?
Day 1 Evaluation Activity
Juan D’Brot, Center for Assessment
Chris Brandt, Center for Assessment
Scott Marion, Center for Assessment
4:30 Adjourn Day One
Friday, September 23
9:00 Monitoring Progress: But how do you know?
Supplemental Reading
Day 2 Activity Graphic Organizer
Evaluation Plan 101: Documenting Continuous Improvement and Outcomes of a Program
Juan D’Brot, Center for Assessment
Chris Brandt, Center for Assessment
10:15 Break
10:30 The Role of State Accountability and Reporting to Support Recovery
Chris Domaleski, Center for Assessment
Laura Pinsonneault, Center for Assessment
Ajit Gopalakrishnan, Connecticut Department of Education
11:45 Closing Remarks
Chris Domaleski, Associate Director, Center for Assessment
Noon Lunch and Adjourn

The Brian Gong Colloquium
This annual colloquium is named in honor of Brian Gong, the Center's Co-Founder and former Executive Director. Our aspiration for this internal event is to foster the intellectual curiosity, innovative thinking, and respectful discourse that Brian models. Our staff focuses on a topic that may be outside of their expertise but is likely to have a significant impact in our field of work. We spend one year gathering information on the topic, and we invite experts to join us for the colloquium to share information and engage in discussions.