Technical Issues

Technical Issues

Assessment and accountability systems must be technically sound to be useful in policymaking decisions that support school improvement. As skilled psychometricians, researchers, and evaluators, Center professionals provide expert advice on the validity, fairness, and reliability of those systems to ensure they operate as intended.

Recent Technical Issues Projects

Technical advisory committees

The Center coordinates TACs for 18 states and school districts, and serves on a total of 44 TACs. TACs provide expert and independent advice to help states design, implement, and evaluate their assessment and accountability systems.

Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing

Cara Laitusis and Laura Hamilton serve on the committee that is revising the AERA, APA and NCME volume known as the “bible” of educational testing. These standards serve as the touchstone for technical quality for almost all state and district tests.

Student Growth Percentile model

Damian Betebenner continues to refine the SGP, which is used as the growth model in more than 30 states. Dr. Betebenner and his colleagues have been using the SGP model in more than a dozen states to help state leaders understand COVID-19 impact and recovery rates.

Recent Technical Issues Blog Posts and Papers

Creating Range and Target Performance Level Descriptors

This handbook and corresponding PowerPoints provide a guide for building range and target performance-level descriptors for large-scale assessments that are […]
September 19, 2014

Using Student Achievement Measures to Evaluate Teachers in Non-Tested Subjects and Grades: A Brief Summarizing State Practices

This brief highlights key findings from the report, “State Practices Related to the Use of Student Achievement Measures in the […]
September 15, 2014

Using Student Growth Percentiles for Educator Evaluations at the Teacher Level: Key Issues and Technical Considerations for School Districts in Colorado

The Center for Assessment and the Center for Assessment Design, Research and Evaluation (CADRE) developed this report to help districts […]
July 31, 2014

A Framework to Support the Validation of Educator Evaluation Systems

This paper provides a framework to support the conceptualization and development of a comprehensive validation plan uniquely aligned to a […]
July 11, 2014

Further Analysis of Gains Made by Test-Interrupted Students

After an initial report of findings on the effect of testing interruptions in Indiana, legislators asked whether the overall finding […]
September 25, 2013

Different But the Same: Assessment & Comparability in the Era of the Common Core State Standards

This white paper provides an overview for policymakers of the reasons that score comparisons across assessments are especially important now, […]
July 28, 2013

An Analysis of the Impact of Interruptions on the 2013 Administration of the ISTEP+

In Spring, 2013, Indiana students experienced interruptions while taking the ISTEP+ on-line. This report describes the nature of the interruptions […]
July 27, 2013

Considerations for Analyzing Educators’ Contributions to Student Learning in Non-tested Subjects and Grades, With a Focus on Student Learning Objectives

This paper discusses the many challenges of measuring student academic growth for teacher evaluations in non-tested subjects and grades, while […]
December 31, 2012

Using Validity Arguments to Evaluate the Technical Quality of Local Assessment Systems

This paper, presented at AERA in April 2012, outlines an approach for validating local assessments. It provides a framework intended […]
April 13, 2012

Student Growth Percentiles and Shoe Leather

Professor Bruce D. Baker recently published a critique of The Colorado Growth Model and its use of Student Growth Percentiles […]
September 30, 2011
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