CUEL faculty affiliate Paul Zavitkovsky discussed his most recent findings on the challenges posed for educators by the reporting practices of large-scale interim assessment packages, at the annual meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME).
CUEL faculty affiliate Paul Zavitkovsky discussed his most recent findings on the challenges posed for educators by the reporting practices of large-scale interim assessment packages, at the annual meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) in Chicago. The paper, titled “Data Rich/Information Poor,” appeared in paper session, “Challenges in Growth Measures and Accountability Decisions,” on Friday, April 14.
In the paper, Zavitkovsky reviews the recent rise of popularity of interim assessment systems like NWEA-MAP as alternatives to the disappointing limitations of state-wide summative assessment systems put in place after the passage of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Assessment companies have touted these systems as easier to interpret for educators and parents, and more amenable to translation into classroom interventions. And they increasingly have leveraged their national databases to market large-scale comparisons of their results with state-wide and national norms – thus marrying the benefits of summative and formative assessments in one user-friendly testing package. But as Zavitkovsky demonstrates, in four statistical case studies, NWEA-MAP national and state comparisons consistently have inflated the reading and math performances of students when compared with district results on NAEP and other respected large-scale assessments. The result has been a tendency for districts large and small to overstate their learning gains at the expense of attention to persistent learning gaps and equity challenges, particularly in the wake of Covid-19. This study is the most recent in a series of studies by Zavitkovsky that examine large-scale assessment practices. Access the NCME paper here. Click here to read Zavitkovsky’s take on the assessment and equity issues facing Chicago’s incoming mayor Brandon Johnson, published recently in the Chicago Tribune.