Beyond Peer Review: Developing
and Validating 21st-Century
Assessment Systems
National Conference on Student Assessment
New Orleans, LA
June 25, 2014
Ellen Forte, edCount, LLC
Les Morse, Alaska Department of Education & Early Development
Steve Sireci, UMass-Amherst
Michael Hock, Vermont Agency of Education
Thanos Patelis, Center for Assessment
Kristen Huff, New York Regents Research Fund
Six 10-minute presentations followed by a 30-minute discussion period
An Overview of
Federal Peer Review of States’
Systems of Standards and
Assessments
Ellen Forte, Ph.D.
CEO and Chief Scientist, edCount, LLC
Presentation at the National Conference on Student Assessment
New Orleans, LA
June 25, 2014
History: IASA
OESE reached out to members of the CCSSO Title I SCASS in 1998
to draft peer review guidance under the 1994 Improving
America’s Schools Act
This guidance was used to review states’ standards, assessment,
and accountability systems beginning in 1999
Only about 1/3 of states had systems that met basic
requirements for assessments in math and reading/language
arts in the grade ranges
Major problem areas:
Alignment
Alternate Assessments
History: NCLB
OESE convened two small groups of consultants to draft two
guidance documents:
Standards and Assessments
Accountability
The Standards and Assessments peer review process took the
same form as had been used under IASA: centralized review by
panels of 3-4 ‘peers’
For the Accountability peer review process, peers and feds
traveled to each state
Criteria – the peer review guidance
ESEA
legislation
Reliable
and
Valid
Structure
Joint
Standards
Process
OESE vets and
hires peers
States submit
evidence
Peers review
evidence and
produce a report
Feds identify
findings. States
get news.
Concerns
The US Department of Education is obligated to ensure that
states’ systems meet federal mandates, but who in that agency is
qualified to or should make judgments about validity?
States’ experiences varied widely depending on the peers and
the federal program officer assigned to them
What role could or should NCME play?