A new paper from an assessment expert cautions the state
consortia that are designing common tests that while computer-
based and computer-adaptive testing offer the possibility of
improving assessment, getting them right presents significant
challenges. The paper by Mark D. Reckase, a professor of
measurement and quantitative methods at Michigan State
University, is aimed at the two big groups of states that are
using Race to the Top money to design tests for the new common
standards. It's the latest of many papers that have been issued
from the testing and policy worlds since the consortia began
their work. Reckase's paper is one of three issued today by the
Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy, and Policy
Analysis for California Education, or PACE. The other two deal
with tests for English-language learners and tests for science.
You can see all of them at PACE's website, collected under the
title, "The Road Ahead for State Assessments." Reckase offers an
accessible discussion of computer-based and