The Political Economy of Assessment: Changing the Rules to Get the Assessments We Need
Practice Area Division(s): Education
Topic: Legislation, Policy, and Accessibility
Session Type: Breakout
Darling-Hammond et al.’s recent paper, “Criteria for High-Quality Assessment,” distills much of the best recent thought on assessment into five guidelines that seem eminently reasonable as guideposts to the future of high-stakes testing. So why, then, do we face so many obstacles in introducing such next-generation, high-quality, assessments into our classrooms? Why are many testing industry professionals skeptical of the viability of any new high-stakes assessment that deviates too much from the status quo of both cost and features? The trivial answer is: economics and politics. But the problem is worth in considering in greater detail.
In this talk, the presenter will examine both the actors and, crucially, the institutional “rules of the game” that together constrain our actions as an industry. Building high-quality, high-stakes educational assessments is not impossible, but we won’t get there by playing under the same rules and hoping things get better. We need to think carefully about why our tests look like they do and how to structure the politics and economics to be more conducive to a better future.
Presenter: Sean P. (Jack) Buckley, The College Board
GOLF 
