WestEd, a national leader in designing, developing, researching, and innovating assessment instruments for over 20 years, will lead or co-lead eight sessions at the Council of Chief State School Officers’ (CCSSO) 2024 National Conference on Student Assessment (NCSA), which takes place June 24–26 in Seattle, Washington.
This year’s conference theme is Designing an Effective, Coherent Assessment System for All Learners. WestEd’s presentations will cover this theme in four areas:
Making assessment scores meaningful for all students. Two presentations will concentrate on developing achievement level descriptors and benchmark standards that outline the knowledge typically demonstrated by students within different score ranges. The third will explore ways to report student growth, aiding students and teachers in setting high but achievable learning goals.
Enhancing authenticity and depth of measurement. One presentation will focus on our innovative work using fully integrated simulations with a large-scale state science assessment program. This is where assessment innovation gets exciting, where we can leverage technology to create simulations that mimic the types of activities students might complete in a science lab environment. Another WestEd presentation will focus on innovations associated with transforming an alternative assessment program from a summative assessment into a through-course assessment, making the assessment happen much closer to when the learning occurs and providing a more accurate measure of what students have learned and can do.
Addressing the needs of all learners. One presentation will share practical ways to ensure that the scoring is done fairly and accurately for all students, regardless of their backgrounds. Another presentation will discuss the lessons learned from three states trying to standardize teacher input when making decisions about reclassifying English learners.
Developing a balanced and coherent assessment system. One presentation will explore the different types of state-developed assessments—such as diagnostic, interim, and summative assessments that are administered by schools and districts with a focus on their use at K–2. Recognizing that the purpose and appropriate use of these assessments are at the heart of valid and reliable use of the results, the intended purpose of different state assessments will be featured along with descriptions of how the assessment blueprints and reports have been designed to reflect those purposes.
See our schedule of sessions below.
Monday, June 24
Session: The Imperative of Defining Meaningful Achievement Level Descriptors for Evaluating Student Achievement
Time: 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Location: Level 5 – Room 502 (Cowlitz)
Presenters: Eric Moyer (Pearson), Joanne Jensen (WestEd), Karla Egan (EdMetric), Rebecca Norman Dvorak (National Assessment Governing Board), Cameron Dawn (Minnesota Department of Education), and Gabriela Finn (Arizona Department of Education)
Tuesday, June 25
Session: Fully Integrating Simulations into a Large-Scale Science Assessment Program: Scoring Students Doing Science Using Simulation Data
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Location: Level 4 – Room 401 (Chelan)
Presenters: Kevin King (WestEd), Leslie Bondaryk (The Concord Consortium), and Sarah Quesen (WestEd)
Session: Coordinated, Statewide Professional Learning through Minnesota Data and Assessment Literacy (MnDAL)
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Location: Level 3 – Room 305 (Chelais)
Presenters: Meghan Bell (WestEd) and Kendra Olsen (Minnesota Department of Education)
Session: Practical Ideas for Ensuring Fair Constructed Response Scores for All Learners
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Location: Level 3 – Room 301 (Ashnola)
Presenters: Sarah Quesen (WestEd), Lauren White (Pearson), Heather Roeters-Solano (Pearson), Sue Lottridge (Cambium Assessment), and April McCrae (Delaware Department of Education)
Session: Standardizing Teacher Input for English Learner Reclassification: Challenges, Triumphs, and Lessons Learned from Three States
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Location: Level 5 – Quinault
Presenters: Molly Faulkner-Bond (WestEd), Alesha Moreno-Ramirez (California Department of Education), Julie Lara (Texas Education Agency), Bob Measel (Pennsylvania Department of Education), and Lorna Porter (WestEd)
Session: Redesigning an Alternate Assessment as a Through-Year Assessment
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Location: Level 4 – Room 402 (Chillwack)
Presenters: Marianne Perie (WestEd), Lynn Schemel (Indiana Department of Education), Kevin King (WestEd), Jen Pogue-Barrera (WestEd), Megan Bairstow (Cognia), and Priya Kannan (WestEd)
Wednesday, June 26
Session: Designing Usable and Useful Reports of Student Growth
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Location: Level 5 – Room 502 (Cowlitz)
Presenters: Tricia Maas (Curriculum Associates), Derek Briggs (University of Colorado Boulder), Kimberly Mundhenk (California Department of Education), Joseph Martineau (Educational Testing Service), and Eric Crane (WestEd)
Session: Setting the Standard: Navigating Methods for Defining Educational Benchmarks
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Location: Level 4 – Room 402 (Chillwack)
Presenters: Eric Moyer (Pearson), Jennifer Dugan (Minnesota Department of Education), Steve Ferrara (Human Resources Research Organization), Russ Keglovits (ACS Ventures), and Marianne Perie (WestEd)
Session: Leveraging Generative AI in Developing Assessments that Reflect All Learners in Your State
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Location: Level 4 – Room 405 (Kachess)
Presenters: Sarah Quesen (WestEd), Patty Armstrong (WestEd), and Allison Timberlake (Georgia Department of Education)
Session: Screener, Diagnostic, Interim, and Summative Assessments…Oh my!
Time: 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Location: Level 5 – Room 501 (Chiwawa)
Presenters: Kara Courtney (Data Recognition Corporation), Kyle Ward (Michigan Department of Education), Maggie Hicks (Alabama State Department of Education), and Joanne Jensen (WestEd)
Session: Examining the Relationship Among Academic Achievement, Duration of EL Service Enrollment, and English Language Proficiency Assessment Results
Time: 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Location: Level 3 – Room 302 (Beckler)
Presenters: Julie Ewing (Kansas State Department of Education), Joyce Wang (University of Kansas), Edynn Sato (WIDA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison), and Molly Faulkner-Bond (WestEd)