Fairness Issues and Test-based Educational Accountability

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Fairness Issues and Test-based Educational
Accountability

• Katherine Ryan and Bill Trent
• University of Illinois at Urbana

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Fairness and Bob Linn

• Influential technical contributions
• Commitment and expertise involving assessment and
  accountability fairness
• A leader and champion

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Our paper

• Brief history of assessment fairness
• Assessment fairness and test-based accountability
• Assessment fairness
• Models
• Consequences
• Information about resources, instructional
  practices, and organizational characteristics

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Assessment Fairness and Educational Accountability

• Educational accountability and inequities
• Changes in educational testing context
• Implications for educational measurement practice

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Educational Accountability

• NCLB goals are noteworthy
• Fundamental right
• Educational accountability meanings
• Identify inequities

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High Stakes and Assessment

• Shift from description and placement to
  accountability
• Bias
• Four distinct perspectives on fairness
• Defining assessment fairness (Willingham and Cole)

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Implications for Measurement Practice

• Context
• Item and test characteristics
• Student responses
• Population
• Moderation of group differences

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More Implications

• Multiple Measures
• Definitions
• Assessment information
• Non-cognitive measures
• Obstacles
• Costs
• Traditional validity notions

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OTL and Test-based Accountability

• NCLB highlights differences in learning by
  subgroup
• Fairness and OTL knowledge and skills
• OTL and resources

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Educational resources

• Quality of education
• Quality of educators
• School finances

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Fairness Issues and Test-based Accountability
Models

• Tests and measures are foundation
• Accountability Models
• Assessment fairness issues
• Fairness issues related to rules
• Bob Linns work revealed critical fairness
  concerns with models (e.g., high poverty schools
  with large minority populations)