This article explores the relationship between commensuration and affect in various contexts of education policy. Commensuration is the process through which disparate qualities are transformed into a common metric and is central to the production of performance data. The rise of governance through numbers in education has resulted in a…

This article reports on the collaboration of six states to study how simulation-based science assessments can become transformative components of multi-level, balanced state science assessment systems. The project studied the psychometric quality, feasibility, and utility of simulation-based science assessments designed to serve formative purposes…

Securing data on students' academic achievement is typically one of the most important and costly aspects of conducting education experiments. As state assessment programs have become practically universal and more uniform in terms of grades and subjects tested, the relative appeal of using state tests as a source of study outcome measures has…

The Baltimore City Public School System's (BCPSS) Grade 9 Transition Program was implemented in 2001-02. It is designed to increase student achievement in an era of No Child Left Behind federal legislation by providing additional time and learning opportunities for eighth-grade students who have not met all promotion standards established by the…

Computer-based testing (CBT) is typically implemented using one of three general test delivery models: (1) multiple fixed testing (MFT); (2) computer-adaptive testing (CAT); or (3) multistage testing (MSTs). This article reviews some of the real cost drivers associated with CBT implementation--focusing on item production costs, the costs…