About BEAR
The Berkeley Evaluation and Assessment Research (BEAR) Center designs and delivers educational assessment instruments, performs research in assessment and psychometrics, and trains graduate students in these areas.
We collaborate with researchers in universities across the United States and abroad to develop software and other resources for constructing, managing, administering, and analyzing assessments.
Featured Projects
The core of our research is development and use of appropriate assessment methods for evaluating students, schools, educational policy, and the reform of educational evaluation away from the use of inappropriate standardized tests.
These are some examples of the projects that we are actively developing:
Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) - California Department of Education
The Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) is the assessment required for all children in all state-funded early care and education programs in California. DRDP assesses the key domains of development for children from early infancy through kindergarten. Beginning in 2001, the BEAR Center researchers have designed and implemented valid and reliable measurement of development in early childhood, and created the DRDPtech assessment software system for teachers.
Project Aspire - Defining and Assessing Mathematical Knowledge For Teaching Secondary Mathematics
The BEAR Center is collaborating with a team of mathematics education content experts at Arizona State University led by Pat Thompson on this NSF-funded project. The goal of Project Aspire is to develop an instrument that assesses secondary mathematics teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching secondary mathematics.
Assessing Data Modeling and Statistical Reasoning (ADM)
The ADM project aims to develop an assessment system to evaluate elementary and middle school students’ skills and understanding related to data modeling and statistical reasoning.
Our Software
In addition to our research in psychometrics, the BEAR Center is dedicated to the development of software that can facilitate the delivery and analysis of assessments, providing teachers with innovative and useful ways to assess students.
Recent Publications
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The latest volume of Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives (Volume 11, Issue 1-2, 2013) is now available
This issue is explores the ramifications of testing in the classroom, with a view to maximizing the benefits and minimizing possible drawbacks of current educational testing applications.
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Selected presentations by BEAR Center researchers:
News & Events
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Bayesian network analysis of contingencies in learning progressions
Jinnie Choi, Rutgers University
This presentation is motivated by the recent application of Bayesian networks (BN; Pearl, 1988) in learning progression (LP) research (West et al., 2010). I will focus on the use of BNs as a tool to address a challenge to measure how students develop understanding of multiple constructs in relation to each other. I will introduce an example from the LP research in the domain of genetics.
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The Chilean Teacher Labor Market
Rosario Rivero, Catholic University of Chile
Education reformers have recognized the key role of teachers in classrooms, implementing a variety of policies to improve the quality of teaching. Chile is no exception. In recent years, policymakers have shown a growing attention to strategies for enhancing teacher quality in public schools. However, educational efforts will do little unless high quality teachers are willing and committed to work in the public school system.
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Validating the PACT for its intended uses: A multi-dimensional item response model study of a teacher licensure exam
Brent Duckor, SJSU & Kip Téllez, UCSC
Examining a large sample of teacher candidate responses (n=1711), we found a sufficient degree of internal structure validity evidence to support the intended, continued use of the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (2008) instrument to measure teacher candidates’ skills and proficiencies with professional standards in teaching (CCTC, 2012).