Mark Wilson: My perspective on "The past, present and future of measurement": What makes measurement important for education?

September 3, 2024

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

2:00 - 4:00 PM (PDT) at Berkeley Way West 1207 and via Zoom

Open to GSE faculty, students, and community.

Request a zoom link from convenors@bear.berkeley.edu

Abstract:

This contribution to the Special Issue of EMIP on the topic of The Past, Present and Future of Educational Measurement concentrates on the present and the future and hence focuses on the goal of improving education. The results of meta-analyses were examined, and it was noted that the largest effect sizes were associated with actual use of formative assessments in classroom settings—hence classroom assessment (in contrast with large-scale assessment). Then the paper (i) describes micro assessment which focuses on in-classroom forms of measurement and then expands this assessment approach to focus on frames beyond that in terms of summative end-of-semester tests (macro). This is followed by a description of how these approaches can be combined using a construct map as the basis for developing and using assessments to span across these two levels in terms of the BEAR Assessment System (BAS). Throughout, this is exemplified using an elementary school program designed to teach students about geometry. Finally, a conclusion summarizes the discussion, and also looks to the future where a meso level of use involves end-of-unit tests.

About the author:

Mark Wilson is a Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of California, Berkeley.  He received his PhD degree from the University of Chicago in 1984.  His interests focus on measurement and applied statistics, and he has published 167 refereed articles in those areas, 74 invited chapters in edited books, and 15 books.  He was elected President of the Psychometric Society, and, more recently, President of the National Council for Measurement in Education (NCME); he is a Member of the US National Academy of Education, a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, and the American Psychological Association, and also is a National Associate of the US National Research Council.   He is Director of the Berkeley Evaluation and Assessment Research (BEAR) Center.  His research interests focus on the development and application of sound approaches for measurement in education and the social sciences, the development of statistical models suitable for measurement contexts, the creation of instruments to measure new constructs, and scholarship on the philosophy of measurement.