A critical aspect of the development of culturally relevant classroom assessments is the design of tasks that affirm students' racial and ethnic identities and community cultural practices. This paper describes the process we followed to build a shared understanding of what culturally relevant assessments are, to pursue ways of bringing more…

Recent research has demonstrated an intersectional approach to the study of differential item functioning (DIF). This approach expands DIF to account for the interactions between what have traditionally been treated as separate grouping variables. In this paper, we compare traditional and intersectional DIF analyses using data from a state testing…

Previous writings focus on why centering assessment design around students' cultural, social, and/or linguistic diversity is important and how performance-based assessment can support such aims. This article extends previous work by describing how a culturally responsive classroom assessment framework was created from a culturally responsive…

This validity study examined differential item functioning (DIF) results on large-scale state standards-based English-language arts assessments at grades 4 and 8 for students without disabilities taking the test under standard conditions and students who are blind or visually impaired taking the test with either a large print or braille form.…

Under Title III of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 (NCLB, 2001b) every state needs to show linkage between state content standards and state English language development standards as input to the development of state English proficiency tests. This article argues that Title III presents a unique opportunity to explore how different…

This study compared the underlying factors measured by a state standards-based grade 4 English-Language Arts (ELA) assessment given to several groups of students. The focus of the research was to gather evidence regarding whether or not the tests measured the same construct or constructs for students without disabilities who took the test under…

This article reports on the consistency of the achievement-level classifications (below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced) established in 1999 for the South Carolina Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests (PACT; Huynh, Meyer, & Barton, 2000) of English language arts and mathematics. It also utilizes the PACT longitudinal data files of…

The consistency between raters over three years of a high-stakes performance assessment was examined in two studies involving a total of approximately 3,000 students in grades three, five, and eight. Results show that raters in different years differ in severity, with raters in mathematics most consistent, and those in language arts least…

Examined the validity and reliability of the 1995-96 reading/language arts portfolio assessment developed in the Dallas (Texas) public schools for prekindergarten through second grade. Ratings by 42 teachers show that portfolio contents do not provide a valid sample of student work and the assessment reliability is low. (SLD)

Development of a multistage dominant profile method for setting standards on complex performance assessments is detailed. The method grew from experiences with a judgmental policy-capturing procedure and an extended Angoff method. The design of an early adolescence English language arts assessment illustrates the complexity of decisions panelists…

Differential prediction of course grades (language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science) from achievement test scores was studied for 634 female and 623 male eighth and ninth graders through multivariate analysis. Female performance was overpredicted except in language arts, but differences were seldom large enough to have practical…