Standardizing aspects of assessments has long been recognized as a tactic to help make evaluations of examinees fair. It reduces variation in irrelevant aspects of testing procedures that could advantage some examinees and disadvantage others. However, recent attention to making assessment accessible to a more diverse population of students…

This paper was prepared for school officials and researchers who plan to conduct an assessment of student writing but have limited field experience with this activity. The paper identifies twelve critical questions assessors should consider, and it explores issues involved in reaching a decision about each from the perspectives of measurement…