Welcome to the National Association of Test Directors (NATD), the professional organization serving the needs of those who direct student testing programs in schools, districts and the states. If you are not yet a member, I encourage you to join us. We meet once a year in conjunction with the American Education Research Association annual conference which will be in San Francisco in April 2006. Jim Popham will be our guest speaker at the business meeting. Members reach each other to request mutual assistance and discuss timely issues via the NATD Listserve.

In a nation increasingly concerned with high stakes tests for high school graduation, college entrance, job certification, and school accountability, NATD provides a forum for test directors to promote best practices in service of learning. Our goal is to provide information on testing, policy and practice, and to encourage the highest professional standards in all elements of testing and assessment: setting goals and standards, developing measures, implementing testing programs, and reporting results to policy makers, parents, teachers, administrators and students.

Ethical testing practices are our highest concern and we have two members on the Joint Committee on Testing Practices. The Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education is a guide for professionals in fulfilling their obligation to provide and use tests that are fair to all test takers accessible at http ://www.apa.org/science/fairtestcode.html. NATD strongly supports the proper use of student assessment to guide educational decisions and seeks to assure fairness in testing.

Initiatives this year include:

• Web site renewal led by webmaster Phil Morse with Ray Fenton.
• Co-sponsorship of the Classroom Assessment Recognition Awards with NCME and the ATI Foundation.
• Renewed efforts to recruit new members led by Treasurer Sherry Rose-Bond.
• Publication of Proceedings from the Annual NATD/NCME Symposium in Montreal last spring by Editor Joe O’Reilly.
• Policy brief on sanctions resulting from unethical testing practices.
• Training module for new test directors developed by a consortium of testing organizations.
• Development of a clearinghouse for test items in the public domain led by Ray Fenton.
• Presentation of the April 2006 NATD/NCME Symposium Beyond NCLB: From Measuring Status to Informing Improvement with presenters Eva L. Baker of CRESST, G. Gage Kingsbury of Northwest Evaluation Association, and Judith A. Arter of the Assessment Training Institute.

We welcome your support of or engagement with the initiatives noted above. Please explore the NATD website and feel free to contact us if you have issues or concerns related to student testing.