From Your President
Some notes and thoughts from Joe Hansen:
Greetings from Colorado. The aspen are in their fall splendor as I write this column, and we know that a Rocky Mountain winter is stealthily creeping up on us. Any day now a blast of arctic air will combine with moisture from the gulf to bring us our first snowfall of the year.
What a year this has been so far. It seems that in addition to our testing duties, nearly all the NATD members I’ve talked with over the past six months have experienced significant additions to their responsibilities, usually without additional compensation, as school districts across the country are reducing staff and cutting costs. I can’t help but wonder what the long term effects of all these cutbacks will be on the quality of testing programs. Here in Colorado we’re facing a November ballot with a major tax limitation initiative, the most far reaching voucher plan to ever be placed on a ballot, in any state, and a major reform bill would raise the state sales tax by one percent in order to maintain current levels of state funding. Without the latter we are facing draconian cuts in funding for public education. It seems that our situation is not unusual as I hear from others around the country.
This summer brought some very sad news for the educational research, assessment and evaluation community, as my best friend over the past nineteen years, Walt Hathaway, passed away at his home in Portland. I miss him and I know that it will be years before I personally recover from the loss. There is a more detailed article on Walt, elsewhere in this newsletter. Karen Banks of Wake County Public Schools, has been appointed to fill out Walt’s unexpired term on the NATD Board of Directors. We are grateful to Karen for accepting this appointment and have great confidence in her ability to provide guidance to the Association.
Here’s some good news. Being president of NATD can have its benefits. This summer I was selected by the citizens Ambassador Program of People to People International to lead a delegation of evaluation and assessment experts on a two week visit to Russia. The delegation will be comprised of four to six people, but only I will have my expenses fully paid by The Citizens Ambassador Program. The trip will take place from March 22 through April 6, 1993. Am I excited?
NATD member, Paul Killiam of the Washoe County (Reno), Nevada Public Schools is the outgoing chair of the Directors of Research and Evaluation (DRE) group. Paul conducted a survey of DRE membership to find out whether they were interested in continuing the tradition of meeting with NATD on the morning before AERA begins. The response overwhelmingly favored continuing the joint meetings. Therefore we will meet on Monday, April 12, 1993 from 8:00 to 12:00. The hotel and room have not yet been determined, but we will have that information in the next newsletter, which will be published a few weeks before AERA. A continental breakfast will be provided.
President-elect Kevin Matter is working hard to assemble a stellar program for the two reserved slots NATD has on the NCME program. The first symposium, Objectifying the subjective: Rubrics, scoring guides and other ways of knowing, will feature presentations by Carole Perlman, of the Chicago Public Schools; Laurie Wise, of the Defense Manpower Data Center, Monterey; Judy Arter of Northwest Regional Lab; and as yet to be named presenter. The discussant will be the widely recognized guru of alternative assessment, Grant Wiggins. The second symposium will take a long look at the testing movement it might be headed. This symposium, Testing, Testing: do we know where we’re going? Have we been there before? Will feature Peter Wolmut, of Multnomah ESD, Paul Brown of Indianapolis Public Schools and as yet to be named presenter. H.D. Hoover of Riverside Publishing will be the discussant. These promise to be very stimulation sessions, so plan to attend.
Peter Womult and Ernie Bauer are collaborating on publishing the proceedings of last spring’s symposia. Watch for these soon.
Paul LeMahieu and I are a committee of two working to establish a research internship for graduate students in testing and measurement who have a promising idea for a dissertation study and need a few dollars to make it happen. While our busy schedules have slowed progress on this effort somewhat over the past few months, we still expect to bring it to fruition by the time we all meet in Atlanta.
And speaking of Atlanta, the NATD Board and officers will meet on Monday evening, April 12 to discuss association business. The specific location and time will be published in the next newsletter.
Finally, please note the following, included in the newsletter; the
membership form from Guy Glidden on the back page, and the NATD Performance
Assessment Survey insert. Please return your survey form to Carole
Perlman by October 15. If you know somebody who is involved with
testing student achievement who is not a member of NATD, please invite
that person to join. The NATD purpose and membership requirements
are spelled out in the next column.
NATD HAS A PURPOSE
For those readers who may be new to NATD and to provide some assistance to all of you in recruiting new members, I thought it might be worthwhile to include a brief statement on the purpose and membership requirements of NATD. So here it is, straight from the NATD constitution.
Section 102: It shall be the purpose of this Association to:
a. share information about testing in public schools.
b. encourage the appropriate use of testing in the public schools
c. improve the applications of measurement of students and school programs.
d. Encourage research in the area of elementary and high school testing
and measurement.
Section 201: Active members shall include dues paying individuals:
a. with responsibility for school testing programs
b. from institutions involved in the construction or use of test in
schools, including, but not limited to school systems, school system research
departments and test publishers
c. who have been active Association members for at least five years,
are at least sixty years of age, and who are no longer employed on a full
time basis.
If you know anyone who fits these descriptors and is not currently and
NATD member, please encourage them to join. In numbers there is strength.
A TRAGIC LOSS
NATD is deeply saddened by the loss of one of our finest colleagues. Walter Hathaway died of a stroke at his home in Portland on August 9, following a long illness diagnosed as Parkinson’s disease. He was 52. Walt was elected to NATD board of directors in 1992. Walt was AERA Division H Vice President in 1984-85. He had been director of research and evaluation with the Portland Public Schools since 1981. Under his leadership the PPS research and Evaluation Department gained national prominence foe innovative practice in educational measurement, research and evaluation, winning numerous awards. Walt was a dynamic leader who dedicated his life to promoting excellence and equity in education through the application of the highest quality measurement, research and evaluation practices.
Joe Hansen, a close friend of Walt’s, is working to establish a research
following in his name, to provide assistance to researchers conducting
studies that will lead to improving the quality of education for at-risk
students. If you are interested in assisting Joe with this lasting
tribute to Walt, please call or write to him at Colorado Springs Public
Schools, 1115, N. El Paso St., Colorado Springs, CO 80903. Phone
(719) 520-2077.
CALL FOR AWARD NOMINATIONS
NCME Award for Application of Educational Measurement Technology
NCME is please to announce its call for nominations for the triennial
award for the application of educational measurement technology to a specific
program. This is one of three award competitions held triennially.
This year’s award will be based on an application completed in 1990, 1991,
or 1992. NCME members and others are strongly encouraged to help
in identifying candidates for this important award.
Examples of applications to specific problem areas include, but are
not limited to, selection or classification of students, measuring a hard-to-measure
trait, evaluating an educational program or product, integrating testing
and learning, or applying technology in a new way to a current problem.
Selection criteria are quality and innovativeness of the application effort
and the positive impact of the application on the practice of educational
measurement.
Self-nominations are encouraged, as are nominations of others, wit their permission. Nominees need not be NCME members. A nomination consists of five copies of a 3-5 page statement describing the technology, application area, and products or results. Finalists may be requested to submit additional information.
Nominations should be sent by January 20, 1993, to Linda K. Junker,
Department of Research, Evaluation, and Planning, Chicago Public Schools,
1819 W. Pershing Rd., 4W, Chicago, IL 60609 (Fax: 312-535-4168; office:
312-535-4080). The award will be presented at the 1993 NCME Annual
Meeting in Atlanta.
Return to NATD Publications Page