Adam Withycombe began his career in education as a classroom teacher and enjoyed working in a variety of roles. He spent four years as a bilingual (Spanish) third- and fifth-grade teacher in Oregon and Washington; a year as a talented and gifted coordinator and ELA/social studies teacher at a middle school in Washington; and four years as a third- and fifth-grade teacher in Tennessee. Adam also taught graduate courses on English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) methodology. In 2014 he received his doctoral degree in educational leadership with a dissertation on the relationship between English language proficiency and academic achievement and growth in reading from the University of Oregon. His current efforts as manager of content design and development lie at the intersection of instruction, education policy, item and test design, and score interpretation, with an interest in special populations. He presents regularly at conferences and has delivered guest lectures on test design and interpretation, challenges associated with translation and transadaptation of assessment content between languages, and balanced assessment systems that support English learners.