

NWEA promotes accessibility in assessment with release of image description guidelines
Image descriptions are important to make computer-based assessments accessible to students using assistive technology (AT) devices, such as screen readers and refreshable braille displays. NWEA, with support from the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM), has created guidelines for describing many variations of images, charts, and graphics targeted specifically to the disciplines of reading, language usage, science, and mathematics.
By: Elizabeth Barker
Topics: Equity, Accessibility


What does equity and accessibility look like within assessment?
Creating tests and items from the beginning with Universal Design for Learning in mind, removing barriers by adding alt-tags, and incorporating more culturally rich materials are all steps NWEA is doing to improve our equity for all students.
By: Elizabeth Barker
Topics: Equity, Accessibility


A large-scale, long-term study of scale drift: The micro view and the macro view
This study examined the measurement stability of a set of Rasch measurement scales that have been in place for almost 40 years.


The major purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of CAT test design and bank distribution on the content coverage and the efficiency of the tests.
By: Shudong Wang, Hong Jiao
Topics: Test design, Computer adaptive testing, Learning standards & alignment


Mapping the road to college with the College Explorer tool
NWEA recently launched a new tool called College Explorer that enables middle school and early high school-age students to use their Measures of Academic Progress ® (MAP®) scores to see which colleges and universities they’re on track to enter long before they embark on the college application process.
By: Greg King
Topics: Innovations in reporting & assessment, College & career readiness, High school


Are all biases bad? Collaborative grounded theory in developmental evaluation of education policy
By: Ross Anderson, Meg Guerreiro, Jo Smith


Concurrent validity of the independent reading level assessment framework and a state assessment
This study investigates the use of screening assessments within the increasingly popular Response to Intervention (RTI) framework, specifically seeking to collect concurrent validity evidence on one potential new screening tool, the Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA) framework.
By: Beth Tarasawa, Nicole Ralston, Jacqueline Waggoner, Amy Jackson
Topics: Empowering educators, Measurement & scaling, Reading & language arts