Project Director
Geneva Haertel, Ph.D., SRI International
CAST Project Lead
Elizabeth (Boo) Murray, Sc.D.
Funder
U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, (CFDA 84.324)
Timeframe
2007-2011
Project Description
SRI International, in partnership with CAST, the University of Maryland, and the Kentucky Department of Education, is applying a new approach to the design and development of large-scale science assessments at the middle school level.
The goal of the project is to demonstrate how the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), when paired with the assessment design techniques and tools of evidence-centered design (ECD), can be used to develop or redesign assessment items so that they can be more accurately interpreted for use as outcome evaluations for all students on statewide assessments in middle school science. The CAST team is working with the online Principled Assessment Design for Inquiry (PADI) system developed by SRI and the University of Maryland to create more universally designed test items. In addition, CAST is collaborating in the development of large-scale assessment guidelines for state departments of education, test developers and policy makers.
