Comments from the Editor

Keston H. Fulcher   |    Volume Four  |   

The three articles in this installment of Research and Practice in Assessment address specific issues pertaining to assessment practice. Bresciani, Griffiths, and Rust suggest a theoretical framework of the stages faculty experience as they consider the role of assessment in their work. This piece has implications regarding how assessment consultants approach faculty.

The second piece by Flateby shares how the University of South Florida developed its renowned system for assessing writing and critical thinking. As with most successful programs, it evolved over years with careful thought and a mix of trial and error. Included are links to rubrics used by USF.

Before using students’ test scores to make inferences or decisions about particular programs, faculty and administrators should be confident that these scores are valid for their intended purpose. To this end, Barry and Finney investigate how conditions during test piloting can affect psychometric properties. Indeed, they find that a test’s factor structure varies depending upon the stakes of the test.

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