Mission & Goals

The Commission will evaluate the current state of educational assessment and the uses of its data. The Commission will explore ways in which emerging developments in pedagogical, cognitive and technological sciences can be leveraged in the design of educational assessment instruments, procedures and systems that are more powerful accelerants of student learning, of effective teaching and of effective educational system management.

Our mission is to:

• study the best of educational assessment policy, practice and technology;
• consider our best estimates of what education will become and what will be needed from educational measurement during the 21st century; and to
• generate recommendations on educational assessment design and application that meet and/or exceed the demands and needs of education — present and predicted.

Our goals are to:

• inform the field and the public about the need and possibilities for change in education, as well as change in the place and functions of assessment in education;
• increase public awareness and knowledge about assessment as an integral component of education and the possibilities for change in assessment practice;
• encourage the field of educational assessment to strengthen its capacity to factor into measurement practice attention to their influence of human attributes, social contexts and personal identities on human performance;
• balance emphasis on prediction, selection and accountability with equal concern for informing and improving teaching and learning processes and outcomes; and to
• inform long-term planning and product development in the field of psychometrics.

The Commission is expected to conduct its inquiries and deliberations with wide public participation and complete transparency, and will make public its report to the field.