ABSTRACT
Beginning in the fall of 2001, the Spencer Foundation sponsored an interdisciplinary initiative seeking to expand the foundations of educational assessment. In a series of meetings and essays, the “Idea of Testing” Project (IOT) addressed the theories and methods through which educational assessment is conceptualized, practiced, and evaluated. The project organizers were Pamela Moss (University of Michigan), Diana Pullin (Boston College), James Gee (University of Wisconsin), and Edward Haertel (Stanford University). The working group additionally included King Beach (Florida State University), James Greeno (University of Pittsburgh and Stanford University), Carol Lee (Northwestern University), Hugh (Bud) Mehan (University of California, San Diego), Robert Mislevy (University of Maryland), Fritz Mosher (consultant to the Spencer Foundation), and Lauren Young (Spencer Foundation). The focus of the conversations was the intersection between assessment and opportunity to learn, with particular attention to the implications of a situative/ sociocultural perspective on learning for the practice of assessment.
