Process data, the new frontier for assessment development: rich new soil or a quixotic quest?

This paper presents the concepts and observations in the author's keynote address at the May 2019 "Opportunity versus Challenge: Exploring Usage of Log-File and Process Data in International Large-Scale Assessments" conference in Dublin, Ireland. This paper recaps briefly some key points that emerged at the December 2018 ETS symposium on process data in Washington, DC, and suggests some common terminology and concepts for facilitating future meaningful discussion. It then borrows some concepts from evolutionary biologists to take a critical look at process data and some of its ethical implications before turning to discuss major applications for and challenges of using process data and logfiles. The second half of this paper then maps out the terrain in which process data emerges as a "byproduct" of the shift from paper-and-pencil testing to digital-based assessments (DBA) and looks closely at how process data interacts with the development and operationalization of assessment systems. This interaction suggests new, fresh ways of improving national and international assessment system processes, and ultimately the measurement of cognitive skills, while venturing into the new frontiers opened with process data

The condition of education, 2005

This document summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available data. The report presents 40 indicators on the status and condition of education and a special analysis of the mobility of elementary and secondary school teachers. The indicators represent a consensus of professional judgment on the most significant national measures of the condition and progress of education for which accurate data are available. The 2005 print edition includes 40 indicators in six main areas: (1) enrollment trends and student characteristics at all levels of the education system from elementary education to adult learning; (2) student achievement and the longer term, enduring effects of education; (3) student effort and rates of progress through the educational system among different population groups; (4) the contexts of elementary and secondary education in terms of courses taken, teacher characteristics, and other factors; (5) the contexts of postsecondary education; and (6) societal support for learning, including parental and community support for learning, and public and private financial support of education at all levels. In addition, this year's volume contains a special analysis that describes the teacher workforce and the movement of teachers into and out of this workforce

The condition of education, 2007

"The Condition of Education, 2007" summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available data. The report presents 48 indicators on the status and condition of education and a special analysis on high school coursetaking. The indicators represent a consensus of professional judgment on the most significant national measures of the condition and progress of education for which accurate data are available. The 2007 print edition includes 48 indicators in five main sections: (1) participation in education; (2) learner outcomes; (3) student effort and educational progress; (4) the contexts of elementary and secondary education; and (5) the contexts of postsecondary education. Each indicator contains a discussion along with a graph or table on the main indicator page, and one or more supplemental tables found in appendix 1. The supplemental tables provide data tables of the estimates used in the indicator discussion as well as additional estimates related to the indicator. Tables of standard errors for applicable estimate tables are available on the Web. The Web version includes the following: the 2007 Commissioner's statement, a user's guide, special analyses from 2000 through 2007, all indicators from this edition, and selected indicators from earlier editions of this report. A glossary and an index are also included. Supplementary notes and tables are appended