The Task Force is eager to receive your feedback. We will update the NCME community via this webpage when the manuscript has been published.
The NCME Presidential Task Force on the Role of Educational Measurement in the Protection and Advancement of Civil Rights is excited to share the process and timeline for welcoming public comments on their draft manuscript. This site serves as a landing page to provide information related to the NCME Presidential Task Force on the Role of Educational Measurement in the Protection and Advancement of Civil Rights, along with the manuscript itself and the Google Form we are using to collect feedback.
NCME Task Force on Civil Rights
Charge to Task Force
The NCME Presidential Task Force on the Role of Educational Measurement in the Protection and Advancement of Civil Rights (the Task Force) convened in 2024 to address the charge put forth by Dr. Michael Walker, former NCME President, who served as the Board liaison to the Task Force. Since then, the Task Force has worked to craft a manuscript that the addressed said charge, specifically by:
Reviewing the salient history of educational measurement in civil rights litigation and civil rights advancement and investigating and illuminating positive and negative uses of educational tests and assessments in relation to the advancement of civil rights in the past.
Identifying specific elements of civil rights protections (e.g., fairness, equal access) that may possibly be supported by educational measurements of any type.
Examining the landscape of educational measurement programs, including large scale assessments at federal, state and local levels.
Focusing attention on those programs that purport to provide a fair basis for making judgments about educational progress across individuals or groups (e.g., NAEP, summative statewide assessments).
Explicating the features of such educational measurement programs and the purposes they serve.
Identifying and addressing common misunderstandings regarding tests and assessments that interfere with the development of legislation, policy, and practice necessary to ensure equal rights to education.
Writing a report that addresses these issues directly, reflecting to the degree possible the consensus of the field of educational measurement, and indicating areas where greater understanding and consensus-building may be needed.
Please see this page for the original charge to the Task Force.
Task Force Members
The Task Force is made up of volunteer members, selected to represent the diverse expertise and lived experience of the measurement community. Members were organized grouped into SubGroups, with each SubGroup focusing on writing one section of the manuscript.
SubGroup One - Section One of the Manuscript
SubGroup One CoChair: Dr. Sarah Beach, Education Rights Institute, University of Virginia School of Law
Dr. Maggie Beiting-Parrish, CUNY Graduate Center/EdAIfy
Carlos Chavez, University of Minnesota
Dr. Anne Davidson, CrescendoED LLC
Dr. Jessica E. Schnittka Hoskins, Denver, Colorado
SubGroup Two - Section Two of the Manuscript
SubGroup Two CoChair: Dr. Anne Davidson, CrescendoED LLC
Dr. Sarah Beach, Education Rights Institute, University of Virginia School of Law
Dr. Maggie Beiting-Parrish, CUNY Graduate Center/EdAIfy
Dr. Jessica E. Schnittka Hoskins, Denver, Colorado
SubGroup Three - Section Three of the Manuscript
SubGroup Three CoChair: Dr. Juan D'Brot, Center for Assessment
Carlos Chavez, University of Minnesota
Catherina Villafuerte, University of Connecticut
Dr. Michael Walker, Cognia
SubGroup Four - Section Four of the Manuscript
SubGroup Four CoChair: Dr. Howard Everson, CUNY Graduate Center
Dr. Maria Elena Oliveri, College of Engineering, Purdue University
Dr. Lauren White, Pearson
Dr. Mya Poe, Northeastern University
Dr. Michael Russell, Boston College
SubGroup Five - Section Five of the Manuscript
SubGroup Five CoChair: Dr. Britte Haugan Cheng, Menlo Education Research
Dr. Michael Russell, Boston College
Dr. Anne Davidson, CrescendoED LLC
Dr. Michael Walker, Cognia
Dr. Howard Everson, CUNY Graduate Center
Dr. Maggie Beiting-Parrish, CUNY Graduate Center/EdAIfy
Public Commentary Phase Process
To provide commentary on the manuscript, please use this Google Form (the link to the Google Form will be made available soon). The manuscript has been formatted as a PDF, and can be accessed here (the link to the manuscript will be made available soon) and within the Google Form.
The Google Form will open on Monday, March 16th, and close on Tuesday, May 26th.
Any commentary shared via alternate means will not be accepted.
All feedback submitted will be considered by the Task Force as part of manuscript revisions. After the Public Commentary Phase closes, all feedback will be published with the respondent’s name and affiliation, unless the respondent requests that their commentary remain unpublished. This preference can be shared in the linked Google Form.
If you run into any technical difficulty using the Google Form or accessing the manuscript, please reach out to ncme.taskforce@menloedu.org.
Public Commentary Phase Timeline
We will update the NCME community via this webpage with the new timeline after the manuscript has been published.
Review Opens – Monday, March 16th, 2026
Review Closes – Tuesday, May 26 th, 2026, 11:59 PM ET