Socioculturally Responsive Assessment: Implications for Theory, Measurement, and Systems-Level Policy

Socioculturally Responsive Assessment assembles the best-available thinking from within and outside the educational measurement community about the theoretical foundations and systems-level policy implications of formal assessment programs designed to be socioculturally responsive. Synthesized from culturally responsive assessment design and practices, culturally relevant pedagogy and funds of knowledge, universal design for learning, the learning sciences, and other literatures, this emerging concept affirms that students’ learning and performance is inextricably tied to the social, cultural, and linguistic contexts in which they live and develop knowledge. Across four sections, this book provides an argument and initial evidence for impact on students, users, and assessment quality; offers guidance for implementation; and examines the potential limitations, pitfalls, barriers, and measurement issues that such programs will inevitably raise. Scholars, teaching faculty, test developers, and policymakers will come away with integral foundations, new assessment approaches, and a greater sense of the potential for positive impact that these assessments may afford.

Randy E. Bennett is Norman O. Frederiksen Chair in Assessment Innovation at Educational Testing Service and Past-President of the National Council on Measurement in Education.

Linda Darling-Hammond is Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Education of Stanford University, USA; President and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute; and Past-President of the American Educational Research Association.

Aneesha Badrinarayan is Principal Consultant at Education First Consulting.