I talked about 100 years of the SAT for the @harvard.edu Gazette. I hope my "five-legged stool" analogy helps folks to keep our use of admissions test scores in perspective. Also, yes, my chair is named for that guy. news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

A century of the SAT — Harvard Gazette

How the test of college readiness has changed with trends in U.S. education policy over the past 100 years.

news.harvard.edu

Protip for the jetlagged at #IMPS26 in Seoul: Head out for the World Cup final (4am KST Monday). After watching both semifinals here, I can guarantee there will be a lively late-night place to watch down some alley or other. This is the real "city that never sleeps." @pmetricsoc.bsky.social

Yup, Vivian and I make the case that we need a federal role in education research and dissemination for empirical evidence to really factor into local decision-making. That doesn't imply that @IES can't be improved, I think it can, but it does serve a crucial role in the education ecosystem!

CALDER Center@caldercenter.bsky.social · 3w ago

📰 New @edweek.org op-ed by CALDER's @cedr.bsky.social & @uvaehd.bsky.social's Vivian Wong: If local leaders are to make evidence-based decisions, federal support for education research is essential to generating and validating the evidence policymakers rely on. Read: www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

Faculty/research colleagues, this form helped me to draft a personal comment in 5 minutes and also appreciate how terrible this OMB proposal is for educational & measurement research. Comments due by 7/13, please sign on. ombcomment.netlify.app?link_id=5&ca... www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Comments Flood OMB Proposal on Political Control of Grants

The White House Office of Management and Budget has so far received 90,000 public comments on its plans as scientific and other groups rally against them.

insidehighered.com

The published version of my NCME Presidential Address on Communication Competencies, for all who wanted a one-stop citation for all my measurement mnemonics (the 3 Ws, 4 Quadrants, and 5 Cs). EMIP: doi.org/10.1111/emip... Public: dash.harvard.edu/server/api/c... @ncme38.bsky.social

I briefed the MA Joint Committee on Education yesterday on "innovative assessment and accountability," an informal 3-hour conversation. I cited @mpolikoff.bsky.social & @bethschueler.bsky.social My opening remarks: andrewho.scholars.harvard.edu/sites/g/file... Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez_U...

It's conference solo paper-session "match day"! I checked the IMPS schedule and found I lucked out, with Dan Bolt, Paul Jewsbury, Jorge Bazán, and Mark Wilson, all jet-lagged together in Seoul, July 22. @pmetricsoc.bsky.social schedule-at-a-glance: d2r0txsugik6oi.cloudfront.net/neon/resourc...

Wrote a little about the work the U.S. put into helping academics escape fascism during WWII and why we can't rely on that for our future www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

No One Is Coming to Save Us

The realization can either break you or liberate you.

insidehighered.com

Most measurement arguments reduce to two people using the same scores for different purposes. @mpolikoff.bsky.social's great review reveals the real tensions in "grade inflation" debates. Closing the "honesty gap" requires clearer communication about our hoped-for uses of grades and test scores.

Morgan Polikoff@mpolikoff.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I had many thoughts about that NYT grade inflation op-ed from a couple days ago. Here are some of them. // It's Gonna Be Much Harder Than People Think to Change the Narratives About Testing and Grades edpolicyhub.substack.com/p/its-going-...

My HGSE colleague Alexis Redding (at right) is doing another incredible job covering the @harvard.edu Commencement procession, with history, interviews, and helpful tips for family watching from afar. Live now until the ceremony begins. www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Up... @harvardeducation.bsky.social

Roll call for IMPS in Seoul! I'll be presenting our "two watches" paper and chatting about an inspiring @ncme38.bsky.social-Psychometric Society joint listing of international graduate programs in psychometrics and educational measurement. Hope to see you there! (Early bird registration due Friday.)

Psychometric Society@pmetricsoc.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Mark your calendars: IMPS 2026 will be at Yonsei University in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from July 21-24, with short courses on July 20. Updates will be posted to the conference website: www.psychometricsociety.org/imps-2026 #IMPS2026 #Psychometrics #QuantitativePsychology

NAEP Civics Tests Could Expand to Offer State-by-State Results: The first-ever state-by-state civics results are on the table, as is a new framework for the exam.

NAEP Civics Tests Could Expand to Offer State-by-State Results

The first-ever state-by-state civics results are on the table, as is a new framework for the exam.

edweek.org

NEW: why I think policymakers, researchers, and writers like me may care about our lost decade of test score results a lot more than parents. open.substack.com/pub/joshcowe...

Will Parents Care About Our "Learning Recession?" Will Voters?

Making sense of the front-page news on a decade of test score declines across the country.

open.substack.com

New WP: NAEP and State tests often disagree about educational progress. How much? What do we do? We show how to use these "two watches" to improve trend measurement whenever we have multiple trends. Our paper, including methods underlying our new SEDA/EOP data: edopportunity.org/papers/two_w...

Our SEDA/EOP team released new trend data today! edopportunity.org/trends/ @upshot.nytimes.com has a nice lookup tool for districts (with apologies to AK, CO, ME, MT, NY, NV, & OR). I like the comparisons to similar districts and hope they encourage peer learning. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Look Up Your School District’s Test Scores

See how your district’s scores have changed since 2015, and compare it with other districts in your area.

nytimes.com

Harvard Stat dedicates a class to teaching statistics. I was honored to be their "grand finale" speaker yesterday, a tradition going back 20 years. I presented my 5 Gs paper, and I learned how they also embrace communication, plushies, and oral exams! @kevinrader.bsky.social doi.org/10.5149/term...

A lot of folks were approvingly sharing Kelsey Piper's post about the problems of educational research. Here's my take. // Ill-Informed Essays About Education Research are Weak and Sloppy. Why? edpolicyhub.substack.com/p/ill-inform...

Ill-Informed Essays About Education Research are Weak and Sloppy. Why?

Morgan Polikoff

edpolicyhub.substack.com

I am sure this is the first and last time I'll be in the same press release as Jodie Foster and Colson Whitehead. Honored and grateful beyond measure. And hopeful that landing "psychometrician" in another press release will help improve future captioning. www.amacad.org/news/new-mem... 1/3

In DC Wednesday, 46 agencies debated the 3 As of state testing: Assessment, Accountability, and AI. One breakout with @drmariannep.bsky.social, Allison Timberlake, and Asst Sec Kirsten Baesler dared to ask, who are state summative tests for? Can we *reduce* audiences? To do more, should we do less?

I wrote about how I teach statistics. As I redesign for the AI era, I won't forget the benefits of multimodal, tangible representations. The Five Gs: Greek, Graphs, Grammar, Gadgets, and Games. In the new journal, Teaching Educational Research Methods: doi.org/10.5149/term...

The story of ed tech is a repeated loop of massive hype and massive disappointment See MOOCs, and now AI Evidence can interrupt this unproductive cycle The Stanford SCALE Initiative, led by rock star Prof Susanna Loeb, brings evidence to the conversation scale.stanford.edu/sites/defaul...

Woohoo, here's my essay with my fav co-author on 30,000 fellowship wins across the Guggenheim, Stanford CASBS, NAEd, National Humanities Center, RSF visiting scholar, and Harvard Radcliffe. Spoiler: it's the people working at prestigious universities www.publicbooks.org/who-gets-gug...

Who Gets Guggenheims? - Public Books

Unfortunately, 100 years of data show that those whom such fellowships might represent the greatest departure from their everyday experience—that is, those not at elite institutions—are least likely t...

publicbooks.org

Thursday at 7:45am at #NCME26: How do we teach measurement differently in the AI era? I suggest experimentation with caution, following @bjfr.bsky.social, @tressiemcphd.bsky.social, @audreywatters.bsky.social, and lessons learned from my MOOC days. Session: www.xcdsystem.com/ncme/program...

As my board term ends, I am supporting NCME's new endowment towards its $150K goal. I hope you will join me. You can also donate anonymously or in honor of a mentor. (And you can pick up your plushies at the NCME registration desk!) #NCME26 @ncme38.bsky.social Donate: ncme.org/donate/the-n...

My annual ritual: Printing the #NCME26 program. Available here for other folks who miss the feel of paper and don't mind risking last-minute updates: ncme.org/wp-content/u... Looking forward to seeing great work in LA and being together in person! @ncme38.bsky.social

What is a State TAC? Who serves on TACs? Why are TACs important *now*? On Friday, we discuss our effort to honor TAC service and consider the future of this important, unsung role in state test validation. #NCME26 @derekbriggs.bsky.social www.xcdsystem.com/ncme/program... ncme.org/involvement/...

Q: If a state starts a new test, how long would you bet it lasts? Thursday at #NCME26 we show that the over/under is 4 years. We present a model that harnesses both state & NAEP trends and discuss. w/sean reardon, Ben Shear, Peggy Carr, Scott Marion, Chris Rozunick. www.xcdsystem.com/ncme/program...

A few #NCME26 Highlights: We're putting NCME's Foundational Competencies (FCEMs) to the test! Next Saturday, we ask how FCEMs intersect with AI, feedback, certification, and curricular alignment, with @derekbriggs.bsky.social, Ana, Susan, Brian, and Wenchao. www.xcdsystem.com/ncme/program...

Congratulations to Lily An, GSU Prof. and @harvardeducation.bsky.social graduate, recipient of the 2026 @ncme38.bsky.social Outstanding Dissertation Award! From RDD to CSI to VAM, her dissertation shows how measurement matters in policy analysis. @lmiratrix.bsky.social @clconaway.bsky.social et al.

We must use and improve the growth data we have. Our SEDA team responds to the Senate RFI on school-level growth indicators with 4+ recommendations, including restoring and improving EDFacts, harnessing NAEP, and incentivizing K-2 growth measurement: edopportunity.org/papers/EOP%2...