Handbook of Design in Educational Technology

32 Measuring What Matters

Technology and the Design of Assessments that Support Learning

James W. Pellegrino

1. Introduction

For more than a decade, assessment has constituted one of the most controversial issues in education with respect to matters of theory, design, implementation, and educational policy (see e.g., Pellegrino, Chudowsky, & Glaser, 2001). Many of the arguments surround what we assess, how we assess, and the ways in which information derived from assessments is used to shape educational practice. As argued in various sources (e.g., Pellegrino & Quellmalz, 2010), new technologies provide opportunities to shift our assessment systems from a primary focus on summative and accountability practices to one focused instead on formative ...