The NRC Study Group on Guidelines for Mathematics Assessment will undertake a two-year project consisting of three interrelated components. The first is the development of a set of conceptual guides and principles that will be helpful to states and local education agencies, as well as private groups, as they create assessment instruments and systems. The guides will set forth in some detail the factors that such agencies must take into account: choices of content, instrumentation, data analysis, data reporting, etc. The second is an examination of technical measurement issues involved in alternative methods of assessment. The third is a consideration of policy issues, including matters of relative costs of various forms of assessment, the effects in changes in assessment on curriculum and classroom practice, and issues of fairness and bias.
