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Catherine Taylor Associate Professor, Educational Psychology 312 Miller Hall, 206-616-6304 ctaylor@u.washington.edu

Education Publications Curriculum Vitae

My research is focused on four major areas: the professional preparation of teachers in the area of assessment, classroom assessment issues, issues in large scale assessment, and validity issues in testing. I consider the classroom as the central and most important location of assessment decisions and have conducted research on instructional models for preparing pre-service teachers. Future work in classroom assessment will be related to grading decisions, scoring of performance-based work, and student and teacher motivational issues related to assessment. My work also considers the interplay of educational policy and educational testing and the ethical issues that arise in the intersection between the two. Future work in this area will look at testing as a moral endeavor and the consequences of large scale test score interpretation and use on schools, teachers, and children. Finally, given the move toward performance-based assessments in large scale testing programs, a fourth line of research is in the validity of the scores that result from performance-based tests.

The ultimate goal of my research is to challenge assumptions and raise questions - both in the measurement community and in the schools - about the influence of assessment on students and about the validity of assessment interpretations made about students. I am currently engaged in research that investigates evidence for the validity of different methods of scoring performance-based assessments in mathematics, reading, and writing. Recent funding for this research was provided by the Royalty Research Fund at the University of Washington. I will also continue research on the preparation of teachers. I have just completed a three year research project related to in-service preparation of teachers in the area of assessment. The grant was sponsored by Seattle Public Schools and was funded by Goals 2000. The goal of the research was to investigate a model designed to help practicing teachers develop skills and frameworks related to assessment.

(each links to complete PowerPoint files of the presentation slides):

Can Large-Scale Tests Be Fair to All Students?: Research on Bias Issues for WASL.

University of Washington Policymakers Exchange Forum, November 2, 2006.

WASL History and Early Research: Everything You Needed to Know About WASL But Didn't Think to Ask.

Educational Psychology Colloquium, College of Education, December 1, 2006.

Classroom-Based Assessments as Alternatives to Large-Scale Tests.

Educational Psychology Colloquium, College of Education, December 11, 2006

Education

Ph.D., Kansas, 1986

Publications

Taylor, C. S. (1998). An investigation of scoring methods for mathematics performance assessments. Educational Assessment, 3, 195-224.

Chappell, K. K. & Taylor, C. S. (1998). Evidence for the reliability and factorial validity of scores from the Computer Game Attitude Scale. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 17 (1), 66-77.

Taylor, C. S., & Bidlingmaier, B. (1998). Using scoring criteria to communicate about the discipline of mathematics. Mathematics Teacher, 91 (5), 416-425.

Taylor, C. S., & Nolen, S. B. (1996). What does the psychometrician's classroom look like?: Reframing assessment concepts in the context of learning. Educational Policy Analysis Archives, 4 (17).

Taylor, C. S. (1994). Assessment for measurement or standards: The peril and promise of large scale assessment reform. American Educational Research Journal, 31 (2), pp. 231-262.