Dear NCME Community,
As we settle into the new year, there is so much to look forward to in this great organization:
1) I am grateful to our program committee for working hard to release a preliminary program for our annual meeting, April 23-26, in Denver, Colorado. With training sessions on Wednesday, joint receptions on Thursday, award celebrations on Friday, an Informal Presidential Closing Reception (with an exclusive gift!) on Saturday, and top-notch scholarship throughout, I am looking forward to educational measurement’s greatest showcase and community gathering of the year.
2) In January, I had the honor of convening an NCME Presidential Summit for Educational Measurement Programs. Over 40 academic programs and over 100 faculty joined in conversations about how NCME can elevate the field. I am grateful to the Educators of Measurement SIGIMIE for the collaboration and the Graduate Student Issues Committee for their consultation. There is a newfound sense that NCME can be a network hub not only for individuals but for academic measurement programs and their students. I look forward to sharing more about outcomes from the Summit in the weeks to come.
3) Our excellent board met in January in appreciation of the service of our 12 topical committees, 2 program committees, 6 award committees, and 8 SIGIMIEs. We passed a budget that ensures long-term financial stability and continued growth of the organization, including investments in selected initiatives from our committees and pathways to and through our field. We look forward to celebrating the accomplishments of our 3 outgoing board members and many rotating committees and SIGIMIE leaders in April. If you would help to advance NCME’s mission through the work of our excellent committees, we encourage you to read the announcement below and fill out the volunteer form.
4) As a former member of the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) that governs the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), I watched the results of “NAEP Day” on January 29 with appreciation. In particular, I felt grateful for the work of hundreds of NCME members who work to ensure the quality of this essential measure of large-scale educational progress. This includes NAGB members, staff of the National Center for Education Statistics, measurement experts from many NAEP contractors, state and local assessment partners, and researchers who use NAEP data. The NCME community should be proud of this work and the important conversation about accelerating educational progress that it inspires.
5) I want to close by acknowledging that our field is facing uncertainty here in the United States, with open questions about federal support of measurement data and funding of measurement scholarship. One of the reasons we joined the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS) and the Friends of the Institute of Education Sciences (FIES) last year is our core belief that advancing measurement scholarship and practice can benefit society. As I indicated in my incoming presidential remarks last April, the role of a strong organization is to support its members and its mission, particularly in volatile times. We are discussing how we can best accomplish this, particularly for members in the federal workforce or in positions dependent on federal funding who may be facing employment transitions.
Towards continuity, unity, and service!
Andrew Ho, President
National Council on Measurement in Education
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