Placement into accelerated mathematics courses can open doors for students, paving the way toward advanced high school coursework, college readiness, and future career opportunities. But ensuring students are placed accurately requires a rigorous, evidence-based approach. 

In this episode of the Leading Voices podcast, host Danny Torres talks with Scott Firkins, Director of Assessment Content at WestEd, and leaders from the Palo Alto Unified School District in California, Dr. Guillermo López, Associate Superintendent of Educational Services, and Janine Penney, Manager of Assessment. They discuss how the district collaborated with WestEd to transform its placement process for accelerated mathematics in middle school. The result is a fair and evidence-based mathematics validation process designed to accurately place students in the right course in the mathematics pathway. 

Their conversation covers the following topics:


Why Palo Alto Unified School District sought to redesign its validation assessment

The role of high-quality assessment development and psychometric validation in the redesign 

How ensuring transparency builds trust within the community 

What early results are revealing about the new process and student readiness and success

Transcript

Additional Resources


PAUSD Validation Test Research Brief (PDF)

Palo Alto Unified School District Mathematics Program (Website)

Designing High-Quality Assessment Solutions with WestEd (Website)

Comprehensive Assessment Solutions (Website)

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