The Technical Issues in Large Scale Assessment (TILSA) collaborative focuses on technical issues that state leaders face with their large-scale assessments and opportunities for innovation. This includes psychometric challenges, innovative design approaches, comparability, and validity of claims and test results. In addition, TILSA considers how states, districts, schools, educators, parents, and policy makers may have to deal with the practical and policy implications associated with these technical issues.
TILSA hosts three in-person meetings per program year supplemented periodically by online webinars, resources, and tools that sustain and extend the learning and work undertaken through in-person meetings. TILSA’s membership includes assessment directors, assessment content staff, and technical assessment staff such as psychometricians or data people. These state assessment leaders focus on technical, practical, and policy issues and measurement, they possess deep technical knowledge of state- and district-level assessments. TILSA also leverages its large roster of partner organizations that provide recommendations, potential solutions to current problems in large-scale assessments, and relevant research findings to state partners.