Run parent think-alouds and focus groups on the score report

The advice. “Biggest focus for reporting should be what parents want to know and see. Seek information on how parents interpret current report or sample report and then determine what needs to be changed.”

Individual think-alouds or focus groups, asking: What does this report tell you about this student? What can you say about the student based upon this report?

Why. The reframe that redirected the session. OEAA arrived asking which classification method is more accurate. The committee’s answer was that accuracy is not the binding constraint — the binding constraint is what a parent takes away, and nobody has measured that.

The two suggested questions are well chosen. The first elicits what the reader believes the report says; the second elicits what they believe they can conclude. The gap between them is where over-interpretation lives, and over-interpretation is the entire risk of subscore reporting from a unidimensional test.

Already in motion. OEAA is working to develop a survey to gather feedback. Think-alouds were recommended in addition, not instead — a survey measures reactions to a report someone has already made sense of; a think-aloud catches the sense-making.

Status. Open; survey in development.