A Brief History of the Large-Scale Assessment Conference Edward Roeber

In the Beginning The first conference was held in Boulder, CO in 1971 The conference was held to present information on the NAEP project, relatively new at the time It was sponsored by the Education Commission of the States (ECS), the NAEP grant recipient Conference was planned by Frank Womer and Irv Lehmann The conference was held at the university, later moving to the Harvest House hotel in Boulder (The conference that didn’t count was held in Ann Arbor, MI in 1970)

The Early Years By 1974, over 100 individuals attended the conference (which was the first conference I attended) The conference continued to focus on the NAEP project, although it did not change that much from year to year (since few states had a state assessment program at the time) By the late 1970’s, however, state assessment staff complained that state work (often more innovative than NAEP) also ought to be featured

The Early Years As a result of these complaints, state assessment program activities began to be featured in the annual conference program State assessment staff participated in the planning of the conference, suggesting topics and presenters to be used Attendance continued to grow ECS continued to sponsor the conference

The Middle Years By the 1980’s, ECS lost the NAEP grant Concern was raised that the conference would become an outreach effort of the new contractor (and move out of Colorado), but ECS agreed to continue to run the “Boulder conference” ECS ran the conference through 1991 The LSAC continued to be held at the Harvest House

The Middle Years So many individuals (upwards of 750-800) were attending that the Harvest House could not hold all of them – and individuals stayed at virtually every hotel in Boulder Shuttle buses were used to bus attendees to the hotel The conference was becoming too large for the Harvest House, which only had around 200 sleeping rooms Yet the Harvest House remained beloved

1990’s Because of the hotel issues, ECS moved the conference to Breckenridge, CO in 1991 The resort was able to house all attendees at one site, which made it easier to interact with other attendees However, the altitude – over 9,000 feet – caused headaches in some attendees Thus, ECS returned LSAC to Boulder and the Harvest House in 1992

1990’s ECS made the decision in late 1992 to no longer host the conference and offered it to CCSSO The conference was re-titled the CCSSO National Conference on Large-Scale Assessment A larger, more inclusive planning process was used; attendees proposed topics that were selected by a planning committee Plans to continue to hold the conference in Boulder were cut short by a citizen referendum in the state, causing CCSSO to look for another state in which to hold the conference (fearing the economic fallout from a potential boycott of the conference)

1990’s Starting in December 1992, CCSSO had to locate a suitable site for the 1000-person LSAC Most sites of this size are booked a couple of years in advance The 1993 (and 1994) conferences were held in Albuquerque, NM Moving from Boulder was a major complaint in 1993 Announcing in 1994 that the conference was moving to Phoenix for 1995 & 1996 also led to complaints

1990’s CCSSO staff went on a search for new sites – locations in the mountain west near an airport with major airline service Attendees complained about the heat of Phoenix in 1995, but when CCSSO announced in 1996 the move of the conference to Colorado Springs, CO for 1997 & 1998, attendees complained about moving from Phoenix Snowbird (UT) was the site used for 1999 and 2000) – attendees did not want to leave Colorado Springs, however

2000’s CCSSO began moving the conference annually, and moving to locations where no mountains could be seen: Houston, TX Palm Desert, CA San Antonio, TX Boston, MA San Francisco, CA Minneapolis, MN Washington, DC New Orleans, LA San Diego, CA 2017: Austin, TX

Facts and Figures The title of the conference was changed to the CCSSO National Conference on Student Assessment, to reflect and honor work on classroom-based assessments, as well as formative assessment strategies Conference has been held in the month of June since 1971 The conference has varied from 2 days to 3.5 days from 1971 to present time; there once was a half day break in the conference for sightseeing….

Facts and Figures The history of social activities has also been an interesting side story to the conference At first, there were virtually none Then, competition of vendors led to every meal and evening having a sponsored event (sometimes two) In the end, it was an opening session that brought this bounty to an end Social activities have been an important part of the conference across its history

Summary Old-timers still refer to the conference as the “Boulder conference” or the “large-scale assessment conference” The conference remains important for state and national assessment as it nears its fifty-year anniversary; it has changed to reflect changes in assessment, but still is a must-attend for many

Next Year Attendees this year will receive a Call for Proposals in the fall from CCSSO Submit your ideas for sessions, keeping in mind these guidelines: Multi-state sessions are more interesting State/local educator sessions are more appealing The focus of the conference tends to be large-scale assessment, but with ESSA flexibility, there will likely be some interesting “stories” about how states and districts plan to use the flexibility afforded by ESSA