The multidisciplinary innovation unit of ACT, Inc. ACTNext has received a cooperative agreement grant to discover and enrich student engagement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
The grant will support a one-year collaboration project with ACTNext/ACT assessment developers, psychometricians and researchers and the National Center for Education Statistics, American Institutes for Research and RTI International.
Dr. Alina von DavierProject researchers will investigate the NAEP 8th grade Science and Technology and Engineering Literacy assessments to distinguish if there are certain tasks and items that are challenging in creating student engagement, according to an ACT release.
The research team will then use their findings to create engagement-enhanced features designed similarly to the most recent NAEP test, and then evaluate the effects of those features on students’ engagement and performance.
“We are very honored by the trust placed in us by NAEP to help accomplish this important goal,” said ACT senior vice president for ACTNext Dr. Alina von Davier.
The research program director for the research team will be Dr. Yigal Rosen, senior director of learning solutions at ACTNext, with assistance from Dr. Vanessa Simmering, senior research at ACTNext.
