Twin Pandemics

This book examines how the COVID-19 pandemic and racial inequities affect the educational assessment of students, either separately or in combination, as the health crisis was viewed as a factor intersecting with and exacerbating existing racial inequities in educational systems.

The four empirical papers in this book attend to the challenges of implementing virtual standardized testing during the coronavirus pandemic, the different educational and assessment experiences of diverse groups of school-age students, and the reconsideration of traditional assessment approaches in response to mounting research evidence and growing concerns around enduring social and racial inequities faced by Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and other non-white citizens and communities. The four conceptual papers focus primarily on the ways in which assessment may contribute to systemic racism and offer potential solutions to move the educational assessment field forward. In totality, the volume offers needed empirical evidence, innovative methodological approaches, and theoretical and substantive examinations of the effects of the twin pandemics.

Twin Pandemics will be a key resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Educational Assessment, Education, Psychometrics, Educational Research, Ethnic Studies, Research Methods, Sociology of Education and Psychology. The chapters included in this book were originally published as a special issue of Educational Assessment.

Alison L. Bailey is Professor and Division Head of Human Development and Psychology, Dept. of Education, University of California, Los Angeles.

José Felipe Martínez is Professor in the Social Research Methods Division, Dept. of Education, University of California, Los Angeles.

Andreas Oranje is Managing Director, National Conference of Bar Examiners.

Molly Faulkner-Bond is Senior Research Associate on the English Learner and Migrant Education Services team at WestEd.