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Creating something entirely new, something important, something for which there is no agreed upon “right way,” set model, or solid precedence is exciting – and, at times, frustrating. Developing the Adolescence and Young Adulthood assessment for science teachers (AYA/S) of students aged 14 to 18+ for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is a case in point. This chapter describes our experiences as an Assessment Development Laboratory (ADL) and looks at some of the challenges inherent in developing a large-scale assessment that is complex, strives to be innovative, and must be closely aligned with a given set of standards. Some of the external challenges we faced included shifting and unclear expectations, the conflicting needs of multiple stakeholders and a deadline that was dramatically shortened midway through the process. Within the assessment development process itself we also needed to consider how best to involve teachers, address issues of equity and standardize the process to maximize efficiency. We share some stories to illustrate not only the challenges but also the insights gained and lessons learned during the early years if the project with the hope that they provide a useful historical perspective relevant for other large-scale assessment development projects.

First, estimate the scoring reliability coefficient on the basis of the covariances, with each covariance computed from all the data that is available (i.e., pair-wise present). Call it rxx.

To appreciate the distance the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification program has come, and the speed with which it has traveled that distance, a glance at its first decade from the perspective of assessment development is essential. The particulars of the history of the NBPTS's assessment strategies and designs have determined in many ways the current assessment architecture: the evolution of the assessment's design reveals the growth in our knowledge of innovative assessment strategies and formats and their uses. In this chapter, I will briefly summarize the history of the NBPTS assessment program, then describe and analyze the earliest assessment designs, some intermediate approaches, and then the current iteration (commonly referred to as the next generation certificates). I will finally detail the current assessment architecture, connecting that architecture to both the history and the lessons learned from the initial assessments.