Randy Bennett holds the Norman O. Frederiksen Chair in Assessment Innovation in the Research division at ETS. His work has focused on integrating advances in cognitive science, technology, and measurement to create equitable assessment approaches that have a positive impact on teaching and learning. His most recent work centers on explicating the idea of assessments that are “born socioculturally responsive,” including proposing a definition, provisional assessment-design principles, examples illustrating the principles, an initial theory, and a suggested path to implementation.
From 1999–2005, Bennett directed the National Assessment of Educational Progress Technology-Based Assessment project, which included the first administration of computer-based performance assessments to nationally representative samples of school students and the first use of logfile data in such samples to measure problem-solving processes. From 2007–2016, he directed the CBAL® research initiative, which focused on creating theory-based summative and formative assessment intended to model good teaching and learning practice.
He is a past president of the International Association for Educational Assessment, an organization constituted of governmental and nongovernmental nonprofit measurement organizations throughout the world, and a past president of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME). He is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and an elected member of the National Academy of Education, as well as recipient of the NCME Bradley Hanson Contributions to Educational Measurement Award, the Teachers College Distinguished Alumni Award, and the AERA E. F. Lindquist Award.