Wednesday, March 18
1:00 pm-2:00 pm ET
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how student learning can be measured moving beyond traditional tests toward richer, more dynamic forms of assessment. From students conversing with virtual characters to demonstrate problem-solving and reasoning, to AI tools that analyze collaboration and learning processes in real time, these approaches promise insight into what students know and can do. At the same time, these innovations raise critical questions for educators, researchers, and policymakers. Can AI-powered assessments adapt to individual learners in ways that are both valid and fair? Will they help close opportunity gaps or risk reinforcing existing inequities through bias, access barriers, or opaque algorithms? And as AI systems grow more sophisticated, what guardrails are needed to ensure transparency, trust, and responsible use?
In this one-hour webinar, hosted by 91涩漫 and The 74, leading education researchers will explore how AI is being used in assessment today, what evidence we have about its effectiveness, and what risks demand careful attention. The conversation will balance promise with caution, highlighting both cutting-edge research and the policy and ethical considerations shaping the future of student assessment.
Free Public Event with Moderated Q&A
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About the Panelists
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Victor Lee is an Associate Professor in Education at Stanford University and leads the Stanford Accelerator for Learning’s initiative on AI and Education. Prior projects have spanned across STEM education. His current work emphasizes K-12 data science education and AI literacy. He has received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Jan Hawkins award from 91涩漫, and a National Academy of Education Postdoctoral Fellowship and is a Fellow of the International Society of the Learning Sciences. He co-authored the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s 2021 consensus report on authentic experiences for computing education and is a co-author on the forthcoming report on competencies for data and computing in K-12. Lee completed his undergraduate education in the areas of Cognitive Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Mathematics at UCSD and his PhD in Learning Sciences at Northwestern University.
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Danielle McNamara is a leading researcher in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) for education. As the Executive Director of the Learning Engineering Institute and a Professor in the Psychology Department at Arizona State University, Dr. McNamara explores how AI-driven technologies can enhance learning, comprehension, and writing skills. Her research integrates AI and ML techniques to develop intelligent tutoring systems, adaptive learning environments, and automated assessment tools that personalize education at scale. Dr. McNamara has been instrumental in applying NLP and ML to learning analytics, developing Coh-Metrix, a sophisticated NLP tool for text analysis, and intelligent tutoring systems such as iSTART and Writing Pal, which provide AI-driven personalized instruction in literacy. Her work leverages large-scale educational data, deep learning models, and human-AI collaboration to improve student engagement and performance.
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Diego Zapata-Rivera is Distinguished Presidential Appointee at ETS in Princeton, NJ. He earned a PhD in computer science (with a focus on artificial intelligence in education) from the University of Saskatchewan in 2003. His research at ETS has focused on the areas of innovations in reporting assessment results and technology-enhanced assessment including work on personalized learning and assessment environments, conversation-based assessment, caring assessment, Bayesian student modeling, open learner modeling, and game-based assessment. Dr. Zapata-Rivera is a Co-PI and research co-director of the NSF AI INVITE Institute (invite.illinois.edu). He was elected as a member of the International AI in Education Society Executive Committee (2022-2027). He is a member of the Editorial Board of User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, AI for Human Learning and Behavior Change, and a former Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies. Dr. Zapata-Rivera has been invited to contribute his expertise to projects sponsored by the National Research Council, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the US Army Research Laboratory.
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Moderator
Greg Toppo is a senior writer at The 74, with more than 30 years of experience, most of it covering education. He spent 15 years as the national education reporter for USA Today and was more recently a senior editor for Inside Higher Ed. He is the author of The Game Believes In You: How Digital Play Can Make Our Kids Smarter (St. Martin’s Press, 2015) and co-author, with educator James Tracy, of Running with Robots: The American High School’s Third Century, which looks at automation, AI and the future of high school (2021, MIT Press). From 2017 to 2021, he was president of the Education Writers Association. From 2020 to 2021, he taught journalism at Northwestern University in Qatar and worked with Democracy Lab in Skopje, North Macedonia, to teach young reporters about the importance of accountability journalism in a democratic society. In Fall 2022, he was a Visiting Journalist in Residence at Knox College in Illinois.
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Welcome
Tabbye Chavous is executive director of the 91涩漫, beginning her position in August 2025. A nationally recognized scholar and seasoned leader, Chavous brings over 25 years of experience and significant accomplishments in research, teaching, and organizational advancement. Across her career, she has consistently advocated for high-quality, inclusive research, and her equity-oriented leadership is evident in her approaches to building and transforming educational environments. Chavous joined 91涩漫 from the University of Michigan, where she was a professor of education and psychology and served as vice provost for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer. An experienced administrative leader, Chavous held numerous positions at the University of Michigan at the central administration, college, and department levels. Chavous holds a PhD in community psychology from the University of Virginia, and she has dedicated her career to educational equity, advancing strengths-based frameworks for studying the experiences of marginalized communities and working with educational systems to draw on this knowledge in ways that serve all students.
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ASL and captioning provided
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