Assessment Developer

Job Description

The assessment developer (AD) is responsible for the development and maintenance of Western Governors University's (WGU) objective and performance-based assessments. An AD facilitates design and development workshops using industry best practices to ensure assessment validity and reliability. The individual combines strategic and creative thinking with efficient, time-sensitive execution to drive the creation of assessments and mitigate risks.

The ideal candidate for this role will have strong interpersonal communication skills, possessing the ability to give and receive feedback and collaborate effectively with multiple stakeholders. Additionally, they will exhibit the ability to turn complex concepts into assessable questions. We are looking for individuals with strong attention to detail, who are comfortable working through ambiguous situations, catching biases and errors in items as well as demonstrating strong critical thinking skills and the ability to evaluate whether questions measure the intended competency. Experience with Competency Based Education is highly preferred for this role.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Manages the design and development process for both objective and performance assessments, including milestones and timelines, and tracks progress.
• Communicates project status updates to cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
• Works with cross-functional teams to ensure projects have appropriate resources and realistic timelines and to solve any content-related issues regarding the assessments.
• Organizes and facilitates workshops for internal assessment development and review.
• Oversees subject matter expert involvement in the design, development, and review processes, as well as in the validation of an assessment's congruency and accuracy.
• Maintains assessment design and development standards to ensure assessment integrity.
• Identifies and mitigates risks that may impact the quality or on-time delivery of assessments.
• Collaborates with the assessment team to define and execute assessment policies, processes, and best practices.
• Ensures alignment and consistency of assessments to WGU's business objectives.
• Develops and implements item- and exam-level scoring guidelines and validates the successful implementation of these guidelines.
• Oversees assessment QA processes, identifying and resolving issues and trends, as required.
• Maintains knowledge of exam performance and makes necessary quality improvement adjustments throughout the exam lifecycle.
• Participates in cross-functional team to implement exam security measures.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.