Karin Hess
Author of the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrices
Karin Hess, author of the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrices, is recognized internationally as a leader in developing practical approaches for using depth of knowledge, cognitive rigor, and learning progressions as the foundation for formative, interim, and performance-based assessment. Her 26 years working in schools include 15 years as a classroom teacher, and as an elementary and middle school principal and district curriculum director.
For almost 15 years at the Center for Assessment in Dover, New Hampshire, Karin distinguished herself as a curriculum and assessment expert in multiple content areas. She has effectively guided over 40 U.S. states and territories in the development of grade-level expectations and test specifications for both general education and alternate assessments for significantly cognitively disabled students. She has authored and coauthored more than a dozen books or book chapters, and numerous articles and white papers related to DOK/cognitive rigor applied to instructional practices, alignment, and assessment.
Karin has worked as the New Jersey state director of gifted education, program evaluator for the Vermont Mathematics Project, as co-developer and editor of Science Exemplars for six years, and content specialist for development of many state assessment blueprints, including the New England Common Assessments in ELA, math, and science (NECAP) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) content specifications for the Common Core State Standards in ELA and mathematics. Her varied projects enable her to understand the practical implications of her work while maintaining fidelity to research, technical quality, and established best practices. Over the years, she has also been a technical adviser to EL Education in establishing criteria for high-quality student work; Mentoring Minds; Achieve3000; the Quality Performance Assessment Project (Brown & Mednick, 2012) and the New Hampshire Learning Initiative in guiding the design of performance-based assessments and rubrics; the New Meridian (assessment) Corporation, India’s EKSAQ reading assessments, Renaissance Learning, and World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) in applying cognitive rigor and learning progressions research to their work.
Karin currently works to guide and support school districts and states in implementing competency-based learning systems and creating and analyzing the use of high-quality interim and performance-based assessments.
You can follow Karin on LinkedIn or bluesky social @Drkarinhess or on her website at https://www.karin-hess.com/blog-1
