President, EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH IN ACTION, Underhill, VT
Providing educators with research-based models for effective instruction and assessment, moving students towards greater engagement and deeper learning.
Karin Hess, EdD., author of the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix (2009), is recognized internationally as a leader in developing practical approaches for using DOK and learning progressions as the foundation for curriculum and formative and performance-based assessments at all levels of assessment systems.
For almost 15 years at the Center for Assessment, Dr. Hess distinguished herself as a content, assessment design, and alignment expert in multiple content areas, K-12 (e.g., Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium/SBAC) and alternate assessments for students with significant cognitive disabilities. She contributed to Maine’s early thinking about how to structure requirements for graduation exhibitions and Rhode Island's Proficiency-Based Graduation/PBGR system, led NH's development of model academic competencies and the BEST work study practices scoring rubrics, and currently provides in-depth guidance in many states and schools in the development and use of performance assessments in competency-based educational systems.
Karin has been a technical advisor for EL Education’s development of criteria for high-quality student work, Renaissance Learning’s application of learning progressions, the WIDA consortium revisions to the ELD Standards Framework (2020 Edition), and to numerous testing companies and state departments of education across the US.
Dr. Hess’s experiences as a state director of gifted education in New Jersey and as a K-12 curriculum director, building principal, and classroom teacher for 15 years enable her to understand the practical implications of her work while maintaining fidelity to research, technical quality, and established best practices. Her most recent publications include authoring a chapter in the second edition of best-selling book, Fundamentals of Literacy Instruction and Assessment, Pre-K–6, (Hougen & Smartt, Eds., 2020); co-developer of Benchmark Education’s Ready to Advance Curriculum for Pre-K (2019); author of A Local Assessment Toolkit to Promote Deeper Learning: Transforming Research into Practice (2018); co-author of Deeper Competency-Based Learning (2020); her best-selling book, Rigor by Design, Not Chance: Deeper Thinking Through Actionable Instruction and Assessment (2023); co-author of Elevating Competency-Based Learning in a PLC Work: Actionable Assessment, Defensible Evidence, Equitable Grading (2025); and author of Applying Depth of Knowledge and Cognitive Rigor: An Educator's Guide To Supporting Deeper Learning (2025).
