Tel: 916.492.4080
Fax: 916.492.4004
ecrane@wested.org
Mailing Address:
1000 G Street, Suite 500
Sacramento, California
95814-0892

Eric Crane
Senior Research Associate
Related Projects
Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA)
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
Resource Involvement
Comparing Achievement Trends in Reading and Math Across Arizona Public School Student Subgroups
Setting Coherent Performance Standards
Achievement Trends of Schools and Students in Arizona's Title I School Improvement Program
Building an Interim Assessment System: A Workbook for School Districts
Characteristics of California School Districts in Program Improvement: 2008 Update
Characteristics of California School Districts in Program Improvement
Characteristics of Arizona School Districts in Improvement
California's Charter Schools: Measuring Their Performance
Locally Tailored Accountability: Building on Your State System in the Era of NCLB
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A Senior Research Associate with the Regional Educational Laboratory West (REL West) and Innovation Studies programs at WestEd, Crane leads and contributes to assessment and accountability research, development, evaluation, and consulting/technical assistance projects.
Crane focuses on building effective common formative assessment practices, public school accountability, statewide and district data systems, survey and test design, applied statistics and psychometrics, and program evaluation.
As part of his work with the Assessment and Standards Development Services, Crane directed WestEd's item development for the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA).
Crane also serves on WestEd's Project Management Partner (PMP) Team for the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium as the PMP Liaison to the Reporting Work Group and Assessment Design: Test Administration Work Group.
Crane leads REL West's investigation of the region's districts in the Title I Local Educational Agency (LEA) Improvement program. This study informs the region's decision-makers about characteristics of districts in LEA Improvement and how such districts differ from those not in the program.
Crane coauthored three annual reports on the performance of California's charter schools:
- California’s Charter Schools: 2009 Update on Issues and Performance
- California's Charter Schools: 2008 Performance Update
- California's Charter Schools: Measuring Their Performance
Published by EdSource, these reports describe current issues and academic performance trends in the state's charter schools. Crane and fellow researchers analyzed statewide test data using a research method that made it possible to compare groups of schools that serve somewhat different students.
He also coauthored a national analysis of academic standards coherency, Setting Coherent Performance Standards. Published by CCSSO in 2006, the report describes the conditions contributing to a lack of coherence, the existing and evolving state practices for setting standards and using data, and developing performance-level descriptors for academic standards.
In 2009-10, Crane co-directed WestEd's statewide survey effort for the Rhode Island Department of Education's SurveyWorks! program.
Prior to joining WestEd, Crane managed the Research and Analysis Unit at the California Department of Education, where he provided technical and policy support during two different cycles of accountability systems in California. He conducted and oversaw simulation studies and sensitivity analyses on the Academic Performance Index (API), which California uses to summarize public school performance. When California melded its API-based system with No Child Left Behind accountability, Crane led studies that examined the likely impacts of various policy alternatives.
He has worked also as a private consultant on projects focused on test equating studies, program evaluations, and large-scale data analyses.
In November 2009, Crane was elected to the Board of Directors of the California Educational Research Association and currently serves as the Association's president (through November 2012). He also serves on the Board of Directors of Congregation Bet Haverim in Davis, CA.
Crane received an AB in economics from Princeton University and MA degrees in statistics and quantitative methods in education from the University of California, Berkeley. He completed PhD coursework and the PhD qualification examination in quantitative methods in education from the University of California, Berkeley.


