About Us
Who We Are
Barry Topol
Barry Topol is a strategic and operationally oriented Financial Executive with over 25 years of executive level experience. He is currently Managing Partner of Assessment Solutions Group (ASG), a firm providing assessment cost, management and state accountability systems analysis and consulting to states, universities and other non-profit institutions.
Since forming ASG in 2009, Topol and ASG have worked with a number of different states and assessment consortia to assist them in designing their assessment and accountability systems to be more effective and efficient, written RFPs for assessment services and evaluated vendor RFP submissions. Additionally the firm has worked with universities, foundations and other non-profits on a variety of research based studies and analyses. Of particular note, Topol designed ASG’s Assessment Cost Model, the only model in the industry that can be used to determine the appropriate price for any assessment.
Topol and ASG colleagues Ed Roeber and John Olson authored a ground breaking paper in 2010, “The Cost of New, Higher Quality Assessments: A Comprehensive Review of the Potential Costs for Future State Assessments.” The paper has become a foundation in the assessment industry for delivery methodologies and strategies necessary in developing and administering affordable, high quality assessments. Topol/ASG’s expertise in assessment and accountability systems design, as well as its Assessment Cost Model were key factors in SBAC, PARCC, WIDA and NCSC using ASG to help design and price their proposed assessment systems under the Race to the Top Assessment grant competition. Since that time, Topol and ASG have assisted several states, foundations, non-profits and others in the areas of assessment design and costing, various research and analysis projects and other technical studies.
Topol has presented at congressional staffer briefings, industry working meetings, state board of education meetings, local government meetings and state consortia governing board meetings. He has worked with Universities, non-profits, foundations and others on the subject of assessment/accountability systems design and costing. Topol has consulted with numerous industry players on the future of the assessment industry, the role of technology in assessment delivery and assessment industry strategy development. He has developed excellent relationships throughout the industry and currently surveys roughly 40 states on various assessment and accountability system features, costs and practices. He has also worked with several school districts and collected assessment and accountability information from them as well.
Topol has worked as a Chief Financial Officer for several major corporations and small companies and as an independent consultant. From 2005-2008 he was CFO for a major educational publishing company where he led a major financial turnaround and was part of the senior management team that ultimately revamped, revitalized and sold a company that previously had been on life support. His expertise includes activity based costing, turnaround situations, detailed financial and operational analysis, strategic planning and leadership and team-building.
Topol is adept at working with existing teams to upgrade performance and generate detailed financial and operational analyses used to improve performance. He has developed numerous cost models for educational assessments and has experience negotiating new pricing frameworks for assessment services. He is a skilled negotiator and communicator, working effectively with management, vendors and other constituents on behalf of the represented entity.
Mr. Topol has an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA where he was an Edward W. Carter Fellow and the Charles Offer Foundation Fellow. He also has a BA in Economics from UCLA where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his CPA license in 1989.
Barry Topol, CPA
John Olson, PhD
Dr. John Olson is a co-founder of ASG and serves as senior consultant. He has more than 30 years of experience providing technical assistance and support to state departments of education, the U.S. Department of Education, Ministries of Education in other countries, testing companies, researchers, and others. Dr. Olson serves as a technical advisor, researcher, and consultant on a variety of measurement and statistical issues for international, national, state, and local assessment programs, and has assisted many states with their RFPs and reviews of proposals. He has been serving as a USED Peer Reviewer since 2017.
In addition, he has helped states with their submissions to the USED for NCLB peer reviews and written technical reports for them that provide evidence on the quality of their assessment program. His expertise in the areas of large-scale assessment, psychometrics and measurement issues, test design and development, program management and operations, and NCLB is of much value to states and other customers.
From 2003 to 2006, Dr. Olson served as Vice President for Psychometrics and Research Services at Harcourt Assessment. In this role, he oversaw all psychometric analysis and test design architecture for state and district assessment programs, and directed research to improve applied practices in psychometrics. His responsibilities included maintaining strong ties to state departments of education; actively participating in international, national, state, and regional forums on large-scale assessment issues; and working closely with proposal developers and assessment architects to insure that bids addressed state-specified needs with innovative and cost-effective solutions.
From 1998 to 2003, Dr. Olson was Director of Assessment for the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), based in Washington, D.C., where he worked with state leaders on an assortment of educational assessment projects, including the development of assessment and accountability systems that addressed requirements of the ESEA. He directed the State Collaboratives on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS) projects, which provided many valuable resources and much support to states, and the Annual Survey of State Student Assessment Programs, the most comprehensive study of state assessment systems in the country.
Prior to that, Dr. Olson held a number of key positions at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). As Deputy Director of the Center for Education Assessment, he managed the Voluntary National Tests program and oversaw the operational work of all the testing subcontractors. He also directed projects to review content standards and develop assessment frameworks and test specifications for states. In addition, as an AIR Senior Research Scientist working with the Education Statistics Services Institute he directed a national project on appropriate approaches for the use of test accommodations with English language learners and students with disabilities in large-scale assessments, with a particular focus on state assessments and NAEP.
From 1985 to 1995, Dr. Olson held several increasingly important positions at Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, NJ, including Director of Operations, Director of State Services, and Director of Technical Assistance for NAEP. He also served as Project Director for the Puerto Rico Assessment of Educational Progress, the first ever Spanish-language version of the NAEP.
Over the past two decades, Dr. Olson has directed an impressive variety of research and development projects and has overseen the creation of a wide range of useful products and resources for assessment professionals, as well as playing a lead role in developing an extensive series of assessment and technical reports. He has published numerous articles on assessment programs, TIMSS, NAEP, and psychometric research, and is a sought-after conference speaker.
John Olson, PhD
Edward Roeber, PhD
Edward Roeber currently serves as a consultant in educational assessment to various organizations for a variety of reasons. These include:
- Assessment Solutions Group – Provide assessment design, technical and consulting services to state departments of education, assessment consortia and other educational institutions. Work with assessment vendors and others on issues of strategy, process improvement and general industry trends.
- Michigan Assessment Consortium – Provide direction to the assessment component of the Michigan Arts Education Instruction and Assessment program, as well as directing the MAC’s research program on the implementation of the formative assessment process by Michigan educators. He also directs the MAC committee to define and improve the assessment literacy of student, teachers, administrators, and policymakers.
Previously, Dr. Roeber served as an advisor to the WIDA Consortium/WCER, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI on improving English proficiency assessments, improving the inclusion of English language learners in academic assessment programs, and assuring that ELLs are included in educational reform efforts at the state and national levels.
Before these activities began, Dr. Roeber was an adjunct Professor, Measurement and Quantitative Methods, in the Michigan State University College of Education, East Lansing, MI from 2007 to 2012. In this capacity, he taught courses on educational measurement, worked to improve the assessment skills of prospective and current educators, conducted research on how teachers learn to use formative assessment strategies, and provided additional support for faculty and students on assessment.
Previously, he was Senior Executive Director, Office of Educational Assessment & Accountability in the Michigan Department of Education from 2003 to 2007. He oversaw the assessments of general education students (in mathematics, science, language arts and social studies), students with disabilities and English language learners, as well as the accreditation and accountability programs.
From 1998 to 2003, he was Vice President, External Relations for Measured Progress, a non-profit educational assessment organization located in Dover, New Hampshire. He worked with state policy leaders and staff of state and local education agencies to help design, develop, and implement quality assessment programs. He directed the company’s efforts to develop alternate assessments for students with significant disabilities for thirteen state clients. He also helped to develop high school fine arts assessments in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts for the state of New York.
From 1991 to 1998, he was Director, Student Assessment Programs for the Council of Chief State School Officers. He began the State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS), developing and implementing various collaborative assessment development activities among states. Examples included consortia in assessing special education students, assessment systems for Title I, and arts assessment, as well as full-scale, multi-state collaborative development projects in health education, science education, and social studies. He also directed or co-directed the CCSSO National Conference on Student Assessment from 1992 to 1998, and served on the conference planning committee from 1978 through 2010.
Prior to joining CCSSO in 1991, he was supervisor of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program, Michigan Department of Education, Lansing, Michigan (from 1976 to 1991) and a consultant in the Department from 1972-76. Michigan was the first state to implement criterion-referenced tests.
He began his career as a consultant with the Education Commission of the States, working on the National Assessment of Educational Progress in the areas of mathematics, music, reading, science, visual arts, and writing from 1969 to 1972.
Edward Roeber received his Ph.D. in measurement and evaluation from The University of Michigan in 1970. He has consulted with a number of states as well as national organizations on the design, development, and implementation of large-scale assessment programs. He has authored numerous articles, reports, and other publications, particularly on the development of innovative assessment programs and the use and reporting of student achievement information. In addition, he has made numerous presentations to various groups around the country.
Edward Roeber, PhD
Jeffrey Nellhaus, Ed. M.
Jeff Nellhaus joined the Assessment Solutions Group after serving as Chief of Assessment for Parcc, Inc., the project management partner for the PARCC Consortium. PARCC, which stands for the Partnership for Readiness for College and Careers, is a consortium of states dedicated to building common, cutting-edge student assessments designed to promote effective teaching and learning and support state accountability systems.
ublic high school in Vermont and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in India.
PARCC
Jeff’s most notable accomplishment for PARCC was to lead multiple efforts to refine the design of the assessments to reduce testing time and cost without compromising the validity and reliability of the tests. The PARCC tests are currently the only state assessments in the country to have received full approval by the USED Peer Review Process. Moreover, as part of the leadership team at Parcc Inc., Jeff played a significant role in briefing the PARCC Governing Board, comprised of member states’ Chief State School Officers, on a range of technical and policy issues.
Jeff also established a flexible licensing process to make PARCC’s high quality content accessible to any state. For that program, Jeff devised a cost-effective pricing structure, processes to ensure the timely and secure transfer of content, and criteria for establishing comparability to PARCC results.
MCAS
Jeff earned his stripes in the area of assessment at the Massachusetts Department of Education, where he led the development of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), one of the nation’s most highly regarded and longest standing student assessment program.
For his work on MCAS, Jeff was awarded the Manuel Carballo Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Service. He also received a Friend of Education Award from the Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators Association in the same year that passing MCAS high school tests became a criterion for high school graduation. This was an unexpected award given the controversy surrounding the state mandate.
NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress)
Jeff spent several years as a member of the NAEP Validity Studies Panel (NVS) and the Technical Advisory Committee for Standard Setting. While on the NVS, Jeff contributed to the design of a range of studies on topics such as test and content alignment, curriculum sensitivity, and standards validation. While on the TAC for Standard Setting, Jeff contributed to a document defending the validity of NAEP’s achievement levels, which now serve as the “gold standard” against which states compare the rigor of their own standards.
State Assessment Technical Advisory Committees
Jeff has served on the Technical Advisory Committees for Maine, Kentucky, and the New England Comprehensive Assessment Program (NECAP), and is currently on the TAC for the New Hampshire Statewide Assessment System. He is also providing technical assistance on behalf of the Chief State School Officers to states interested in developing innovative approaches to their statewide assessments.
Education
Jeff holds an Ed.M. in Administration, Policy, and Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Education; an M.S.T. (Master’s in Science Teaching) from the Antioch Graduate School of Education; and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts.
Jeffrey Nellhaus, Ed. M.
Wayne Ostler
Wayne Ostler is a seasoned technology specialist known for leading large scale software development projects effectively and efficiently. Wayne is very skilled at analyzing business requirements and transforming them into an effective strategy for technology implementation. Wayne is able to clearly communicate complex technology strategies and solutions to business executives and customers.
Wayne worked at Pearson from 1994-2018 where his most recent position was Vice President, Content Systems and Publishing Services. In this role he headed a global organization of 140 full-time and contract software engineers, web publishers and quality support staff. In this position he was responsible for research and development activities for next generation online digital assessment content management systems and led digital content publishing activities in support of paper and online test delivery systems.
Prior to that, Wayne was Vice President, Product Development where he directed all software product development activities for Pearson’s flagship assessment platforms including Pearson Access and TestNav. He was responsible for all research and development activities, technology innovations and customer deployments associated with these solutions.
Prior to joining Pearson, Wayne worked at Texas Instruments from 1981-1994 where he started as a software engineer in the defense systems group. During his tenure at Texas Instruments, Wayne advanced into several leadership and architecture roles.
Wayne received his Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Wayne Ostler
Patrick Hennon is a strategy oriented financial leader with more than 15 years experience. He has held key finance positions for several major corporations ranging in size from $600 million in revenue to more than $20 billion in revenue. From 2006-2008, he served in a senior finance position for an educational publishing/assessment company. His expertise includes detailed financial and operational analysis, process redesign and deployment, pricing strategy and strategic planning. He has developed several cost models to support the educational assessment business and has experience in streamlining processes to help maximize quality while minimizing cost. He is well versed in the educational assessment model and has significant knowledge on the cost structure and operational requirements needed to deliver a successful assessment.