Sound measurement begins with construct conceptualizations
based on strong theoretical foundations (Wilson, 2005; Wolfe &
Smith, 2007). Organizations addressing complex social problems
can extend this best practice of sound measurement to the
development of common measurement systems. Thoonen, Sleegers,
Oort, et al. (2011) assert, ‘‘To describe and understand the
nature of organizational changes, scholarship requires both
dynamic theories of organizational processes and sociocultural
interactions and dynamic methods that can model changes in an
organization’s capacities and growth’’ (p. 522). These requirements
emphasize the need for theory development and a measurement
system that enables evaluators, researchers, and practitioners to
measure the influence of changes made in one part of the complex
education system to other related areas of the same system.
Following this line of reasoning, the first stage in the development
process for common measurement systems should be a conceptualization
stage that involves an iterative cycle of theory
development and construct definition. This paper describes an
example of a common measurement system development project
by describing both the process and the results of the conceptualization
stage.