Jerry Mussio is President of Mussio Associates, a firm based in Victoria, British Columbia (B.C.). Over the past two decades, he has advised Canadian and international ministries of education, as well as other organizations, on curriculum, student assessment, K–12 outcome indicators, and education policy.

Jerry studied at UCLA and Gonzaga University where he earned a BSc in mathematics. He then obtained a teaching diploma from Simon Fraser University and taught mathematics and science in B.C. secondary schools. He later completed an MA in computer applications in education and a PhD in educational measurement at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. His dissertation focused on developing a statistical model for estimating student achievement using tailored testing, which later became known as computer-adaptive testing.

Following an appointment as a visiting lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria, Jerry joined the B.C. Ministry of Education in 1973, shortly after a new government had cancelled all provincial standardized achievement tests, IQ tests and Grade 12 examinations. His first task was to lead the design of a new provincial testing program, which became known as the Provincial Learning Assessment Program (PLAP). Rather than reporting individual test scores, its purpose was to monitor system performance and support program evaluation; the new program sampled student achievement at Grades 4, 8, and 12. He later managed curriculum change, the return of Grade 12 provincial examinations, and the introduction of new high school graduation requirements. In 1988, under the direction of the deputy minister, he led an internal policy team that coordinated the Ministry’s response to the Sullivan Royal Commission on Education. Government subsequently adopted new legislation and a series of policy changes that reshaped the K–12 system.

After 16 years at the Ministry, he was appointed the founding director of the Education Technology Centre of British Columbia, established in partnership with Apple Computer, the University of Victoria, and BC Tel. Working with education leaders across the province, the Centre helped connect all B.C. school districts to the emerging Internet, supported teachers in using computers to enhance student learning, and collaborated with a First Nations community to create a visual dictionary of their language on video disc, then a leading-edge technology.

After three years in this role, Jerry returned to the Ministry of Education, where he oversaw development of the 1994 K–12 Plan that provided the blueprint for modernizing the K–12 curriculum and system accountability. He was then asked to lead the design of the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), introduced in 2000, that provided test results for all students in Grades 4 and 7. This census approach responded to parent demands for access to provincial test results for their children, which is a shift from earlier assessment programs that sampled student achievement for program evaluation.

During that period, he was appointed by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) to represent Canada at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), advising on international education outcome indicators and design of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). He was later seconded to Statistics Canada, where he contributed to education indicator development for Canada and continued his advisory work with the OECD on PISA and other international indicators.

Jerry founded Mussio Associates in 2004. Over the past two decades, he has collaborated with other consultants and local specialists to provide services in Canada and internationally, including in Argentina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Jordan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and the Russian Federation. Most recently, he contributed to a comparative study of high-performing K–12 jurisdictions, led by the Australian Council for Educational Research and the National Center on Education and the Economy in the United States. The study, published in 2023, examined school systems in British Columbia, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong, and South Korea.

Among his current interests, Jerry highlights the lack of coherence in B.C.’s K–12 education system. He notes that while the system’s mission focuses on student learning, the School Act, the legislation which governs the province’s public school system, centers primarily on the administration of schools and school districts, rather than student learning.

Regarding online large-scale assessments in Canada, Jerry observes that all jurisdictions that have recently modernized their assessment programs use the Vretta platform, though he acknowledges limited detailed knowledge of its operations. Looking ahead, he emphasizes the need to develop measures of social and emotional development in youth to complement indicators of literacy and numeracy. He stresses the importance of collaboration with health and family agencies to track whole-child development.

Jerry is a native of Trail, British Columbia. He is married with two grown children and continues to enjoy playing hockey, a passion since childhood. He and his wife, Sherry, manage a vineyard and a small flock of sheep on the outskirts of Victoria.