The Gates Foundation is developing national education standards and tests because the state-by-state standards have caused a “‘testing crisis in this country,’ in which tests are losing credibility among teachers, who see them as so low-quality that they are useless.” No kidding.
The truth is, that’s exactly right, but not for the right reason. They think the tests should predict college completion. But who needs a test for that? What we need are tests that require kids to solve real problems, and provide immediate feedback to both teacher and student.
The Forum for Education and Democracy held a briefing on performance assessments recently, In case you missed it, and they published a video of the event, which opens with Linda Darling-Hammond talking about how performance assessments are used in high-achieving school systems.
One of Darling-Hammond’s slides listed what she called the “changing expectations for learning”:
- ability to communicate;
- adaptability to change;
- preparedness to solve problems;
- ability to analyze and conceptualize;
- ability to reflect on and improve performance;
- ability to manage oneself;
- ability to create, innovate, and criticize;
- ability to engage in learning new things at all times;
- ability to cross specialist borders;
NONE of these expectations are addressed in any NCLB reform proposals, or its simplistic testing regime. If we’d have used an NCLB-style approach to the Apollo moon mission, President Kennedy would have simply ordered NASA to fly conventional airplanes higher and higher until they fell out of the sky, and then blamed the pilots for lacking the will and the know-how to get the job done.
Darling-Hammond and the other speakers in the forum described a performance based approach to testing that uses teacher-scored formative assessements that would influence both teaching and learning, and which is already operative in various places inside and outside the US.
They linked to a related paper by Darling-Hammond and George Wood, Assessment for the 21st Century (pdf). The bibliography of this paper contains a reference to a Kappan article, Inside the Black Box, which turns out to be highly coincidental with Tom Hoffman’s Black Box Assessment, and Claus von Zastrow’s A Test for the 21st Century posts, yesterday. Both Claus and Tom advocate for high quality assessments that offer quality feedback to teachers and students, parents, and policy makers.
It would not be easy or inexpensive. Another Kappan piece, From Formative Assessment to Assessment FOR Learning, details some of the challenges and promises that we could anticipate in moving toward system-wide formative assessment policy.
The principle behind assessment for learning is nothing new. 100 years ago, in a really fine series of Talks to Teachers, William James spoke about the Necessity of Reactions:
No reception without reaction, no impression without correlative expression,—this is the great maxim which the teacher ought never to forget.
An impression which simply flows in at the pupil’s eyes or ears, and in no way modifies his active life, is an impression gone to waste. It is physiologically incomplete. It leaves no fruits behind it in the way of capacity acquired. Even as mere impression, it fails to produce its proper effect upon the memory; for, to remain fully among the acquisitions of this latter faculty, it must be wrought into the whole cycle of our operations. Its motor consequences are what clinch it.
Classrooms at every level should be more like kindergarten.
14 Comments
This might be of interest:
> On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 12:34 PM, Ian Lynch wrote:
> > Just back from Malaysia. They have an odf Olympiad for kids in addition
> > to other strategies to move the entire public sector to open systems.
> >
> > I have blogged it here for anyone interested in some more details.
> >
> > http://www.theingots.org/community/node/6100
> > –
> > Ian
> > Ofqual Accredited IT Qualifications
> > A new approach to assessment for learning
> > http://www.theINGOTs.org – 01827 305940
The Silver Ingots competencies are written around projects and contributions to
the community around the student. They are being used as a model of learning desktop tools in the UK.
model *for* learning sorry j
Right on Doug!
Michaele
AGAIN you have written a gem! I’ve been trying to get inspired to write something more substantial lately … it’s been hard … time-wise and idea-wise … maybe this will help! Thanks.
Looking for Billy Collins poems for my students stumbled on your blog, read through some entries, connected to Alfie Kohn’s site and had a great time. So who are you, anyway, besides Doug from the government?
Darling-Hammond was good stuff. Suggest checking out digital ethnographer Michael Wesch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o for other notions about how kids need to learn and to what purpose.
This is the single best line I’ve read regarding NCLB…and I feel as if I’ve read a few…
“If we’d have used an NCLB-style approach to the Apollo moon mission, President Kennedy would have simply ordered NASA to fly conventional airplanes higher and higher until they fell out of the sky, and then blamed the pilots for lacking the will and the know-how to get the job done.”
Indeed, if those pilots would just fly the plane harder they will get there. Regardless if have a vehicle that is built for that kind of travel. Great analogy, thanks, though at least in your scenario the goal is still the moon.
The current NCLB goals don’t aim for the moon. We don’t need a nation of students that know a collection of skills and facts. We need a nation of thinkers that can use skills and facts to solve problems.
I am now updating another test for my students.
I will spend two periods reviewing and assessing the unit. (“Unit” is a funny word in this context.)
I know ahead of time who will do well and why, and who will not and why. I pay attention in class. Most of us do. And most of us can tell who grasps the material.
The problem is deeper than that, though, since grasping the material shouldn’t be the (major) point. I need a way to measure process in a way that satisfies administration, the government, the local citizenry, and, of course, me.
I’m going to lift your quote re: the Apollo mission. It will end up in yet another teacher lounge tomorrow, and I’m going to wrap a blogpost around it sooner or later.
Or maybe your quote will be the post.
Thanks for your continued reports from the borderland.
Michael, talking more about measuring process, as you suggest, would be good exercise for all of us. Mostly, I think we should have tests from which we can all learn something. But we don’t, of course. What other group of people spend their days asking questions they already know the answers to?
Hey Doug…
I just stumbled upon your blog. This piece really hit home for direction we are trying to go as a building. I like your stuff, and I will certainly be back again. Keep up the good work!
Sean
I’m a private school teacher making the transition to public school and soon to be faced with the reality of high-stakes testing. I found your post rich with great resources on testing and assessment to follow up on (Darling-Hammond, Kappan, Hoffman, von Zastrow). Thanks!
This is good stuff. The Australian Curriculum Corporation has been producing material on formative assessment, based on Inside the black Box. The site is http://cms.curriculum.edu.au/assessment/
Also the Victorian Dept of education has been working with teachers on summative and formative assessment whihas been catergorised as Assessment of learning (summative), assessment for learning and assessment as learning (formative).
Assessment for improved student learning and deep understanding requires a range of assessment practices to be used with three overarching purposes:
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/assessment/preptoyear10/assessadvice/default.htm
Assessment FOR learning – occurs when teachers use inferences about student progress to inform their teaching.
Assessment AS learning – occurs when students reflect on and monitor their progress to inform their future learning goals.
Assessment OF learning – occurs when teachers use evidence of student learning to make judgements on student achievement against goals and standards.
Cheers, Sam
Thanks, Sam, for the links to the additional information. I haven’t had time to do much more than glance through it, but it looks promising.
It’s a nice quote, but a flawed analogy. Unlike the premise of NCLB, the Apollo moon mission wasn’t designed to have everyone be able to reach the moon – only a special few (which actually could be much more analogous to our education process before NCLB). Also our scientifically research based process in place by that time had shown that we should, and indeed already were, using rockets to accomplish this feat, not conventional airplanes.
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