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Tag: Portfolios

  • Assessment for Learning Vs. Assessment of Learning

    Assessment is an important component toward determining the success of curriculum, or learned curriculum. While I agree that it is horrible to witness what we see in our public school systems, a drill and kill approach toward learning, I feel that many leaders are missing the point. I wonder what would happen if states would just administer a pretest at the start of the school year to measure retention or what was learned as a result of the previous year?  Leaders could then concentrate on instructional approaches toward closing and narrowing the gaps through strong vertical and horizontal alignments and creative teaching approaches.

    Is the current system failing our students, our teachers, our parents, our future employers?

    Yes, we can probably all agree by now that the current system has failed our children. While there are many overreaching circumstances influencing the direction of the current school system, we cannot just ignore the importance of assessment. Assessment should not be treated as a four letter word among the education community. The problem is we are holding assessment as the end all be all. Our approach is currently failing students because assessments must be followed by high-quality, corrective instruction designed to remedy whatever learning errors the assessment identified (Guskey, 1997).

    assessment

    A friend and leader at a university located in north Texas framed the problem with the current situation recently. Her ideas and frustration are not unique to this area. She put it this way: “What the current high-stakes assessment system approach does in truth is ROB our children of time to process and learn so much more than they are being exposed to. If you take a good look at the curriculum, you see developmentally inappropriate curriculum tested and also lots of little stuff that in the long run is not very important or relevant. Also, we psychologically damage kids who don’t test well by sending the message they aren’t “good enough.” That is a crime. I’m not saying let them get by without learning, but start where they are and go from there, not where they “should” be”.

    Does this mean that we have no assessment?

    Of course not. Our approach toward assessment is misguided. Cobb (2011) shares that “teachers accomplish accountability with daily, authentic, practical assessments that inform instruction” (p 193). Could alternative assessment approaches better serve us? Couldn’t we capture learning via authentic tasks and products throughout the year to show improvement through an alternative approach? How could we improve our system by trusting teachers with our accountability system, not large companies? Perhaps the standardized test could only serve as a guide at the start of the year with the teacher mapping out an instructional program and assessment plan using alternative approaches. Some ideas can be found below:

    https://ctl.yale.edu/Formative-Summative-Assessments

    https://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/rethinking-literacy-and-all-assessment/ 
    Guskey, T. R. (1997). Implementing mastery learning (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

    Cobb (2011) Reading Assessment: Looking Backward, Living in the Present Climate of Accountability, Crafting a Vision for the Future In J.B. Cobb, & M. K. Kallus (Eds.), Historical, Theoretical, and Sociological Foundations of Reading in the United States (pp. 552-580). Boston, MA: Pearson/

  • Are We Leveraging Technologies To Maximize Learning Outcomes?

    After reading materials for this course and attending TCEA Area 10 and 11 conference this week, I am convinced now more than ever that it is necessary to reevaluate the role of technology to facilitate appropriate instructional delivery. The strong and positive teacher/student relationship is still the most important contributor to learning. Lateral learning technologies often lack meaningful experiences, but do serve as a means to replace weak teacher. Technologies may transfer information, but often the transfer of information does not equate to an improved learning experience.

    Students in tomorrow’s world must become problem solvers, critical thinkers, and global contributors. In a world that is full of information, our schools need teachers who understand how to leverage technologies to increase communication and conversation on meaningful core subject content and its relevance to “real world” problems. Possible solutions and problem solving parameters should be debated and alternative formal evaluation techniques should be implemented. Learning technologies can be utilized to measure alternative formal assessment under the guidelines of NCLB, but states continue to utilize a standardized approach.

    With the availability of Project Share in Texas, instructors in this area have an opportunity to utilize student portfolios and provide an alternative formal assessment to show yearly progress over time. How could we facilitate this approach? With the recent debate in the state of Texas surrounding STAAR, Texas’s new formal standardized testing system, it might be time to ask how Texas could leverage its technology resources to show adequate yearly progress for grades 3-12 using learning technologies available within Project Share. The portfolio piece may be a way to provide meaningful contributions to formal assessments.

    TCEA Area 10 and 11 conference started with Carl Hooker challenging the audience to give students a voice and choice. Carl also proposed for instructional leaders to consider the physical environment and shared how Google uses physical space to engage employees, which improves productivity. How can we recreate our physical classroom and building space so that the environment is engaging and fun? How can we give students a museum experience? Why is this important?

    Communication channels are everything. Consider how your environment and communications have changed. How do we create an environment to promote curiosity? Audiences for communication have changed due to technology improvements.  In fact, Texas is very lucky to have a systemized state communication channel connecting all districts through Project Share.

    My largest take away from Carl’s keynote was the very moving video created by his students. Carl’s example of giving students a voice and choice was very moving and educators need to focus more on how students are allowed to communicate. Texas should leverage its resources to allow for more collaboration amongst students across Texas, the nation, and the planet.