At the Crossroads of Reform
Educational Reform
Standards
21st cent. learnersHigh quality
Assessment for learning
History
Future needsCurrent trends
For over 20 years U.S. policymakers, educational experts, involved citizens and business leaders have been moving hurriedly toward educational reform At the outset, it started as a call for accountability and increased achievement results. Eventually the movement transformed into the ingrained idea of Standards Based education
History
Current conditions & future needs
Decades later a formidable gap exists between the ideal of standards and the actuality of achievement
Adding to the feeling of immediacy for U.S. public school reform is the concern for future needs of 21st century skills to be infused into curriculum if students are to be prepared to function in a global economy
Current Educational Research
Corroborating research and theories of motivation and assessment have reinforced the solid educational ideals of multiple assessments (which were put on hold as standardized testing took a dominant role in instructional time). Assessment as a tool for learning, not simply an audit of it is coming to the forefront of reform as a viable answer for raising achievement!
HISTORY Of
STANDARDS
Reform started well over 20 years ago…
1983 A Nation at Risk—publication by Sec. of Ed—comparing U.S. students to other competitive nations
"The educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by
a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people. . . . We have, in effect
been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament“
(National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983, p. 5).
19891st National Education Summit—
• President George H. W. Bush and the 50 state governors proposed that every U.S. Child should meet challenging academic standards by the year 2000
1994• President Clinton signed Goals 2000: Educate America Act
• The purpose was to certify national and state content and performance standards, opportunity-to-learn standards, and state assessments
• National Education Standards and Improvement Council (NESIC) was created as a result of that law.
1996 & 1999 •2nd & 3rd National Education Summits
Goals from these summits included:• Improving educator quality• assisting all students • reach high standards• strengthening accountability
requirements.
As the reform progressed, every state was developing their own
unique criteria and guidelines for standards. So it was suggested that
Standards-referenced tests with classifications such as
Developing, Mastering, and Exemplary be established as a performance norm.
(Cizek 1998)
•2000 • the revision of the federal Elementary and
Secondary Education Act (ESEA), wasre-christened the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
• The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 was signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002.
NCLB •called for extensive
implementation of state educational standards
which addressed national criteria— and was linked to federal funding.
The stated purpose of NCLB was to“Ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and
significant opportunity to obtain a high quality education”
(section 1001 NCLB Act)
…And though this is a worthy vision, the implementation
of it has caused major concerns .
STANDARDS…
…Just the thought
can send chills down a teacher’s
spine!
The implementation, which is the
“the most difficult piece of the
standards-raising puzzle”
has historically been left up to teachers.
“Teachers will not take up ideas that
sound attractive, no matter how extensive
the research base, if the ideas are presented
as general principles that leave the task
of translating them into everyday practice
entirely up to the teachers. Their classroom
lives are too busy and too fragile
for all but an outstanding few to
undertake such work.”
(Phi Delta Kappan)
In their convention resolutions, the American Federation of Teachers
published their belief statements…
“Whereas,…the AFT strongly supports standards-based reform, including appropriate testing, it is especially
outrageous that this critical reform is threatened by uninformed implementation.
The public and teachers are understandably deeply troubled that standardized tests are all too often being used inappropriately, are usurping too much instructional time,
and are crowding out recognition of other important subject areas…” (AFT 2003)
Two major issues seemed to negatively affect implementation:
1. Ignoring the power of classroom teachers while putting much of the responsibility on their shoulders.
2. Concentrating too much time and effort on the external standardized tests to relay achievement.
“A focus on standards and accountability that ignores the process of teaching and learning in classrooms will not provide the direction that
teachers need in their quest to improve.”( Phi Delta Kappan )
“Test scores need to take a back seat to more educationally significant outcomes. As long as schools treat test scores as
the major proxies for students achievement and educational quality, we will have a hard time refocusing our attention on
what really matters in education. (Preparing for today and tomorrow –Eliot Eisner)
At the beginning of the reform practices, researcher Cizek, not wanting the
‘ ideal to be the enemy of the good’, stated…
“that no tests were available to measure attainment of the ultimate aims of education—and until they are, if ever, U.S. schools must continue to assess students’ academic achievement using the best available test instruments that predict their eventual success at being responsible and productive citizens.” (Vaughan 2002)
Much criticism has been made of the standardization of learning and tests because they are too general, whereas deep learning happens through more
individual engagements.
“Learning is an ongoing process in which students actively receive, interpret, and relate information to what
they already know, understand, and have experienced. Effective assessment, in turn, promotes this process.”
(Phye, 1997a)
“Do standardizing practices fail academically diverse learners? Of course they do. Whatever practices invite us to be paint-by-
number teachers will largely fail students who do not fit the template.”
“An education approach that does not invite us to teach individuals is deeply flawed.”
(reconcilable differeneces)
Where are we headed?…The need to infuse
21st century skills into the reform
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, formed in 2002, is a combination of 27 members which include businesses like AOL Time Warner, Dell and others as well as educational
organizations—like AFT, and ISTE, among others.
This is a tall order which includes assets and skills that would be difficult to assess in a standardized test format!
They believe “that every student in this nation must be an analytical thinker, a problem solver,
innovative and creative, an effective communicator, and effective collaborator, information and media
literate, globally aware, civically engaged, and financially and economically literate.”
(NEA)
“..rigorous opportunities in the arts, foreign languages,
and social studies are uniquely positioned to
develop students’ 21st century skills and global
awareness.” (Carter—2008)
How are those skills developed?
However, many of these curricular ‘opportunities’,
have recently been diminished by the superiority of instructional and curricular
time dedicated to “teaching to the test”
• Elementary teachers reported spending
“75% of their time teaching reading and math,
leaving inadequate instructional time for other subjects.”
(2006 NCLB: Taking stock, looking forward)
“…as our curriculum becomes more sophisticated , our assessment systems must follow suit and require students to
apply their knowledge to real-world problems that test complex skills. ASCD supports the use of multiple
assessments to better measure student learning and to create a globally competitive
education system.”
(assessment and accoutnability for improving schools and learning…June 2007 Gene carter Exec. Director of ASCD Jan 08
How can current trends in assessment help us address 21st cent. mandates as well as
more effectively aid in the achievement of our learning
standards?
“The promotion of testing as an important component for
establishing a competitive market in education can be very harmful.
The more recent shifting of emphasis toward setting targets for all,
with assessment providing a touchstone to help check pupils’ attainments,
is a more mature position.”
(Phi Delta Kappan:Black)
Balancing the tension between standards and achievement
Externally imposed standardized tests
Multiple assessment strategies,
differentiated, local control
Recent research in assessment promises great results in student achievement and shifts the paradigm of standards implementation back into the classroom!
Assessments are used for learning
• A newer focus is emerging for “standards-based, locally-developed assessments” that are
comprehensive and use mulitple indicators. (june 2007 assessmet and accountability)
• We need to “look to assessment as a source of insight and help instead of an occasion for meting out rewards and punishments.”
(Lorrie Shepard)
• “There is a body of firm evidence that formative assessment is an essential component of classroom work and that its development can raise standards of achievement” (Phi Delta Kappan)
“In the past decade, some clear trends have emerged in
classroom assessment. More established traditions of focusing assessment on
‘objective’ testing at the end of instruction are being supplemented with, or in some cases replaced by, assessments during instruction…and with what are called
‘alternative’ assessments.” (McMillan 2007)
• Authentic• Performance• Portfolios• Exhibitions• Demonstrations• Journals• Other forms that are more
individualized and constructed
Ongoing assessment means
•Before •During •After
Before…During…After
Each has powerful and unique capabilities to
increase student learning…and thereby
raise the standards!
Pre-assessment:Backward design identifies what evidence is needed to document student learning in order to set that as a goal so that appropriate steps (learning targets) can be made to reach that goal!
• Set learning goals• Select appropriate teaching activities• Prepare materials
During: •Delivery and Pace•Keep student’s attention•Control behavior of students •Make adjustments in lesson plans
After:Evaluate student learning, activities and self for revisionGrade studentsMake plans to improve instruction
References for presentation
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