Assessment
Digital Media & Learning Competition Leverages Open Badges
A new game-based strategy called Digital Media and Learning Competition, hosted by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, HASTAC, and Mozilla, plans to leverage badges and badge systems to help people learn and demonstrate skills and knowledge.
SMARTER Reading & Writing?
Fordham's Kathleen Porter-Magee criticized the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium reading assessment strategy
SMARTER Specs Suggest Complex Tests
SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) published its "content maps and specification" in English/language arts. They suggest complex tests that include adaptive assessment and demonstrations of learning.
Recapping a Dozen Don’t Miss Op-Eds
Here’s a baker’s dozen August Op-Eds you may have missed. Leadership 1. The Art of Balancing Execution & Innovation: principals and systems heads need to help their community of learners balance process improvement strategies with new approaches to learning. 2. Done Reforming; Focusing on Getting Smart: five things that…
Assessment as Portfolio of Personal Bests
In the most interesting comment of the day, Coleman said, “I like to think of assessment as a series of personal bests.”
No excuse for sucky items
This country is stuck in a psychometric box based on a history of data poverty. Cisco's John Behrens developed an assessment system that is rigorous, scalable, and available on demand. K-12 should take note.
The Cost-Comparability Conundrum
We’re stuck and $365 million may not help. The United States places an unusual degree of importance on the reliability of yearend standardized tests. These tests have been around for 15 years and, because we have so little performance data, we try to use them for a variety of purposes. …
SETDA Outlines State of Online Assessment
The State EdTech Directors issued a white paper outlining the current state of online assessment. The report makes 9 recommendations about moving forward.
More on Assessment: Revolution not Evolution
A state testing director said “We need assessment revolution not evolution" but he and his colleagues are in a tough box. It will take leadership and support to launch better assessment systems.
More On Assessment
I don't want one big cheap end of year test used for more than it should be. I don't want it to lock in the teacher-centric age cohort model for another decade. I don't want simple assessments, I want complex performance based assessments.