Assessment
Staff Picks: Longer School Days, Steve Jobs, & Assessment
This week, Karen picked an article about long school days, Caroline honored Steve Jobs with an article pick and Sarah highlighted an inspiring article by Wesley Fryer. Tom picked assessment as the hot topic of the week.
Good Assessment Key to Strong Accountability
Some #EdReform, #EdEquality, and #EdPolicy colleagues thought my blog Assessment Will Advance When it Moves Into the Background suggested that I didn’t support the idea of summative assessments and their associated use in school accountability systems. This section may have begged the question: We’ll need to invent our way out of…
States Need to Plan the Shift & Close the Divide
Bob Wise, DLNCo-Chair Over the last ten weeks this blog and video series has featured the Digital Learning Now state policy framework. Co-chair Gov. Bob Wise explains in the final video the importance of infrastructure to deliver on the promise of digital learning. Element #10…
Assessment Will Advance When It Moves Into the Background
Digital Learning Now is a framework for state education policy for the digital age. Key to quality is Element #8, Assessment and Accountability. On assessment, DLN suggests that states should administer testing online: Administering tests digitally has multiple benefits. Tests can be administered and scored quickly and…
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.