Assessment Thoughts

Teachers think about assessment all the time, as in, “OMG, I have to grade the essays—arrugghh!” But the question of what to assess, or the bigger one of IF to assess at all, is not often part of the larger school-wide conversation. Frankly, there isn’t time….

Maybe it’s because there’s too much homework to grade (and if that’s the case, then read Alfie Kohn’s diatribe on homework, although I generally don’t agree with his extreme views). After all, homework is assessment. Why do we assign homework and what do we hope to LEARN from it? Maybe we’re stressed because the big state test in June is on the horizon (in October). If so, then causes of our stress really beg to be discussed. Which we can then extend to asking, why assess?
Alfie Kohn

Assessment should tell us what we need to know about what they know and what they don’t know. If we want to measure understanding, which is deep knowing, then we need tasks are equal to the knowledge and that are useful as part of the learning process. The converse is the problem: 1) we have tasks that are not useful (either in their design or their timeliness) (yes, I do love you my English teacher friends, but after a month that essay’s return has little impact on learning…) or 2) they do not show what should be known and what is actually known.

With this preamble in mind, there are three people and a magazine I would like to introduce here. All are useful to our conversation on assessment.

First, look at the work of Ted Sizer. In 1981, Sizer “graduated” from being head of school at Andover to researching the overall state of secondary education in the U.S. [Disclaimer, I graduated with him, only I went to college for the first time.] What he found: high school students were more interested in their jobs and each other than in school. No duh! While this is a statement on the nature of teens, it is more importantly a revelation about the nature of school. Along with Powell, Farrar and Cohen’s The Shopping Mall High School, Sizer’s Horace’s Compromise revealed the reasons for this disconnect of student motivation and the purpose of school. As result Sizer, along with his spouse Nancy Sizer and others, went on to found an organization dedicated to remaking the experience of school, the Coalition of Essential Schools. One of the key elements of the Coalition is their assessment system: the portfolio. To wit, students must demonstrate, over time, their depth of learning in a variety of ways, ways that are meaningful to the knowledge being assessed. The Coalition has a fully articulated vision of assessment as well as of curriculum. See their pages on assessment:
CES Assessment Page


Next, get to know Grant Wiggins. Wiggins, along with Jay Tighe, and other colleagues, has developed Understanding by Design (UbD) which argues that any curriculum design must begin with the goals clearly in mind, then the demonstration of the achievement of the goals (assessment), then curriculum of how to get there. Assessment is part of the package deal of learning. Wiggins also forcefully argues for “assessment as feedback” or, if it ain’t useful to the student, don’t do it! That is, assessment must be fitting to the task and done in a way that a student can learn from. The “multiple guess” test that the kid is never allowed to review ain’t useful! Wiggins in person is fabulous—he is elegantly entertaining and he demonstrates what he preaches…
UbD Page
Assessment as Feedback

Then, look at the work of Heidi Hayes-Jacobs. Hayes-Jacobs is currently best known for her method of curriculum mapping, a way to make sure that students get a coherent and meaningful learning experience during their entire school experience. She’s also known for her work on interdisciplinary curriculum design. Embedded in her design approach, as well, are essential questions and from these flow the nature of assessments. Essential questions are just that, central concepts that organize a course of study. (Sizer and Wiggins use essential questions to organize curriculum as well.) Again, match the tool to the job. [Additional disclaimer, I’ve had class with Heidi at, gasp!, Teachers College.]
Heidi Hayes-Jacobs


Finally, this month’s issue of Edutopia, a magazine from the George Lucas Foundation, features a discussion of assessment (that’s March/April, 2008). Their conclusion, the current mainstream assessment system is broken. (That would be massive, one-day, high stakes, multiple choice question testing in formats that are not adaptable to the task nor the student, in case you weren’t playing the “at home” game. I’ll avoid the inevitable NCLB slam which usually follows….) Here is a lovely quote from their main article "Reinventing the Big Test":
Equally worrisome is that today’s assessments emphasize narrow skill sets such as geometry and grammar, and omit huge chunks of what educators and business leaders say is essential for modern students to learn: creative thinking, problem solving, cooperative teamwork, technological literacy, and self-direction. Yet because NCLB has made accountability tests the tail that wags the dog of the whole educational system—threatening remediation and state takeover for schools that fall short—what’s not tested often isn’t taught.
In short, the American accountability system is a bastion of the past that’s stifling our ability to tackle the future.

According to a sidebar in this issue, even ETS is trying to devise assessments that are more realistic and adaptive. Hell, if our friends in the “Puzzle Palace” in Princeton think it’s broke, it must be! ETS presentation
[Further disclaimer, I taught Advanced Placement history for eighteen years and served as an exam Reader for six, and have written curriculum for an ETS AP supplement—ETS has paid my bills.]

To see Edutopia’s on-line articles on assessment, link here: Edutopia on Assessment


So there you have it: my most useful thoughts on assessment. Really not so different from David Rose’s, but with some additional sources. Enjoy!

The Best of North and South

Dear Y'all--

Below are photos of last weekend's serendipitous discovery: RED VELVET WHOOPIE PIES!




Red Velvet Cake is truly a Southern delicacy. In fact, in sixth grade, at Millington South Elementary School (TN), I demonstrated how to make Red Velvet Cake as a class project. My great-aunt had instructed me on how to make it (the trick is both cocoa powder and red food dye) and this cooking lesson was also cultural introduction. Sessel's grocery stores always had this cake as the special Christmas bakery item. Red Velvet Cake is right up there with Co-Cola Cake as THE Southern thing to eat (along with Moon Pies, which these are not, despite what Spouse thought.)

Whoopie Pies, as most of you know, are quintessentially a New England delight. Really good ones are like eating the tops of two of the best cupcakes you've ever had, with the frosting in the middle. The frosting on my favorites is always a vanilla buttercream. Yum-o!, as a certain Boston-New York Cajun-Sicilian girl would say.





So imagine my surprise when I was in the North Billerica Market Basket last weekend and discovered Red Velvet Whoopie Pies from a bakery in Maine--!

They were DELICIOUS!



The point for this blog is this: Sensory experiences carry many things with them, including memory and cultural knowledge. In my case, I could immediately recognize the red velvet whoopie pies for what they were. Quickly I figured out their rarity as well (but I'm used to thinking in these terms). It took me a while to regain the memories of part experiences of Red Velvet Cake (off-line cognition?). And for you, dear Reader, these items now serve as a cultural tool for you to use in the future (in the ways that Michael Tomasello argues). What do I hope you will do with these things that are "good to think with"?* Remember this embodiment of regional cooperation and eat something yummy very soon!

*To paraphrase Claude Levi-Strauss

A "Time-Out" from the Perils of Poster-Making!

Sometimes we just have to stop, smell the broccoli, and wiggle our feet...enjoy!


(For some reason the video isn't showing, but does play when you click the arrow. Here's the link
http://www.break.com/index/cute_hamster_enjoys_broccoli.html )