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