This link has been bookmarked by 42 people . It was first bookmarked on 02 Apr 2008, by Barbara Reid.
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02 Apr 11
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We are totally for accountability, but we've got the wrong metrics," says John Bransford, a professor of education at Seattle's University of Washington who studies learning and designs assessments. "These tests are the biggest bottleneck to education reform."
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In other words, state governments, at the behest of the feds, are using tests to measure something they actually don't measure very well, and then penalizing schools -- and in some cases, denying students diplomas -- based on the results.
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18 Mar 11
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02 Dec 10
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06 Oct 10
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09 Sep 10
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limitations of standardized tests.
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"If we differentiate our instruction to meet the needs of all the learners, why aren't we differentiating the test?
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Such brief yet weighty exams limit the ways students can show their skills, and because it's impossible to test hundreds of state standards in a few hours, they leave teachers guessing on which to emphasize.
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A static problem, for instance, would ask test takers to say from memory how to save a certain endangered bird species. A dynamic assessment (in a real example from Bransford's lab) asks students to use available resources to learn what it would take to prevent the white-eyed vireo from becoming endangered. This is a novel question that demands students independently dig for information and know enough to ask the right questions to reach a solution.
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06 Sep 10
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What’s interesting about LEAP and Iowa is not what they test, but rather what they don’t. When was the last time you went into a job interview and were asked to fill in bubbles using a number 2 pencil? Have you ever tried to make a sale by writing a short essay on an arbitrary prompt? In a brainstorming session, have you ever been limited to only one of four ideas. For some strange reason, the folks in Des Moines and Princeton (not to mention the State Department) don’t feel that listening, speaking, and creativity are worthy enough for the new accountability. In today’s changing economy, an ability to listen attentively, think out of the box, and speak “like, you know, good” are more important than ever. Unfortunately, as teachers scramble to prepare their students for the end all and be all Test, these invaluable but untested skills are being passed over
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In many fields, American authorities are strong on specifying desired outcomes but weak on nurturing the means to achieve those outcomes. A corollary of this fact is that examinations are often used to assign blame.
Instructors will benefit their students by structuring the relationship between student and tests of any category before that kind of test is administered. Students need to know that some examinations are diagnostic (they inform the teacher where each student stands at the beginning of a course), weekly quizzes and tests of that general kind are primarily to inform students of their recent rate of progress toward achieving competencies that will be of value to them in the future, and final examinations that are primarily of value to the school for another part of its job -- certifying the level of competence of students to the outside world. After students have been socialized under the currently prevailing conditions for more than a decade, it may be very difficult to disabuse them of the idea of a college education is to get grades and then a diploma.
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06 Aug 10
Charles FlyntProblem: Old-school accountability tests are crude measurements of student learning.
Solution: Build a better test. -
23 Jul 10
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Policy makers revere the seeming objectivity of these tests, but the truth is that the exams are not adept at determining either how well teachers have taught or students have learned -- and test makers themselves will tell you so. Stephen Dunbar, an author of the influential Iowa Test of Basic Skills, explains that these tests can help illuminate statewide educational trends but are too broad a brush for the detail at the school and classroom level that NCLB demands.
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Assessment tests might show the overall effectiveness of the ninth-grade curriculum, for instance, or indicate trends within large demographic groups in that grade. But Dunbar says that when you get down to measuring the ability of students at Dallas's Woodrow Wilson High School, for example, where you're comparing this year's ninth graders to last year's, accountability test scores are not very useful. "They might tell you more about idiosyncrasies in that combination of kids than the level of achievement or the quality of teaching and learning that's going on," Dunbar explains.
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26 Apr 10
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05 Aug 09
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18 May 09
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22 Mar 09
Tony SearlReinventing the Big Test: The Challenge of Authentic Assessment
Problem: Old-school accountability tests are crude measurements of student learning.
Solution: Build a better test. -
01 Jan 09
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18 Aug 08
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27 Jul 08
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18 Jul 08
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10 May 08
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Peggy GeorgeReinventing the Big Test: The Challenge of Authentic Assessment
Problem: Old-school accountability tests are crude measurements of student learning. Solution: Build a better test. -
05 May 08
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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 education system -- threatening remediation and state takeover for schools that fall short -- what's not tested often isn't taught.
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In short, the American accountability system is a bastion of the past that's stifling our ability to tackle the future.
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many experts tout the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) exam for its challenging, open-ended questions on practical topics, such as climate change or the pros and cons of graffiti. Even more advanced models, some using computer simulations, will become available in a few years -- and none too soon.
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static problem, for instance, would ask test takers to say from memory how to save a certain endangered bird species. A dynamic assessment (in a real example from Bransford's lab) asks students to use available resources to learn what it would take to prevent the white-eyed vireo from becoming endangered. This is a novel question that demands students independently dig for information and know enough to ask the right questions to reach a solution.
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The British government has created a computer-literacy test that challenges teens to solve realistic problems (how to control crowds at a soccer match, for instance) using online resources. The more sophisticated these tools become, and the more adeptly test makers use them, the better assessment will be.
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30 Apr 08
Sheryl A. McCoyThe educational assessment tests states use today have two fundamental flaws: They encourage the sort of mind-numbing drill-and-kill teaching educators (and students) despise, and, just as important, they don't tell us much about the quality of student learning.
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20 Apr 08
Tom HemingwayThe educational assessment tests states use today have two fundamental flaws: They encourage the sort of mind-numbing drill-and-kill teaching educators (and students) despise, and, just as important, they don't tell us much about the quality of student learning.
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The educational assessment tests states use today have two fundamental flaws: They encourage the sort of mind-numbing drill-and-kill teaching educators (and students) despise, and, just as important, they don't tell us much about the quality of student learning.
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13 Apr 08
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08 Apr 08
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Theresa Overallgreat article (more like editorial) on authentic assessment and the reasons why NCLB and standardized testing aren't cutting it.
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06 Apr 08
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04 Apr 08
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"These tests are the biggest bottleneck to education reform."
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"If we differentiate our instruction to meet the needs of all the learners, why aren't we differentiating the test?"
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The tests' fallibility has most to do with the very idea of measuring a year's worth of learning in a single exam. Inevitably, cramming that much coverage into a short test leads states to rely mostly on multiple-choice questions -- the fastest and cheapest means of large-scale assessment. Such brief yet weighty exams limit the ways students can show their skills, and because it's impossible to test hundreds of state standards in a few hours, they leave teachers guessing on which to emphasize.
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03 Apr 08
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The British government has created a computer-literacy test that challenges teens to solve realistic problems (how to control crowds at a soccer match, for instance) using online resources. The more sophisticated these tools become, and the more adeptly test makers use them, the better assessment will be.
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02 Apr 08
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