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  • Assessment in the 21st Century

  • Jan 25, 09

    Conrad Glogowski
     
    What research tells us...
    comments have a strong impact on learning; stronger than comments and grades, or just grades alone
    quality of feedback is crucial
    setting process goals is more effective than setting product goals
    assessment conversations are effective
    formative feedback is associated with more positive attitudes to learning
    mastery orientatioon in assessment is more effective than performance orientation
     
    Assessment is the tail that wags the curriculum dog. If we want to see real curriculum reform, we must simultaneously achieve reform of assessment practices. (Bredekamp & Rosegrant, 1992, pg. 29)
     
    There is a close and necessary relationship between what we choose to assess and what we value most in our children's education.
     
    Current Models of Assessment
     

  • Catalytic Designs for Learning

  • Jan 25, 09

    Dennis Richards--former superintendent of schools
    http://innovation3.edublogs.org/ Dennis Richards' blog
     
    We need to be a catalyst.We need to step out of the way of the students. Teachers do not have to be the intermediary.
     
    What are Catalytic Designs for Learning?
     
    It is important to inspire students.
    Tufte--look more at his work
     

  • School Reform

  • Jan 25, 09

    Panel Discussion moderated by Andy Carvin
     
    Chris Lehmann--Principal, SLA
    wants his students to be thoughful, wise, passionate, kind--doesn't matter whether it is 21st century or not
     
    Marc Mannella--Principal, KIPP Philadelphia
    • NCLB--bad thing is it has taken the minimum and made it a bar to reach
    • NCLB--good thing is it has held us accountable for subsets of the population
     
    Bette Manchester—Former State Educational Technology Director, Maine
    • Vision that is morally clear
    • Commitment to changing everything
    • Focus on deep levels of learning
    • Intelligent accountability (focused on evidence of learning and assessment for learning)
    • Leadership is everything
     
    Mike Wang—Executive Director of Teach for America Greater Philadelphia
    • Human capital—the quality of teachers, principals, etc.
    • Use of data
    • Unyielding expectations with accountability
    David Bromley--Regional Director, Big Picture Schools
    • public education is still the one institution that still doesn't get it--every other institution approaches it as an empirical science
    • we have to fundamentally change how we look at kids
    Gary Stager--Executive Director of the Constructivist Concortium
    • we must not rank or sort children
    • curriculum decisions should be make locally
    • school day should provide students a rich experience
    • classroom needs to be an oasis that represents the best 7 hours of the day
    • every child is entitled to a talented, passionate teacher
    • always wrong to be mean to children
    • external assessment is always disruptive
    Principals need training in assessment for learning--Manchester
    Responsibility is internal and accountability is external

  • It's All About Design

  • Jan 24, 09

    It's All About Design

    Brent Loken

    http://brentloken.edublogs.org

    It's not about technology. It's about Design.

    Purposeful Design

    How do we thoughtfully develop curriculum?

    Standards and Benchmarks--naturally flawed b/c there are too many

    Mind Numbing Vocabulary--standards, benchmarks, essential questions, objectives, learning outcomes, enduring understandings, student outcomes--it has to be simple

    Expeditionary Learning (Outward Bound)

    Expeditions (as a substitute for the word unit)--terminology says a lot about what you feel the purposed of the class is--we are all a learning community. With an expedition you have one goal (i.e., climb the mountain--becomes the focus

    • simple (less is more)
    • highly differentiated
    • integrated (multiple subjects)
    • thoughtful (peer reviewed)
    • Begin with the end in mind (UbD)

    Purpose: take our students from Novice to Expert (book: How do Experts Think)

    • organize knowledge around big ideas
    • deep understanding of factual knowledge
    • knowledge is useable; they know under what condition the knowledge is important
    • Retrieval of knowledge is effortless
     

  • Always On Collaboration

  • Jan 24, 09

    http://learningischange.com/2009/01/24/the-on-button/

    Eliminate Log-in Issue:

    SlideShare-there is an upload botton that does not require a log-in. If they use a tag, makes it easier to follow and make it part of your workflow. Allows RSS feed.

    LiveSearchOPML--gives you an OPML files of specifc blogs based on keywords.

    FeedVis--gives you a tag cloud for an OPML file

    Tokbox--free live meeting tool 

  • Learning to Teach: Transition to Teaching in a Progressive School

  • Jan 24, 09

    Learning to Teach: Transition to Teaching in a Progressive School

    • Larissa Pahomov--English
    • Caitlin Thompson--Math
    • Rosalind Echols--Physics

     

    • Features of SLA--starts at 8:15-3:05--schedule rotates--Wednesday they are released early (Freshman go to Franklin Institute, all other students have internships throughout city)
    • Advisory--Mondays and Thursdays after school for 50 minutes--about 20 students
    • Wednesday Meetings--faculty curriculum planning meetings
    • Joint Responsibility for Planning School
    • Curriculum Planning (UbD)
    • Collaboration--built-in--math department teach all the same block periods so they have the same prep periods so they have 13 hours of prep time together--will make slight change so that they can observe each other.

    About 120 students in each grade

    Learning Platform--Moodle

     Grade-Level Themes

    • 9th--Self
    • 10th--Systems
    • 11th--Change
    • 12th--Creation

    5 Key Ideas of SLA

    • Inquiry
    • Research
    • Collaboration
    • Presentation
    • Reflection

     Juniors: year-long continual writing assignment

    biweekly 2-fors--2 page paper--can write about anything--just has to have a thesis and support. Use forum in Moodle to discuss their thesis.

    In English, they do not purchase anthologies; they buy novels.

    In Math, they have class sets of college prep textbooks, and half-sets of district-wide textbooks.

    Benchmarks--every quarter there is a different benchmark project for each subject. They try to map it out so that all the projects are not due at the same exact time.

    Kids who play too much on laptop have them locked down to only a few programs.

    3 arms of online presence

    • Moodle--learning platform
    • SchoolTool--available just to teachers--place student information (discipline, interventions)
    • Drupal--every student has a blog that they can use to showcase student work

    Rubric

    • Presentation
    • Design
    • Application
    • Knowledge
    • Process

    2-page 2-fors

    • Thesis & Focus
    • Content & Development
    • Organization
    • Style
    • Conventions

    They are in same groups for core subjects--mixed up during electives

     

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