The SOCSD Board of Education, instructional staff, and instructional support staff are engaged in a meaningful dialogue that we are confident will lead to classrooms filled with learners who are characteristically innovative (this includes adults as well as students). On Monday, October 30, the SOCSD Board of Education and administration had a “retreat” to have an open discussion about our shared vision and commitment to providing an education to all of our students in the context of what our local community considers meaningful in the 21st Century global environment. In order to do so, we must consider “deep implementation across systems, structures, and policy (Jacobs, 2017).”
One of those tricky variables that seem to confound educators is the current system of standardized testing. Scholars, policymakers, educators, advocates, have made a compelling case against the current focus on value-added standardized testing. According to Heidi Hayes Jacobs (2017) this form of accountability has had a detrimental effect on schools’ capacity to modernize learning environments. Standardized testing is a misuse of data, time, and money; suppresses innovation and creativity; and discourages teamwork and inadvertently supports teacher/student isolation (Jacobs, 2017). So…what to do? By-in-large, New Yorkers have opted-out of a flawed system of accountability, but what should we put in its place? There are several models for assessing students’ work that allow us to determine whether they have learned the material or not.
What if assessment itself could contribute to the learning process? This suggests that learning and assessment (testing) need not be mutually exclusive. Alan November, of November Learning Associates, states that assessment can be used as a process to promote learning and not just serve the purpose of measuring student progress. In his article, “Assessment for Learning,” Alan November illustrates assessment practices that are more social in nature – that is, students are encouraged to share their results with classmates using an iterative process. Mr. November states, “the technique involves testing students twice: once individually and once in groups.” He adds, “it’s something I first saw practiced by Harvard physics professor Eric Mazur, who has redesigned the culture of his classroom to have students own their learning (November, 2017).”
Whatever means we choose to assess student learning, it is clear that the current method of testing needs to catch up with the times, the needs of the students, and the needs of society as a whole. Most modern day Americans are comfortable using the internet and other “crowd sourced” means to assess the quality of goods and services (e.g., Uber, Amazon, Yelp! Etc.) so it stands to reason that related technologies can help our students assess their own learning and chart a personalized course for future learning opportunities. Heidi Hayes Jacobs states, “as self-navigators and professional learners, individual students are self-monitoring growth on their personalized pathway day-to-day and year-to-year in a digital-media format (Jacobs, 2017).” We are looking forward to the exciting opportunities that await our young learners as they collaborate on innovative assessment where they can share their findings with other young learners.
Jacobs, H.H. (2017). Bold Moves for Schools. ASCD. Alexandria, VA
November, A. (2017). Assessment for Learning. http://novemberlearning.com/educational-resources-for-educators/teaching-and-learning-articles/assessment-for-learning/