Edutopia - April/May 2008 - (Page 33)

Past Traditional standardized tests deaden teaching and inaccurately measure student learning. Evaluation Nation Visit Edutopia.org for many more feature articles, expert interviews, and video documentaries about assessment, including these: poll TESTIFY ABOUT TESTS Future Vote about which skill standardized tests should most emphasize at www.edutopia.org/poll-test-skill features ACCURATE ASSESSMENT Learn about a school where grades mean something at www.edutopia.org/assessment-scoringrubrics F FOR ASSESSMENT Desiree Jerome demonstrates a chemiluminescent reaction as part of her portfolio to move up to the next grade at F.W. Parker Essential School, in Devens, Massachusetts. Read a discussion of the failure of standardized testing at www.edutopia.org/assessment-flaws HEALTHIER TESTING MADE EASY Learn about authentic assessment at www.edutopia.org/authentic-assessmentfeedback STUDIES IN SUCCESS Check out a survey of research about assessment at www.edutopia.org/assessment-research interviews EVALUATION EXPERTS SPEAK Renowned educators discuss the ramifications of high-stakes testing at www.edutopia.org/high-stakes-testing hen I was a younger education reporter in the old mill town of Lawrence, Massachusetts, the big day came when the state released scores on its school accountability tests. The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, better known and feared as the MCAS, ful⇒lls the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act through annual tests in English and math (and now additional subjects). I scrutinized pages of numbers and wrote a story on the success and failure of nearby schools. My editors played it big on the front page because they knew parents would look anxiously at their school’s results and homeowners would mentally adjust their property values based on the scores. I prodded principals and superintendents to explain their schools’ leaps or stumbles. And unwittingly, I played right into the dominant illusion that these bloodless test scores are the most de⇒nitive measure of a school’s success—and that they measure what’s most important. Cold, hard numbers have a way of seeming authoritative, but accountability tests are not the infallible and insightful report cards we (and our state governments) imagine them to be. The educational assessment tests that states use today have two fundamental flaws: They encourage the sort of mind-numbing drill-and-kill teaching that educators (and students) despise and, just as importantly, they don’t tell us much about the quality of student learning. W HOWARD GARDNER The multiple-intelligences pioneer sounds off on assessment at www.edutopia.org/howard-gardner-interview TESTING WITH TECH Read about the role of technology in supporting and enhancing assessment at www.edutopia.org/technology-assessment videos ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW Note how performance assessments offer a richer, more holistic approach to evaluating what students know and can do at www.edutopia.org/assessment-overviewvideo URBAN ACADEMY See how a small New York City high school employs project-oriented assessment at www.edutopia.org/urban-academy-testingvideo STUDENT BUILDERS Watch what happens when real architects judge a student project to design a school for 2050 at www.edutopia.org/mountlake-terrace-video EDUTOPIA.ORG EDUTOPIA 33 http://Edutopia.org http://www.edutopia.org/poll-test-skill http://www.edutopia.org/assessment-scoring-rubrics http://www.edutopia.org/assessment-flaws http://www.edutopia.org/authentic-assessment-feedback http://www.edutopia.org/assessment-research http://www.edutopia.org/high-stakes-testing http://www.edutopia.org/howard-gardner-interview http://www.edutopia.org/technology-assessment http://www.edutopia.org/assessment-overview-video http://www.edutopia.org/urban-academy-testing-video http://www.edutopia.org/mountlake-terrace-video http://EDUTOPIA.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Edutopia - April 2008

Edutopia - April 2008 Contents Up Front Feedback Dispatches Sage Advice Ask Ellen Head of the Class Cool Schools Design Reinventing the Big test The Daring Dozen Heart & Soul Pop Quiz: Jack Prelutsky

Edutopia - April 2008

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