District Administration - October 2012 - (Page 50)

The Challenge of Assessing Project-Based LeArning Funded by the Hewlett Foundation’s Deeper Learning initiative, the national study will take place throughout the 20122013 school year, with results expected by next summer. “We’re piloting performance assessments that are aligned to the Common Core and that will demonstrate students’ readiness for college,” says New Tech Network’s Rowland. PBL emphasizes student choice and open-ended questions. “There’s an infinite number of projects you could do,” Rowland points out. “We want to make sure that PBL adds up to students actually being ready for college.” The Stanford University Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity researchers are consulting on the Deeper Learning research to determine which competencies to assess to ensure that high school graduates are indeed college-ready. Rowland says that assessments will be systematic and common across schools. Teachers at different schools might select different novels for language arts projects, for example, “but the rubrics and expectations of students will be the same.” Teachers will spend time examining student writing, video productions, and other project artifacts together as part of the yearlong study. That practice is already common in many PBL schools. High Tech High teachers, for example, use a protocol for examining student work together. “We do it to have a narrative of quality work,” High Tech High founder Larry Rosenstock explained during a recent conference presentation. “We’ve all been conditioned to pay close attention to that. ” —Rosanna Mucetti, director of district and state initiatives, Buck Institute for Education What to Look for in PBL Project-based learning looks different, and may seem messier, than traditional instruction. Administrators visiting PBL classrooms shouldn’t expect to see orderly rows of students moving through the curriculum together. Instead, they’re likely to find small teams of students working on investigations of open-ended questions. Students should be able to explain what they’re doing and how activities relate to the project goals. At Howe High School in the Howe Public Schools in Oklahoma, a small school making the shift to PBL, an administrator questioned a student about why he was in the hallway using his cell phone during class. Tammy Parks, district technology coordinator for Howe Public Schools, said the student had no trouble explaining his purpose: “He said, ‘I’m calling the mayor’s office to set up a meeting about our project.’” Principal Rody Boonchouy of the Da Vinci Charter Academy in Davis, Calif., says that comprehensive evidence of learning in PBL should include “mastery of concepts, skills to achieve and demonstrate mastery, and detailed reflection of personal processes.” To encourage reflection, he recommends that administrators ask students “to talk about how they are learning,” including how their thinking has changed. He suggests using a reflection prompt that asks students to explain, “I used to think … but now I believe …” PBL typically culminates in public presentations of what students have learned, with audience members invited to ask questions, offer feedback, and score student performances. Administrators can take an active role in these culminating events, contributing to the authentic assessment of student learning. Considering the Deeper Learning research project, a Web-based platform is being developed that will allow teachers from different states to upload student work samples. That means teachers at different locations “can assess student work together and calibrate around it,” Rowland says. “We’ll be looking not just within a school but across schools in our network.” The result, she continues, should be a sharper picture “of what it means to have highquality, proficient student work.” Insights from these PBL early adopters “could create proof points of success” for the hundreds more school systems that are just starting to shift to projects, says BIE’s Mucetti. “They need to see how this would be replicable to their system.” Bold Leadership One district to watch is Chesterfield County (Va.) Public Schools, which serves 60,000 students. To update its strategic plan, the district spent the last two years conducting a series of community forums that engaged parents, students, teachers and business leaders, and that included guests such as an astronaut, an entrepreneur, a peace activist and a futurist. “They helped us paint a vision of what our students need for the future,” says Donna Dalton, the district’s chief District Administration 50 October 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - October 2012

District Administration - October 2012
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Facilities
The Democrats and Republicans’ National Education Platforms
District Profile
Administrator Profile
The Challenge of Assessing Project-Based Learning
Why Teaching Civic Engagement Is Essential
Superintendents’ Frustration Grows, but Intangible Rewards Remain High
Not Your Grandparents’ Vocational School
CIO News
Keeping Pace with Technology Innovation
Managing BYOD Effectively
New Products
Noteworthy Books
Professional Opinion
Professional Opinion
Problem Solution
Going Mobile

District Administration - October 2012

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