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Scoop.it!
Over the last few months I have worked with a number of high schools and middle schools where the grading and assessment practices simply do not work in a world of standards. The schools are not ma... 
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Scoop.it!
"Tests now being designed for the common standards are likely to gauge deeper levels of learning and have a major impact on classroom instruction, according to a study of the common assessments released today."
Beth Dichter's insight:
The Common Core testing is rapidly approaching and this article discusses a research paper that was just released by UCLA's National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards & Student Testing. They state that "the assessments hold a lot of promise for improving teacher practice and student learning" and that "the test-making projects face key financial, technical, and political challenges that could affect their success." They also reference a variety of resources, including one new to me called the Depth of Knowledge Levels (DOK), which provides four levels (the link to the DOK is at http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/sia/msip/DOK_Chart.pdf): * Level One is recall * Level Two is skill/concept * Level Three is strategic thinking * Level Four is extended thinking The link to this DOK reminds me of Bloom's Taxonomy with verbs to help you understand each section as well as activities based on the level. The question that remains to be answered is if the tests being created by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium will reach these levels, and according to this report it appears that will have "the more lengthy, complex performance tasks being crafted by the two groups...seemed likely to assess skills at DOK Level 4." The post also discusses some of the issues that remain, including cost and time of testing, cost of scoring, dealing with accomocations, and "Managing the "shock to the public and to teachers' instructional practice" that the tests' increased intellectual rigor will demand."
Monica S Mcfeeters's curator insight,
February 4, 2013 12:59 PM
How do you test creativity and innovation using "set" core standards of evaluation? Creativity and innovation require a certain amount of willingness for failure and risk taking. How does training for common core test "standards" assist that higher level goal? |
Scoop.it!
"At the end of the day, teaching is about learning, and learning is about understanding.And as technology evolves to empower more diverse and flexible assessments forms, constantly improving our sense of what understanding looks like–during mobile learning, during project-based learning, and in a flipped classroom–can not only improve learning outcomes, but just might be the secret to providing personalized learning for every learner."
Beth Dichter's insight:
There are many taxonomies that one may use in education, and this post from TeachThought provides a look at six alternatives. Read the post to learn more about the following taxonomies: * TeachThought Simple Taxonomy * Six Facets of Understanding by Wiggins and McTighe * Marzano and Kendall's New Taxonomy * A Taxonomy of Significant Learning by Dr. L. Dee Fink * Depth of Knowledge by Norman L. Webb Based on publications from CRESTT that discuss the testing being designed by PARCC and Smarter Balanced (the two consortiums designing tests for Common Core) it is worth checking out the Depth of Knowledge since the tests are based on the four levels in this taxonomy.
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As many schools move to Common Core the question of rigor is a key issue. States that have tested with Common Core have seen significant drops in scores. Why? The Common Core tests are more difficult than most local tests.
Grant Wiggins states "to significantly raise local standards of performance seems to mean we have to lower student grades." Most schools do not want to do this (and certainly most parents do not want to see lower grades).
He continues to explore this issue looking at rigor, and noting that rigor is currently defined by 3 elements:
However, he notes that many schools/districts do not get past #1. Why? "The problem of fair/normed grading!"
Wiggins then goes on to the final section of this post, called "Solution: avoid thoughtless calculations based on false equivalencies."
However, there is one more section that provides two helpful pieces of information that may help you create better assessments. It includes Webb's Depth of Knowledge Wheel as well as audit matrix that looks at the Assessment Format (Task Complexity and Context) and Cognitive Demand (Depth and Fluency of Thinking). (See image above).
Additionally, he has included an appendix that has text from Webb for levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 for Math, Reading and Writing.
These are great resources to share with teachers in your district as we move to Common Core.