New assessments for new learning!
As we move into more 21st century tools and skills we now must also move away from all paper and pencil assessments. I have taught for almost ten years now and have seen a variety of different assessments come and go. It seems to me that everything that goes around, eventually comes back around. When I began teaching everything was assessed through performance based assessments and tests. Then came NCLB and we moved into multiple choice, short answers, and basically factual recall. Besides problem solving in math, their really aren’t assessments that monitor students’ application of skills.
As I reflect on the different assessments that I have seen over the years I have to say that I thought performance based assessments gave the best overall “picture” of a student. I felt better as a teacher knowing that my students could apply their skills instead of just recall them. I think that performance based assessments will be a great assessment to measure how well a student understands and applies 21st Century Skills. When students get into the real world, there are few jobs that are going to give their employees a paper pencil test. The real world will assess students on their job performance, ability to communicate with others, and ability to produce. As teachers we must prepare students for this type of assessment. I feel that performance based assessments are a good start as children move into more 21st Century skills and tools.
November 28th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Jen, I agree with you wholeheartedly. But the state governments may agree, but then the assessments can’t be considered standardized. I’m playing the devil’s advocate here. How do we convince them that this is a far better way to assess our students for life? I liked how you stated that in the 10 years that you’ve taught, you’ve seen things come around again. Try 30 years. Just like history, education seems to be run in cycles. Alice
November 29th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Jen,
I understand where you are coming from. I have been teaching 16 years and the ways of assessing students has definitely changed. I am sure that as the years continue the ways of assessing will change again – hopefully for the better! I have always felt that we need to be preparing them for the real world. Paper and pencil multiple choice tests do not fit in the real world workplace. What business gives those types of evaluations? I was explaining what a rubric was to my husband. He does something similar to a rubric when evaluating his workers. I feel rubrics may be the best way to evaluate students’ 21st century skills effectively.
Lesley
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Jen, I have seen a lot of things come full circle too. I think that performance based and standardized assessments both belong in education. This way the students can memorize what they need to and then apply it in a finished product or project as well as pass the standardized tests. Ginny