Experts Lay Out Vision for Future Assessments

This from Education Week:

A group of high-powered policymakers and educators led by Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond, outlined a comprehensive assessment system that includes summative and formative tests of higher-order thinking skills, reflecting a marketplace that they say places increasing value on such skills.

They urged a move away from of multiple-choice tests that demand factual recall, toward the development of a set of deeper, more analytical questions, tasks, and projects that ask students to solve and discuss complex problems. One example is a problem that has been posed to Connecticut high school students: Figure out how to build a statue that could withstand the effects of acid rain, then describe, analyze, and discuss your findings.

Such assessments, Ms. Darling-Hammond said, can be “of, for, and as learning.” They can “embody” content standards, she said, not just approximate them. Because teachers would help create and score the assessments, and the assessments would be pegged to good-quality content standards, an aligned teaching-and-learning system would take shape that would help teachers adjust instruction in real time and help district and state administrators plot longer-term education strategy, the experts said...

The white paper describes what a student assessment system could look like if built from the principles and best practices found in current educational research and effective educational systems in the U.S. and high-achieving nations around the world.

With this paper, the Council of Chief State School Officers seeks to illuminate and enrich the discussion around comprehensive systems of student assessment and to help lead the development of more effective ways to assess student learning. It describes existing successful assessment systems that use a variety of ways to ensure student achievement in programs in our country and in high-achieving countries around the world.

A New Concensus to Improve Schools?

Two sets of prominent educators and policy leaders released statements last June emphasizing different answers to the fundamental question facing school reform in America:

Should schools be held primarily responsible for improving student achievement, or do they need help from health and social programs to ensure their students’ success?

The first group in a statement titled “A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education,” asserted that schools can’t do it alone. “We need to work on these other fronts as well,” said Helen F. Ladd, a professor of public-policy studies and economics at Duke University and one of the three co-chairs of the group, referring to the call for better health services for children and high-quality preschool, after-school, and summer programs.

The group, whose stetement was signed by Richard Day of KSN&C, is made up primarily of researchers and former federal officials, and is trying to focus debates on the difficulty schools have raising achievement if students don’t have access to health care, early education, and other services.

A day later, a second group launched.

The Education Equality Project, formally launched New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and the Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist, argues that “public education today remains mired in the status quo” and “shows little prospect of meaningful improvement” without significant changes in the ways schools are structured, its statement said.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is the only person I'm aware of who signed on with both groups. And now an effort is being made to bring the two groups together.

Politics K-12 is reporting that a new concensus may be emerging.

At a two-day summit in Washington, a group of 14 education policy leaders, including Linda Darling-Hammond, the NEA’s John I. Wilson, and two former governors, pieced together a set of six recommendations to President Obama.

1. Assure Readiness: Success in the classroom requires that children arrive ready to learn – cognitively, physically, and psychologically.
2. Provide Rich Learning Environments for All Students: All young people in America deserve rich learning environments that challenge their thinking, promote learning by doing and focus on higher-order thinking skills that encourage life-long learning and prepare young people to be engaged, collaborative citizens.
3. Improve Overall Standards, Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment: Standards should be more common, more rigorous, and benchmarked against the top international standards. Curriculum, instruction, and assessment must be aligned with each other and with those international benchmarked standards.
4. Improve Overall Teacher Quality: Policies and systems must be in place to promote best practices in teaching, reward high performers, and provide opportunities for feedback and development for those in need of improvement.
5. Ensure the Development of 21st Century School Leaders: School leadership should be focused on a combination of student learning, progress, and culture-building, while enhancing the quality of teaching.
6. Generate and Use Research Effectively: Ensure the use of existing research and advance new research topics that address issues specific to 21st Century challenges.

The consensus paper doesn't wade very far into the thornier issues facing K-12, such as how to get rid of ineffective teachers, or what common standards would look like. The group also debated, and decided against, using the words "charter schools" in the consensus document.

Former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, now leads the Alliance for Excellent Education. Other members include:
--Former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, chairman, Strong American Schools
--Felicia Y. Blasingame, president/CEO of South Central Community Services, Inc.
--Alan M. Blankstein, president and founder of the HOPE Foundation
--Anne L. Bryant, executive director, National School Boards Association
--Linda Darling-Hammond, professor, Stanford University
--Dan Domenech, executive director, American Assoc. of School Administrators
--Sharon Lynn Kagan, professor, Yale University
--Debby Kasak, executive director, National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform
--Michael L. Lomax, president, United Negro College Fund
--Pedro A. Noguera, professor, New York University
--Karen Pittman, executive director, Forum for Youth Investment
--Joe Williams, executive director, Democrats for Education Reform
--John I. Wilson, executive director, National Education Association

Darling-Hammond was one of several Obama campaign voices on K-12.

This from Ed Week:

President-elect Barack Obama made the first significant education appointment of his transition, naming a prominent education researcher and a frequently mentioned candidate for secretary of education to lead the review of federal education policy.

The appointment of Stanford University education professor Linda Darling-Hammond to the key transition role drew praise and criticism from different quarters of the Democratic Party.

Researchers and educators praised the appointment of Ms. Darling-Hammond, saying her expertise and background on improving teacher quality would inform the incoming administration’s efforts to recruit and retain new teachers...

But her critics, ...include Democrats who support aggressive accountability programs and the expansion of charter schools...

Presidential Education Advisers Go Head-to-Head in Live Debate

This from the Principal's Policy Blog:

During a recent debate at Columbia University, the chief education advisers to the presidential nominees went head-to-head on the issue of education, putting to rest some of the ambiguity expressed by both candidates during a race that has been marked by a clear lack of priority on the topic of education.

The debate featured Linda Darling-Hammond, education adviser to Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, and Lisa Graham Keegan, chief education adviser to Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, and was webcast live on www.edweek.org with support from NASSP...

• On federal funding, the advisers lambasted each other on the opposing candidate’s fiscal plans
• When it comes to No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the saga continues as neither adviser provided concrete examples of how their candidate would change the law if elected.
• Sen. Obama is a strong supporter of using career ladders as an incentive for teachers, Darling-Hammond said. Keegan, on the other hand, does not see how career ladders will effectively motivate teachers.
• Both candidates support charter schools, yet vouchers prove to be an entirely different animal among the campaigns.

Live Debates: Education and the Next President

Education Week is hosting a couple of education events related to the upcoming presidential campaign.

Live Debate: Education and the Next President

Exclusive webcast, Tuesday, October 21, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Eastern time

Live from Teachers College, Columbia University: "Education and the Next President," a debate between Linda Darling-Hammond, education adviser to Democratic nominee Barack Obama, and Lisa Graham Keegan, education adviser to Republican nominee John McCain.

Register now to watch the live debate.

THEN

Analyzing the Election: What’s at Stake for Schools?

Available online Wednesday, Oct. 22, 12 p.m. Eastern time

Education Week’s David J. Hoff moderates a post-debate discussion with leading education analysts.

Watch this exclusive Ed Week video here.

Thanks to Dorie and the NASSP.