Far too much of our educational assessment has been to rely on tests, often limited to multiple choice answer, or at best including some writing expected to be completed in a formulaic fashion (think 5 paragraph essay) in a fixed period of time. But such tests do not necessarily offer us the best way of evaluating what students know and can do.
Performance assessment goes beyond that, and can often be used in conjunction with tests. Think for a moment about the 3 things you must in most states complete before you get a driver's licence. First you must pass a vision test, which ensures at a minimum you have the physical capability to safely operate a motor vehicle. Then you must also pass a test on knowledge of the rules of the road as defined by your state. Pass both of these and you can get a learner's permit, which will allow you to operate a motor vehicle under the supervision of a licensed driver. But you cannot be fully licensed to drive by yourself until you can pass the road test. That road test is an example of performance assessment, one in which you demonstrate the ability to use your vision and apply your knowledge of the rules of the road to safely operate a motor vehicle.
The Coalition of Essential Schools, which is based on the work of Theodore Sizer, strongly believes in Performance Assessment. I was fortunate to go to the New England site of the exhibitions in Providence of performance assessment that was made available to the press. I have previously written about that visit here. Now I want to call your attention to an online discussion held on July 1st. The moderator was Scott Cech of Education Week, an important publication for anyone interested in what is happening in education at any level, from pre-K through post-graduate. As it happens I spoke with Scott at that exhibition, and he has previously written about it here. [Note: to access stories at Education Week one is required to registerbut many stories are available for free, and someone who is not a print subscriber can usually gain access to two stories per week]. Scott was able to stay for the second day and visit one of the participating schools.
Rhode Island is committed as a state to performance assessment. Before I actually get to the web-chat: if one wants to see some other coverage of the exhibitions (not only in Rhode Island) allow me to quote from several emails sent out by the Coalition. First:
Another look at performance assessments
The Quick and the ED, National Blog
Beyond "The Big Test": A Brilliant Idea to Improve Schools
Huffington Post, National Blog
States graduation criteria called wave of the future
Providence Journal, Rhode Island
My Turn: Grad challenge brings out their best
Burlington Free Press, Vermont
Students soar with "essential questions"
Boston Globe, Massachusetts
Also, from another email (only showing the additional reference):
As National Exhibition Month winds down, we wanted to send a summary and ask for feedback from those of you that participated in our nationwide campaign to promote and celebrate exhibitions as a preferred form of student assessment. The campaign was strong this year, with many schools and support organizations across the country engaging in activities that made their exhibition work public and advocating for the use of exhibitions in their local contexts. . . . [there was a link for a survey at this point]
CES has posted an archived webcast of an exhibition that occurred early in the month, so if you havent had a chance to see it, you can still do so by visiting the following URL through the end of August (if you haven't already done so, a brief registration is required).
From yet another email, I note the following:
From the Symposium:
* The New York Performance Standards Consortium. The New York Performance Standards Consortium represents 28 schools across New York State. Formed in 1997, the Consortium opposes high stakes tests and has led the way in the State to create a system of waivers from some standardized tests for its members so schools can focus on performance assessment. The NYPSC can be found online at http://performanceassessment.org/
* The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The organization that lunch speaker Charles Fadel represents, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills is the leading advocacy organization infusing 21st century skills into education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community, and government leaders. The Partnership can be found online at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/
* The Coalition of Essential Schools information on exhibitions and performance assessment: http://www.essentialschools.org/...
* The Rhode Island Department of Education, Office of Middle and High School Reform: http://www.ride.ri.gov/...
* The Great Schools Partnership: http://www.greatschoolspartnership.org/
Finally, the web-chat of July 1. The participants were
Lewis Cohen is executive director of the Coalition of Essential Schools, the nation's oldest and most influential non-profit school reform organization and a leader of the small schools movement.
Raymond Pecheone is the co-executive director of the Stanford School Redesign Network and director of the Performance Assessment for California Teachers program. Formerly, Pecheone was the Connecticut bureau chief for curriculum and teacher assessment.
Robert Littlefield has been principal of Portsmouth High School for almost ten years, and was recently named the Rhode Island High School Principal of the Year. During his tenure, Mr. Littlefield has worked to transform the culture, mission and focus of PHS into a high-performing, personalized, and supportive learning environment.
[I have removed the hyperlinks from this quote since you can go to the chat and read the whole thing]
To give you a flavor, let me quote a couple of selections from the chat.
Question from John Thacker, physics teacher:
This is lengthy - it's about differentiated instruction and assessment. If you attempt a differentiated instructional approach to reaching all the students in your class, does it follow that your performance based assessment would be differentiated as well... what would that look like in practice? If a lesser-capable student performs well on her differentiated assessment, does she get an "A" just as the most-capable student gets when they do well on their (more difficult) performance based assessment?
Lewis Cohen:
Performance based assessment is a standards based approach. All students are expected demonstrate mastery of the standards based on the same rubric. The beauty of the performance assessment is that it lends itself to differentiated instruction so that students who have used different material and received different levels of support still have the opportunity to demo0nstrate their mastery and meet the standards.
Question from Paul Graseck, High School Planner, Paul Cuffee School:
Will the complexity of the Rhode Island performance-based assessment system undermine its effectiveness or success?
Raymond Pecheone:
I don't think so. The more we commmunicate our expectations and the more our teachers adopt common practices and nominclature, the simpler the system seems to everyone.
Question from Rick Lander, Principal, Shawnee Mission Horizons HS:
How are things handled when a student transfers in from out of state or a private school not requiring the performance-based assessments?
Robert Littlefield:
We get many students of military families (mostly Navy) who transfer at the start of senior year. We have them meet with guidance and senior project coordinators to identify any gaps in skills that might exist and, if necessary, modify the Project. We are clear: all graduates must complete the Project. However, we reserve the right to alter the standard for transfer students.
Question from michael burns, ap english teacher, minisink valley central schools, slate hill ny:
how do performance based assessments differ from state testing in other states?
Lewis Cohen:
Most state testing is focused on the "right" answers, generally involving the recall of discrete facts. This is the kind of thing easily measured with multiple choice questions. Performance assessment, by contrast requires students to apply their knowledge and to demonstrate their skills in performing authentic tasks. This type of assessment reveals more about process, such as problem solving, and gives a better sense of the student’s level of understanding.
By now you should be getting a sense of how performance assessment can provide a more complete idea of what students know and can do than can a standardized test. We can still have a more limited application of standardized tests in conjunction with performance assessment. We need to expand our perception and understanding of how we can BEST determine what students know and can do.
I am posting this shortly after 2 AM my time, at the end of a long day of a seminar in which I am going to have demonstrate what I have learned and can do, by a performance assessment. We are divided into teams of four. My team includes two other classroom teachers and one assistant principle, We have been required to examine original documents available from online sites for three periods of Southern history. For each period we must select two documents that are somehow related, describe each, and explain how using the two documents will expand student understanding some issue of Southern history at that time. This is an exhibition of what we can do. We must draft a one page document for each time period, send that to the professor (Ed Ayers) and all the other participants, and then orally defend our material and presentation to the rest of the class.
Teachers are usually evaluated primarily by observation. That too is a form of performance assessment.
I am a strong believer in using performance assesment and exhibitions in the determination of how much my students have learned and can do. Their final project, for some after sitting for both an Avanced Placement Test and a state examination on content, does NOT allow them to write an essay or do a research paper. Been there, done that.
Instead, each student must spend at least four hours doing something else and show me that s/he has learned something. I do allow small Oupt to three) groups. Over the years I have gotten songs, epic poems, dioramas, videos, mobiles, plays, needlepoint . . . and some of these have been very creative. I offered an example in a diary entitled Dear Mr. President which if you did not see you might want to examine and click on the video which is the student project.
I do not claim this is the most coherent diary I have posted here. But if you have any interest in education, it is worth your time to learn about performance assessments and exhibitions. I hope this diary will encourage you to do so, and that you will NOT limit yourself to the material I have provided through the links.
Peace.