Blog #8: Assessment Practices and the Common Core

Links:

Article:

Heritage, M. (2010). Formative assessment and Next-Generation assessment systems: Are we losing an opportunity? Education Week. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/media/formative_assessment_next_generation_heritage.pdf

Sample Assessment Problems:

•  http://www.smarterbalanced.org/sample-items-and-performance-tasks/
• http://sbac.portal.airast.org/practice-test/
• http://www.edu-sources.org/ccss-or-sbac-links...

Early in the first quarter, my math teacher mentioned to me that she was writing standards-based tests according to the Common Core States Standards. We have a rigorous math program that privileges comprehension over rote practice and as such integrates well with CCSS math standards. I thought about the math teacher's assessments for a few days to figure out what was bothering me about her plan. I came to the conclusion that I was uneasy because it felt too much like the old way of doing things. As the math teacher and I discussed things, we agreed that the only way the potential of CCSS could be realized would be to completely change the way we assess. So, we knew that we wanted to avoid teaching to the tests, but we were not sure what to replace that type of teaching and testing with.

This week's links to articles and activities answered, or began to answer, many of the questions that my math teacher and I were left with. The article by Heritage (2010) made me say, "Yes!" It expressed my concerns so much better than I was able to, and it provided a solution to the problem: formative assessments.

Apparently, formative assessment is an educational term that has been around for a while now. However, it has come to mean something different in the United States compared to other countries. Here, it is discussed as a measurement tool whereas in other places it is defined as an active process. The difference between seeing formative assessment as a measurement device rather than a process has greatly affected teaching and learning to the detriment of U.S. students. In places where formative assessment has been integrated into daily teaching and learning, positive outcomes have increased dramatically.

We have just adopted Common Core in the Territory. It would be a shame to undermine our potential for success by neglecting to give teachers the tools they need to transform their classrooms into the learning communities that the CCSS are set up to help us achieve. Training in effective formative assessments could be invaluable.

The other links took us to sample problems from Next-Generation assessments. These would be summative assessments. Summative assessments, though not a valuable teaching tool, can be valuable measurement tools. The new assessments make use of current technology. This has the potential of making the assessments adaptive and it allows students to demonstrate understanding rather than just measuring performance as the old assessments did. 

After reading the article and visiting the sample assessment sites, my head is spinning. How do I train my teachers to incorporate effective formative assessment in their teaching? What do effective formative assessments look like? If teachers use formative assessments in the classroom, how does that get reported? There is so much to think about. But, I am happy to have found that others are concerned that we not undermined CCSS by reverting to our old teaching and assessments.

One of my instructors at ASCC shared a quote with me that I have often reflected on (I'll paraphrase): The person you learn the most from is not someone who teaches you something new, but someone who takes a problem that you've been quietly struggling with and expresses it in such a way that you gain new understanding. I totally did not do that justice, but I hope you get the gist of it because that is how I felt reading Heritages article.