Roots of Learning » evaluation

Performance Assessments Would Address Basic Knowledge and Skills as well as “21st C. Skills”

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 19:52:34 +0000

I don’t know when they began calling critical thinking skills “21st Century Skills” – I used them and taught them plenty during the 20th century, but no matter. It seems to be the educational buzzword of the day. And if the trend results in teachers and parents focusing more on communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, innovation and use of technology, then I’m all for it. One thing that articles and reports focusing on 21st century skills – as well as those focusing on No Child Left Behind and state assessments – tend to neglect is the concept of performance assessment. Performance assessments can help school divisions, private schools, and homeschooling parents determine not only their students’ mastery of basic knowledge and skills, but also their capacity with those skills deemed “21st century skills.” However, we rarely hear of performance assessment being used in a widespread manner.

It is not a new invention, either. In the mid to late 1990′s, some states used performance assessment measures to assess every student for all types of skills and capacities. These assessments can, however, be costly. Perhaps that is the issue during this time of ever tightening budgets. A performance assessment cannot be run through a scantron for scoring. It requires manpower. So while we may not see widespread performance assessment in the near future, we can all encourage the educators that we work with to use them in their own classrooms for formal and informal assessment of students. Before the end of the 21st century, they’ll thank you.

The Correlation between Reading (OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL) and Success (INSIDE OF SCHOOL)

admin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:37:01 +0000

I read an interesting blog post by Dan Brown, a teacher and author of The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle. He is the also the author of an education blog called Get in the Fracas. Here is an excerpt:

“I have a clutch of students who read for pleasure, yet bizarrely hand in assignments only sporadically. Let’s call them “Readers.” These are the kids who take home The Kite Runner and read the whole thing in two days—then never write any of their journal responses. Their grades do not reflect their abilities. However, these students always score at or near the very top of the class on these standardized tests.”

This hints at an even deeper gift that these students have – one that feeds their love of reading – and that is the innate (or is it taught? modeled? suggested?) gift of CURIOSITY. These people do not read because they have to – “have to” doesn’t factor in that heavily if they are not writing their journal responses and earning poor grades. They are reading because of something else. That SOMETHING is also leading them to score at the top of these assesments that Mr. Brown refers to. Freedom of thought, freedom from the slavish “do only what you are told to do and nothing more” and a freedom to pursue knowledge and adventure (what else?) through books fuels these students’ success. As a parent, how do you foster CURIOSITY?

- Heather

The Importance of High Expectations

admin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:27:58 +0000

In my years as an educator, I have repeatedly experienced examples proving what intuition has always told me: People – children included – will “rise to the occasion” when high expectations set for them, assuming those expectations are reasonable, and support is provided. Even very young students know when someone accepts less than best efforts, and certainly employees perform better for an employer who expects excellence in performance.

Working at home with our children, we, as parents, face the age-old dilemma. Doing things the way we know is “right” is much more difficult than taking the ‘easy’ route, a route taken by many others. If we are going to follow the “road less traveled,” we must put on the appropriate hiking boots. Having firmly fixed, high expectations for our childrens’ performance (as well as for their good character) definitely helps during trying times when the pull of commonplace diversions, peer pressure, and the kids’ desires threatens to blow us off course.

One exercise that is helpful within the family is to make those expectations, as well as the reasons for them, clear to the kids. Involve them in a family meeting, where parents can discuss short and long term goals for learning and behavior, and the rationalization behind them. Likewise, this is an opportunity for the kids to formulate and record their own goals, evaluate how they perceive their performance, and ask questions about parents’ goals and objectives. Bringing kids “into the fold” ensures that they not only understand your high expectations, but it encourages that they “buy in” to the entire process.

As this school year begins, what time is better than now to sit down with your kids and have that family meeting?

-Heather

Learning Styles Quiz

admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:09:52 +0000

I just stumbled upon a learning styles quiz at Edutopia. It is interesting because it classifies intelligence according to the categories naturalistic, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, visual-spatial, logical-mathematical, and verbal-linguistic. I found the results surprising because I have always ‘seen myself’ as a visual learner – and have read that, overwhelmingly, people are visual learners. However, in this particular quiz, I scored very low in that area. Instead, my strongest score came in the area of “intrapersonal,” which describes a person who is “…connected to who you are and how you feel, and you know your own limits and abilities. You often set goals for yourself, self-manage, and reflect on results.” This is an excellent description of me, but is it my intelligence? That may be open to debate. I think that if you want to measure your learning style or that of your child, do so periodically and do so using a variety of evaluation tools. In my opinion, this is not a science, but it can shed light into the way we think and learn, and on what learning activities would be most beneficial for us. I am now going to give the quiz to my eldest child – I’ll report back later! I’d love to hear others’ insights!

- Heather

Literacy in a Changing World

admin — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:40:32 +0000

With today’s innundation of available information, parents and students must understand how to navigate their way through the ‘rough’ to get to the ‘diamonds’ AND to know the ‘diamonds’ when they see them. So how is literacy changing in the 21st century?

It is no longer sufficient to learn to read and learn to write well. Now we need to determine sources’ validity, we need to be able to write for an expanding audience pool and do so in formats that never existed before the last few years.

Some of the essential skills are to read critically, write clearly, interpret information, evaluate sources, and to blend visual, sound, and written elements into creative pieces.

I’d love to hear from parents or teachers who are managing to do these things well!