My Christmas offering to you this year is my vision for the components of the oft-mentioned, but never seen balanced assessment system. Something tangible for all of us to believe in before we are no longer able to hear the bell. Merry Christmas!
Author Archives: Charlie DePascale
State Testing: Next Steps
We have asked and answered the big questions. We know the task that’s in front of us. As this year comes to an end and a new one is about to begin, we can continue to take baby steps toward the future of state testing or …
State Testing: Finding a Better Way
Having focused in previous posts on what we need from state testing and why we do testing the way that we do, it’s time to turn our attention this week to finding a better way to do this thing we do.
What Do We Want From State Testing?
If there’s one thing the last 25 years have taught us, it’s that you can’t always get what you want from state testing. As the Stones said, however, if you try sometimes, well, you’ll find you get what you need. Let’s give it a try.
The First Thanksgiving – Myths & “Myths”
For years, the story of the “First Thanksgiving” was used to support a particular narrative. Reframing American history, however, doesn’t mean that there are not important lessons to be learned from the simple story of that gathering in the fall of 1621.
State Testing: How Did we Get Here?
This post addresses the first of our “big questions” of state testing: “How did we get here?” The answers to that question also shed light on the related question “Where are we?”
The Big Questions
We all feel a sense of urgency regarding the need to improve state testing. Before plowing ahead willy-nilly, however, perhaps it would be beneficial to our peace of mind, our field, and our stakeholders, if we pause a moment, take a breath, and consider the big picture and the big questions.
Happy Halloween – Assessment Edition
Whether you regard large-scale assessment as a cruel trick or a tasty treat, one thing is clear. Large-scale tests and Halloween go together like chocolate and peanut butter or Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
Test or Treat! Trick or Test!
Happy Halloween!
Finishing The Race
We know the pattern in education. A new idea or intervention emerges from academia. We get excited, implement it (often without fidelity), disrupt everything, gradually lose interest, try to return to the status quo until the next big idea comes along. We cannot afford to repeat that pattern with regard to undoing systemic racism. The disruption is too great, and the stakes are too high.
This Is Only A Test
We know that large-scale state testing is never all that important. But some weeks it feels even less significant than usual.
Embrace the Absurd 