Charlie DePascale

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.

The Future of Assessment is Assessment

We began by trying to measure ill-defined constructs and latent traits like intelligence and aptitude. Then we tried to build tests aligned to sets of content and achievement standards. Maybe it’s time that we made assessment the focus of educational assessment.

Win Some. Lose Some. Learn A Lot.

Another baseball season has come to an end. 162 games to gather information about the strengths and weaknesses of teams, managers, coaches, and players. Information to inform decisions and lots of conversations about what to do next. Who could ask for anything more?

2 + 2 = ?

I’ve been thinking about “2+2” quite often recently. Somewhat less often than I think about Taylor Swift but more often than I think about the Roman Empire, which truth be told, is more often that you might think.

Treat the Symptom. And then?

One thing that pandemic has made clear is that schools are always going to be focused primarily on meeting the immediate needs of the students in front of them today. That’s what schools do. And it’s a good thing. It does, however, have implications for how we rethink accountability and education reform.

Remember This Moment

Last Sunday, Tom Brady returned to Gillette Stadium for the first of what undoubtedly will be many ceremonies celebrating his amazing 23-year career, the first twenty of which were spent in New England with the Patriots. It was a time to celebrate Tom Brady. It was a time to remember the six championship seasons andContinue reading “Remember This Moment”