Charlie DePascale

The Road to Hell and High-Quality Assessment

It is said that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. I fear that those building the road to next generation, high-quality assessments may be using the same construction crew. At the beginning of this month, Secretary King released promised guidance to states as a follow-up to President Obama’s Testing ActionContinue reading “The Road to Hell and High-Quality Assessment”

It’s January. Can Johnny Read?

While we spent the fall waiting for PARCC to set performance standards, NAGB to release NAEP scores, and Congress to reauthorize ESEA, students and teachers across the country were going to school day after day, week after week, month after month. Now it’s the middle of January and half of the school year is complete. Continue reading “It’s January. Can Johnny Read?”

Don’t Look Back – A Blog Year in Review

As 2015 comes to an end, it is futile to resist the temptation to reflect briefly on this first year of the Embrace the Absurd blog. Reflections, after all, are the lifeblood of the blog. As advertised, the fifteen essays posted in 2015 addressed assessment, accountability, and other important stuff. There were posts onContinue reading “Don’t Look Back – A Blog Year in Review”

Goals: Assets or Distractions

A noticeable difference between NCLB and ESSA is that ESSA is devoid of explicit goals. Yes, one could argue that “Every Student Succeeds” is a goal. I am still hedging my bet, however, on whether people will treat that tagline as a goal or as a policy statement, as in every student succeeds becomes theContinue reading “Goals: Assets or Distractions”

ESEA – It’s so much more than a test

Whether ESSA is signed into law before the end of the year – or like the release of the Iran hostages in 1981 we have to wait until Arne Duncan officially leaves office – it appears that we will finally see a reauthorization of ESEA. Much of the coverage of the long-awaited and hotly debatedContinue reading “ESEA – It’s so much more than a test”

Run, Forrest, Run!

As the final states release results from the spring 2015 Smarter Balanced and PARCC assessments, this post is a look back at a June 2010 presentation to CCSSO Technical Isssues in Large-Scale Assessment (TILSA) members on lessons learned from my involvement with the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP). The presentation was titled, Lessons LearnedContinue reading “Run, Forrest, Run!”

If a tree falls in the forest…

“…once upon a time, researchers simply published their research in professional journals – and there it stayed. However, my colleagues and I learned things we thought people needed to know.” The quote above from an EdWeek commentary is Carol Dweck’s explanation for why she published her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Likewise, asContinue reading “If a tree falls in the forest…”

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

As the baseball playoffs roll on without my beloved Red Sox or adopted Twins, this is a brief look back at the story of the new Comiskey Park. In April 1991, the new home of the White Sox opened in Chicago. One article in the Chicago Tribune marked the occasion with the headline New Comiskey: Enjoy,Continue reading “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”

Faith and Validity

Pondering validity on the occasion of Pope Francis’ visit to the United States From Kane back to Ebel , there are religious overtones, sometimes thinly veiled, to discussions of validity as the alpha and the omega of educational measurement. Without validity, there is no measurement. Validity was in the beginning, is now, and ever shallContinue reading “Faith and Validity”

He was my teacher, and he was effective

Labor Day is one of those times each year when memories of my father come flooding back. Dad was a high school teacher for forty years from the late 1950s until the late 1990s. Labor Day, signaling the end of summer and the beginning of each new school year, was a major event for ourContinue reading “He was my teacher, and he was effective”