Developing state content and achievement standards was a good idea, but to this point that idea is only half-baked. State standards will only reach their full potential for guiding instruction and student learning when we fill in the critical missing piece.
Author Archives: Charlie DePascale
Writing To The Rubric: Gymnastics Edition
Order has been restored to women’s gymnastics. Team USA and Simone Biles have their gold medals. But as I watched the events unfold in Paris this week, I couldn’t help but feel that something important was missing.
Reclaiming State Testing’s Formative Roots
“This above all: to thine own self be true.” We have been willing accomplices as others have defined state testing as summative assessment. Before we can move forward with state testing, we have to embrace it as a component of formative evaluation.
Artificial Intelligence: It’s Only Human
We’ve been dealing with artificial intelligence our entire lives – but in human form. Is it really all that different this time around? Computers may complicate the issue a bit, but in the words of Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Taking Stock
Educational assessment is at a crossroads. Fundamentally, the same crossroads that we stood before in 2010. That time we took the more well-worn path and that has made all the difference. Now we have a second chance to take the road less travelled by and see where that takes us.
Tell Me Why
At a recent TAC meeting, the state reported pressure to make the test shorter – again. I questioned whether there was a right answer. Will the test ever be short enough? When people are asking for changes to test length, content, or uses, what do they really want?
A Long Time Coming
Too bad I used “Party In The USA” as the title of my last post, because we are certainly partying in our part of the USA. The Boston Celtics are back on top of the basketball world – where they lived comfortably for the first three decades of my life.
Party In The USA
“Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Not if you were hoping for different choices in the presidential election. Where did it all go wrong? I think there’s a Primary problem.
It Hit Different This Time
It’s never been easy to say goodbye to a friend. But the experience was different this time.
Getting Back to Basics (and Proficient) With Accountability
First Law of Holes: If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
First Law of Blogs: If you find yourself feeling really emotional, don’t post.
The field routinely ignores the first. I regularly ignore the second.
So, let’s talk school accountability.
Embrace the Absurd 