Not since Sen. Warren sent her sample off to 23andme, has a set of test results from Oklahoma caused as much of a ruckus as the “release” of this year’s Oklahoma state assessment results. Seriously, Oklahoma? OK.
Author Archives: Charlie DePascale
Learning Loss or Learning Correction?
As we begin a new school year, student achievement still falls short of pre-pandemic levels. How worried should we be about that lost learning? How much of the “shortfall” is the result of intentional decisions? How much reflects a change in direction? Test scores alone cannot answer those questions.
We’ve Been Rotten To The Core
The conventional wisdom appears to be that educating the whole child is a new concept. That we’ve always focused on the 3 R’s. But that is not true. We may not have been very good at it, but until recently, we always had a more holistic view of what constituted the common core of public education in the United States.
Completing The Recipe For State Standards
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.
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.
Embrace the Absurd 