Education Reform – Embrace the Absurd

On a Whim and a Prayer

You win a multi-year contract for a new, innovative state assessment program. You spend the next six months staffing up, getting the project infrastructure in place, and working with the state to begin the initial design and development process. A new governor takes office and the assessment program and your contract are canceled immediately. MuchContinue reading “On a Whim and a Prayer”

Ed Reform – The Song That Doesn’t End

This is the song that doesn’t end Yes, it goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it Not knowing what it was. And they’ll continue singing it forever just because [repeat ad infinitum] Well, folks weren’t too receptive of my attempt to invoke Friedrich Nietzsche in a recent post on Education ReformContinue reading “Ed Reform – The Song That Doesn’t End”

Work the Problem

With the Olympics coming to an end, I began browsing through the rest of the Peacock app and came across the recently added 1995 film, Apollo 13. Since first renting the film at Blockbuster as soon as it went to VHS, I must have watched it two dozen times. For some reason, I feel aContinue reading “Work the Problem”

Enough Room Now For 49 Stars

You’re a grand old flag You’re a high-flying flag And forever in peace may you wave As the Olympics shift from the pool and the gym to the track, we are probably in a peak period for thinking about the flag. I’ll admit that aside from the Olympics, holidays like Memorial Day and Independence Day,Continue reading “Enough Room Now For 49 Stars”

It Was A Privilege

The focus recently on opportunity-to-learn, equity, access to a high-quality education, etc. makes me think about my father. Today would have been his 89th birthday and his entire life was a testament to the importance of access to a quality education and to making the most of that access when it was presented to you.Continue reading “It Was A Privilege”

We Chose To Go To The Moon

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” President Kennedy, May 25, 1961 On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and walked on the moon. After rejoining Michael Collins,Continue reading “We Chose To Go To The Moon”

If Only It Were As Simple As Rocket Science

Mark Schneider and Kumar Garg’s recent call for a SpaceX for assessment and the responses to it by Chester Finn and Anne Wicks, prominent among others, highlight the complexities of large-scale testing and the challenges associated with trying to improve K-12 assessment. Sadly, even if our fractured field were somehow able to address the manyContinue reading “If Only It Were As Simple As Rocket Science”

School’s Out for Summer

School’s out for summer School’s out forever School’s been blown to pieces 2020-2021. The school year like no other is complete and the question of the day is whether the pandemic changed school forever. Has the traditional model of public K-12 education that we all know and hold strong feelings about been blown to pieces?Continue reading “School’s Out for Summer”

Do It Anyway

I have discussed re-imagining assessment and offered cautions to the assessment/educational measurement community as we enter the next once-in-a-generation period of re-imagining and reinventing assessment, particularly large-scale testing. In this post, I synthesize those thoughts into a straightforward recommendation to the field: When we truly re-imagine assessment, in virtually all cases, we are doing soContinue reading “Do It Anyway”

Mind The Gap

In my previous post, I waded cautiously into the topic of group differences on state tests, just dipping my toes into the murky waters of achievement gaps. In this post I will just keep on blogging until I am at least waist deep in the big muddy. I discussed the changes in the handling ofContinue reading “Mind The Gap”