Life – Embrace the Absurd

Tell Me Something I Already Know

Gather round kids. We need to talk. Come on, there’s room for everybody. You three lurking in the back, join us. There are plenty of seats up front. (Sheesh, professors, y’know what I mean). Ahem, the gentleman with the pink tie and jeans in the front row, you can stop looking around the room andContinue reading “Tell Me Something I Already Know”

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”

Bored on the Fourth of July

Large-scale state testing is boring. tedious, dull, monotonous, repetitious, repetitive, unimaginative, characterless, colorless, soulless, passionless, spiritless, uninteresting, unexciting, uninspiring, unstimulating, unoriginal, derivative, jejune, nondescript, anemic, sterile, bland, vanilla, wishy-washy, banal, lame, plodding, ponderous, pedestrian, stodgy, dreary, mechanical, stiff, leaden, wooden, mind-numbing, soul-destroying, wearisome, tired, tiring, tiresome, irksome, trying, frustrating, mundane, commonplace, workaday, unremarkable, routine, run-of-the-millContinue reading “Bored on the Fourth of July”

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”

Re-Imagining Assessment at NCSA

This month, we celebrate golden anniversary of the CCSSO National Conference on Student Assessment (NCSA) and with it, 50 years of innovation in assessment. The theme for the 2021 virtual conference is Re-Imagining Assessment. That theme is particularly well-suited for the annual assessment conference that I remember fondly as large-scale (short for the National Conference onContinue reading “Re-Imagining Assessment at NCSA”

With a Little Help from the Class of ’81

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friendsMm, gonna try with a little help from my friends Forty years ago this week I graduated from college. In many ways, however, this feels more like my 15th reunion than my 40th. Not that I don’t look and feel like it’s been aContinue reading “With a Little Help from the Class of ’81”

Something is Rotten in the State of Testing

To be, or not to be, that is the question: To be, or not to be. To test, or not to test, that is the question. Make no mistake, the current debate about state testing may be framed in terms of the pandemic and the specific context of spring 2021, but it is a much largerContinue reading “Something is Rotten in the State of Testing”

Are You There Data? It’s Me, Charlie

It’s pretty much impossible to engage with any media platform on any topic without someone telling you, “The data speak for themselves!” or perhaps the less pedantic, “The data speaks for itself!” Often, that message is being delivered by a trusted authority like rock star Dr. Fauci (lately, very often). Other times, it may beContinue reading “Are You There Data? It’s Me, Charlie”

I Have Confidence in Me! – Thanks, Mom

I have confidence in sunshineI have confidence in rainI have confidence that spring will come againBesides which you see I have confidence in me I have confidence in confidence aloneBesides which you see I have confidence in me! With the three of us singing these lines from our well-worn The Sound of Music soundtrack album,Continue reading “I Have Confidence in Me! – Thanks, Mom”