Tag Archives: learning

Danger! Steep Grades Ahead

A clear sign of the start of a new school year is the uptick in posts about grades and grading. Across platforms, thoughts are being shared on grade inflation, fair and equitable grading, and opinions offered on perennial debates over grading formative work during instruction, retakes, and assigning 0’s. After letting all of these thoughts and words wash over me, I arrived at this conclusion: 

Grading is complicated but it is only the tip of the iceberg. If we hope to support assessment in the service of learning, we are going to have to close huge gaps between our relatively straightforward world of psychometrics and large-scale testing and our understanding of the complex world of schools, teachers, and students.

Competencies – I Can See It Now

I have watched approaches like standards-based grading, microcredentialing, and competencies ebb and flow over the past couple of decades, but the slow but steady movement has always been in one direction; that is, from abstract to concrete. Today, as we stand on the cusp of a new era of assessment it seems to me that the journey is nearly complete. Latent traits, once the staple and foundation of educational measurement have been set aside in favor of clearly defined observable skills. On the surface, it may seem like I am making a distinction in search of a difference. However, that distinction may be the crux of the difference between assessment of learning and assessment for or in service of learning. And the implications for measurement, testing, and how we report results are quite real. 

Ten Numbers That Shook My World

We all have them. The images that we can never unsee. The quote, song lyric, or perhaps poem that we never forget. That friend, colleague, or chance interaction that had a profound impact on us. Having spent my life immersed in data, I guess that it makes sense that I also have a list of ten numbers or statistics that shook my professional world. I discuss those numbers in today’s “very special” blog post. That is, it’s way too long, but like Netflix, I give you the option to binge this as a naughty summer reading treat or to break up the 10 self-contained “episodes” on your own.

American Education: A Tangled Can of Monkeys

Try as I might, my mind just won’t let go of the story about the school year for Pawtucket, Rhode Island elementary school students being extended because it was discovered that the school day has been 5 minutes too short. From beginning to end, from regulation to problem to solution to acceptance, the issue in Pawtucket, is a microcosm of the complexities that are going to make it so difficult to reform public education in the United States. 

Culture > Curriculum > Courses

As I leaf through excited posts and articles about how AI is going to help assess durable skills and bring to life the freshly painted portraits of high school graduates, I start to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach and a tightness in my chest. My fear is that once again we’re going to do this backwards, that is by beginning with assessment. It’s critical, particularly with these the types of skills that are being discussed today that we remember to consider curriculum before assessment and more importantly, culture before curriculum. 

On Scales, Achievement Standards, and Trends

A bonus blog post in honor of #NCME2026 conference week. Last month I tugged on Superman’s cape when I suggested that preserving the NAEP trend might not be in our best interest. Today, I refresh a presentation from the early days of the CCSS, PARCC, and Smarter Balanced to clarify that reporting a NAEP trend is not the problem. Rather, the problem may be in the way that we in educational measurement and assessment tie trends to fixed achievement standards and scales.

The Significance* of NAEP

I wrap up my March series, NAEP by the Numbers, with the number .05 and a discussion of significance and differences. The significance of NAEP lies far beyond score differences within and across years that are statistically significant at the .05 level. Much of what makes NAEP significant is that it is different. Different from state tests. Different from tests administered by schools and districts. It serves a different purpose. A purpose for which it is well-designed. Simply put, NAEP is NAEP.

Frankenstein’s Graduate

In releasing the interim report outlining its new graduation Framework, Massachusetts boasts, “no other state will have implemented such a comprehensive approach to setting such high standards in education…” 

My response, as the kids say, Sick brag, bro. 

I’m not exactly sure where having “such high standards” compared to other states fits in the validity argument. I would be much more impressed by claims and evidence of having carefully identified the right graduation standards for the future and having a solid implementation plan for achieving those standards.