Category Archives: School Reform & Leadership

Assessments for the 21st Century

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gordoncommissionAfter two-plus years of work, the Gordon Commission recently released a public policy statement designed to “stimulate a productive national conversation about assessment and its relationship to teaching and learning.” The Gordon Commission believes that now is a “remarkable opportunity to re-conceptualize the purposes of educational assessments.”

The Gordon Commission on the Future of Assessment in Education (the Gordon Commission) is comprised of “a group of outstanding educational leaders who will produce a vision for assessment that is fair and beneficial to improving U.S. education and which will advance technology to improve educational measurement and student achievement. The members of the Gordon Commission are distinguished scholars in the fields of education sciences, psychometrics and public policy, and thoughtful leaders in the arena of public affairs.”

The Gordon Commission believes that now is the time for change because of the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in mathematics and English language arts; development of the Next Generation Science Standards, and work focused on developing assessments aligned to the CCSS by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC).

“These developments have heightened awareness among educators and state and federal policymakers of the critical relationships among more rigorous standards, curriculum, instruction, and appropriate assessment, and have created an opportunity to address issues of long standing,” the statement notes.

The statement also stresses that assessments are not useful for the sake of assessments: they must be tied to the needs of 21st century students, students who will certainly need to be proficient in using digital technology, and include both assessment of learning and assessment for learning.

Finally, recognizing the role that policymakers will play in the future of assessment, the public policy statement includes three recommendations directed at policymakers:

  • States should create a council on educational assessments, modeled on the Education Commission of the States, to monitor how well assessments are working and recommend improvements. The council would evaluate the effects of PARCC and SBAC on teaching and learning, conduct research on changes in assessments, and inform states as they make purchasing decisions. The council would also mount a public information campaign to explain the need for better assessment, examine issues of equity, and study policies to ensure the privacy of assessment data.
  • President Obama and the U.S. Congress should encourage states to experiment with different methods of assessment and accountability and use the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to create incentives for new forms of assessment, such as performance tasks.
  • Federal agencies and the philanthropic community should launch a ten-year effort to strengthen the capacity of assessments to measure the full range of competencies students need to develop. Additionally, the government and private funders should expand the number of scholars dedicated to developing expertise in assessment.

More information on the Gordon Commission and its work is available at http://www.gordoncommission.org/.

For the complete public policy statement, see: http://www.gordoncommission.org/rsc/pdfs/gordon_commission_public_policy_report.pdf

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Carnegie Corporation: Rethinking school design to meet demands of new standards

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carnegieThe Carnegie Corporation of New York has committed $15 million to “catalyze district-based new school design work” that will focus on individualized learning.

To support this effort, they have also recently published a report, Opportunity by Design: New High School Models for Student Success. This report calls for a focus on how schools use teaching, time, technology, money, and other resources to bring all students to the much higher levels of achievement necessary to meet the demands of Common Core State Standards and, eventually, Next Generation Science Standards.

The report analyzes the impact of the daunting preparation shortfall many students face as they enter high school and argues that without a radical change in how school districts support high school design, it will be difficult for all students to graduate ready for college and career. As the new standards, which are designed to be “fewer, clearer, and higher” than existing state standards, are implemented, schools must hold all students to a significantly more challenging bar for graduation, while supporting and motivating students who may be further behind.

“Implementing the Common Core State Standards provides both a challenge and an opportunity to address the long-term problem of achieving both excellence and equity in public education,” said Michele Cahill, Vice President, National Program, and Program Director, Urban Education at Carnegie Corporation. “Taking on this challenge can be truly transformative if states and districts focus on the design of schools. We have enough knowledge, from both research and practical experience, about the conditions needed to enable teachers and students to reach the levels of achievement envisioned by the Common Core standards.  Especially for our high schools, it is urgent that we act on what we know and redesign for success.”

The report calls for schools to take an integrated and comprehensive approach to rethinking how resources are used to both meet students where they are and accelerate their learning to develop the necessary skills for college and career. In the face of the Common Core, the report says individual interventions such as adjusting curriculum, strengthening teacher preparation and professional development, or increasing quality learning time are important, but in isolation are not likely to produce strong enough outcomes to help all students meet the standards.

However, the report points out that there is evidence that it is possible to, at some scale, to raise standards and increase student achievement simultaneously through a comprehensive school design effort. Citing examples like the New York City Small Schools of Choice reforms and the expansion of North Carolina’s early college high schools, the authors argue that a focus on school design enables districts to reach a higher bar for all students.

“Schools are the place where the Common Core will provide transformative opportunity for American students,” said Leah J. Hamilton, Program Director, Urban Education at Carnegie Corporation and co-author of the report with Anne Mackinnon. “Powerful school designs can enable students to pursue individualized pathways towards college and career readiness while ensuring a focus on equity and quality for every student. Now is the time to build on successful efforts, while integrating new tools that can do even more to empower great teaching and accelerate student success.”

The report is a call to action for the field to create a concentration of effort around school design. It defines 10 design principles that reflect the research base in youth development and academic best practices, capture the input of successful educators, and explore the potential of emerging tools. These principles, when used in a design process that assesses student and district needs, should help produce a number of school models that can help all students grow to meet the challenge of the Common Core.

Carnegie Corporation of New York has committed $15 million in this first year to catalyze district-based new school design work, using the 10 design principles in the report as a starting point. In January, the Corporation also announced a grant to launch Springpoint, a new national school design institute that will catalyze this work and provide support to districts. Partnering with Springpoint, Carnegie Corporation will source a first cohort of select districts to participate in a school design development and launch process.

For the 10 Design Principles, see http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Programs/Opportunity_by_design/Carnegie_DesignPrinciples_a.pdf

To access the full report, see http://carnegie.org/programs/urban-and-higher-education/new-designs-innovation-in-classroom-school-college-and-system-design/opportunity-by-design-new-high-school-models-for-student-success/

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Ten Innovators at the 2013 Ed Tech Industry Summit

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edtechconferenceThe Education Division of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) announces winners and finalists in its Innovation Incubator Program. The program was held during the annual flagship Ed Tech Industry Summit, May 5-7, at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Ten products and services were featured during the event, and awards were presented to the Most Innovative and Most Likely to Succeed based on votes of conference attendees. The Educator’s Choice Award was also be presented based on votes from educators and administrators from around the U.S.

The SIIA Innovation Incubator Program identifies and supports entrepreneurs in their development and distribution of innovative learning technologies. The program began in 2006 and has provided support for dozens of successful products and companies in their efforts to improve education through the use of software, digital content and related technologies. The program is open to applicants from academic and non-profit institutions, pre-revenue and early-stage companies, as well as established companies with newly developed technologies.

“This year’s Innovation Incubator participants stand out as incredibly original and exciting products,” said Karen Billings, vice president for the SIIA Education Division. “It’s a tremendous value for our members to have early access to these technologies.”

Innovation Incubator Program participants were selected from the applicant pool based on key selection criteria, including:

  • The extent to which their innovation represents a “sea change” in thinking
  • Potential to positively impact education by way of enhanced student achievement, teacher effectiveness, cost reduction and efficiency
  • Education focus and end-user impact/market need for the innovation
  • Representation of K-12/postsecondary market levels
  • Level of originality and innovation

Innovation Incubator Program winners and finalists are as follows:

Citelighter, Citelighter Inc (voted Educator’s Choice and Most Innovative Runner Up)

Citelighter is an academic research platform that allows students to save, organize, and automatically cite content. Once completed they can open Citelighter in a Google doc to have their research next to their writing. As students undergo a critical thinking process (research, organizing, writing) we capture their behaviors and present it back to their teachers so they can see how and where their students need help. This appear like strands of DNA, but they are strands of thought.

simCEO, Jetlag Learning (voted Most Innovative)

Shmoop create online learning simulations where students compete and interact with one another – instead of a program – to make the environment and the learning more dynamic. Students apply skills in a real-world environments without right/wrong answers. Our first solution, simCEO targets entrepreneurship and financial literacy where students create their own company then buy/sell shares in each other’s companies. Teachers keep the simulation dynamic through news articles.

See.Touch.Learn., Brain Parade, LLC (voted Most Likely to Succeed)

See.Touch.Learn., an iPad visual learning & assessment system, improves the social interaction & communication skills of special needs students. Parents & teachers are turning away from traditional, static picture cards towards See.Touch.Learn.’s easy-to-use & effective personalized picture card learning tool. With stunning images, a community of content created by thousands of users, plus their own personal content, teachers & parents can deliver highly personalized instruction & assessments.

scrible, scrible (voted Most Likely to Succeed Runner Up)

scrible makes online reading and research apps for students/instructors and publishers. Our Web app lets you annotate webpages in your browser and then save, share and manage them in the cloud. Our Student Edition adds academic features (citations, reports, etc.). Instructors use scrible for collaborative e-reading exercises. Our Classroom Edition will empower them to teach critical reading skills using online reading/research assignments. Our annotation tools help publishers make content interactive.

Globaloria, World Wide Workshop (Finalist)

Globaloria is a project-based learning platform for teaching any subject through webgame design. A turn-key instructional solution, it integrates an academic curriculum, programming tutorials, and virtual support with professional development tools and a social learning network, making prior programming skills unnecessary. As students research educational game topics and learn content knowledge, they develop digital literacies and STEM & Computing skills by programming their original webgames.

mAuthor, Learnetic S.A. (Finalist)

Learnetic has pioneered an authoring system for creating INTERACTIVE mobile content ideal for publishers and developers and, in its next iteration for teachers. Content displays and functions on any device with any OS/screen size so is ideal for the diverse installed base of mobile devices in schools. Created content can easily be integrated with any website or learning platform. The Cloud based development approach provides maintenance free control of publishing process, content and technology.

Naiku, Naiku, Inc. (Finalist)

Naiku accelerates learning by providing next generation assessment solutions on any web enabled device. With automated scoring and built-in standards-aligned reports, teachers instantly know what each and every student knows. Additionally Naiku’s unique “better assessment” methodology engages students through research backed practices such as confidence based assessment, journaling, and reflection to provide teachers with a more complete picture of student performance than currently possible.

ParentSquare, ParentSquare (Finalist)

ParentSquare is an online platform for schools that makes parent involvement easy. Studies confirm what logic tells us to be true: parent involvement is the key to student success. School-home communication and parent participation are key components of parent involvement and ParentSquare exceptionally simplifies both. Teachers and parents have called it “an effective communication tool,” “an efficient way to recruit volunteers,” “great tool for individual class reminders,” “irreplaceable!”

Shmoop, Shmoop University, Inc. (Finalist)

Shmoop is a digital education resources company that innovates education by making learning accessible through understandable language and online materials. Shmoop uses colloquial language & pop culture to make learning fun and easy for students. Also, Shmoop serves as a one-stop education stop from high school to the real world, “specializing” in a gamut of resources, including literature & history guides, online classrooms, teacher resources, online textbooks, test prep, and career resources.

zondle, zondle (Finalist)

zondle is a unique web and mobile platform that enables teachers and students to create, play and share games to support learning. Teachers choose or create questions to match exactly their teaching aims (multiple formats, any subject, any level, any language). Students play and practice those questions (or questions they’ve created) in any of zondle’s casual games (any topic in any game, to consolidate classroom learning, for assessment, or to prepare for high-stakes tests).

For more information about the Ed Tech Industry Summit, visit siia.net/etis/2013/incubator.asp or contact Liderby Portorreal at Education@siia.net.

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Last Chance to Comment on PARCC Draft Grade- and Subject-Specific PLDs

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logo-parccThe Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) released the draft grade- and subject-specific performance level descriptors (PLDs) in English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics, and they are available for public comment through May 8, 2013. Performance levels, sometimes referred to as “achievement levels,” are the broad, categorical levels used to report student performance on an assessment, and the PLDs further describe what that performance means.

The draft grade- and subject-specific PLDs were informed by the College- and Career-Ready Determination Policy (CCRD) and Policy-Level Performance Level Descriptors (PLDs) adopted by the PARCC Governing Board and Advisory Committee on College Readiness (ACCR), which established five performance levels for the PARCC assessments.

The policy-level PLDs included policy claims, which describe the educational implications for students who attain a particular performance level on the PARCC assessments, as well as general content claims, which describe in broad terms the knowledge, skills, and practices students performing at a given performance level are able to demonstrate at any grade level.

These new draft grade- and subject-specific PLDs further articulate the knowledge, skills, and practices that students performing at a given level should be able to demonstrate in each content area at each grade level and to be on-track for college and career readiness.

“The draft PLDs are a collaborative product of K-12 and higher education content experts from across the PARCC states. An innovative approach was used to develop the PLDs,” said Dr. Maridyth McBee, Assistant Superintendent of Accountability and Assessment for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, who helped lead the development of the PLDs. “We eagerly anticipate the comments made by the public so that we can refine the PLDs.”

The PLDs will look different than from those in the past in order to accurately reflect the innovations in the Common Core State Standards. Like the standards, the ELA/Literacy PLDs place emphasis on a student’s ability to find text-based evidence for generalizations, conclusions or inferences drawn. The Mathematics PLDs emphasize the integration of mathematics content and practices.

Groups of PARCC stakeholders, including state leaders and K-12 and postsecondary content experts, served on writing panels over the past several months to develop the draft grade- and subject-specific PLDs.

Vinnie Segalini, ELA PLD Panelist and Office Director for English Language Arts at the Mississippi Department of Education, described the process in more detail. “The exciting part of the PLD process was to bring such a divergent group of people, including content specialists, assessment specialists, and classroom teachers, together for this project. We worked extremely hard to ensure that the Common Core State Standards were reflected in the PLDs in a holistic way.”

With the release of the PLDs to the field, K-12 educators will be able to better understand how students should be performing against the Common Core State Standards and eventually apply feedback from the PARCC assessments in their classrooms. Jessica Lavallee, ELA PLD Panelist and Elementary Intervention Specialist at the Providence School Department, commented, “In the PLDs, there is recognition of the variations in students’ level of command of the standards. A close look at the variations from level to level may help guide us in the development of rubrics to collaboratively study student work, to consider how student performance on a daily basis may be indicative of their performance on PARCC, and to develop appropriate scaffolds for students not yet meeting the standards.”

Furthermore, the PLDs provide yet another opportunity for both K-12 and higher education to come together to create an assessment that will serve the needs of educators in both sectors and show whether or not students are on-track to be college and career ready.

“In my estimation, the PLDs provide a useful tool to help teachers understand how PARCC will be interpreting the standards as they develop the assessment. Given that PARCC aims to serve as a demonstration of college and career readiness, I was glad to see PARCC include members of the higher education community throughout the process. Such a partnership continues to contribute to the overall quality and strength of PARCC,” said Dr. Ted Coe, Mathematics PLD Panelist and Chair of Scottsdale Community College Department of Mathematics.

Until May 8, 2013, the draft grade- and subject-specific PLDs are posted on the PARCC website. Interested parties can provide feedback through a survey posted on the PARCC website, answering questions specific to the PLDs for both ELA/literacy and mathematics.

All feedback will be reviewed by the state representatives and Achieve, PARCC’s project management partner. Revisions will be made accordingly. The PARCC Governing Board and Advisory Committee on College Readiness will vote on the adoption of the final PLDs during their joint session on June 26, 2013.

For more information, FAQs or to view the PLDs, visithttp://www.parcconline.org/ela-plds

and http://www.parcconline.org/math-plds

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Final Next Generation Science Standards Released

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ngssIn case you missed it, the final Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a new set of voluntary, rigorous, and internationally benchmarked standards for K-12 science education, have been released.

Twenty six states and their broad-based teams worked together for two years with a 41-member writing team and partners to develop the standards which identify science and engineering practices and content that all K-12 students should master in order to be fully prepared for college, careers and citizenship. The NGSS were built upon a vision for science education established by the Framework for K-12 Science Education, published by the National Academies’ National Research Council in 2011.

The lead state partners include Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.

“The NGSS aim to prepare students to be better decision makers about scientific and technical issues and to apply science to their daily lives. By blending core science knowledge with scientific practices, students are engaged in a more relevant context that deepens their understanding and helps them to build what they need to move forward with their education -whether that’s moving on to a four-year college or moving into post-secondary training,” said Matt Krehbeil, Science Education Program Consultant, of Kansas.

The creation of the NGSS was entirely state-driven, with no federal funds or incentives to create or adopt the standards. The process was primarily funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a leading philanthropy dedicated to improving science education in the U.S. The NGSS are grounded in a sound, evidence-based foundation of current scientific research-including research on the ways students learn science effectively-and identify the science all K-12 students should know.

“The Next Generation Science Standards are going to pull together inquiry and practice, and recognize the role of engineering. Pulling together the cross-cutting concepts is going to be a challenge, but it’s really effective pedagogy,” said Ellen Ebert, Washington State’s Director of Science for Teaching and Learning at the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. “In Washington State we’re looking at the NGSS to propel students into 21st century-we’re looking at college and career readiness. This is a real opportunity to help students see the potential of science in their lives.”

“The Next Generation of Science Standards promise to help students understand why is it that we have to know science and help them use scientific learning to develop critical thinking skills-which may be applied throughout their lives, no matter the topic. Today, students see science as simply a list of facts and ideas that they are expected to memorize. In contrast to that approach education researchers have learned, particularly in the last 15 to 20 years, that if we cover fewer ideas, but go into more depth, students come away with a much richer understanding. Unlike previous standards, where you have separation of inquiry and ideas that students should know, in the NGSS they are now together,” said Joseph S. Krajcik, Professor of Science Education in the College of Education at Michigan State University and a member of the writing team.

For more information, please visit: http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards

For commentary on the standards, please visit these links: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/04/09/28science_ep.h32.html?tkn=MNRFfFHQkhlEGl9Nb7fCNjDPZXx34QVP%2FORf&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/04/03/27camins.h32.html?tkn=WYUFFZq4kqp4kxL7s7ozrm7vnb6xF4rW03nK&cmp=clp-edweek

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Advanced Mathematics for All?

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AchieveMathematics education in the U.S. has always been a complicated issue: on the one hand, there is a general consensus that mathematics is a fundamental skill that all students should possess, yet there is also the common – and false – perception that not all students are “good at math” and that it is unfair to expect all kids to take advanced mathematics in order to graduate.

Michael Cohen, president of Achieve, told the Houston Chronicle earlier this month that “people worry that if you make kids take more rigorous math, then you’ll lose them.” But he also asked: “What kind of technical training doesn’t require some kind of advanced mathematics?” Studies have found that students who complete Algebra II in high school nearly double their chances of earning four-year college degrees. “It’s not like people made up the idea, ‘Let’s all take Algebra II for the fun of it.’ It was looking at what people do after they leave high school, what kind of education and training programs you want to prepare them for.”

It was, in part, the disconnect between what is expected of some kids compared to what should be expected of all kids that led Achieve to first create the Math Works resources back in 2008. The Math Works resources – a series of Mathematics at Work brochures, fact sheets and a white paper – make the case that advanced mathematics is important for all students, no matter what their plans are after high school. Students who take advanced math have better access to college in all forms, are more likely to earn a degree, earn higher salaries and are better prepared for the workplace.

Since their release in 2008, the Mathematics at Work brochures have been requested and shared with educators and district personnel from over 200 schools and districts across 48 states and DC, reaching well over 10,000 K-12 students, as well as with nearly 50 institutions of higher education and over 20 state-level agencies. The materials have been used with learners at all ages, from middle school students to adult education students, reinforcing the importance of mathematics for ALL students, regardless of age, zip code or background.

This week, Achieve released updated and revised brochures that now make the connection between middle skills jobs and the mathematics in the Common Core State Standards. The Mathematics at Work brochures present case studies drawn from leading industries nationwide, such as information technology, advanced manufacturing and healthcare. They provide concrete examples of how advanced math is applied in these jobs and identify the prerequisite mathematical skills needed to successfully enter these jobs. In healthcare, for example, radiographers rely on geometry, spatial relations, measurement, inverse laws and problem solving to produce CT images that will allow radiologists to properly diagnosis injury and illness. Importantly, all of the jobs highlighted in the brochures are accessible to high school graduates without a four-year college degree.

Achieve also updated the seven Math Works fact sheets exploring issues such as equity, career readiness, international competitiveness and the fourth year of mathematics.

To view the updated Math Works resources, please visit: http://www.achieve.org/Math-Works

For information on proposed changes to math standards in Texas:

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/No-Algebra-II-Great-for-students-terrible-for-4359906.php

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Should student essays be graded by computers?

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smarterbalancedThe issue of whether and how much computers should be responsible for student grading has been around for decades, but the recent advent of MOOCs and the upcoming implementation of Common Core tests has brought the issue to the forefront yet again.  One MOOC, edX, has recently developed software, which they will make available as freeware, that will grade student essays. edX argues that their new software is not only adequate, but that it will increase student learning because it will provide instant feedback on student essays, which will then encourage those students to rework their essays for re-submission.

Others, such as MIT researcher Les Perelman, are highly critical of computerized grading. Perelman has successfully written and tested several nonsensical essays which have been graded highly by some of the testing software. Those who agree with Perelman have recently founded a group, known as Professionals Against Machine Scoring Of Student Essays In High-Stakes Assessment, to protest computerized scoring of essays.

Most germane to K-12 education, however, is the news that Smarter Balanced and PARCC are both experimenting with computerized grading of essays in their tests leading up to Common Core implementation next school year:

Joe Willhoft, the executive director of SBAC, told Catherine Gewertz of Education Week in an email that written responses from students participating in the ongoing pilot tests will be hand-scored by the consortium’s contractor, with guidance from SBAC staff. The contractor will then use the scored responses to try to “train” artificial-intelligence software to score the papers.

Scoring, both human and artificial, will focus on three aspects of students’ writing, Willhoft explained: 1) overall organization and style (things like how well it’s written, whether the sentences are complete and coherent, and the voice and style appropriate) 2) conventions of the language, and 3) students’ use of evidence (whether the essay refers appropriately to the reading materials on which it is based). Based on what is known about computer scoring, he said, Smarter Balanced officials are more confident that it will succeed with conventions, organization, and style than with use of evidence.

They’ll divide the papers into two chunks: a training set and a validity set. Programmers will use the training set to teach the computerized scoring engine to replicate the human scores. They’ll use the validity set to see if the software actually replicates the human scores. With that feedback in hand, SBAC will get its arms around the reliability of computer scoring.

Educators, students, and parents may be willing to accept computerized grading for Common Core only if it is tested rigorously and proven to be legitimate, but MOOCs seem ready to move ahead with computerized grading right away.

For more information, please visit these two websites: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/science/new-test-for-computers-grading-essays-at-college-level.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2013/04/should_common_tests_use_computers_to_score_writing.html

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April Issue Brief: Common Core Implementation

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In Case You Missed It!Forty-five states, four territories, the District of Columbia and DoDEA are currently transitioning to full implementation of the Common Core State Standards. While some groups are further along than others, educators across the country are seeking high quality resources to facilitate this process.

In this month’s issue brief, we explore resources and information designed to support Common Core implementation. We’re interested in hearing about the resources, websites and tools that you have found to be most useful during this transition. Please respond to our call for commentary. We’d love to hear from you!

To check out this month’s newsletter and access resources on school leadership, please follow this link: http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=a4ae2b1b129b9f8a29d50b80f&id=82f07ccbb1&e=19cfa03b4e

To ensure you do not miss future issues, we encourage you to subscribe to the monthly newsletter by following this link: http://tinyurl.com/byje6b9

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Department of Education Letter Could Put Cracks in the Credit Hour

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Higher Education Initiative | Higher Ed Watch | NewAmerica.netIn an update to the story that this blog has been tracking for some time (see our two past blogs about this subject here and here), the US Department of Education has given its strongest confirmation yet that it is willing to embrace a model of judging educational progress and mastery that transcends the credit hour.

Higher Ed Watch recently released an article about the Department of Education letter that confirms the shift:

The U.S. Department of Education took a critical step forward today in moving towards a more flexible and innovative financial aid system-one that privileges (and pays for) learning, rather than time. In a letter… the Education Department let the world know not only that schools can award federal financial aid based on competency rather than seat time, but that the Department wants them to do so.

The shift by the Education Department toward accepting direct assessment began back in 2005 when Congress “created an alternative path allowing federal financial aid to be awarded to a program that ‘in lieu of credit hours or clock hours as the measure of student learning, utilizes direct assessment of student learning.’” Congress did this in large part to allow Western Governor’s University (WGU), which wanted to follow a model without the credit hour, to receive federal financial aid.

Ironically, WGU ended up opting to work with the Education Department to translate their model into a comparable credit hour system, but another university, Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), applied last fall to receive federal financial aid on the direct assessment model.

The letter from the Education Department not only confirms that SNHU’s petition will be granted, but also encourages more universities to follow the same model, despite making reference to what Amy Laitinen of Higher Ed Watch calls “potential, limitations, and unknowns” of the direct assessment model.

For more information, please visit the following website: http://higheredwatch.newamerica.net/blogposts/2013/new_department_of_education_letter_could_put_cracks_in_the_credit_hour-80998

And for a direct link to the Education Department’s letter, please follow this link: http://higheredwatch.newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/articles/DCL_DA_3.19.2013.pdf

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Amplify Insight to Create Digital Library of Common Core Teaching Materials

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smarterbalancedThe Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) announced the award of a contract to develop a Digital Library of formative assessment practices and professional learning resources for educators. Amplify Insight, formerly known as Wireless Generation, will work with Consortium member states and teachers to create professional development materials and instructional resources aligned to the Common Core State Standards and the Smarter Balanced assessment system.

Formative assessment is a critical component of the Smarter Balanced assessment system, which also includes a year-end summative assessment and interim assessments that can be used to monitor student progress throughout the year. Through an online Digital Library, teachers will have access to classroom-based, formative assessment strategies and practices that enhance day-to-day instruction. Also included will be resources to interpret and make use of the data and reports from the Smarter Balanced summative and interim assessments.

“Smarter Balanced is committed to providing resources and tools to help teachers become more effective in their real-time, classroom-based assessment activities to measure student acquisition of the Common Core State Standards,” said Joe Willhoft, Ph.D., executive director of Smarter Balanced. “Just as important, we believe that educators must be involved from the beginning to identify and vet formative assessment resources to ensure they meet the needs of classroom teachers.”

Amplify Insight will develop the technology platform for the Digital Library, inventory and create professional learning resources, develop instructional modules, and oversee educator engagement. In collaboration with member states, the contractor will convene state leadership teams charged with recruiting an average of a hundred educators from each Governing State to form state networks of educators. These educator teams will provide feedback on the development of formative assessment resources and professional learning tools created by the Consortium and submit additional resources for classroom use. The development of the formative assessment and professional learning resources will be guided by quality criteria established by an advisory panel with expertise in formative assessment practices, adult online professional learning, and quality instruction incorporating universal design for a range of diverse learners.

Amplify Insight was awarded this contract, valued at approximately $12.5 million, following a competitive procurement process overseen by the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. An evaluation committee composed of representatives from Smarter Balanced Governing States reviewed and scored the proposals.

More information on the Consortium’s procurement process-including the formative assessment RFP and the winning proposal-is available at: http://www.k12.wa.us/SMARTER/Jobs-Contracts.aspx

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