ERIC EJ1148465: Identity Affirmed, Agency Engaged: Culturally Responsive Performance-Based Assessment

2017·0.3 MB·English

by  ERIC

Identity Affirmed, Agency Engaged: Culturally
Responsive Performance-Based Assessment
Ricardo Rosa
Performance assessments must be Ia m not comfortable with categories
culturally responsive in order to truly of identity because I have witnessed
the way that they are utilized to
serve the needs of students from all
arrest the mind, detain the spirit, and
backgrounds.
even liquidate a people. Moving
To be hopeful in bad times is not just through the discomfort, I have come to
foolishly romantic . . . If we see only embrace an identity as an “activist-
the worst, it destroys our capacity to scholar” or “scholar-activist” and to
do something. (Zinn 2004) realize that identity is always a process
of negotiation between how we see
ourselves and how we are seen.
Ricardo Rosa is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University
of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
VUE 2017, no. 46 55
For the past few years, I have been simultaneously struggle against
active in the resistance against high- oppressive measures while elevating
stakes standardized testing. I have liberatory practices. To paraphrase
always been vocal and have signed Eleanor Roosevelt, I hope to join forces
letters against the misuse and abuse of with those who are lighting candles
standardized testing. This defiance was and not just cursing the darkness.
triggered by the pressures placed on my
A great deal has already been stated
son to take the Massachusetts Compre-
about performance-based assessments
hensive Assessment System (MCAS)
in this issue. It has been defined in
standardized test, despite the onset of
various ways and examples have been
the flu. As I said then, and as I con-
shared. I wish to engage the topic from
tinue to believe, my children are not
a different angle. W. E. B. Du Bois once
my only concern. The regime of
asserted, in light of a great deal of
high-stakes testing is deeply disturbing
“ dialogue regarding systemic attacks on
people of color, that “a system cannot
fail those it was never meant to
protect.” If we begin, as I do, from the
Institutions, including schools, are designed
perspective that institutions, including
schools, are designed in the image and
in the image and interests of“ those who rule,
interests of those who rule, we must be
so we must be very cautious about recreating very cautious about re-creating an
educational reform environment
an educational reform environment where where people of color and the poor
will continue to be marginalized. If
people of color and the poor will continue to performance-based assessment is
considered in the same frame as
be marginalized. current testing regimes, which is
entirely possible, it becomes just
another reform fad (I don’t mean
to suggest that performance-based
assessment is a new one) that
re-inscribes the power of systems of
and inhumane for all. Educators
categorization and the conferring of
standing before students and communi-
rewards to those who are already
ties touting the virtues of these tests
materially, racially, and culturally
should be ashamed. And if they are
privileged. From this perspective,
aware that they are wrong but remain
performance-based assessments
silent, they are complicit in educational
become another repressive surveillance
malpractice.
technique in the lives of children and
Since then, I have organized commu- adolescents. The point is to expand
nity forums to translate educational performance-based assessment by
research to the lay public and to rethinking its boundaries. We need to
advocate for those who choose to opt appropriate it and simultaneously
out of high-stakes testing. I have been remake it so that it’s not a space of
active in local, regional, and national colonization, a practice of arresting
organizations contesting not only the minds through curricular and social
test but, more broadly, the corporate control, but a space that allows us to
agenda in education. I seek deeper speak and act beyond the boundaries
thought about what is possible, to of domination.
56 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
These assessments remind me of the impulsive. If she sees something in the
story of Amira,1 a six-year-old first- room that she wants, she immediately
grader who immigrated to the United attempts to retrieve it. Several teachers
States in September 2016 and now have claimed that she likely has a
attends a public school in a Massachu- neurological disorder and perhaps a
setts school district. I came to know dis/ability related to motor develop-
her story through conversations with a ment, because of her inability to hold
refugee resettlement social worker, a scissors and appropriately cut paper.
school official involved in her case, and Part of the problem, it seems, is that
my own research. She was born in her teacher is frustrated about not
Syria under conditions that can only be being able to communicate fluently
described as an epic tragedy. Her with her, given that her native language
family fled to a refugee camp in Jordan is Arabic.
when she was three, and they were on
Teachers around Amira did not take
a waiting list for asylum for three
the time to inquire about her history.
years. The refugee camp from which
Had they explored her background,
Amira hails is widely considered
they would have understood that the
dangerous, with conditions that are
political, economic, and social condi-
especially precarious for women and
tions that she was exposed to would be
children, including frequent alterca-
disabling for anyone.
tions, sexual assault, and a general lack
of safety. Medical services were Her rate of English acquisition from
provided only at the very basic level, September to November 2016, despite
and low-quality food triggered addi- never having access to formal school-
tional health care concerns while ing, was spectacular. She could
Amira was in the camp. At an early articulate primary colors, numbers,
age, she witnessed a large number of clothing items, and simple sentences in
civilian casualties and experienced the English. The greatest evidence of her
constant state of panic related to intellectual acquisition and cultural
indiscriminate bombings. Her parents immersion came in October, when she
also witnessed these horrific scenes and learned words such as pumpkin,
suffered greatly as a result of U.S.-led Jack-o’-lantern, and Halloween. After
sanctions against the Assad govern- hearing that several teachers had
ment. Amira did not have access to a concerns about her progress, her
normative school while in the refugee parents were quite surprised. They felt
camp. that she was making outstanding
progress with her acquisition of
Teachers at Amira’s new school have
English. In addition, she has gradually
noticed that when she transitions from
learned to refrain from leaning and
the classroom to any area of the
brushing against walls, yet it seemed
building, she leans and brushes against
that the school’s narrative of this
walls. She’s likely exploring her
behavior did not change.
environment and sensing the difference
between leaning and brushing against a Amira was, in fact, engaged in a
tent (a common past behavior in the natural process of cross-cultural
only dwelling she has known) and a scaffolding that invariably incorpo-
more durable surface. She has difficulty rated theorizing her relationship to her
walking in straight lines. She constantly new environment. She observed a
wanders about the classroom and has classroom alive with color and ma-
been described by her teacher as nipulatives. The disposition of the
room invited exploration, and she
seized it. These are luxuries that were
1 Amira is a pseudonym.
Ricardo Rosa VUE 2017, no. 46 57
non-existent in the refugee camp. The social, political, and economic context
problem was that her teacher and the from which the child is coming. It is
organizational behavior of the school also important to understand that this
was fraught with structures, routines, assessment should be perpetual. Amira,
and schedules. Her exploration had to for example, is dealing with another set
be pursued within the context of that of challenges related to her refugee
structure and culture of efficiency. And, status in a political environment that
of course, the culture of efficiency demands her erasure. She may not have
militated against the development of a a language to name the condition and
strong presence of mind with regards experiences, but then again, many
to cultural difference. By “difference,” adults are unable to articulate it as
I am not suggesting that the analytical well. What responsibility do we bear to
focus be placed solely on Amira’s life identify and address the multiple
history, but also on the ways in which challenges that students like Amira
our own cultural conditions get so face, through structural and political
normalized that the assumption barriers that our systems set up?
becomes that this is the correct
Performance or portfolio-based
standard by which all others should be
assessments, seamlessly integrated into
measured. Amira was, in short, not
curriculum and instruction and
atypical given her history and the
offering learners and educators plenty
contexts she was navigating.
of opportunities to self-reflect, are
A more flexible, culturally responsive decidedly powerful. The example of
system of assessment could have the New York Performance Standards
captured Amira’s progress and encour- Consortium is perhaps the best
aged her to continue to heal and learn. illustration (see article by Robinson
If the organizing principle behind and Cook in this issue). Yet
performance-based assessments solely learning outcomes are not the only
concerns an evaluation of the student positive aspect of these assessments.
in relation to a set of predetermined Performance-based assessments, at
standards, many children like Amira their best, assist us in the reconnection
will be at a disadvantage. Students who with youth and their full being.
are indigenous, African-American, Scholar-activist Vajra Watson has
immigrant, LGBTQI, and dis/abled (to been able to pair educators with
name a few markers) will be subjected community-based spoken-word artists
to a process that requires them to through processes that allowed
adopt values and dispositions that educators to develop a greater presence
negate their own identities. Amira’s of mind about the material conditions
story is a testament to the fact that of students and their cultural contexts
children and adolescents are perpetu- (Watson 2013). This example of a
ally engaged in theory outside of the community-based professional devel-
boundaries of what teachers might opment of teachers has expanded to
deem performance-based assessment. include multiple classrooms in multiple
She was engrossed in imaginative play schools in Sacramento, California.
and creating her own experiential
Performance-based assessments are not
curriculum at the boundaries of
only necessary for engaged teaching
cross-cultural contact.
and learning; they are imperative for
It is therefore imperative that we life in any society committed to the
continually assess and reflect on how ongoing democratization of civil
our objectives, outcomes, and forms of society. They are essentially about
evaluation relate to or negate the building the dispositions and human
history of the child and the cultural, connections essential to deep democracy.
58 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Schools tend to be highly undemocratic family’s movement is a first step. And
spheres where various oppressive this kind of mapping activity can
ideologies converge. A democratic involve a wide range of competencies:
political system cannot come to fruition math, language arts, art, science, and
if the institutions of that society are geography.
undemocratic, anti-democratic, or fail
If performance-based assessment is
to (re)create the structures and condi-
going to be of deep value, it must
tions that lead to further democratization.
integrate not only the ordinary stuff of
Democracy flourishes when democratic
curriculum, but also the extraordinary
cultures are the norm. Performance-
as exemplified by life histories like
based assessment, pursued correctly, is
Amira’s – and the extraordinary is all
not just a technique or routine, but
around us. Teachers must learn to see
essentially a way of being that allows
what’s there, what’s not there, and
democracy to be lived on the bones.
theorize what should be there. Whose
To be more vigorous, however, perfor- knowledge and experience are licensed
mance assessments must be critical in a in the very formation, implementation,
dual manner: in the sense of provoking and development of the assessment?
imagination and in unmasking and What are the rules of power circulated
intervening in relations of power. In the organizationally that privilege some
case of Amira, deeper reflection on the and marginalize others? What are the
part of teachers concerning the relationships between the material
relationship between knowledge and conditions in which youth live and
power could have unfolded. Why were performance?
teachers seeing some of her actions as
How might a deeper understanding of
deficits instead of consciously searching
these asymmetries provoke a more
for the ways that she negotiated the
thoughtful approach to performance-
adjustment to a new social situation?
based assessment? How do ideas about
Meaningful exchanges with Amira,
students’ cognitive or motivational
perhaps recorded to allow teachers to
“deficiencies” and family or cultural
iteratively analyze her meaning-making
deficits factor into the ways in which
process, might have led to an under-
we (re)construct these assessments? We
standing that strengths were being
must be provoked to a presence of
exhibited and that those strengths
mind or an ethnographic eye/I (Ellis
should be integrated into formal
2003) where every uncovering of what
assessment.
students truly know is also an unravel-
Greater thought could also be given to ing of the boundaries of our own
Amira’s current experiences, and identities, knowledge, and comfort. If
formal lessons and assessments might what we are looking for in perfor-
be designed on virtually any topic in mance based assessment is validation
order to expose academic content while of our own ways of seeing and being,
allowing her to further explore her what we are in fact reproducing is
conditions. For example, her story of cultural oppression.
geographic movement and space is
Performance-based assessment is
critical to her; how might her teacher
unquestionably superior to the instru-
utilize this knowledge to help her
mental rationality of high-stakes
arrive at a greater understanding of her
standardized testing and the audit
story? Knowing, accepting, and
culture that testing regimes inspire. It is
understanding our stories are funda-
more likely to engender opportunities
mental acts in acquiring power. A
to witness the un-measureable: vision,
simple introduction to a world map
imagination, and compassion. But it
that allows her to understand her
Ricardo Rosa VUE 2017, no. 46 59
must also invite students like Amira The school has also organized protests
into a culture of questioning in which against budget cuts. Students were not
her identity is fully embraced and being prepared for life in a democracy
where she is able to find a way to chan- in some distant future; they were living
nel her learning and emotions into democracy in the moment. And,
positive projects that allow her to be a contrary to popular belief, standard-
subject of history and not an object to ized test scores did not suffer. In fact,
be worked on. It must minimize the the school has one of the highest
distance between learning and every- performance rates on standardized
day life – a gap so often dismissed in tests in the district.
schooling. It must be critical in
Even within the context of testing
stimulating engaged learning, and it
regimes, the opportunities for a more
must be critical in provoking social
hopeful education are abundant. But if
agency.
performance-based assessment is going
Plenty of examples of performance- to be of any value, it must be situated
based assessments exist. The key, I within a comprehensive process that
suspect, is not to pursue it as a method, animates educators to move beyond
but as a process that is always defined our own comfort zones and assist us in
contextually. Each school, community, being more self-reflective, equity
and socio-historical context provides minded, and socially engaged.
unique opportunities to re-imagine
these assessments and curriculum/
instruction more broadly. For example,
REFERENCES
I have spent significant time at a school
in the South Bronx called The Corner-
Ellis, C. 2003. The Ethnographic I:
stone Academy for Social Action.2 The
A Methodological Novel about
school has been incredibly effective at
Autoethnography. Lanham, MD:
examining poverty across the curricu-
Alta Mira Press.
lum. In my last visit, I witnessed a
breathtaking discussion between Watson, V. 2013. “Censoring Freedom:
seventh graders on James McBride’s Community-Based Professional Develop-
The Color of Water. It reminded me of ment and the Politics of Profanity,” Equity
my own time as a student in doctoral & Excellence in Education 46, no.
seminars; the discussion was just as 3:387–410.
intense.
Zinn, H. 2004. “The Optimism of
At the end of the series of lessons Uncertainty,” The Nation (September 2).
across subject areas, students spent https://www.thenation.com/article/
time creating hip-hop videos and art as optimism-uncertainty/.
a culminating assessment. The Bronx,
of course, was the birthplace of
hip-hop, so the connection to context
was powerful! Furthermore, the staff
and students have organized marches
to protest community-based traumas
such as the news of a grand jury’s
decision not to indict a police officer in
the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.
2 See http://www.casamiddleschool.org/.
60 Annenberg Institute for School Reform