ERIC EJ1148608: The Future Is Performance Assessment

2017·0.37 MB·English

by  ERIC

The Future Is Performance Assessment
Dan French
Feedback from students and teachers shows performance assessment’s potential for improving
teaching and learning and better preparing all students for college, career, and life.
[I excelled in] classes at college We are at a propitious time in
where there were required presenta- education in the United States.
tions or exhibitions, because at The Every Student Succeeds
Fenway the science fair, or your Act (ESSA) provides a window of
Junior Review, or your senior opportunity to re-examine what our
projects, all of these required you to accountability systems should look like
stand in front of an audience and
in the future, a future that looks quite
talk about what you had learned, to
different from fifteen years ago, when
put it into practice in front of a
the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
group of people who are assessing
was enacted. At that time, NCLB and
you. (George, Fenway High School
standardized testing cast a new
graduate, quoted in Gagnon 2010,
spotlight on achievement disparities by
p. 27)
Dan French is the executive director of the Center for Collaborative Education.
6 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
group, a significant development that should prepare students to be contribut-
brought rampant opportunity inequities ing members of a democratic society.
to the fore. Eleonora Villegas-Reimers (2002) notes,
“Citizens must develop democratic
In retrospect, there were far more
abilities and skills, moral values that
shortcomings to NCLB than benefits.
reflect democratic ideals and principles,
Despite the focus on group performance,
motivation to get involved and act, and
standardized testing has done little to
knowledge of democracy, its principles
close yawning achievement gaps based
and practices” (pp. 1–2). She describes
on race, income, language, and disability.
the democratic values citizens must
Too often – particularly in districts with
learn: “respect and tolerance (both
high percentages of low-income students,
individual and political), responsibility,
students of color, and English language
integrity, self-discipline, justice, freedom,
learners – schools narrowed the curricu-
and human rights” (p. 3).
lum and focused on test-taking in order
to boost test scores and avoid the Measuring these outcomes is far beyond
punitive labels of being a low-perform- the scope of a standardized test. This is
ing school (Pedulla et al. 2003; Crocco where performance assessment enters
& Costigan 2007; Darling-Hammond the picture. The Center for Collabora-
2007). External test-making companies tive Education (CCE) defines
created standardized tests that were high-quality performance assessments as
often divorced from the curriculum, “multi-step assignments with clear
leading to hours lost from learning due criteria, expectations and processes that
to test-prep and test-taking while doing measure how well a student transfers
little to build teacher capacity to truly knowledge and applies complex skills to
assess student learning. create or refine an original product”
(CCE 2017). For example, a task created
by a New Hampshire tenth-grade
A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY:
science teacher to assess students’
THE CASE FOR PERFORMANCE knowledge of cause and effect required
ASSESSMENTS students to create a simple machine with
a predicted measurable outcome. A
Assessments should test what is most
proficient response to the task must have
important. David Conley (2012) found
a testable hypothesis, a detailed visual
that, in addition to content knowledge,
representation, and a plan that accounts
colleges seek high school graduates who
for all the major principles involved
have intentional patterns of thinking,
with an investigation to determine the
ownership of their learning, and the
work completed, efficiency, and mechan-
ability to adapt to unpredictable change.
ical advantage of the machine. Similarly,
A 2003 poll for the Association for
a science task designed to assess fourth-
American Colleges and Universities
grade students’ understanding of the
found that more than 75 percent of
properties of energy requires students to
employers felt that colleges should
construct a solar cooker that increases
“place more emphasis on helping
the temperature by a certain number of
students develop key learning outcomes,
degrees by developing and testing
including: critical thinking, complex
prototypes, and then analyzing and
problem-solving, written and oral
reporting on their data.
communication, and applied knowledge
in real-world settings” (Hart Research Multiple researchers have found that
Associates 2013, p. 1). well-constructed performance assess-
ments are better able to measure
Most important, though, is the funda-
higher-order thinking skills while accom-
mental premise that public education
modating a wider variety of learning
Dan French VUE 2017, no. 46 7
styles than standardized tests (Darling- schools where performance assess-
Hammond & Pecheone 2009; Niemi, ments were a cornerstone, asking the
Baker & Sylvester 2007; Wood, simple question: “How did attending a
Darling-Hammond & Neill 2007). performance assessment school help or
While changes may be imminent under hinder you?” Almost unanimously,
the new federal administration, the graduates reported that performance
current ESSA provides new opportuni- assessments had helped them better
ties for performance assessment to navigate college, career, and life by
assume a larger role in state account- teaching them how to problem solve,
ability models. States are now required collaborate, and analyze (Gagnon
to use three academic indicators – per- 2010).
formance on state tests, English
When it came down to writing
language proficiency, and a third
research papers and any paper
indicator of the state’s choice. In
academically, I thought that Fenway
addition, section 1204 enables up to
really did prepare me to write those
seven states to receive approval to
papers. . . . [Fenway] always talked
create and use local assessments,
to you about your PERCS [Perspec-
similar to New Hampshire’s PACE
tive, Evidence, Relevance,
initiative.1
Connections, Supposition], . . . and
so, in my [college] papers, I always
“
went back to that. Whose perspec-
tive is this from? What’s the
relevance? What’s the evidence?
“[Performance assessment] forced me to (Lisa, Fenway High School graduate,
quoted in Gagnon 2010, p. 20)
collaborate with different people, different
Engaging in curriculum-embedded
writing styles, different thinkin“g styles. performance assessments developed
students’ skills in collaboration and
And it really prepared you for a lot of things thinking in new ways:
It forced me to go outside of my
that you’ll do later on in life.”
comfort zone. It forced me to
collaborate with different people,
—Janelle, Boston Arts Academy graduate
different writing styles, different
thinking styles. And it really pre-
pared you for a lot of things that
you’ll do later on in life and later on
in different work situations. (Janelle,
Boston Arts Academy graduate,
p. 26)
Student voices
Performance assessments enabled
Perhaps the best evidence that perfor- teachers to better differentiate instruc-
mance assessments make a difference tion based on how individual students
comes from students themselves. In learn best:
2010, CCE researchers interviewed
You can’t learn everything in a book.
more than ninety former students who
We had many different types of
had graduated from three Boston pilot
learning. We’d read a book, but then
we’d do a lot of different projects.
1 For more on PACE, see the article by
(Aaron, Fenway High School
Marion, Vander Els, and Leather in
this issue. graduate, p. 1)
8 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Most importantly, performance Much like anyone gaining proficiency
assessments built students’ capacity to in new understandings and skills,
learn and think: teachers benefit from being introduced
to specific tools and professional
You see what you’ve done wrong,
development opportunities in learning
what you need to do to improve.
how to build a quality performance
With RICO [Refine, Invent, Connect,
assessment system. CCE’s Quality
Own], [you] look back at what
Performance Assessment (QPA)
you’ve done, understand the mis-
program provides teachers with
takes that you made and all the
protocols and tools to engage in
things that you’ve accomplished
discourse and accompanying profes-
and show what you want to do for
sional development to learn and
next year to change for the better.
practice these skills, which include:
(Damian, Boston Arts Academy
graduate, p. 15) • a performance assessment
curriculum planning template
to assist a teacher team to
Teachers at the center
collaboratively create a high-quality
Moving toward a school, district, or curriculum-embedded performance
state accountability system in which task;
performance assessment is the predom-
• an assessment validation checklist
inant means of determining student
used by an educator team to assess
proficiency is foremost about returning
whether a draft task meets the
teachers to the center of assessment
multiple requirements to be
systems, which is where they belong.
considered valid; and
After all, teachers have always created
formative and summative assessments • a calibration protocol to assist
for their curriculum. However, within teacher teams to learn the process of
a performance assessment system, reliably scoring student work.2
teachers must be able to create valid
Such processes lead teachers to reflect
curriculum-embedded performance
and improve upon their work, as a
assessments that measure and predict
teacher participating in a year-long
student acquisition of the intended
Qualitative Performance Assessment
knowledge or skill. Teachers need to
(QPA) Institute reflected:
score the resulting student work
reliably to ensure comparability of It’s important to recognize that
scoring within and across schools. through this process I see people
Doing so ensures that the tasks actually going back and revising after the
measure student performance on the project, versus just walking away
intended standards and that teachers and saying, “Oh yeah, next year I
have a shared understanding of what should do this.” There’s that
constitutes proficient student work. additional step of reflecting on your
Teacher-driven performance assess- own teaching.
ments, then, become a growth
Another QPA Institute teacher noted
opportunity for teachers to improve
the change in teacher collaboration
their craft through collaboration with
other teachers, while also leading to
richer learning experiences for students.
2 For more on QPA, including resources
and tools, see http://cce.org/work/
instruction-assessment/quality-
performance-assessment/.
Dan French VUE 2017, no. 46 9
through the use of tools such as the We also have a more refined idea of
calibration protocol,3 which gives how to create performance assessment
teachers a sense of unity on what initiatives at scale, based on lessons of
constitutes quality work: prior, often short-lived efforts. A CCE
study reviewed seven different perfor-
Teams have really bought into the
mance assessment scale-up efforts both
process and started to use the tools
within and outside the United States,
to analyze their assessments, really
many occurring before NCLB in the
taking student work and reflecting
late 1980s and early 1990s (Tung &
back to the assessment task and the
Stazesky 2010). The study identified
rubric, asking, “Did we truly assess
three critical cornerstones as essential
what we meant to assess?” So they
for successful performance assessment
went through the [calibration
scale-up initiatives:
protocol the] first time and realized,
“Wait a minute, that’s not really what • robust, sustained professional
we were wanting to assess, but that’s development to build teacher
what the students perceived. How do capacity to create high-quality,
we then get to where we want to be curriculum-embedded performance
with this assessment?” assessments;
As teachers experience the cycle of task • technical quality to ensure that
creation, validation, administration, performance tasks are valid and
and calibration multiple times, they student work is scored reliably; and
build the capacity to become perfor-
• political leadership and policy
mance assessment teacher leaders, as
support that enables performance
another QPA Institute teacher noted:
assessment initiatives to be successful
“I have become more purposeful and
and sustaining.
mindful about what it is that I’m really
assessing.” Emerging examples of new perfor-
mance assessment initiatives take into
account past lessons, many of which
THE FUTURE OF
are discussed in this issue. Several
ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS
initiatives are taking root at the state
As more people question the value of level, including: the longest-standing
standardized testing, the public initiative, the New York Performance
appetite for a change in the account- Standards Consortium; New Hamp-
ability system grows. A 2016 national shire’s Performance Assessment for
survey found that “voters consider Competency Education; and the
standardized tests the least important Massachusetts Consortium for Innova-
factor in measuring the performance of tive Education Assessment.4 National
students,” preferring instead to have a efforts include the Assessment for
multiple-measures data dashboard of Learning Project from the Center for
student progress (McLaughlin &
Associates 2016). In an annual nation-
3 In this process, teachers individually
al poll on attitudes toward public
score a piece of student work using
schools, 64 percent of respondents a common rubric. They then share their
stated there was too much emphasis on scores for each rubric section, discuss
score differences and the reasoning behind
testing, and testing was ranked dead
scoring decisions, and seek to gain
last on a list of what is most important
consensus on a uniform set of scores.
as a strategy for improving public 4 See articles in this issue by Robinson and
schools (PDK International 2015). Cook; Marion, Vander Els, and Leather;
and Kelly and Fearing, respectively.
10 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Innovation in Education and Next a measure of student learning has
Generation Learning Challenges.5 equity at its center, with the goal of
enabling a greater diversity of students
The benefits of creating performance
to demonstrate proficiency in what
assessment accountability systems are
they know and are able to do.
clear. As described by Tung and
Stazesky (2010): More research is needed on the impact
of performance assessments on student
Not only did teachers’ knowledge
learning. But with an ever-diversifying
and understanding of assessment
student enrollment, why wouldn’t we
improve through the use of perfor-
go down the path of promise rather
mance assessments in their
than continue to use a system that
classrooms, but . . . this work led to
suppresses creative learning and
improvements in their instruction
perpetuates wide gaps in achievement
and curriculum. . . . In addition,
by group?
teachers reported improved collegial-
ity in their buildings due to the
conversations and sharing encour-
aged by the use of performance REFERENCES
assessments. . . . Finally, most of the
scale-up efforts showed improve- Center for Collaborative Education. 2017.
ment in technical quality over time. . “Quality Performance Assessment,” Center
. . These initiatives showed that for Collaborative Education website,
technical quality can improve in the https://goo.gl/CPt2f9.
course of a few years, and that once
Conley, D. 2012. A Complete Definition of
teachers begin to understand and use
College and Career Readiness. Eugene, OR:
performance assessments, their
Educational Policy Improvement Center,
enthusiasm for them increases.
http://www.epiconline.org/ccr-definition/.
(p. 42)
Crocco, M. S., and A. T. Costigan. 2007.
While some may claim that there is not
“The Narrowing of Curriculum and
yet compelling evidence that perfor-
Pedagogy in the Age of Accountability:
mance assessment systems are more
Urban Educators Speak Out,” Urban
effective than standardized tests in
Education 42, no. 6:512–35.
improving student learning and closing
achievement gaps, consider that fifteen Darling-Hammond, L. 2007. “Race,
years of NCLB has done little to close Inequality and Educational Accountability:
achievement gaps (Reardon et al. The Irony of ‘No Child Left Behind,’” Race
2013) and in fact has had the deleteri- Ethnicity and Education 10, no. 3:245–60.
ous effects of narrowing curriculum,
Darling-Hammond, L., and R. L. Pecheone.
promoting teaching-to-the-test, and
2009. “Reframing Accountability: Using
punishing rather than supporting
Performance Assessments to Focus
schools. On the other hand, perfor-
Learning on Higher-Order Skills,” in
mance assessment systems have
Meaningful Measurement: The Role of
demonstrated early evidence of
Assessments in Improving High School
improving both instructional practice
Education in the Twenty-First Century,
and student learning – particularly of
edited by L. M. Pinkus. Washington, DC:
higher-order thinking skills, a necessary
Alliance for Excellent Education.
currency for today’s graduates. Transi-
tioning to performance assessments as Gagnon, L. 2010. Ready for the Future: The
Role of Performance Assessments in Shaping
5 See article in this issue by Sang Graduates’ Academic, Professional, and
and Worchel.
Dan French VUE 2017, no. 46 11
Personal Lives. Boston: Center for Collab- Reardon, S. F., E. H. Greenberg, D.
orative Education. Kalogrides, K. A. Shores, and R. A.
Valentino. 2013. Left Behind? The Effect of
Hart Research Associates. 2013. It Takes
No Child Left Behind on Academic
More than a Major: Employer Priorities for
Achievement Gaps. Stanford, CA: Stanford
College Learning and Student Success.
Center for Education Policy Analysis.
Washington, DC: Association of American
Colleges and Universities. https://goo.gl/ Tung, R., and P. Stazesky. 2010. Including
SHCfiW. Performance Assessments in Accountability
Systems: A Review of Scale-Up Efforts.
Niemi, D., E. L. Baker, and R. M. Sylvester.
Boston, MA: Center for Collaborative
2007. “Scaling Up, Scaling Down: Seven
Education.
Years of Performance Assessment Develop-
ment in the Nation’s Second Largest School Villegas-Reimers, E. 2002. “Education for
District,” Educational Assessment 12, no. Democracy,” ReVista: Harvard Review of
3–4:195–214. Latin America 2, no. 1:36–38, https://goo.
gl/AkPPXE.
McLaughlin & Associates. 2016. National
Survey of Voter Views on Standardized Tests Wood, G. H., L. Darling-Hammond, and
and School Closure. Washington, DC: M. Neill. 2007. “Refocusing Accountabil-
PublicSchoolOptions.org. ity: Using Performance Assessments to
Enhance Teaching and Learning for Higher
PDK International. 2015. “PDK/Gallup
Order Skills.” Briefing paper prepared for
Poll of the Public’s Attitudes towards Public
members of the U.S. Congress (May 16),
Schools,” http://pdkpoll.pdkintl.org.
https://goo.gl/hlLgfm.
Pedulla, J., L. Abrams, G. Madaus, M.
Russell, M. Ramos, and J. Miao. 2003.
Perceived Effects of State-Mandated Testing
Programs on Teaching and Learning:
Findings from a National Survey of Teachers.
Boston, MA: National Board on Educa-
tional Testing and Public Policy.
12 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
A FOUNDATION’S VIEW ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PERFORMANCE
ASSESSMENT
Nick C. Donohue
Nick C. Donohue is the president and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation.
Over the last year, I have witnessed a significant increase in interest, energy, and investment in student-
centered learning, which is defined by:
• more personalized learning experiences that meet learners where they are and in terms of who they
are, not where or whom we wish they were;
• competency-, mastery-, or proficiency-based approaches that demand firm foundations of learning
before moving forward to other learning challenges;
• anywhere, anytime learning that honors achievements made in a classroom, online, or in the real
world; and
• strong student agency, where learners have a real voice in collaboration with their teachers.
In a future world of diverse student-centered educational experiences guided by these principles, it is crucial
to continually assess learning, which is why advocates of new approaches to learning must support
advances in performance-based assessments and educational accountability. Quality approaches to
accountability balance intrinsic motivators for adults and schools such as supporting professional judgment,
autonomy, and growth, and extrinsic ones such as student outcomes on tests; failure comes when one
dominates over the other. Of course, it is not wise to simply ask educators to affirm their own excellence,
but an external measure that makes no sense to practitioners will be rejected as not relevant. If we want to
hold teachers and students accountable, then we need to make the evidence on which they are judged
more legitimate. The good news is that ESSA includes provisions for furthering these more rational
accountability approaches, largely because states such as New Hampshire and others are demonstrating
that systems that include locally developed performance assessments are viable, reliable, and valid.
In addition, those of us clamoring for a revolution in learning must work to change the way we treat
educators and support more rational approaches to teacher effectiveness. We need to be allies in support-
ing educators just as we aspire to support learners. In a student-centered world, we need to value how well
educators know their students. Moving forward, teachers need training and professional development to
execute strong formative assessments rooted in developmental theory. Teachers will need to be given time
and support to collaborate – not just communicate – with parents and other agents of learning. Advocates
for a big change in learning should not only care about better supports for teachers but listen to teachers as
they develop and implement important ideas about the future of teaching and learning.
VUE 2017, no. 46 13