Best Questions: Assessment
Despite the rumors, school improvement is hard. It’s not about a single passionate leader. It’s not about “fixing” teachers and teaching or parents and parenting. It’s not about poverty. It’s not about money. And it’s not about standards. It’s about all of them. And more.
In this column, I’ll take on the real deal of school improvement—for all schools, not just certain kinds. And for all kids. Because it’s not about quick fixes or checking off the instant strategy of the moment. It’s about saying, “Yes, and…”, not “Yes, but…” no matter what our circumstances are. It’s about asking ourselves the best questions.
I’ve been working within ASCD’s Whole Child Initiative for five years or so and on issues related to a whole child approach to education for nearly twenty years. In that time I’ve heard all the comments about whole child education being anti-assessment and anti-rigor, and I usually counter with the dangers of academic pity that a
