The Absurdity of Next-Gen Assessments
Li ke most teachers who have taught during the golden NCLB-era of American education, I have spent countless hours of my career analyzing graphs, tables and tiered diagrams of student data in order to make the “data-based” instructional decisions that are required of us.
Most of the time, our Pearson and/or McGraw-Hill analytics allow me to glean the following information about my students: most are average, a few are below (typically the ones who are already getting extra help), and a few are above.
Thank you very much for confirming that bell-curves exist and can I please go back to teaching now.
Now, of course, with the all-but-inevitable ESEA reauthorization waiting in the wings and the “innovation” (read: corporate welfare) it promises, testing and tech companies are promising to deliver products that will give us real-timestudent data.
Thanks to the new, embedded, competency-based assessments developed by our favorite testing companies and brought to our states through The Absurdity of Next-Gen Assessments | Save Maine Schools: