Blogs on Comprehensive Assessment

Welcome back to our series on becoming a 21st century school or district. For the earlier installments of this series, please scroll to the bottom of this page.

We often get asked to show folks what 21st century skills can look like in the classroom. Here is a video from the Pearson Foundation focused on High Tech High in San Diego.

As much as I love testing, I can't help feeling that the state testing programs -- on which each state spends millions of dollars -- do not really help the students. It's not that they aren't designed well, nor is it that they are too difficult or too long. The reason they do little to help students is the turn-around time.

When children look under the hood of a car, their perspective is one of pure curiosity. They immediately want to identify the parts, find out the location of major features, start to ask questions about how the various elements work together, and search to understand the organization of the car as a whole.

The High Cost of Over-Packed Curriculum Standards

For 21st century success, students will need skill sets far beyond those that are mandated in the densely packed standards -- and that's evaluated on bubble tests. In the near future, success will depend on accelerated rates of information acquisition. And we need to help students develop the skill sets to analyze new information as it becomes available, to flexibly adapt when facts are revised, and to be technologically fluent (as new technology becomes available). Success will also depend upon one's ability to collaborate and communicate with others on a global playing field -- with a balance of open-mindedness, foundational knowledge, and critical analysis skills so they can make complex decisions using new and changing information.