Ed Reform Archives - Page 3 of 5

KNOWLEDGE is POWER. There. I said it.

KNOWLEDGE get a bad rap. In this information age, the assumption is that knowledge is readily accessible, reliable, and palatable. It is crucial that we embrace the fact that accessible knowledge and usable knowledge are not the same. Not even close. I am not big on analogies, but the difference between having access to knowledge and knowing something is like the difference between having access to water and having plumbing. Big difference.

We must separate opportunity from action. Availability is an opportunity to know. Action is required for knowledge to be usable. And guess what? It takes effort.

When we were in grade school, the people in charge required us to memorize and regurgitate. Remember that? They could require it of us. They could judge us based on our efforts and the quality of our outputs. We did not like having to give attention to things that did not interest us, devoting strategic resources to the remembering of basic knowledge. We could have just looked it up. In the end, what did we learn? Recognizing that the taskmaster is in some role of power does not mean that the tasks are meaningless and serve no purpose.

A lot, actually. And we need to admit that. We learned more than just the information.
We learned methods of getting information into our minds permanently (we can debate the quality and permanence of memory another time). Our brains participated in necessary operations to prepare itself for future (more important and potentially relevant) activity. Sometimes (all the time), we ought to stop and consider the unknown influence of learning activities as we critique the explicitly applicable practice that is being logged in the process. We ought to get over the popular practice of power examination in learning situations and just do the work. Sometimes.

Attention — Do I have your attention?

Strategies — What is your strategy for traversing the chasm to memory?

Retrieval — What is your method to activate retrieval structures?

Here is our 21st Century problem: We do not know things anymore.

If you have been in a room with someone who really owns their knowledge, there is something wonderful that happens. They have an ability to develop their thinking around that information in deep and meaningful ways. This is because the information is not taking up real estate in their present memory where lots of free and open abstracting likes to happen but in their permanent memory. How many times have you listened to someone who really KNEW their stuff and found yourself saying–I’ve really got to get X content down so I can really Y my tail off like that person?

Imagine you are having a party with several guests and for dinner you have chosen to have each person make their own pizza. You, as host, will provide every sort of sauce and topping and your guests need to bring the dough that they intend to use. Each guest arrives and sits around the dinner table with their own little crust ready to load their crusts with all kinds of veggies, cheeses, sauces, and the like. And then I show up.

Oh, I did not really read the invitation. Was I supposed to bring a crust? I thought we were going to make crust. I can do it really quick…do you have…? The next thing you know, my 12-15 inch space on your table is not being occupied by a crust but by the ingredients for that crust. It is not quite what you had in mind is it? I have everything I need to make the crust but it is taking up space, disrupting the activity, and my participation–regardless of the gracious kindness of the host–has been altered. I likely missed much of the intent because I showed up without.

Let us decide to know. Something. Well. Now.

Assessment Pt. 1: You’re doing it wrong

The human mind is in a constant state of assessment. While most of it is autonomic as an efficient process running under the surface, it is happening. Multiple redundant processes. In the spring of 2006 I was diagnosed with a rare condition that required the repair of a hole in the superior canal of my left ear. By repair, I mean the destruction of that vestibular canal. The surgery was successful and left me short a canal.

Through the diagnostic process I was reminded that my balance was not simply a matter of muscle and nerves. When my dehiscent canal went awry, my eyes jumped about in my head correcting and searching for equilibrium. Level. My faulty canal, in the presence of certain stimuli, caused my brain to think that I was falling. My eyes jumped and my muscles jerked in an effort to ‘catch’ me though there was no problem at all. A faulty check engine light.

Holes in head — Like I need a hole in the head

A bad sensor. Vertigo is an understatement. Post surgery, I was told that there were planes upon which I may not ever be able to move my head without losing my balance. I was told that I may have permanent balance problems but it was likely that my systems would accommodate this deficit. The surgery was on a Friday morning. Early. I was walking out of Johns Hopkins University Hospital on Sunday after lunch. With some assistance and a new set of staples. I am grateful for the work of Lloyd B. Minor and John Carey. I am grateful for my redundant systems. Side effects: 0, Timony: 1.

Constantly discriminating countless data. Assessing. Angle, pressure, distance, speed. Obstacles, terrain, light, wind. Regulating distractions, deciding on what gains attention, what is worth a second look or even a note. A picture. Email. Where is my phone? or other external memory device?

Assessment, judgment, decision making. An automatic, natural, and necessary component of our lives.

cut to: The Classroom. Our natural habitat

We teach. We listen. We observe. We discuss. We answer questions and pose questions. We demonstrate. This interaction happens all the time, right? Our students know the material. We are happy with that.

Until we administer an assessment and some perform poorly.
If I hear it again, I might scream:
“They know the material but they cannot pass the test”

One of these statements is incorrect. Educators must realize that their estimations of student skills are often as valid and reliable–maybe more. Definitely more meaningful. They have a place at the table alongside other assessment options and help to create a more realistic picture of student achievement and student needs. We need to move away from popular phrases like “tests well” and get to the bottom of things. Decide for yourself how you define knowledge, competence, and achievement. Make sure that your assessment strategies reflect that. As the field of educational research moves towards meaning beyond mere significance, the measure of a student should, too, move towards meaning.

Our approach should be data informed but our students should never data defined.

If a students knows the material, that student’s grade should reflect that they know the material. If that student cannot express it in the context of an exam, that is another issue that should probably be addressed. Addressed because it will cause commotion with less insightful educators and/or it may be a sign of a more persistent need.

Stay tuned for Part IV: What do you use to fix the tools?

Assessment Pt. 2: Problems of Scale

Measurement is a curious thing. Everyone is talking about it. A lot of people are doing it. With all that talk and all that measurement, it causes even more people to do it. I mean, it must be important, right?

Contagious shooting.

Offsides. They jumped first. We all jumped.
Strong words. Actions. Open doors. Imply permission.

Buzz. Some are testing because everyone else is doing it and they do not know why they are doing it themselves. It is contagious and it is killing us.

There are a few problems that are typical of assessment culture. They differ in severity. Jim Croce used to talk about causing trouble in Chester, PA where they would cut you four kinds of bad: long, deep, wide, and often. Who would think that I would ever talk about assessment and Jim Croce in the same paragraph? I like Jim Croce. I like assessment. I do not like the abuse of assessment and data. It gives an essential part of education a bad name. Yes I said essential. When it is done well and done correctly, it is good stuff. Don’t mess around with Jim. Errr, Slim.

The effect of non-educational and non-assessment pertinent information on our students is referred to in the testing field as “unintended consequences.” We need to consider them. Seriously.

1. Long
Rather, length. Any assessment that causes the facilitation of learning to be interrupted is too often long and disruptive. It is important for the assessor to consider what is actually being tested when distributing a test with 120 items. My first assumption is that they are assessing attention and fortitude. Stubborn constitution? While it may be clear to the test creator that each of these items has a clear purpose, I pose this question–has the need for coverage been obscured by the other challenges that are presented before those questions are asked?
The length of a test is one of the first things that a student checks when it is delivered to their desk. Flip through and count the pages. See if they are multiple choice, short answer, long answer, or essay. Matching? True/False?

2. Deep
It is often that the coverage of an assessment is haphazardly accounted for by length. Oops. Depth of an assessment can be addressed with a shovel or with a scalpel. Do you investigate like an excavator or a surgeon? While there are several questions that could get to the bottom of a student’s understanding of a novel, mathematical concept, or science theory; is it possible that there is one question that could be used to demonstrate understanding of the larger constructs? The answer is usually yes and the rationale that is usually defended is depth.
When quality inquiry includes necessary skills, we begin to scratch the surface of depth. A complex skill often trumps less complex skills–not always the case but often the case. You have heard the saying, “You have to crawl before you can walk.” If your child went straight to walking without crawling, would you intervene? Neither did I. It is not a completely common phenomenon but it happens and aside from toddler locomotion, there are not really any good reasons to crawl. Either way, I would bet that you could learn it later.

3. Wide
Breadth of assessment is key. It probably means something completely different than what you think, though. The wideness of assessment does not have to include every aspect of what is being taught. Variations in the width of coverage is often a factor of interests that our students have that either narrow or widen their take on the material. That is fine.
As educators, we must widen our assessment in order to provide every opportunity for our students to demonstrate competence and understanding. If this goal is achieved by one student through a presentation and another through various and typical testing procedures, why should that prove an issue?
BECAUSE in college, they will get scantron tests so they need to get used to it!
That is not a reasonable answer. I do not care who says so, either.
If you want students to get better at scantron tests because that is what they will encounter, that is fine and in some contexts a reasonable goal. There is, however, no reason to restrict a student in their demonstration of competence and understanding in the process.
You will often hear about differentiated instruction but I am telling you that the need for citizens of our age is to be given the opportunity for differentiated assessment. You see, differentiated instruction is an appealing concept but its goals are achievement on typical assessment procedures–if you teach them differently, they will all be able to achieve in the same way!
No. The teaching is probably not the issue. I will put myself out there and say that you are probably a good enough teacher. It is more likely that a student is capable of demonstrating understanding in a way that is not being assessed.

If I hear “they know the material but they cannot pass the test” one more time I will scream. Twice.

4. Often
The frequency of assessment is not simply a problem of testing too often. It is also a problem of failing to assess often enough. Notice that I am referring to testing specifically and assessment in general. The “movement” to get rid of testing and assessment and measurement and grades aside, please understand that we are constantly assessing, judging, and measuring. After all that we act, stop acting, or change the methods and manner of acting to meet the assessed need. If you want to attach a letter, number, or whatever to that–fine. Do not think that by doing away with scantrons, letters, and numbers that you have put the assessment monster out of the room. It is still there. Boo.

Ecological validity is an issue that is at the forefront of research these days. Developing methods of observation and assessment that fit and make sense in the context of the learning scenario can be challenging. Is it possible to measure some aspect of learning within the context of that learning using tasks that make sense within that domain? If not, that is an issue of ecological validity. Think about the NFL combines that are used by professional teams to assess the viability of future draft picks. These sets of skills are supposed to be indicators of the athletes’ ability to do well in an NFL game. We know, though, that the only way to know if an athlete is capable of playing professional football is to have them play professional football. Ecological validity.

Slightly more than a rant.
Pt. 1 coming soon!

Yeah, Jim got his hat.
Find out where it’s at.
Not hustlin’ people strange to you.
Even if you do have a 2-piece custom-made pool cue.

Pedagogy and its Discontents pt.1, An Introduction

Freud compared civilized lives and savage lives in his 1929 treatise “Civilization and its Discontents.” He illuminated the conflict that exists between the driven individual and the context that demands uniformity.

“Civilization, therefore, obtains mastery over the individual’s dangerous desire for aggression by weakening and disarming it and by setting up an agency within him to watch over it, like a garrison in a conquered city.”

The implication that conformity is a primary function of civilization may seem less than alarming. Philosophers may soften it by framing it as some sort of social contract. We conform out of deference to the whole and to each other. We have been convince that, in doing so, we recognize ourselves as thoughtful individuals.

We are safe. We do not even need to talk. We can nod. Should we find ourselves in a situation where someone steps outside of compliance, we look to each other for reassurance–This is crazy, right?

Some time ago, it was decided that regulation of behavior would be embedded, if you will.

A scheme.

Value.

A mechanism.

Socially.

Developmentally.

Expectation and pressure.

Words like garrisons have been used in discussing the idea of ‘self-regulating’ mechanisms that have been implanted into individuals to maintain compliance to the norms and standards of civilization. Garrisons are set up in conquered cities to quell small uprisings. What Freud refers to as the aggressive mind, we would call the progressive mind.

If this is true, we have to consider that we have been programmed to submit to societal conventions. IF this is true we have to consider that we are perpetuating these ideas in our homes, our families, and our classrooms. IF this is true, we have to consider that resistance may be futile which means that this resistance can no longer be tolerated.

HAL 9000: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.