By Heather Lageman
Life and learning today is all about the questions – not the answers. Ernő Rubik, inventor of the Rubik’s Cube, created something more than a puzzle – he created a question waiting to be answered: https://youtu.be/W1K2jdjLhbo. This is the beauty and the challenge that we all face and embrace as educators. What is our role in this changing learning design? What role does assessment play in this design?
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has provided us with a great gift – the opportunity to reimagine our assessment systems. As we teach, learn, and grow, it is essential to provide professional learning to teachers, coaches, and school leaders to support a common understanding and vision around assessment. It is also critical to reevaluate these assessment systems and eliminate redundant, misaligned, or unused assessments.
Much can be gained from the practice of collecting and reviewing assessment data from locally administered tests, as well as district and statewide assessments. This allows educators to look for redundancy, as well as to solicit stakeholder input on the quality and usefulness of the assessments. ESSA emphasizes the value and necessity of the involvement of stakeholder groups in the process. Students, parents, educators, principals, superintendents, educational organizations, unions, and board of education associations all provide valuable perspectives in the data and assessment discussion.
Globally competitive assessments ultimately support the good teaching and learning that creates strong citizens and a robust economy; all members of the community must be engaged in the planning conversation for this assessment journey.
In this age of learning, we as educators must focus on providing the best assessment system to prepare our students for their future, one rich in feedback and opportunities for student ownership of their own learning. As Dylan Wiliam has said, “it is not about being right or wrong, it is about learning.”
Leaders learn alongside teachers and are part of the formative assessment process. A focus on student agency and a continuous learning process allows for individual discovery and ownership of learning. It is powerful for students to start with goals, give and receive feedback, and develop a growth mindset. We must remember that assessment and instruction are inextricably linked. Assessment is not merely the end; it is the beginning, as well as the navigational beacons along the way.
Therefore, when reviewing and rebuilding our assessment systems, we must take time to consider three critical questions with regard to assessments:
- What do you value?
- What is your purpose?
- What level of information do you want?
Let these guiding questions inform the discussions you have in your school buildings, districts, and states. Focus on what truly matters – our students and their learning. After all, their success is the ultimate goal and their achievement is the North Star as we plan the why and the how to get them there. Formative and summative assessments will let our students and educators know how they are progressing on their learning journeys. Just as assessment feedback helps us shape the instruction which moves students along on that journey, it also provides students with a critical pairing of purpose and perseverance for the trip.
So as we consider the opportunity for assessment system redesign, take a moment to reflect on the etymology of the word: Assessment. “To assess” derives from the Latin verb “assidere,” which means “to sit by”. Hence, in “assessment of learning” we “sit with the learner,” and that implies that it is something that we do with and for our students rather than to them.
Assessment has a purpose and a pivotal role to play in responsive teaching and learning; however, there are no simple solutions. May we all have the courage to be superheroes of assessment literacy and craft assessment systems that empower all of our students, embolden their creativity and curiosity, and provide them with the feedback they need as touchstones in their life-long learning journeys.
Heather Lageman serves as the Executive Director of Leadership Development for the Baltimore County Public Schools in Maryland and is a member of CenterPoint’s Teaching and Learning Advisors. In addition, she is Program Manager of The Council of Educational Administrative and Supervisory Organizations of Maryland (CEASOM) Code.org Regional Partner Program and President of CEASOM, and was facilitator of the Networks and the Internet Writing Team for the K-12 Computer Science Framework. Heather serves on the Governor’s P-20 Leadership Council of Maryland and is a member of the Governor’s Cybersecurity and Information Technology Task Force. A member of the National Task Force on Assessment Education, she is also on the Board of the Maryland Assessment Group and Vice-President of Maryland Affiliate of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). She is President of the Learning Forward Maryland Affiliate and Chair of the Learning Forward Foundation.
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