stop counting
#CWRA | @cla_beat
“Bad…”
We ask our students, quite simply, to count fish.
The need for a different assessment
Institutions are equipped to improve higher-order skills when they connect teaching, learning, and assessment through authentic, performance-based practices.
Rewards content regurgitation Fails to gauge transferability
(a) William Shakespeare (b) John Updike (c) Ernest Hemingway (d) None of the above
Content knowledge
General knowledge
Content skills
General skills
Content knowledge
Content knowledge
General knowledge
Content skills
General skills
The provision of transferrable skills is as important as the provision of content.
The top ten in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004. We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that have not yet been invented in order to solve problems that we don’t even know are problems yet.
SO WHAT?
SO WHAT?
Academically adrift Limited learning on college campuses
Proportion of employers who say colleges should place MORE emphasis than they do on selected learning outcomes •The ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing •Critical thinking and analytic reasoning skills •The ability to apply knowledge and skills to real-world settings •The ability to analyze and solve complex problems
89% 81% 79% 75%
AAC&U | 2008 | aacu.org/leap/public_opinion_research.cfm
Okay, enough. What is the [cwra]?
bias
small sample
quantitative reasoning
appropriate comparison group
correlation vs. causation
incorrect (improper?) use of data
ability to filter
metrics
Changed our admissions criteria
Starting to see the effects of adapting our pedagogical approach
Comparing longitudinal growth to cross-sectional growth
Looking at whether change is linear
Internal and External Comparisons
Internal and External Comparisons
Internal and External Comparisons
moving beyond assessment and accountability
writing
problem solving
aligning teaching, learning & assessment: collaboration
collegiatelearningassessment.org/contact
collegiatelearningassessment.org/contact
Albemarle County Public Schools
St. Christopher’s School Collegiate School Staunton River High School
Virginia Beach City Public Schools
collegiatelearningassessment.org/contact collegiatelearningassessment.org/contact
collegiatelearningassessment.org/contact
aligning teaching, learning & assessment: faculty development
What is authentic assessment? How does effective teaching support that (and vice versa)? What are the higher-order skills we value? Why? How are those skills demonstrated in student responses?
What are the components of a Performance Task? How do we effectively build them? Working | Sharing | Feedback
noun
action
A specific role A decision to make An authentic product Some stake
Sweetgrass
A specific role A decision to make An authentic product Some stake
Writing an article
You are a new reporter at a local newspaper, and your editor asks you to investigate whether there is a story behind some conflicting reports about a new sweetener made out of sweetgrass, and to write an email pitching the story. You know that there is another newspaper in town that may get the scoop on the story if you don’t act quickly enough.
chris jackson 212.217.0845 cjackson@cae.org @cla_beat collegiatelearningassessment.org /cwrapresentations