In the Library

In just the last few years, mounting interest in alternative forms of classroom assessment has generated hundreds of articles, books, monographs, videos, and CD-ROMs from educational laboratories, research centers, and publishers. Northwest Education offers the following products as a place to start—or a place to continue—a search for ideas and innovations to bring to the classroom.

A NORTHWEST SCHOOL IS ONE OF THREE SITES FEATURED IN EYES ON THE CHILD: THREE PORTFOLIO STORIES (Teachers College Press, New York, 1996), which gives readers an up-close look at how teachers are implementing alternative assessments in their classrooms. Author Kathe Jervis, a senior research associate at the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching, describes the portfolio strategies being used at Woodridge Elementary School in Washington's Bellevue School District, along with those of a Boston high school and an elementary school in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Each of the schools is involved in one of three major restructuring projects: Foxfire, the Coalition of Essential Schools, and Harvard's Project Zero.

"In this book, Kathe Jervis chronicles teachers' efforts to develop new strategies for looking at children's work and learning in three schools across the country -- schools that are involved in radical restructuring of education in concert with reformers with the support of an interlocking network of courageous teachers," writes Linda Darling-Hammond in a foreword to the book. "In the course of the stories, she captures the dilemmas experienced by teachers working on the fault line between policy and practice at the time when a tectonic clash of paradigms is at work.

"The assessment strategies these teachers are inventing are 'authentic' in that they examine what students can do when they are engaged in real-world activities and the creation of their own ideas and products," she continues. "Rather than having students take multiple-choice tests in which they react to the questions and answers of others, student work and thinking are examined as they develop research, do science, read and discuss, build things, write in a variety of forms, pose questions, and wrestle with mathematical ideas."

The featured classrooms encompass single and combined-grade classes, regular and special education, individual and team teaching. Though the contexts are different and the approaches vary, the teachers in these cases share a commitment to grappling with assessment issues on behalf of their students.

Eyes on the Child is available for $19.95 (plus $2.50 for shipping) from Teachers College Press, (800) 575-6566.

POLICYMAKERS, BUSINESS LEADERS, SCHOOL BOARDS, AND PARENTS are calling for schools to be accountable for student achievement, note Doug Archbald and Fred Newmann in Beyond Standardized Testing: Assessing Authentic Achievement in the Secondary School (National Association of Secondary School Principals, Reston, Virginia, 1988). This mounting pressure, they say, "has led to increased reliance on testing to monitor achievement, especially on competency tests and norm-referenced standardized tests developed beyond the classroom. At the same time, a number of authorities, from teachers to policymakers, have called for alternatives to standardized testing that might offer more informative and authentic indicators of the kinds of achievement schools ought to promote."

The book, published by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, has three purposes:

"All three are grounded in a broad perspective that calls attention to purposes of assessment, levels of assessment, and two critical issues: authenticity and multiple indicators," wrote Archbald, an assistant researcher at the Center for Policy Research in Education at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, and Newmann, director of the National Center on Effective Secondary Schools.

FOR EDUCATORS WHO WANT TO SHARE EXPERIENCES AND TRADE INSIGHTS on using portfolios for classroom assessment, there's an Internet discussion group on portfolios. The group was convened by Karen Jones Shiver, who teaches first- through third-graders in a combined, multiage setting in Kennewick, Washington. Shiver has been using portfolios as her primary means of assessment for several years. If you would like to participate in the online discussion group, contact Shiver at kjshiver@tenet.edu.

PROFESSOR SUSAN PHILLIPS OF MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY PROVIDES AN INDEPTH DISCUSSION OF THE LEGAL ISSUES STATES FACE when they design large-scale, high-stakes assessments.

In Legal Implications of High-Stakes Assessment: What States Should Know, Phillips covers four major areas of concern in statewide assessment:

The handbook devotes a chapter to each of the four topics. Each chapter discusses relevant legal, measurement, and policy issues; provides an analysis of relevant statutes and case law; and makes recommendations for designing legally defensible assessments.

"The goal," writes Phillips, "is to give the reader a broad understanding of relevant legal arguments, what the courts have required in prior cases, and what one might expect from a current legal challenge."

The book is directed at legislators, lobbyists, state education agencies, school boards, administrators, and other policymakers involved in assessment enterprises. A glossary defines legal and technical terms.

"An understanding of the legal principles involved is vital to compliance with relevant statutes and case law," Phillips writes. "The inevitable gray areas and issues that have not been fully litigated require policymakers to 'read between the lines' to determine how specific legal principles might apply to their unique situations. Moreover, an understanding of the intent and underlying principles of statutes and legal decisions can help policymakers anticipate legal challenges and structure defensible assessment programs. Even if an assessment program is challenged in court, good faith attempts to follow applicable legal principles and measurement standards will assist the program in obtaining a favorable decision."

Legal Implications of High-Stakes Assessment is available for $19.95 from the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, (708) 571-4700.

AN ONLINE NEWSLETTER FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION EXPLORES CURRENT ISSUES IN SCHOOL REFORM. The newsletter is intended to help school, district, and state leaders explore key topics in improving America's schools.

Each issue focuses on a critical education reform element, describes current thinking and activities, and offers sources of additional information. The newsletter shares ideas nationwide on how states and school districts are reforming education and how U.S. Department of Education programs and initiatives can help.

The Spring 1996 issue of Improving America's Schools: A Newsletter on Issues in School Reform focuses on alternative assessments. Among the topics it touches on are content and performance standards, technical quality, assessment requirements under Title I, promising approaches, and research findings. It also provides a list of resources for further reading.

The online newsletter can be found in the Education Department's Online Library at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/IASA/newsletters/.

DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS, THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON EVALUATION, STANDARDS, AND STUDENT TESTING (CRESST) has produced more than 65 technical reports, 18 newsletter publications, two full-length videos, and many book chapters and journal articles contributing to assessment reform in America. Educators can now have easy access to this research with the CRESST 5 Years of Research CD-ROM. The research on the CD is organized to meet the needs of various audiences, including teachers, parents, policymakers, and researchers. It is also organized by assessment topics to allow users to read research in 10 areas, including portfolios, equity, standards, technical issues, and scoring. Keyword searching allows users to search the entire disc, which is fully indexed. A number of other products on classroom assessment also are available from CRESST. For further information contact Kim Hurst by phone at (310) 206-1532 or by e-mail at kim@cse.ucla.edu . Additional assessment information can be found at CRESST's Web site at http://www.cse.ucla.edu/CRESSThome.html.

A QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER PROVIDES READERS WITH AN INDEPTH EXPLORATION OF PORTFOLIOS AS A CLASSROOM- AND LARGE-SCALE ASSESSMENT STRATEGY. Published by the Portfolio Assessment Clearinghouse, a network of educators involved in portfolio assessment, the Portfolio News tackles a wide range of topics. Recent issues have addressed such topics as:

The newsletter includes articles by students as well as educators; listings of resources and portfolio projects around the country; literature reviews; and a calendar of workshops and conferences.

To subscribe to Portfolio News, send $32 to Portfolio News: Subscriptions, University of California, San Diego, Teacher Education Program, 9500 Gilman Drive-0070, La Jolla, CA 92093-0070. (Make checks payable to Portfolio News.)

IN CHANGING THE VIEW: STUDENT-LED PARENT CONFERENCES (HEINEMANN, PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1994), A SIXTH-GRADE TEACHER FROM FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, STEPS BACK and offers the responsibility of assessment to her students. Terri Austin presents an alternative to the traditional teacher-parent conference by putting students in the role of expert. By reflecting on their own learning, seeking out the views of others, and preparing their own portfolios, these students come to know themselves as learners. As a result, the end-of-quarter review becomes a time of sharing successes and celebrating learning.

Writes Austin: "I thought back to my elementary years and remembered my feeling of dread when my mother attended parent conferences. I realize now that I was a pretty good student, but then I never knew that. I always wondered what bad things the teacher was saying about me and if I would pass on to the next grade. I was like the students in my room. I had no knowledge of the assessment process, and I had no real concept of myself as a learner."

As she thought about this, she realized there were three key issues: first, the students accepted no responsibility for their learning; second, she, the teacher, totally controlled the process; and three, parent contact was minimal. Through student-led conferences, she began a process of giving students control over and responsibility for their learning.

Combining assessment, teacher research, parent involvement, and student-centered responsibility, Changing the View is aimed at teachers or administrators who want their students to assume more responsibility for learning—to be active rather than passive learners.

A TRAINING VIDEO DEVELOPED BY NWREL GIVES PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR INCORPORATING PORTFOLIOS INTO INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT. The 20-minute video, Putting Portfolios to Work, developed by Ruth Culham and Vicki Spandel of the Laboratory's Assessment and Accountability Program, takes viewers into actual classrooms to see how teachers use portfolios in practice. Along with an accompanying facilitator's guide and a 150-page textbook, the video forms the basis of a flexible workshop that could begin in a staff meeting or last a full day.

Teachers are counseled to let the curriculum drive the portfolio, to put students in charge of assembling the portfolio, and to think of the portfolio as a process rather than a product. The video describes four kinds of portfolios, each with a different focus and purpose: celebrational portfolios, growth portfolios, selected-works portfolios, and "passportfolios."

The Northwest Laboratory also has developed a 14-video Classroom Assessment Training Program offering complete staff-development packages on many student assessment strategies. Topics include measuring thinking in the classroom; assessing reading proficiency; writing assessment; and assessment in the science classroom. For details and ordering information on any of these materials, contact IOX Educational Research and Development at (503) 582-8958 or fax at (503) 582-8938.

A READABLE, REALITY-BASED BOOK, AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT IN ACTION: STUDIES OF SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS AT WORK, (Teachers College Press, 1995) examines how five schools have developed authentic, performance-based assessments of students' learning. Authors Linda Darling-Hammond, Jacqueline Ancess, and Beverly Falk describe how this work has interacted with and influenced the teaching and learning experiences students encounter in school. Case studies of two elementary and three secondary schools detail how the schools are using a variety of strategies for "personalizing instruction, deepening students' engagement with subject matter, and assessing learning in rigorous and holistic ways," the authors write.

"The case studies," they say, "examine how authentic assessment supports changes in curriculum, teaching, and school organization and how it is, in turn, embedded in and supported by these aspects of school life. The cases document the changes in student work and learning that can accompany new approaches to assessment when these are embedded in a schoolwide effort to create learner-centered education."

Schools profiled are a Harlem secondary school; an international high school for newly arrived immigrant students in New York City; a Delaware vocational-technical high school; a racially and economically mixed elementary school in Brooklyn; and an elementary magnet school in the Bronx.

"With all the burgeoning interest in alternative forms of assessment," the authors note, "there is yet very little rich description of how schools develop and use strategies such as portfolios, projects, performance tasks, and other documentation of student accomplishments to inform instruction and to stimulate greater learning. This volume begins to develop a school's eye view of authentic assessment, aiming to illuminate how it can enrich life in classrooms and focus the energies of students, teachers, and other members of the school community on deep learning demonstrated through applications and performances."

Darling-Hammond is a professor of education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and co-director of the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching, where Ancess is a senior research associate and Falk is associate director for research.

Authentic Assessment in Action is available for $24.95 (plus $2.50 for shipping) from Teachers College Press, (800) 575-6566.

A COALITION OF EDUCATION AND CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS FROM ACROSS THE NATION RECENTLY RELEASED A SET OF GUIDELINES FOR OVERHAULING SCHOOL TESTING PRACTICES as part of the broader education reform movement. According to the Principles and Indicators for Student Assessment Systems, developed by the National Forum on Assessment, supporting student learning must be the primary purpose of assessment. Providing the public with information about overall school performance remains important, the forum asserts, but must not undermine classroom assessments designed to improve student achievement.

"The heart of the principles is the understanding that the primary purpose of assessment is to serve learning," says Monty Neill, Associate Director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing and co-chair of the forum. "Thus, they call for building assessment systems up from high-quality classroom practices."

The forum's other co-chair, Ruth Mitchell of The Education Trust of the American Association for Higher Education, adds: "This means that other assessments, such as those for accountability and certification, must support and not undermine high-quality education. Assessment reforms must be integrated with changes in instruction and curriculum."

The seven principles are:

The principles have the endorsement of more than 80 organizations, including the National Education Association, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Associations of Elementary and Secondary School Principals, the PTA, and the Council of the Great City Schools.

Copies of Principles and Indicators for Student Assessment Systems are available for $10 each from the National Forum, c/o Fair Test, 342 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139.

A HALF-DOZEN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES OF ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT INFORMATION AND TOOLS ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE NWREL TEST CENTER. Hundreds of books, articles, and tools are described in topical bibliographies covering six assessment areas:

Copies of the bibliographies are available from the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. For ordering information, contact Linda Revels at (503) 275-9519.

EDUCATORS WHO WANT CUTTING-EDGE INFORMATION ON NEW FORMS OF ASSESSMENT CAN SAVE COUNTLESS RESEARCH HOURS by going straight to a rich new resource from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

An encyclopedic collection of almost 100 papers and articles by some of the best-known names in the field offers one-stop shopping on assessment. Topics range from "anchor papers" to outcomes, group performance to portfolios, reform to rubrics, reliability to validity. Edited by NWREL researchers Robert Blum and Judith Arter, A Handbook for Student Performance Assessment in an Era of Restructuring gives breadth and depth to a subject that is critical to the success of school reform.

The handbook discusses why assessments need to change and how performance-based approaches can guide school improvement. It explains how to base assessments on goals for student learning and integrate assessments with curriculum and instruction. It explores how to design performance tasks and evaluate the quality of student performance. It talks about how to implement performance assessments at the classroom, school, and district levels and monitor the results. Included are dozens of assessments that require students to respond to realistic situations and apply skills from various subjects. A glossary of assessment terms wraps up the volume.

"Performance assessment is one of the hottest topics in education today," write Blum and Arter in the handbook's introduction. "It seems as though assessment, particularly performance assessment, enters every discussion about schools—and rightly so, for assessment is the basis for determining the success of students, teachers, and schools. Developing high-quality assessments, however, has proven the most difficult aspect of improving schools."

The 650-page handbook, bound in a three-ring binder, is organized into 10 chapters:

"Performance assessment is hardly new," note Blum and Arter. "What is new are the attempts to give such assessments a more central role in large-scale assessment and to make the judgments that occur within the classroom more systematic. The challenge in both these areas is to make subjective assessments as objective as possible; to make them more systematic and, therefore, more credible."

Copies of A Handbook for Student Performance Assessment in an Era of Restructuring can be ordered by sending $120 to: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1250 N. Pitt Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For more information, call the ASCD at (800) 933-2723.

TO HELP MATH AND SCIENCE TEACHERS MAKE THE SHIFT FROM TRADITIONAL TO ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT PRACTICES, the 10 regional educational laboratories have published a giant collection of professional development materials. Improving Science and Mathematics Education-A Toolkit for Professional Developers (Regional Educational Laboratory Network, 1994) is designed for staff developers to assist teachers and other educators to better assess math and science performance using alternative assessments.

"The goal of the Toolkit," says Judith Arter of the Northwest Laboratory, "is to promote both good consumerism of existing assessments and sound development and use of new assessments."

The document's seven chapters contain information on innovative assessments in math and science, the rationale for alternative assessments, different views of integrating assessment and instruction, alternative assessment design options, guidelines on the characteristics of sound alternative assessments, assistance with grading and reporting, and help with designing meaningful professional development. Included are more than 20 sample assessments.

All activities include participant handouts, hard copies of overheads, and a facilitator's outline. A bibliography and resource directory also are included.

"The Toolkit is a compilation of activities and supportive materials developed not only as an alternative assessment resource, but as a means of engaging teachers in dialogue about changing the way math and science have traditionally been taught and assessed," says Jackie Palmer of the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.

The Toolkit is available for $38.85 from the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 101 S.W. Main Street, Suite 500, Portland, OR 97204. Also available is an addendum ($21.75) published last spring that expands and updates the Toolkit. For additional information, contact Linda Revels at NWREL's Document Reproduction Service, (503) 275-9519.

GEOF HEWITT, ONE OF THE DESIGNERS OF VERMONT'S STATEWIDE PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT SYSTEM, HAS WRITTEN AN INFORMATIVE, ENGAGING BOOK FULL OF PRACTICAL WISDOM. A Portfolio Primer: Teaching, Collecting, and Assessing Student Writing (Heinemann, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1995) explains how teachers can build a "community of writers" in which students demonstrate progress and accomplishment across the curriculum.

Drawing on his experiences as a writer, writing teacher, and leader in Vermont's portfolio-development project, Hewitt explores such issues as:

Written in lively, humor-filled prose, the book is loaded with anecdotes from real-life experience, and presents a couple of actual student portfolios as examples.

"One of the most powerful components of the portfolio, a letter or essay the student writes about the work in the portfolio, structures and makes visible the student's self-reflection," Hewitt writes.

"In Vermont, this takes the form of a 'best-piece' letter, in which, after selecting the 'best piece' in the portfolio, the student writes about why it was selected as best piece and how it was composed, with any incidental comments the student wished to make about writing."

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