In the article, Do we need an assessment overhaul? Jay McTighe discusses how assessment in the United States is deeply flawed and needs to be changed. In 2011 when McTighe wrote the article, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was in its tenth year. NCLB is a federal statute that has required annual state testing in order to determine the success of local schools. The scores for each school are then published which was supposed to lead to heightened accountability between schools and districts and show which schools were lacking or failing to meet “adequate yearly progress”. Often in today’s schools, students will ask, “Will this be on the test?” if the answer is no, most students stop paying attention. This culture of teaching to the test can even
…show more content…
Assessing the most important educational goals in appropriate ways;
Providing the specific and timely feedback needed to improve learning; and
Supporting curriculum planning, local assessment, and teaching for meaningful learning.
In order for schools and educators to achieve these goals, McTighe has laid out three components he believes are essential for assessing core requirements and the 21st Century skills. The three skills are:
Content-specific tests;
A series of content-specific and interdisciplinary performance tasks; and
A local assessment …show more content…
The main disadvantage is teachers either not wanting to take the time to create meaningful assessments, or purposefully making them too easy in order for their students to pass and make them look good. By not having assessments standardized, you do not know how difficult the tests are. A teacher may also take pity on their students and give them easier versions of an assessment because they know they might score low on what they already have planned. By having a standardized test, created by outsiders minimizes these possibilities. However, if teachers get on board and create meaningful assessments, the opportunity for authentic and meaningful learning of 21st Century outcomes is
Assessing the most important educational goals in appropriate ways;
Providing the specific and timely feedback needed to improve learning; and
Supporting curriculum planning, local assessment, and teaching for meaningful learning.
In order for schools and educators to achieve these goals, McTighe has laid out three components he believes are essential for assessing core requirements and the 21st Century skills. The three skills are:
Content-specific tests;
A series of content-specific and interdisciplinary performance tasks; and
A local assessment …show more content…
The main disadvantage is teachers either not wanting to take the time to create meaningful assessments, or purposefully making them too easy in order for their students to pass and make them look good. By not having assessments standardized, you do not know how difficult the tests are. A teacher may also take pity on their students and give them easier versions of an assessment because they know they might score low on what they already have planned. By having a standardized test, created by outsiders minimizes these possibilities. However, if teachers get on board and create meaningful assessments, the opportunity for authentic and meaningful learning of 21st Century outcomes is