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 be seen on college campuses. Many students will ask professors if they need to know the material for the test and if the answer is no, students will not pay attention. McTighe believes that the current assessment system needs to be changed in order to focus on all subject areas and especially the 21st Century skills. “Moreover, many subject areas for which standards exist are not tested at all in may states, and nor do these accountability measures typically test the so-called 21st Century skills of creative thinking, teamwork, multi-media communication, and used of information technologies.” McTighe suggests an alternative approach to assessment in which students can achieve three inter-related goals.
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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 component. McTighe believes schools should use content specific tests because research has shown that tests consisting of multiple choice and brief constructed response have value to teachers and students. However, for these tests to be effective they should take place on the computer. Tests that take place on the computer not only give almost immediate feedback to the students, they can also easily show the students a more detailed item analyses and not just a basic score. Seeing the analyses will help students to better understand what they got wrong, why they got it wrong, and show them what areas they need to improve in. McTighe also believes a “Matrix sampling approach be considered as a cost-saving means of obtaining accountability information at the school and district levels …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 component. McTighe believes schools should use content specific tests because research has shown that tests consisting of multiple choice and brief constructed response have value to teachers and students. However, for these tests to be effective they should take place on the computer. Tests that take place on the computer not only give almost immediate feedback to the students, they can also easily show the students a more detailed item analyses and not just a basic score. Seeing the analyses will help students to better understand what they got wrong, why they got it wrong, and show them what areas they need to improve in. McTighe also believes a “Matrix sampling approach be considered as a cost-saving means of obtaining accountability information at the school and district levels …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