Beyond Standardized Testing: Better Information For School Accountability And Management,Used

Review If more politicians were to read this book and to understand that the misuse of standardized testing is gravely endangering the quality of education in the U.S., we might yet bring the assessment of educational outcomes to the level where it belongs: the local schools...This book is recommended for all with a stake in the education of children...Essential. ChoiceAn unintended use of 70 yearold psychometric sorting technology has become the focus and unstated purpose of most American schools. George Elford offers a thoughtful alternative based on standardized teacher judgment and instructional management systems. With a similar approach, the award winning Chugach School District in Alaska, and a dozen districts adapting their model, have demonstrated that we can build systems of schools that work for all students. Tom Vander Ark, CEO, Getting Smart; former executive director, Education, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; author, 'Smart Cities That Work for Everyone' Product Description Here's a fresh idea from an experienced testing professional that addresses the problem of the overuse of standardized testing. Elford argues that socalled testbased reform has given rise to the 'cram curriculum' and turned schools into testprep centers. Overlooked are the classroom teachers, who observe the actual work of students and are the primary and richest source of information on learning. The author lays out a better approach to accountability using standards, teacher judgments, and the tools of the information age. This is not an attack on standardized testing, which supplies the only interpretable information the public has been able to attain. Rather, it recommends comprehensive, computerbased systems that link every teacher and classroom into their school district's data warehouse. This system supports and utilizes the richest source of accountability information, the presently untapped knowledge in the minds of teachers. At the heart of the system are 'standardized teacher judgments' related to content and performance standards and supported by standardsbased scoring rubrics that are integrated into a computerbased instructional management information system. Among the advantages the system offers are: *Students are graded on quality of their work, not how they compare with other students. *The school or school district becomes the primary source of accountability information instead of the state. *Provides better information for college admissions. *Provides employers with a record to use that shows the link between school and work. The technology for such a system is ready and waiting. This book defines the urgent need for a computerbased instructional information system to which every teacher is linked and calls upon innovative school leaders to embrace the idea. About the Author George W. Elford manages CAP, Inc. an assessment service based in Potomac, Maryland. He retired in 1995 after a twentyyear career at the Education Testing Service where he directed field offices in Boston, Evanston, and Washington, D.C. The ideas developed in this present work can be traced back to a number of field service projects in 'curriculum monitoring'_a forerunner of the instructional management information system.