Chapter 1 – The assessment of vision

1. Preamble Standardized tests are monstrously unfair to many kids. We're creating a one-size-fits-all system that needlessly brands many young people as failures, when they might thrive if offered a different education whose progress was measured differently. ~Robert Reich Educational systems (in the U.S. and around the world) face huge challenges that require bold and creative solutions to prepare students for success in the 21st century. Part of the solution will require a new focus on students developing the ability to solve complex problems in innovative ways, as well as the ability to think clearly about systems. We need to identify ways to fully engage students through learning environments that meet their needs and interests. When coupled with online collaboration with other students (locally and distally), such environments have the potential to develop students' communication skills and creative abilities as they become exposed to diverse cultures and viewpoints. Assessment results can and should have important implications for instruction, positively influencing both the teaching and learning sides of the equation. Currently, assessments are too often used for purposes of grading, promotion, and placement, but not for learning. That needs to be fixed. The stance we take on assessment is that it should: (a) support, not undermine, the learning process for learners and teachers (as well as online agents); (b) provide more formative than summative information (i.e., give useful feedback during the learning process instead of a single judgment at the end); and (c) be responsive to what is known about how people learn, generally and developmentally. This attractive vision of assessment has its primary goal to improve learning (e. has suggested that assessment should be used for two reasons: to gather evidence to inform instructional decisions, and to encourage learners to try to learn. It is this vision of educational assessment that we find to be exciting, powerful, and absolutely critical to support the kinds of learning outcomes and processes necessary for students to succeed in the 21st century. This type of assessment is referred to as " formative assessment, " which may be thought of as assessment for learning, in contrast to " summative assessment " (or assessment of learning).