Assessment Technologies and Real World Answers

While looking for some examples of assessment technology, I ran across the following:
The Development of a New Scientific Instrument: "Views on Science-Technology-Society" (VOSTS)
This article describes the method for developing an instrument that would assess what students already know about science, as well as their views about what they know. The authors state that many instruments designed to assess scientific knowledge make an assumption that the student understand the test questions in the same way the researcher does. This introduces questions of validity for the instrument. To address this, the authors determined to use a different approach for instrument development.
The authors wrote a series of questions to which 5000 students responded both with multiple choice, likert scale, paragraph, and oral responses to determine what prevailing beliefs students had about science-technology-society content. Based on these responses, they created an instrument with a variety of responses that could potentially reflect student views and knowledge. They stated the empirical development methodology provides a more reliable instrument for accurately assessing what students understand, and could be used for both pre- and post-test scenarios. The instrument was developed in 1992 in Canada. The methodology was described in detail, and could be replicated to meet national or state standards and to reflect regional diversity.
Copies may be obtained by writing VOSTS, Department of Curriculum Studies, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK. S7N OWO, Canada.
It seems to me it could be highly useful in determining the "stickiness" of science teaching. I have often felt that simple multiple choice assessments don't capture the full understanding of a learning experience, and are limited by the individual writing them. I have often argued (silently) with multiple choice tests over a variety of responses that I felt did not reflect what the question was asking. The approach described here seems to address those issues well.
Aikenhead, G. S., & Ryan, A. G. (1992). The development of a new scientific instrument: "Views on science-technology-society" (VOSTS) [Electronic version]. Science Education, 76, 477-491. Retrieved June 26, 2007, from http://www.usask.ca/education/people/aikenhead/vosts_2.pdf

Being smarter than the average bear

Sometimes that's what it takes.
Long story: I started this blog with great expectations and plans last semester. Then my isp played with their settings, and ever since then I have been frustrated because nothing would publish. So, I *finally* thought that maybe if I switched the publishing settings to my college website I could get the thing up. Voila, success! Then, I just copied the files from that location to my isp location and it is now published here as well. Now I just have to update my college webpage home to include a blog and it will be visible both places. But that's for another day when I'm not running off to work.
In the meanwhile, I will be publishing some comments on assessment and NCLB and related topics for another class a little later.

Three-Quarters Done

That's how much of the semester has flown by -- spring break has come and gone, spring came, winter is back for a last hurrah, and I am cranking out one assignment after another to finish up this semester. Since I finished the student handbook committee assignment (with a whimper, not a bang), I didn't feel there was a whole lot more to add to this little journal.
But, the experience of keeping an on-line journal is good in and of itself as an exercise in using technology in a different way.
The question I raise this week is:
How would you incorporate a blog into the subject you teach?
If you teach English, or another language/composition subject, the answer would be relatively easy. But what about some of the subjects that usually don't require written compositions as part or parcel of the course? That is one of the challenges faced by teachers at my daughters' high school, btw -- every class has to include some kind of writing assignment on a regular basis -- I don't recall the frequency, but it is fairly often. Weekly, perhaps? Think on that for awhile, and see what ideas you come up with for including a blog in your subject. I'd be interested in hearing them!
Meanwhile, my next major project is to rewrite some course content for Advanced 9th grade English classes as part of my curriculum course. As soon as I knock out the rough draft for the presentation on "Oversold and Underused" in my edtech class, that is. I thought I had organized things well enough to have my assignments a little more balanced this semester, but delays from my contacts pushed it to the last quarter of the quarter, shall we say.....
Meanwhile, down at the farm...but that's another blog!

The Second Meeting on the Student Handbook

This meeting was pretty low key. We continued going through the handbook -- but most of the issues with it were in the first half, which we had discussed (to death?) in the last meeting. Much of the second half was straight out of the Indiana school law, so no amount of discussion was going to change that!
We had a conversation about how to define "modest clothing" -- I think it ended up going nowhere, though. I don't recall any specific verbiage being changed.
There was a highlight of the meeting as we drew to the end: the school administration was going to collect input from the student government association, as well as any student who wanted to comment, so students will have a voice in this as well. Now, whether that voice will make an impact on the final version is yet to be seen, but at least they will be heard.
One interesting thing occured, though: Before the meeting I sent the participants a copy of the cell-phone policy we had worked on in my EdTec class earlier in the semester, because I thought it would be of interest to everyone. When we got to that point in our discussion, one member of the group proceeded to send text messages while we were talking to prove it could be done without anyone being aware that someone had a cell phone. So, the students will have to continue to keep cell phones in lockers because everyone seems to think they aren't responsible enough to have cell phones on their person without using them. I wonder, now, if every student who wanted to keep a cell phone on his/her person would sign an agreement to not use the cell phone during class time, if said students would violate that agreement. I keep believing high school students CAN be responsible -- but maybe I live in an idealistic world.
So, my two-week experience in re-writing a student handbook left me feeling that there is little a parent can do to change the way a school treats its students unless you were to undertake a full examination of the philosophical underpinnings of said school -- and that wasn't going to happen in this situation (although I did suggest it!). And, I suspect that wouldn't happen without something else occurring to instigate a feeling of need.
On a related subject -- a co-worker has spent the last year in India volunteering at a rural school, and one of his recent posts sounded a lot like NCLB complaints: here's the link http://www.amarkumar.net/ (March 5 post). I thought you might like to read it!

The First Meeting

Last Monday I attended the first meeting to rewrite the student handbook. I observed the following:
No students were in attendance. I subsequently emailed and asked why we didn't have students on the committee, and was told they had an opportunity to provide daily input at school. I asked why the daily input wasn't captured in survey form like the teachers' input had been, and was told that the student government association could provide input. Except there wasn't any provided in the meeting. And, the student government members weren't there. Hmmm.
All three parents in attendence were band parent members. The three teachers were all female. Is this significant?
The committee will not actually end up rewriting the handbook; the decisions made by the committee will be presented to the superintendant, but that individual may or may not agree to abide by the decisions of the committee.
I felt that there wasn't a lot of interest on the part of the administration members attending to make significant changes in the current quantity or type of rules included in the handbook. There was not a lot of exploration of options or brainstorming going on. I also felt that the atmosphere of the meeting was more focused on control than opportunity. I wonder why that is such a prevailing attitude in schools? Do we really believe that most kids are bad and will not behave unless we make strict rules to keep them in line?
Anyway, we didn't get it all done in one week (I was surprised they had expected to), so it is back again next Monday. I'll post more next week.

Thoughts on Student Handbooks and Discipline

Tomorrow I start my immersion experience for EDTEC 670. I will be participating in a rewrite of the local high school student handbook. As I've been reading it I have wondered why we treat teens as potential criminals with the multitude of thou shalt nots and severe consequences. It is impossible for even the best student to avoid a "run in with the school law" completely. When did we become so dictatorial in our approach to schools? Why does a few bad apples make it a rotten environment for everyone? Is it any wonder that the general attitude is that school is a place you have to survive, and the concept of enjoying learning is lost? I don't think teachers like it any better than the students.
So, my next blog will report on my first meeting with the group. I don't hold out much hope for a more charitable viewpoint, but at least I will know I made the effort.

Educating for Freedom?

A headline (Budget Cuts Harm Curriculum) caught my eye as I was about to start this blog. Deeper Holes in Public Education
Another headline earlier in the week noted that the federal government is thinking about cutting the E2T2 budget (the funding for increasing technology in public education) Bush budget again would cut E2T2 .
An article I read this week talked about the philosophical difference between general education and vocational education. General Education v. Vocational Education
So, where am I going with all of this?
How do these ideas and policies affect what we are doing in education? Are we educating to increase the freedoms of our citizens? Are we really providing expanded educational opportunities for everyone, or are we ending up limiting their choices? My daughter pointed out this week that the primary problem with NCLB is the concept of "left behind." At what point is someone left behind? Think about runners in a race. Is the person in second place being left behind, or the person in third place? What about the runners in the middle? How do you encourage someone to achieve at their best if it means someone else can't meet the same standard? Who decides who is being left behind? Do we lower our standards? Do we discourage high-achievers? Where do we draw the line?
I am reminded of something that relates to my religious beliefs -- I believe that prior to this earth life there was a discussion about who would be the Savior. Christ said he would go. Then Satan said he would go, and he would make sure everyone passed the earth-life test, and returned to heaven, but he wanted God's glory if he did. God said he would send Christ. Satan rebelled, and a war in heaven ensued, in which 1/3 followed Satan. The point of this is, the war was fought over the concept of whether it is right to force people to succeed -- our agency as humans was at stake.
Are we fighting this same war with NCLB? I keep asking myself if that is what the bottom line is. Of course, someone who doesn't share my religious beliefs might not have this same perspective....but, do we have the right to force someone to pass school? We have the obligation to provide equivalent opportunities for anyone who wants to succeed to do so -- and I think that is the good intent of NCLB -- but what about the not so good intent that seems to have developed because the government says if you don't do it, we'll punish you? How much control do we really have over learning? We can teach -- but will the learner learn? Isn't that what NCLB is telling us to do: force the learner to learn? Does this provide additional educational opportunities for everyone, or force everyone into a standardized mold where we cut off vital parts if you don't happen to fit the mold? That sounds like slavery to me. A free people should not tolerate it. So, what do you think? Are our educational policies helping or hurting our future freedom?