Here is the understatement of the day/week/year/decade so far: It’s been a tough couple of years. This is true for everyone, but I believe it’s especially true for schools and learning organizations. We have been forced to deal with VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) on a new scale. COVID brought existential challenges to schools… Continue reading Moving Beyond the Existential
Blog
Feedback for Learning: An Assessment System Beyond Grades
Note: This blog was originally published on the Mastery Transcript Consortium site. Hi and welcome back! In this installment, I want to get to the meat of things: if assessment should be treated as feedback rather than measurement (see last blog), how do we do so without traditional “grades”in a mastery-based environment? The shift from measurement… Continue reading Feedback for Learning: An Assessment System Beyond Grades
What is Assessment in the New Normal?
Note: This blog was originally published on the Mastery Transcript Consortium site. I’d like to explore three different shifts that are important in our approach to the “A” word — assessment. These are shifts in defining what assessment is before we move on to its meaning for our practice or the how of assessment, which will be the next blog in… Continue reading What is Assessment in the New Normal?
Assessment Design
Note: This was previously published on the Mastery Transcript Consortium site. One of the activities I have suggested for educators in my book, Moving Beyond Busy (Solution Tree, 2019), is something I call an “implication dive.” This is how we drive change backward through all teaching and learning systems in schools, as I touched upon in my… Continue reading Assessment Design
Assessment: What’s Worth Learning?
Note: This piece was originally published on the Mastery Transcript Consortium’s site. Thank you for joining me for the second instalment in this series. We’ll begin to dig into the various shifts that I see as essential to transform a school or district into a mastery-based learning environment. In this piece, I wanted to explore… Continue reading Assessment: What’s Worth Learning?
What is a Vision without Impacts?
Note: Originally published in 2015 and on the Common Ground Collaborative Web site. I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon in my work with schools. Most schools will state their aspirations to make ambitious improvements to learning within their organizations in order to address the real and urgent needs of our students. Whether it’s “global citizenship”, “21st century… Continue reading What is a Vision without Impacts?