An alternative that may actually live again - if the movements against NCLB have any impact (they all call for multiple measures - and they usually mean authentic classroom assessment as part of a mm system) - is the Learning Record. You can read more about it on the Fair Test website. Heinemann has our books on it as well as the original Primary Language Record from England. There is now a computer version that is quite easy to use in terms of the forms themselves. You'll remember from previous discussions, it is not new, simply a rich structure for organizing all the good things we already do, miscues, running records, observations, work samples and stresses multiple perspectives, e.g. Parents must have a say, children have input - indeed that is the whole point, to give them the tools and responsibility for understanding their own learning strengrhs and needs. I remember us saying the whole language wasn't a set of practices but rather a theoretical perspective on learning. Well the LR is that - a set of beliefs and assumptions about learning and how to understand and communicate it.
I am pleased to announce to this list that I am leaving higher ed for good and returning to a school - the United Auburn Indian Community School (Miwok/Maidu) which is implementing a culturally relevant curriculum and the Learning Record K-12. It is near the California high school which has used the LR for the last more than a decade. And I am also working with Long Beach charter school, two way bilingual, which intends to implement the LR. The UAICS is in Auburn California. Look forward to getting to northern California better! So here's hoping there will be a revival. I am filled with great joy and anticipation at being back with kids full time. Will be teaching high school English half time and leading the LR and supporting all the teachers with the curriculum (I already know and admire all of them!) which I helped develop with my Lakota colleague and wonderful educator, Sandra Fox. Hooray. But do check out the LR. Alfie Kohn recommends the LR and Meisels as two of the best approaches to assessment he knows. At one point New York was using the LR and variations - Bev Falk studied it and knows it well. It was used by a number of teachers/schools including Central Park East. We have a large amount of research demonstrating that teacher judgment can be as realiable as standardized tests. We've got correlative studies showing the LR is "standards referenced." For example, 85% of the students at Lincoln High whose LR portfolios were judged by themselves and their teachers as meeting 9th grade benchmarks passed the California exit exam when they took it in 9th grade. NCLB just wiped out this approach for awhile. But maybe we can all be part of bringing it back. Sally > > Of course, the general logic seems obvious to some of us, but not to > the powers that be. Parents and teachers here would like to revisit > the basic assumptions behind these tests and consider alternatives. > Anyone out there know where this might be happening? > > Thanks, > Heather > > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
