Reclaiming assessment : a better alternative to the accountability agenda / Chris W. Gallagher ; foreword by Deborah Meier.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gallagher, Chris W.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Educational evaluation--United States.

Educational evaluation.

United States.

Educational accountability--United States.

Educational accountability.

Physical Description:

xiv, 144 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Portsmouth, NH : Heinemann, [2007]

Summary:

Reclaiming Assessment details a more humane, more educationally sound way to conduct assessments than what is called for in national and state test-based accountability policies. It examines how Nebraska rejected harmful, high-stakes testing in favor of teacher-designed assessments through a groundbreaking local-control assessment system. Presenting vital conceptual details and practical information for any state, district, or school committed to finding something better for their students than filling ovals, Chris Gallagher focuses in on what makes Nebraska's plan work and how it can transform and has transformed classrooms and policies. In particular he homes in on four key aspects of successful teacher-led assessment: engaging teachers by reinvesting them with classroom- and curricular-level decision-making power, engaging students through meaningful classroom assessment, engaging colleagues through a new, energizing model of professional development, engaging parents and other community members through school-community projects.

In each instance, Gallagher combines lessons from Nebraska's school-improvement program with "portraits of practice," vignettes written by Nebraska educators that give a close-up look at how the state's assessment system works, why it works, the settings in which it's making a difference, and the leadership styles that match its goals best. Both a challenge to educators to take back assessment from politicized, top-level bureaucrats and a call to create a new agenda for contemporary education, Reclaiming Assessment is an ideal starting point for your efforts to return to student-centered, not test-centered, assessment. Put your trust in educators' abilities to observe and know their students, then read Reclaiming Assessment, adopt an assessment model that's already succeeding in hundreds of schools, and start improving how your students are assessed today.

Contents:

Introduction : reforming reform

Accountability and after

Teachers at the lead, schools in the center : the Nebraska story

Engaging students : making assessment meaningful in the classroom

Engaging colleagues : creating new models of professional development

Engaging community members : extending the conversation

Conclusion : reclaiming the profession.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 129-140) and index.

ISBN:

9780325009186

032500918X

OCLC:

71369149