Chapter 12, “Thinking Through Assessment” presents an issue that I consider at length in my senior thesis. I am writing about using school-community partnerships to aid struggling schools. A large portion of my research revolves around the efforts of a high school in a nearby school district to restructure in order to increase their accountability rating under No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. Unlike many schools that have failed to meet annual yearly progress standards, this school has embraced innovative learning strategies. Rather than implementing test preparation courses and extra study courses for students who failed previous state exams, teachers, administrators and teaching artists from a local nonprofit have collaborated to open up two Smaller Learning Communities (SLCs). Each SLC follows a student-centered, project-based learning approach that allows students to conduct their own projects while still adhering to state standards.
One of the teachers’ big issues had been trying to balance students’ needs with school and state needs. For example, one teacher mentioned to me that her students had not done well on a recent global history test, despite the fact that she could see them growing individually. Her students displayed more creativity, maturity, and better social skills than they had in the past, which she attributed to the small class sizes, individualized projects, and group work. The low test scores, however, were a big problem. Author David Pearson alludes to this when he points out that different “clients” have different expectations of assessments. School and state administrators want to see academic progress, and are not as impressed by enhanced social and personal skills.
While there is no easy strategy to go about this weird balancing act, there are certain ways that teachers can remain mindful to the needs of different players in the system. In response to the drop in test scores, for example the teacher in my case study had collaborated with two other fellow teachers to address potential problems with their curricula. Throughout the entire year, it seems that this process of group reflection and teacher collaboration has helped the teachers maintain an innovative, project-based curricula while still preparing students for success on state exams.