In his session, Douglas Reeves argued for more exploration of common education myths. For example, consider the complaint that if you assess more frequently, then there won't be enough time to teach, and student achievement will suffer. “The number one thing I hear is that we are over-tested,” he said. “We are, but let's draw the distinction.”
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Specifically, schools are overdoing testing that is evaluative and summative, and educators are getting the feedback too darn late to do anything about it, admitted Reeves, who is chairman of the Center for Performance Assessment in Englewood, Colo. However, Reeves asserted, we are not doing enough assessing that is “in classrooms, designed to improve teaching and learning.”
When a U.S. Senate committee asked Reeves to identify the best assessment available, he responded, “The ones I did in 7th grade math on Thursdays, because they would improve learning and teaching and student performance on Fridays.” Reeves argued that we need more short-term, 10- to 15-item assessments that teachers review immediately and use right away to get better and better.
Feedback Can Be Fun
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The same kid who can't focus and can't pay attention can turn on an electronic game and sit. Transfixed. Immovable. Without a follicle of hair out of place, because they're getting something that they're not getting from me.
What do these electronic games give them? Feedback that is immediate. Feedback that is incremental. Feedback that lets them end every session knowing they're a little bit better than when they started. When you think about it, that's what great music teachers do. When you think about it, that's what great coaches do. They don't pull out grade books and give feedback nine weeks later; they have children leaving their presence knowing they're better than when they walked in. I aspire to have a math class, or a writing class, or a leadership class, or a statistics class as good as a great music teacher, or for that matter, as Nintendo.
