stop counting fish!using the cwra to align

teaching, learning and assessment

NAIS Annual ConferenceFriday, March 2, 2012 | Seattle, WA

“Bad…”

We ask our students,

quite simply, to count fish.

The need for adifferent assessment

Institutions are equipped toimprove higher-order skills

when they connectteaching, learning, and assessment

through authentic, performance-based practices.

(a) William Shakespeare(b) John Updike

(c) Ernest Hemingway(d) None of the above

Rewards content regurgitationFails to gauge transferability

Contentknowledge

Contentskills

Generalknowledge

Generalskills

Contentknowledge

Contentknowledge

Contentskills

Generalknowledge

Generalskills

The provision of transferrable skills

is as important as the provision of

content.

The top ten in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004. We

are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist,

using technologies that have not yet been invented in order

to solve problems that we don’t even know are problems yet.

SO WHAT?

SO WHAT?

Academically adriftLimited learning on college campuses

Proportion of employers who say colleges should place MORE emphasis than they do on selected

learning outcomes

•The ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing

•Critical thinking and analytic reasoning skills

•The ability to apply knowledge and skills to real-world settings

•The ability to analyze and solve complex problems

89%

81%

79%

75%

AAC&U | 2008 | aacu.org/leap/public_opinion_research.cfm

Okay, chris, enough.

What is the [cwra]?

bias

small sample

quantitative reasoning

appropriate comparison

group

correlation vs. causation

incorrect (improper?) use of data

ability to filter

wildwood schoolDeb Christenson

Director of Curriculum

levels of conversations

national conversations21st century skills

critical thinking/problem solvingcommunication/collaboration

creativity/innovation

Partnership for 21st Century Skillsp21.org

school conversationshabits of heart and mind

conventionevidence

perspectiveconnection

collaborationservice to the common good

ethical behaviorWildwood School

wildwood.org

classroom conversationsproject-based learning

multiple documentsauthentic assessment

performanceprocess AND product

CWRA + Wildwoodassessment as key factor in developing all of these

conversations around teaching & learningCWRA meets all of these levels of

teaching/learning/assessmentCWRA aligns with the core values of our school

CWRA results allow Wildwood to look at teaching and learningResults allow us to target our intervention efforts

(both high and low achieving students) (time on task)We can also consider and examine

whether grade inflation exists

metrics

Changed our admissions criteria

Starting to see the effects of adapting our pedagogical approach

Comparing longitudinal growth to cross-sectional growth

Looking at whether change is linear

moving beyondassessment and

accountability

48% 52% 40% 60% 32% 67% 48% 53%

aligning teaching,learning &

assessment:collaboration

collegiatelearningassessment.org/contact

aligning teaching,learning &

assessment:faculty development

What is authentic assessment?

How does effective teaching support that (and vice versa)?

What are the higher-order skills we value? Why?

How are those skills demonstrated in student responses?

What are the components of a Performance Task?

How do we effectively build them?

Working | Sharing | Feedback

logistics

105 minutesonline

Fall window (Aug. 15-Oct. 31)Spring window (Feb. 1-Apr. 15)

$40 per studentEarly bird window opened March 1(and will remain open until Apr. 15)

chris jackson212.217.0845

cjackson@cae.org@cla_beat

collegiatelearningassessment.org/cwrapresentations