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Human Diversity in Education: An Integrative Approach, 4/e

Kenneth H. Cushner, Kent State University, Kent
Averil McClelland, Kent State University, Kent
Philip Safford, Case Western Reserve University

Assessing Progress: The Importance of Social Class and Social Status

Reflective Questions


1		Beth Bradley and her colleagues in the Jefferson schools undertook a major change in the way they assessed students in mathematics, based on guidelines set by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. These guidelines, like those set by other subject area teacher associations, are often adopted by individual states as requirements for all teaching of that subject in that state. As a teacher, how might you become involved in the organizations that set these standards?



2		Two years of planning went into the new assessment program discussed in the case study. Why do you think it took so long? What happens to teachers who continue to disagree with a proposed change?



3		One of the first things that Beth and her colleagues discovered was that using multiple forms of assessment required them to alter their instruction in significant ways. What does that finding imply about the relation between instruction and evaluation?



4		Beth recalls in the case study that even though she believed in the assessment changes that were to be adopted, she continued to test in the old way because “old habits die hard.” What do you think might help teachers develop new habits? What characteristics of the school environment would facilitate change in teachers’ behavior?



5		How might tests be an impediment to effective instruction (that is, instruction that results in student learning)?



6		A common criticism of multiple forms of assessment is that two teachers using the same assessment procedures may arrive at different evaluations of students’ achievement. Assuming that this criticism has some validity, how might conditions be set so that variation in teachers’ evaluation might be minimized?



7		Multiple forms of assessment raise critical issues about the relation between project-based collaborative work in classrooms and standardized testing. Given the political climate of the United States at the present time, it is unlikely that standardized testing, at least on the state level, is going to be abandoned any time soon. Many teachers believe that knowledge and skills acquired though new types of instruction and assessment will transfer easily to demonstration through standardized tests. Others are not so sure. What are the arguments on each side?

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