With the emphasis on accountability in schools today, discuss how/if 1)standards-based reform, 2) content and performance standards, 3)
performance-based assessment, and 4) high-stakes accountability is implemented in your school. What are the pros and cons of implementing these assessment measures?

Standards based reform-

Content Standards- "what content should be taught"-All of our group members have been involved with aligning our curriculum to the current state content standards to some degree.  District 186 is requiring teachers to attend "Standards Training" to become more familiar with the  Illinois standards and benchmarks.  Margie stated that District 186  established committees of teachers who were compensated for their work done outside of school time.  Liz said that her district used many teacher institute days where teachers spent the day reviewing their curriculum and finding the standard it satisfied.  She felt that this was a complete waste of time. "We didn't alter or improve the curriculum, we simply justified it".  Becky and Dianne felt it was important to give teachers exposure to the state goals in order to confirm their lessons and to give teachers direction.  Dianne wrote, "emblazoned and laminated sentence strips of all the third grade standards now hang in the classrooms to remind and guide teachers this fall."  Margie agreed that  content standards reform was a positive step toward better education, "I think it will be good for both teachers and students.  I think having standards will give students a clearer idea of what they need to know and teachers will be able to focus their lessons better."  Becky agrees, "It is a good idea to expect every student to learn the same content because of the growing mobility of our population."  Liz was concerned, " If all teachers in Illinois are teaching the same content, isn't that cutting down on the variety of knowledge our students will possess.  Isn't it important to teach a wide variety of subject matter, especially since we have such a diverse population in the United States."  Performance Standards- "how wellcontent standards are taught"- Currently, we've had less exposure to performance standards.  Dianne had the most experience in this area. " Opportunities for teachers to attend appropriate classes for implementing the performance standards abound in District 186.  I have attended courses for 'Guided Reading,' 'Writing for the ISAT, ' and 'Writer's Workshop.'"  The rest of us have had little to no experience with the development of assessments in relation to the standards.

Performance Based Assessment-"use of tasks requiring students to construct responses"- Liz's district recently distributed rubrics for teachers to use for student's persuasive, narrative, and expository writing papers.  These gave teachers clearer indications of how to grade writing papers and were less subjective than measuring student work against other students. Dianne, Liz and Becky have been trained to use the DRA assessments for early readers. The DRA's are used to obtain an accurate reading level for each student. This is done using a checklist and direct observation of student reading. Margie has developed rubrics and checklists for her 5th grade social studies unit that she is anxious to put into effect. Becky believes, "Performance-based assessments can demonstrate 'real world' activities."  Liz  feels that performance based assessments are necessary to assess performance based or project based lessons.  "If we  create real life challenges for our students in our curriculum , we need to modify our assessments to measure their success."  Marge and Dianne feel that the hardest part of performance based assessments is the amount of time it takes to perform.  We all agreed many types of performance assessment tools are still too subjective.  Scores from ISAT  writing samples  and DRA's are not always consistent between scorers.

High Stakes Accountability- "high stakes attached to the results of assessments"- We felt that the high stakes now obvious in our schools could be considered both worthwhile and detrimental.  Margie brought up the Prairie State Exam. "Our district is raising the stakes on accountability by implementing the Prairie State Exam, beginning with this year's Freshman.  They will be taking the test as Juniors and it will determine whether the students can meet the standards for graduation.  This is putting a great deal of unneeded pressure on both students and teachers."  Dianne is concerned with the number of teachers who are not following guidelines in state and national tests because the stakes are too high. "We are strongly encouraged to use practice tests and work on specific skills that will be tested in order to score well on our school report card."  Liz's input was about the high stakes of losing certification if teachers don't fulfill the new recertification requirements now mandated by the state. "Beginning this year, teachers are required to write and complete a plan to further advance their skills as educators. This is a positive move toward promoting excellence in our schools.  We have far too many teachers who haven't completed one course that would help bring them up to date in our changing society."  Becky agrees that it is important to make our schools accountable for fulfilling student's academic needs, but feels that if teachers are going to be required to expand their education, they should not be held responsible for the cost and should be compensated with a graduated pay scale.