Employers, colleges and families may not agree on much, but they tend to agree about this: our K-12 students need to develop essential skills like self-direction, collaboration, communication and creativity to successfully navigate college, career and community life. Trouble is, standardized tests and traditional assessments do not adequately capture whether students have developed these deeper…
Our last two articles (here and here) explored the scaling of Work-Study Practices (WSPs, a.k.a., deeper learning competencies) in New Hampshire, the growth of this education innovation in the state and the role of a statewide, nonprofit intermediary, the New Hampshire Learning Initiative (NHLI) as a scaling agent. There is another driver of scale observed…
Since 2014, New Hampshire educators can meet academic accountability requirements through a statewide Performance Assessment for Competency-based Education (PACE) system. Aimed at capturing a more authentic assessment of content knowledge, educators have developed and scored performance tasks with levels of reliability and validity comparable to state level standardized tests. As part of a William and…
It’s fall 2017 in New Hampshire. The state’s Performance Assessment for Competency-based Education (PACE) system is entering its third year. Using this alternative state accountability system, 150 teachers in nine school districts have created 14 performance assessment tasks in mathematics, English language arts (ELA), and science. The tasks have been validated against standardized state tests…
The BEST Self-Direction Toolkit is a collection of resources for teachers to use in the classroom for instruction and assessment that focuses on self-direction. The toolkit includes the self-direction rubric, self-direction activities and targeted resources for teachers. All tools are designed by teachers and tested in the classroom. Who is the toolkit for? It’s for…