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Albert Einstein and an assistant, having finished a paper, searched
the office for a paper clip. They finally found one, too badly
bent for use. They looked for an implement to straighten it,
and after opening many drawers came upon a whole box of
clips. Einstein at once shaped one into a tool to straighten
the bent clip. His assistant, puzzled, asked why he was
doing this when there was a whole boxful of usable clips.
"Once I am set on a goal it becomes difficult to deflect me,"
answered Einstein.
-- Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes
An essential goal as educators, given the high-stakes accountability issues, is to not waiver in our determination to better understand our assessment practices and evaluation methods. I have discovered that many
times educators have an overt, or covert, personal agenda when it comes to assessment avenues, as well as perceptions of evaluative purposes. I have also discovered that many are confused about the terms
assessment and evaluation--and their intended purposes. With the present, and I believe, permanent demand for both accountability and alignment, a clear understanding of these terms is no longer an option, but rather an obligation.
Simply stated: assessment is the noun--the delivery and the final product; evaluation is the verb--the evaluative tools and, hopefully, the unbiased analyses of the product.
Our educational system is unique in that our corporate world has recently demanded its in-the-field workers (a.k.a., teachers and support staff) play an active role in aligning classroom practices based on incorporating standards,
quality assessments, and on-going evaluations. Some schools, to answer this accountability issue, have taken a closer look at collaboration.
If collaboration does take place, it most often is done horizontally (i.e., across
one grade level or content area). For true, sustained assessment and evaluation reform, vertical conversations among grade levels and disciplines must take place. As
Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs so well states, "When you are talking about an eighth grader, you are not talking about an eighth grader. Rather, you are talking about an eighth-seventh-sixth-fifth-fourth-third-second-first-and kindergarten-er."
(National Curriculum Mapping Conference, July 2003)
 Implementing collaboration can be a
truly daunting task, but so well worth the time investment. In addition to the initial collaboration
building on personal and emotional levels, teams must focus on critical issues such as
standards-aligned assessments (whether mandated or self-generated), standards-friendly classroom practices, and evaluation of the collected data.
Sustained training, mentoring, and coaching is essential for teachers and support staff to
fully understand and embrace their newly appointed active roles.
The use of an outside consultant is recommended.
Oftentimes, those within a system have a difficult time either fully seeing the realities of their world, or they do not feel confident in voicing those realities
and creating needed change. My desire is to play an active role concerning your
collaboration building, as well as your assessment and evaluation issues, concerns, and practices. Please click on the link or links below that best meet your current needs.
Building, Implementing, and Coaching Vertical Teams
Research has clearly shown that to create sustained change a collaborative environment is essential. Superior models, such as Curriculum Mapping
(Mapping the Big Picture: Integrating Curriculum and
Assessment, Hayes Jacobs, Heidi, 1997) and Effective Schools (Assembly
Required, Lezotte, Lawrence, 2002), both stress this key component.
Many schools utilize horizontal teams (grade-level or content-specific). I strongly believe that vertical teams (across grade levels and disciplines) are an
additional 21st Century "must", given the call for accountability. There are many factors
to be considered before successful vertical teams can be formed. Here are four of the most important
ones:
Factor One: A school or district that embraces the collaborative model must also be committed to the time factor that collaboration takes. If a school is technology savvy,
some meetings can happen in cyberspace. If not, the question of "when
can we meet" plays a huge factor in its success. Consistent communication within the collaborative teams and support committees and staff is crucial.
Factor Two: Team building is essential, and oftentimes overlooked. Trust must be earned. It cannot be forced. Somehow,
the time must be provided for teams to bond and create some personal "history" before taking on heavier tasks. As the teams create a personal history, they will begin to take ownership and be willing to take on harder tasks.
Factor Three: When collaborative teams meet, there must be a
stated, pre-determined purpose or goal for the meeting and theses
must be a documented intended outcome, or product, produced from that meeting. If this is not adhered to, precious time is truly wasted. Most often, the team's product is a small piece of a bigger puzzle that the school is collectively working on. If all teams are not actively involved in providing input-products (i.e., critical information), when the evaluative process begins the data will not be
complete or valid.
Factor Four: Long-term collaboration teams need "freshness." There should be flexibility built into your teaming model to accommodate this need. After
a certain number of specific small or large tasks have been completed, allow teams to be recreated
to create different and varied dynamics.
If creating horizontal or vertical collaborative environments
are of interest to you, please contact me so that we can discuss your specific needs and concerns.
Designing Assessments and Evaluation Practices
There are a wide variety of methods and frameworks for focusing on assessment and evaluation. One of my specialties is to help you determine what model or framework is
best for you and your needs. I enjoy the challenge of evaluating
current, or creating new, assessments that provide quality data
for evaluative purposes. There is an art to blending standards,
assessment processes, and quality evaluations.
Not only is there an art to creating or choosing
best-assessment modalities, but there is also a need for proper
evaluative usage of results data. Oftentimes, teachers and staff
are not trained in disaggregation and unpacking data. I would be honored to play an active role in this
process with your school or district. Please feel free to contact me
concerning your specific needs and concerns.
Disaggregating and Unpacking Data
Probably one of the greatest requests I am currently receiving is to train staffs and districts in the understanding and
protocol of disaggregation and unpacking collected data. By definition, disaggregation is the breaking down of data by sub-populations. In and of itself, disaggregation is a powerful tool. Unfortunately, disaggregation is not used at school-site levels as much as it should be. Teachers must be empowered so that they can better align their classroom practices to meet the No Child Left Behind requirements
(www.nclb.gov), which states that,
"all children can learn" as well as local and state
mandates. A staff must become savvy in the how to's for looking in-depth within group and subgroup data.
Unpacking data is similar to disaggregation. The term unpacking can be
best understood through an "unpacking a suitcase" analogy. If you were to open up a packed suitcase and look at the "surface" content, only a few facts can be ascertained--by fact or assumption. For example, you may be able to determine that the owner is male or female; likes bright colors; is going to a warm-weather destination; and takes medication. Not until you "unpack" the suitcase further and look at the items
themselves collectively and individually can you know much about the suitcase's owner. This
analogy speaks well concerning what needs to take place in school environments.
A gentleman by the name of Richard Ross developed the Five Whys strategy. This strategy works well with the unpacking concept and is simple to utilize.
By asking oneself a series of five "whys" in relation to specific data, you can unpack deep enough to begin to understand the possible root
cause or causes and create successful solutions.
The designer of Curriculum Mapping, Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs, shared a great example of the unpacking process
at the National Curriculum Mapping Conference, July 2003. She was working with a school district concerned with its low math scores within a specific grade-level range. By looking at the state-exam data, it was obvious that the students did score poorly, but
why (1)? Face value: it appears to be that they are "just not good in math." But was that really true?
Why (2) do they appear to be not good in math? The next level of unpacking took place by actually looking at what math problems were collectively missed. It was discovered that the missed problems were consistently "story problems."
Why (3) were story-problem questions so difficult for the
students? Looking deeper, it became apparent that the problems missed most frequently had four task levels.
Why (4) are the students missing problems with multi-tasks? Unpacking a bit deeper revealed that the true issue was not actually math, but reading!
Why (5) are the students unable to successfully read multi-task text? When evaluated
one level deeper, it appeared that the students were having difficulty with transition words and the sequencing of events.
It is amazing what unpacking can reveal!
Now, think about this unpacked "Five Whys" data.
If the school or district had not taken the time to dig deep (unpack) these math-results data, most likely a new math product or curriculum would have been chosen, and the true problem left unresolved!
This district, instead, created collaborative reading-and-math teams who in turn created classroom modules that truly address the
reading and math needs. We all know the results--math test scores
went up!
If you and your school or district desire to learn more about the benefits of disaggregation
and/or unpacking data, please fell free to contact me concerning your school or district's needs.
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