The pressure is insistent. “Write something educational.” But what it really means is, “Write something safe. Write something no one will object to. In other words, write for education.”

Write for education? Oh, that’s right. I have a blog for edu-speak called EduWrite. It is writing that is right for education, that gives the human soul no purchase in its fight for meaning and relevance.

Pat Conroy’s writing does this to me. It reminds me of writing that can be so real it hurts. It is the kind of writing I wish…well, you know. When David Warlick writes, I see glimpses of it. When I read these words last night, as I “cracked open” the RSS aggregator, dipping my cup into the swiftly flowing river of so many voices, I felt David’s power to speak simply, powerfully with a few words.

Finally, I continue to question the research complaint, that there is no research to show that technology improves achievent. First of all, there is. But that’s beside the point. I don’t think that we should be investing (much) more in providing convenient access to digital, networked, and abundant information to students and teachers to improve test scores. I think we should be doing it because today’s information environment is digital, networked, and abundant. Computers and the Internet are the pencil and paper of our time — and insisting that our children can learned to be ready for their future by scratching and stamping text on paper and reading published textbooks, is like saying that children could learn with clay tablets, long after paper was widely used.
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I am so utterly devoid of enthusiasm for the testing environment. In Texas, the announcement was made that 8th graders would be assessed for technology literacy. It was also stated that teachers, librarians and administrators would have to meet the SBEC Technology Standards for All Educators. Yet, the immediate response was, Let’s use a paper or simple online assessment based on the paper instrument (even if it’s not interactive). I am no less guilty than anyone else in having this response myself.

Yes, like others, I did not resist the voice that said, “Let’s get this assessment done quick, even if it isn’t going to be done right.” Let’s take a paper assessment and throw it online into Moodle and test all our 8th graders.

I am no different than those who said, “Let’s use the STaR Chart to assess teachers and librarians because, well, that’s the Texas Assessment” even when EVERYONE knows that the STaR Chart was made by a committee of dedicated education professionals, but is NOT reliable, valid, and is based on poorly understood–at least, by the classroom teacher and librarians out there–Chart indicators. The reason why? “We need data that will be tied to funding.” But, again, again, again, I must ask, Is the data collected by the STaR Chart valid and reliable? Is the STaR Chart a marriage blessed, recognized by the congregation and legitimized by the State, yet fundamentally inadequate for the task of assessing all educators in Texas?

Don’t get me wrong, I want a valid, reliable instrument. Right now, that’s the LOTI…what’s sad isn’t that the STaR is used in lieu of the better LOTI, but rather, that the best Texas could come up with is a tool that was written by committee. Yes, you folks did a wonderful job. Yet, it’s not the assessment tool we need. Would that we had resisted the easy solution and gone for an assessment instrument that was BETTER than the LOTI. What do you think makes an assessment a quality tool? Isn’t there a whole discipline dedicated to designing quality assessments? Doesn’t every phD and Ed.D know how?

And, when we assess the 8th graders…what will that assessment really measure?

What will that data be used for? To influence legislators, to say that something has succeeded (or failed) when it has not. Resist. The word flaps into my face like a winged incarnation.

Resist the desire to assess learning environments that should be digital, networked and information rich with paper-n-pencil or electronic worksheets.

Resist the desire to do what is safe simply because that is what is required.

Resist the desire to cheat the system.

Resistance is futile. The truth is, I want accountability. Ask me, someone please ask me, “Why is what you do worthwhile, worthy of investing one more cent? Why is what you do making a difference in the lives of children who must be global citizens, who must thrive in an increasingly digitized environment?”

I want all of us, every single member of that group of “ALL educators” mentioned in the SBEC Technology Standards for ALL Educators to be held accountable. Assessment? You need a more incisive tool, a more insightful process.

No answers here, only a marked lack of enthusiasm for worthless assessments forced down our collective throats.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure