Bassett asks, "What are your demonstrations of learning?"

[Demetri Orlando]

The Fall '09 issue of Independent School magazine is about school mission. Pat Bassett, head of NAIS, established a committee of college and school heads that met over the past year to discuss transforming education from kindergarten through college in the context of the call for "21st century skills." They identify six important skills [educational outcomes] culled from a variety of sources:

• character (self-discipline, empathy, integrity, resilience, courage)

• creativity (entrepreneurial spirit)

• real-world problem-solving (filtering, analysis, synthesis)

• public speaking (communications)

• teaming

• leadership

The article then goes on to identify 10 "demonstrations of learning" that this group developed as a possible framework for a "lifelong portfolio" (k-16) providing assessment for the skills listed above. These demonstrations of learning are:

1. Conduct a fluent conversation in a foreign language about a piece of writing in that language.

2. Write a cogent and persuasive opinion piece on a matter of public importance.

3. Declaim with passion and from memory a passage that is meaningful - of one's own or from the culture's literature or history.

4. Produce or perform a work of art.

5. Construct and program a robot capable of performing a difficult physical task.

6. Exercise leadership.

7. Using statistics, assess whether or not a statement by a public figure is demonstrably true.

8. Assess media coverage of a global event from various cultural/national perspectives.

9. Describe a breakthrough for a team on which you served and to which you contributed to overcoming a human-created obstacle so that the team could succeed in its task.

10. Demonstrate a commitment to creating a more sustainable future with means that are scalable.

As usual, Pat is giving us great food for thought. This list of demonstrations of learning is a great starting point to discuss the K-16 experience. What do we really want our graduates to know and be able to do? I also love the idea of students developing an eportfolio during their years in school that addresses these outcomes at each age-level's appropriate level of mastery. How would each of the 10 items on the list be demonstrated at each grade level? What products or "learning artifacts" do our students produce that could demonstrate mastery of these areas at an age-appropriate level.

Most of us are in K-12 schools, and it seems like our demonstrations of learning for 12th graders revolve around exams and AP/ACT tests. Certainly the various disciplines strive to meet the goals outlined above, but we don't measure it by asking students to demonstrate a portfolio of work. Instead, we ask them to take standardized tests and final exams.

Pat closes his article by asking what is happening at our schools. Reading this prompt to give feedback on the printed page of Independent School magazine left me hungering for an interactive medium, so I've reposted his list here, hoping to stimulate a few responses. What do you think of this list? Would you add or remove items? Does your school do anything like this, or have any Demonstrations of Learning that indicate success for graduates of your school's curriculum and mission? Do your students create portfolios over their K-16 schooling experience? How do your 4th graders demonstrate their learning? What is asked of them? 8th grade? 12th grade?

[Demetri Orlando]

One thing I like about this list is that it focuses learning as leading towards a tangible end-product learning outcome. It also seems like the end-products create a much more varied set of assessment objects than simply exams or papers which seem to comprise the current bulk of our assessments. I also like that this list reflects our curricular subject areas: foreign [world] language, mathematics, language arts, civics, science, art. The inclusion of leadership, collaboration, and sustainability make sense to me. It looks like physical-education is missing, so I'd add an outcome related to sports or athletics (with accommodations). It also seems a bit odd to have the robot challenge. I think something broader related to science and technology would be better. I'll have to think a bit on this.

[Matt Montagne]

Here are some items that I think are omitted from this list:

1. Convey a message through the use of mixed media narrative.

2. In addition to utilizing classic resources during the research process, students will be able to independently leverage their own social learning networks to connect and communicate with an expert in the field.

3. Engage in independent synchronous and asynchronous discussions with youth in other regions of the world about topics of interest (politics, culture, environment, technology, etc)

4. Manage a sophisticated portfolio learning space that is expansive and representative of the unique learning journeys of each learner. Regularly engage in a real portfolio learning process that involves goal setting, reflection, sharing, and feedback from a wide range of people including parents, peers, school community members, and others outside the boundaries of the school.

[Demetri Orlando]

Hey Matt,
Thanks for adding to this discussion. I'm wondering if your numbers 2 & 3 could be combined into something along the lines of "grow and use a personal learning network." It's cool to think of how this might look at any grade level from k-16.

[Demetri Orlando]

Interesting that as we think about how to define "21st century skills" we seem to converge on a skill-set that isn't about technology, but is about age-old competencies of creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, etc. The NAIS "teachers of the future" has an interesting blog post about what it means to be a teacher of the future. In it, an article at private school review is referenced - Are you a 21st century teacher? A sentence on the page stood out to me, "Decades ago we could listen to Walter Cronkite and know all we thought we needed to know." Today, I can highlight and annotate that sentence on that web page that millions others can access. Those in my collaboration group can see that my highlight and annotation. Google's new sidebar wiki similarly allows strangers to discuss that content. It seems that our access to information and communication and collaboration is exponentially increased. How does that change what we should be asking learners to demonstrate over their years in school?

[James Wilding]

Socrates ideas on knowledge led to their separation into important and trivial. And knowledge and its acquisition in the most general sense transcends the technology of the day. So when we (the digitally informed) crack on about the importance of our tools, let's remember that Socrates was big on this too, stating as he did that the practice of a craftsman's skills is important, but only to himself. A huge amount of our discussions leads to the detail on automation, which fascinates us of course, the craftsmen. Don't get snared into the concept of vanity publishing, in which a student's steps from first chalky scrawl to PhD are saved for posterity, in a folder for all to see. This concentrates the student's mind on that which is not important, himself, and permits him to depart from that which is exceptional, the need to study how to conduct ourselves in society. Get the ethics right, and we win the great variety of challenges we face, from global warming, asymmetrical conflict and corporate greed. Our last Great War veteran, Harry Patch died this summer aged 111. Speaking from his wheelchair, with no digital aid in sight, you hung on his every word. He exhibited much that fills the gap from now back to Socrates, Patch challenged those ignorant men that keep taking us to war, and challenged us to learn the lessons of the past. So if we produce a list that shows we know it all, won't that just again demonstrate that actually we know nothing at all? For a quick sprint through Socrates, try here - NEW FOUNDATIONS

[Fred Bartels]

James,

How does this fit with the following famous quote attributed to Socrates?

"Worship the gods if you wish, but first, know thyself."

Fred

[James Wilding]

Nice one, Fred. As a digital enthusiast, I'd happily stick to the task of enumerating the real skills we can identify our students may need for the future, so long as someone doesn't then make them mandatory, stick them in a list to provide a checkbox to measure our success as educators. Socrates works for educators - on any learning journey you plan to take your pupils on, it's a good thing to know your starting place. If it's your own journey, have the skills to know where you are. Building in young people a moral compass in not the same as imposing one - in just the same way, choosing google apps is not the answer if you don't know the problem. It might be better to use a filofax, if what you want is a go anywhere record of who you know.
ISEnet is a good place to be, thanks for the welcome.
best wishes from this Brit abroad, James

[James White]

To tag along with James and Fred, and as a fan of Socrates myself, I wold add "asking good questions" to the skill list. I ask my 8th graders during the first week of classes what they think is the purpose of school. After they go through the standard list (jet a better job, learn "stuff", keep us out of trouble, etc) they finally get around to asking me what I think. I opine that most of the things they list can be had through a variety of other means; however, I think the real purpose of school should be to learn how to ask good questions. For me, the reason I still teach Shakespeare and the parts of speech is to give them the opportunities and the tools to form incisive questions.

[Fred Bartels]

I always think my teaching is better when I remember to ask questions instead of providing answers.

I wish school administrators would more often ask themselves and their faculties variations of the question you ask your students.

Questions like...

Why are we still 'schooling' pretty much the same way we did fifty years ago?
How can we make 'schooling' better given the vast range of opportunities opened up by rapidly developing information technology?

or even...

Why have independent school administrator salaries been trending upward while school teacher salaries have been staying flat or even declining?

[James White]

These are excellent questions, Fred. You are my kind of subversive!