Tag: Assessment

Superintendent of schools in Edmonton, Alberta describes how schools in that district have begun adopting alternative assessment programs that do not rely on regular grades to determine student performance. By eliminating the impact of daily performance measures on a student’s final grade the learning processes become more personalized by releasing the pressure for every student to produce the same end product.

Each year at Northwest Passage High School students complete the Hope Survey, that measures student engagement, academic press, goal orientation, belongingness, and autonomy.

This allows the school to get a sense of how much and whether hope is being grown. The school has found that hope is built when students are given choice and autonomy.

In this guest post LeAnn Binford, director of operations at Big Thought, argues that exposing under served students to expanded forms of learning improves performance. Autonomy and financial support are necessary for this type of re-working of assessment to function well.

In this guest post Nick Mathern of Gateway to College describes an attempt to reduce dropout rates by allowing prospective dropouts to move into post-secondary education sooner. Gateway to College helps potential high school dropouts to earn a high school diploma while also earning college credits.