Upgrading the Curriculum: 21st Century Assessment Types and Skills

The last paragraph of this chapter kept me from completely unloading on assessment topic. I was all gung-ho about totally revamping our concept of what education even looks like, but talking about assessment falls right into that "just like we've always done it" category......I HATE talking about assessment. But, like I said, the author saved me in the end by writing, "changing our assessments and skills is a different type of upgrade than altering content." She isn't addressing assessment simply for assessment's sake- I think she alternatively looks at assessment as the ends to the means of the whole model she has in mind. We should know where we're going, where we'll end up; so from a whole mountain of education to attack, starting with one molehill isn't such a bad idea.

We do still need to be realistic about change, too. Teachers who are part of a "changing curriculum" aren't necessarily going to share the same vision, or even basic skills, for that matter, that are required for these changes to take place. So instead of just leaving them in the dust, which we obviously can't do, changes (like in assessment) need to start in terms they can understand. So although I think swapping an assignment from writing a short story to writing a screen play is not too ground-breaking- that's about where we are now- we've gotta start somewhere.