Palo Alto Convening

June, 2009

Problem of Practice

Context

This case takes place in an urban school district with 75 schools. The district is proceeding under a plan thataims to establish a common belief across the District’s community, a belief that every child—at every level of academic performance—can achieve excellence. At present, excellence is determined by test results.

Statement of problem of practice

Standards based assessment is an inadequate measurement of the knowledge of students and the teaching capabilities of effective educators.

Statement of subsequent problems and implications

1). Growth data used can show students that they are growing even if they haven’t moved out of a category of achievement (basic, for example).

Implication: Students do not know how they have improved over time.

2) It is not clear to parents how they can assist their children in these high-stakes test.

Implication: Parents are further alienated from schools.

3).There is little or no trust between educators, students, and parents.

Implication: Testing in and of itself is not an accurate measure of knowledge, given that trust is critical to useful assessment.

4). Assessment is not formative until and unless there is a learning partnership between teacher and student.

Implication: Assessment that is not formative creates barriers to teacher and student relationships.

5). High-stakes testing does not cultivate shared accountability between superintendent, principal, and teacher.

Implication: Consequences are not the same for all involved.

Identification of the important players within the organization, the "stakeholders"

Stakeholders in this case include educational leaders such as superintendents and principals,teachers, students, parents, and elected officials who are trying to get more people to move into the city.

Identification of other target groups of the organization

Other target groups include community members, churches, non-profit organizations, and businesses that are looking to employee graduates of the district.

Identification of the role of the educational leader

The roles of the educational leader in this district are multifaceted. They need to be well-versed on the arguments for and against high-stakes tests. They need to know how these arguments impact the staff, students, and parents in the district. The educational leader needs to know tacitly the answers to the following questions:

  • Who are we?
  • What are our needs?
  • How do these policies impact the lives of my students and staff?

They need to be able to work effectively, organize, and communicate with all of the stakeholders and targeted groups listed above and most importantly, be ableto gain the trust of each of them. They need to recognize the importance of high-stakes test in this era, but at the same time provide teachers, parents, and students with alternative means of assessment that measure success, and allow for teacher autonomy and creativity.

Identification of strategic issues

1). Working with the teacher union within the context of the contract and the high-stakes tests

2). Properly training and placing effective educational leaders in each building

3). Working with community organizations and groups as partners in education

4). Effectively collaborating with University partners

5). Establish the district as a national model of successful urban education.

Identification of decisions needed to be made

The decisions that need to be made are directly linked to the identified strategic issues.

1). What is the role of the teacher union in relation to assessment? How do we assist to make each successful?

2). How does the district sustain professional development programs needed to generate a pool of effective educational leaders?

3). Which community organizations and partners does the district need to work with? Which are most effective?

4). What is the nature of the relationship between the University and the district?

5). How does the district achieve national recognition for its efforts?

Identification of risk factors

Practitioners in the district believe that the risk factors involve buying into the tests and working only from the standpoint that educators have to figure out how to make students do better on tests, without questioning the validity of the tests. Practitioners believe also that this is a social justice issue.

Questions that highlight risk include:

  • How are data used to make decisions that serve each kid at each point in the learning process?
  • How do we question the assumptions about knowledge (skills, dispositions) that are being assessed?
  • What are the positions of the actors in the assessment? What are the relative positions? Do data displays introduce “less than”?
  • Does the current state of standardization allow for each child to reach her or his potential?
  • How do we mobilize and take actions to effect change in assessment?
  • How do we distribute power to determine the needs and better understand the problems so that we can design potential solutions?
  • Can we trust the test?

Identification of historical precedents

The historical precedents that have most influenced this problem of practice are captured in the following reference:

Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35, 3-12.

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