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An Assessment Revolution
Richard D. McCallum, Ph.D.
Graduate School of Education
University of California, Berkeley

No one can deny that the there is a revolution occurring in literacy instruction today. The principles of whole language or integrated language arts instruction can be found in course work at colleges and universities, in both the theoretical and instructional literature, in seminars, conferences and in-services, in the new reading textbooks and the instructional recommendations provided in them, and most importantly of all - in classrooms.

The revolution in holistic instruction also has profound implications for assessment. The quality of the decisions made by teachers, parents, principals, district personnel, state and national policy leaders rests upon information. But an inherent conflict exists between the principles of holistic instruction and current methods and measures used in literacy assessment.

For the purpose of this discussion, we describe literacy assessment measures and techniques as falling into two major categories based on their intended use and the constituencies involved: those which address the needs of the educational bureaucracy (monitoring from outside the classroom), and those which help guide day-to-day instructional decisions (decision making inside the classroom). Both types of assessment have a role in the business of education, but differences between their needs and goals have given rise to continued debate.

As a result, a revolution, led by practitioners, is occurring in classrooms today. This revolution is being driven by three basic forces: a concern for the rights of all children, changes in teacher's views of literacy acquisition, and new theories of learning and cognition.

Practitioners in states like California are becoming intimately aware of the role of language and culture in learning and assessment. The changing demographics of the student population have brought this fact into sharp relief. Such realities have made teachers sensitive to the possible violation of the rights of all children. Second, adoption of holistic approaches to literacy instruction has had a direct impact on our conceptions of sound teaching methodology. This change has far reaching implications for both literacy instruction and assessment. And third, research in cognitive psychology, anthropology and linguistics has provided insights into literacy acquisition and the role of classroom teachers in that process, providing further impetus for this revolution. These three factors have led educators to take a long hard look at current views and practices of testing for individual diagnosis. Many see the need for new means of assessing literacy acquisition.

This new paradigm for literacy development has taken hold and is spreading rapidly among primary teachers. The basic principles of holistic programs will form the basis from which instructional and assessment decisions will be made. These principles include:

o Literacy instruction should be child-centered versus teacher-centered.

o Instruction must be sensitive to children's developmental state.

o Instructional decisions must reflect a concern for children's affective well-being.

o Literacy development, like language acquisition, occurs in functional and meaningful contexts.

o Social contextual variables play a critical role in literacy acquisition.

o Instruction and assessment are inseparable dimensions of the learning process.

o Assessment is an on-going process which must be sensitive to social, cultural and contextual variables.

As these principles are internalized by teachers, many current classroom practices and assessment techniques will inevitably give way. Normative or between-student comparisons will be minimized. Assessment will focus on intra-student development and change versus between student comparisons. The decrease in the use of formal measures in the classroom will lead to an increase in a reliance on observational and other informal assessment measures.

The movement toward context sensitive assessment measures in classrooms will have an impact on student achievement. The movement toward intra-individual assessment, i.e. tracking individual growth and development via portfolios in writing, for example, will significantly reduce the opportunities for high visibility between student comparisons. Shifting the focus to individual growth as a benchmark for achievement may increase student self-concept and, in turn, achievement.

Advances in literacy instruction and assessment over the next decade will reinforce a sensitivity to and concern for the rights of children. These rights include:

1. The right to be evaluated within a culturally appropriate framework.

2. The right to be assessed as multi-dimensional beings.

3. The right to be fully educated.

4. The right to be free of stigmatizing labels.

5. The right to individual identity and respect

These rights are part and parcel of concerns and values which have facilitated a revolution in the practices associated with literacy instruction. Holistic approaches to instruction are based upon the basic dignity of individuals - regardless of their culture or innate abilities.

The revolution in literacy instruction in classrooms has clear implications for instruction. As we move forward, there will be an ever-increasing awareness of the differences between bureaucratic and instructional uses of assessment. Such clarification will help educators resist pressure to adopt measurement driven instruction, i.e. shaping curriculum to fit the design of the test.

But the changes brought by the revolution in classroom practices will create problems in the short term as well. As holistic programs are introduced the scores on the achievement tests utilized to monitor progress will go down. This is to be expected given the mismatch between the measures and practice. As these differences become more obvious to the educational community and the general public the wrestling match between the two respective constituencies will begin in earnest.

One result of this classroom revolution has been a resurgence in teacher's confidence in their own abilities to make sound educational decisions. This reassertion of teacher confidence has led to direct challenges to the validity and primacy of assessment measures that, although designed to meet the needs of the educational bureaucracy, have been widely misinterpreted and misused in classrooms. Over time such challenges will act to temper and inform the use of traditional types of assessment techniques within the educational community.

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