Direct from Washington, February 2009

Need for Improved Testing

The assessment/accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (or whatever its new name will be) loom as central to the debate over the law’s reauthorization. When lawmakers get around to reviewing the law (not an immediate item in Washington, DC), they will have a lot of rhetoric and reports to consider about the nature of future assessments.

One of them boldly asserts that it is possible to assess 21st century skills such as thinking creatively and evaluating and analyzing information and that new models of testing can measure these skills at the same time as basic skills and core content are measured. Instead of more tests, according to a paper by Elena Silva of Education Sector, there is a need for better tests that measure more of the skills students’ need to succeed today.

Many of the models she describes use what is known in the career and technical education field as "applied learning," and in other contexts as soft skills, interpersonal skills, or life and career skills. Under whatever name, they give greater weight to the argument from career and technical educators that such skills can be taught along with the basic skills.

See "Measuring Skills for the 21st Century," www.educationsector.org.