Several weeks ago, I wrote about FrameWorks Institute’s role in developing marketing techniques to sell the idea of next-gen ed reform to the public. With funding from the Nellie Mae Foundation, FrameWorks recently produced a Core Story toolkit – replete with message cards, talking points, sample editorials and twitter messages – to help reformers get the public on board with their plans.
FrameWorks advises clients to “invoke the value of progress” when discussing the need to move to digital learning, for example,”because it pedestals all the good aspects of technology and backgrounds all the bad, it helps inoculate against ‘back to basics’ thinking about learning and skills.”
Read anything in support of next-gen ed reform, and you’re sure to encounter the argument that our schooling system is outdated and obsolete, and that the move to a digital, 21st Century model is long overdue.
Lately, another message suddenly seems to be on everyone’s lips: the need to update our accountability system to make use of assessment “dashboards.”
The metaphor, favored by proponents of competency-based and personalized learning, has become so ubiquitous that I wondered: could it also be a FrameWorks-ism?
Turns out it is.
Here is the “message card” FrameWorks has developed to help reformers with their talking points when discussing next-gen accountability:
To demonstrate just how loyal assessment reformers are to FrameWorks’ techniques, let’s play a game. Can you guess who said the following quotes? Scroll down after each quote for the answer.
“There are software programs that will track attempts and achievements in learning competencies and display them on a dashboard for students and teachers. These programs provide students with instant feedback and allow them to know where they stand and what they need to progress.”
Tom Vander Ark, CEO of Learn Capital, in “The Role of Performance Monitoring in Competency-Based Education”
“The standardized tests my kids take are one gauge on the dashboard, but parents and educators know that tests are not the only indicator.”
Arne Duncan in “Getting Assessment Right to Support Students, Educators and Families”
“It’s something like driving a car. Safe drivers use the windshield, rear and side view mirrors, occasionally checking the speedometer and other gauges on the dashboard. The best educators know it’s absolutely essential to use the ‘windshield,’ that is, look at the work students do in class every day.”
Lisa Guisbond, Assessment Reform Analyst at FairTest, in testimony before Rhode Island House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare
“We don’t want less information. We want better information…We want a dashboard of good information… We said on this dashboard, you have to have multiple indicators of success.”
Lily Eskelen Garcia, President of National Education Association (NEA), in “Don’t Wait for an Act of Congress: Union Chief on Politics and Testing”
“The move toward a world of fewer, better, smarter assessments that provide more actionable data more quickly to teachers and parents is important. We would say that an assessment should be only one measure of progress. It should be part of a richer dashboard, a more holistic view.”
John Fallon, CEO of Pearson, in “Pearson CEO Fallon Talks Common Core, Rise of ‘Open Resources”
“New systems of school accountability should likewise offer a dashboard of information and use multiple measures appropriately to achieve key purposes.”
Linda Darling-Hammond, President of Learning Policy Institute and Professor at Stanford University, in “Creating Systems of Assessments for Deeper Learning”
Bonus points to anyone who finds more.