Mastery-Level Grading Or Standards-Based Grading
Brookhart and Nitko (2019) suggest that increased teaching, teacher effort, and working more effectively constitute “positive test preparation” because these actions result in increased student learning (p. 779). The authors, however, dissuade the use of high-stakes test preparation strategies such as coaching and the reallocation of instructional time and resources because they narrow the scope of what is taught in classrooms to cover only sample test items.
In today’s high-stakes testing environment, consider how you, as a K–12 administrator, would respond to Brookhart and Nitko’s assertions.
Write a 250- to 300-word response to the following:
Describe how Brookhart and Nitko’s assertion might apply to your school or school district.
Share specific examples of how you might work with faculty to provide a learning environment that is not high stakes test centered. Include at least 3 steps that must be taken to ensure that this conversation with your faculty might result in improved teaching and learning at the classroom level.
Sample Solution
Assessment is the process of obtaining “information that is used to make educational decisions about students, to give feedback to students about their progress, strengths, and weaknesses, to judge instructional effectiveness and curricular adequacy, and to inform policy” (AFT, NCME, & NEA, 1990, p. 1). Until recently, the classroom assessment literature emphasized the role of teachers and tests (e.g., Bangert-Drowns, Kulik, Kulik, & Morgan, 1991; Wise, 1993). As constructivist theories of learning replaced transmissionist theories, classroom assessment research expanded into investigations of the role of assessment in learning, not just in instruction and measurement (Penuel & Shepard, 2016; Shepard, 2001).
