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Measuring What Counts: A Policy Brief
Pages 1-21

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From page 2...
... The high risk myth that new assessments ignore important, time-honored measurement criteria for evaluating assessments. Neither mathematics educators nor measurement experts are proceeding alone in assessment reform.
From page 3...
... Mathematics assessment must also change to ensure consistency with the goals of education. Three fundamental educational principles form the foundation of all assessment that supports effective education: THE CONTENT PRINCIPLE Assessment should reflect the mathematics that is most important for students to learn.
From page 4...
... The mathematics community's standards development work is recognized as the model for reform in other academic disciplines, from history to the sciences. Measuring What Counts has two primary purposes: to put assessment in the context of broader mathematics reform efforts and to establish educational principles for mathematics assessment.
From page 5...
... Banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, and other financial services advertise varying rates, both for investment returns and finance charges. The complexity of the modern workplace requires employees who can think, who can adapt to changing circumstances, and who can cooperate with co-workers to solve unexpected problems.
From page 6...
... Internal assessment communicates to teachers critical aspects of their students' performance, helping them to adjust their instructional techniques accordingly. External assessment provides information about mathematics programs to parents, state and local education agencies, funding bodies, and policymakers.
From page 7...
... The constraints technical of efficiency meant that mathematics assessment tasks could not tap a student's ability to estimate the answer to an arithmetic calcula tion, construct a geometric figure, use a calculator or ruler, or produce a complex deductive argument. A narrow focus on technical criteria primarily reliability also worked against good assessment.
From page 8...
... Mathematics education and mathematics assessment must be guided by a common vision. that is most THE CONTENT PRINCIPLE important for Any assessment of mathematics learning should first and foremost be anchored in important mathematics.
From page 9...
... The content principle has profound implications for those who design, score, and use mathematics assessments. Many of the assessments used today, such as standardized multiple-choice tests, have reinforced the view that the mathematics curriculum should be constructed from lists of narrow, isolated skills that can be easily disassembled for appraisal.
From page 10...
... If assessment is going to support learning, then assessment tasks must provide genuine opportunities for all students to learn significant mathematics. Too often a sharp line has been drawn between assess ment and instruction.
From page 11...
... The best way to provide opportunities for the construction of mathematical knowledge is through assessment tasks that resemble learning tasks in that they promote strategies such as analyzing data, drawing contrasts, and making connections. This can be done, for example, by basing assessment on a portfolio of work that the student has done as part of the regular instructional program, by integrating the use of scoring guides into instruction so that students will begin to internalize the standards against which the work will be evaluated, or by using two-stage testing in which students have an extended opportunity to revise their initial responses to an assessment task.
From page 12...
... support conscientious rethinking not just of what we assess and how we do it but also of how different individuals and groups are affected by every stuclent's assessment design and procedures. The challenge posed by the equity principle is to devise tasks with sufficient flexibility to give opportunity to students a sense of accomplishment, to challenge the upper reaches of every student's mathematical understanding, and to provide a learn important window on each student's mathematical thinking.
From page 13...
... . POLICY BRIEF The equity principle implies that students must be provided an opportunity to learn the mathematics that is assessed and that schools must be held to "school delivery Students cannot be assessed fairly on mathematics content that they have not had an opportunity to 13
From page 14...
... Problem solving legitimately may involve some false starts or blind alleys; students whose work includes such things are doing important mathematics and their grades need to communicate this in an appropriate fashion. All graders must be alert to the unconventional, unexpected answer that, in fact, may contain insights that the assessor had not anticipated.
From page 15...
... Indeed, recent studies suggest that differences may be magnified when performance assessment tasks are used. Teachers are a fundamental key to assessment reform.
From page 16...
... Assessments represent an unparalleled tool for communicating the goals and substance of mathematics education reform to various stakeholders. Assessments make the goals for mathematics learning real to students, teachers, parents, policymakers, and the Assessments general public, all of whom need to understand clearly where mathematics reform will take America's children and why they should represent an support the effort Assessments can be enormously helpful in this re education campaign, especially if the context and rationale for various unpara~e~e~ tasks are explained in terms that the public can understand.
From page 17...
... It is time to put educational principles at the forefront of mathematics assessment. POLICY BRIEF Although the necessary change in mathematics assessment will be neither swift nor straightforward, we cannot afford to wait until all questions are resolved.
From page 18...
... Although multiplechoice tests will not disappear, other types of assessments will require different approaches to development and evaluation. In particular, developers will need to know much more mathematics and will need to use more creativity in developing assessment tasks.
From page 19...
... Line Professor of Education University of Colorado Boulder, CO and Co-Director, Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing at UCLA Sue Ann McGraw Mathematics Teacher Lake Oswego High School Lake Oswego, OR Robert J Mislevy Principal Research Scientist Educational Testing Service Princeton, NJ Alice Morgan-Brown Statewide Director for Academic Champions of Excellence Program Morgan State University Baltimore, MD Andrew Porter Director, Wisconsin Center for Education Research Professor of Education Psychology, University of Wisconsin Madison, Wl Marilyn Rindfuss National Mathematics Consultant The Psychological Corporation San Antonio, TX Edward Roeber Director, Student Assessment Programs Council of Chief State School Officers Washington, DC Maria Santos Mathematics & Science Supervisor San Francisco Unified School District San Francisco, CA Cathy Seeley Director of Pre-college Programs Charles A
From page 20...
... Secondary Schools Project Manager Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications Lexington, MA John Gage (1994) Director, Science Office Sun Microsystems Mountain View, CA Ramesh 1.
From page 21...
... Sue Ann McGraw ~ 1994) Mathematics Instructor Lake Oswego High School Lake Oswego, OR Ruth R


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