When it came time for Rachel Patterson to show what she鈥檇 learned during her eight-month senior project on sign language, the Barrington High School student didn鈥檛 just turn in a research paper.
Before a panel of five judges on a recent afternoon, the poised 17-year-old delivered a 10-minute presentation on the use of sign language to communicate with babies and people with autism. And in an approach particularly suited to her subject matter, Ms. Patterson expressed her thoughts by speaking and signing at the same time.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really cool concept to show that you can make your thoughts and feelings visual,鈥� she said.
Having students show their skills in three dimensions, known as performance-based assessment, dates back at least to Socrates. And individual schools such as Barrington High鈥攍ocated just outside of Providence鈥攈ave been requiring students to actively demonstrate their knowledge for years.
But this spring, Ms. Patterson and the rest of Rhode Island鈥檚 high school graduating class became the first in the nation to face performance-based assessments as a state-mandated requirement for earning a diploma.
To be sure, no one is saying that Rhode Island鈥檚 trailblazing move means it鈥檚 time to start writing the obituary for machine-scored standardized exams. After all, even Rhode Island still uses them, and most experts agree that multiple choice is here to stay.
But as was underscored at the inaugural New England Symposium on Performance Assessment, held here May 28, more state education officials are starting to at least consider a type of testing that goes far beyond filling in the proverbial bubble, and that may help keep students better focused on their studies, both in high school and beyond.
鈥淚t really ramps up the meaning of senior year,鈥� said Kevin Blanchard, an English teacher at Barrington High who helped pilot the school鈥檚 performance-based assessment model. What鈥檚 more, he added, requiring students to actively engage in a topic tends to better prepare them for college-level academics, as well as the work world, where on-the-job performance is generally the only gauge of competence.
An Unusual Mix
The requirement taking effect in Rhode Island this year stems from a 2003 policy change by the state board of regents and the guidance of Peter J. McWalters, the state鈥檚 outgoing commissioner of elementary and secondary education.
In addition to students鈥� class grades and scores on the New England Common Assessment Program, or NECAP鈥攖he standardized test Rhode Island shares with Vermont and New Hampshire鈥攇raduating seniors in the Ocean State must choose and pass two of three possible performance-based assessments: a portfolio of work selected from their four years of high school, a senior project, and a comprehensive course assessment.
For more stories on this topic see Testing & Accountability and Assessment.
Students who choose to assemble a portfolio must defend their body of work, including a research project that spans all four years, in front of a panel of judges.
Senior projects have included designing and implementing a poetry-writing course for adults, and building a snow machine and then using it to open a backyard sledding hill.
At least half of each end-of-course comprehensive course assessment must incorporate applied-learning and performance elements, such as presenting the results of original research. Students often work with mentors or work as interns in disciplines or on issues that interest them, such as architecture or the problem of child soldiers, and must build Web pages, PowerPoint slides, or other technology to present their findings.
The state鈥檚 unique mix of assessments was the main topic of conversation at the recent symposium on performance assessment hosted by the Rhode Island Department of Education. The event was co-sponsored by the Coalition of Essential Schools, a nonprofit group based in Oakland, Calif., that works to create more personalized and intellectually challenging schools, and the Portland, Maine-based Great Schools Partnership, an initiative of the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute that works to redesign and strengthen education.
鈥淩hode Island is showing us the way, and so we鈥檙e here to learn from Rhode Island,鈥� said Louis Cohen, the coalition鈥檚 executive director. He praised state education officials鈥� boldness and innovation, but noted, 鈥淭he question they raise is, can they do this at scale?鈥�
Officials acknowledge that the system remains a work in progress.
鈥淭here are some districts that haven鈥檛 done this to scale, even though it鈥檚 required,鈥� said Sharon K. Lee, a middle and high school redesign specialist in the state鈥檚 K-12 education department. She added, though, that only five of the state鈥檚 55 high schools were out of compliance.
Performance assessments 鈥渢ake a lot of time for us teachers to develop, test them out. And they take a lot of time in the classroom, because a lot of kids have no experience with this,鈥� Theodore R. Sizer, a prominent education author and a former dean of Harvard University鈥檚 graduate school of education, said at the symposium.
Mr. Sizer, who founded the Coalition of Essential Schools, said a teacher trying to squeeze a history curriculum into class time, while juggling preparation for both standardized and newly implemented performance-based assessments, would likely 鈥渂arely get to World War I by May.鈥�
A Window Opening?
Large-scale performance-based assessment has traveled a rocky road over the past two decades. Even before the federal No Child Left Behind Act sent states scrambling en masse to roll out more standardized tests, the inherent subjectivity of grading student portfolios and dissertation-defense-style presentations had sunk some previous attempts to implement an alternative to machine-scored testing.
In 1990, Vermont began piloting what would become the first statewide assessment program to measure student achievement in part on the basis of portfolios. Officials there started backing away from the exclusive use of assessed portfolios, though, after a 1992 by the Santa Monica, Calif.-based RAND Corp. found significant flaws in the way they were graded.
A decade later, New York state Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills batted down a proposal by a network of nontraditional schools that wanted to substitute individually tailored projects for the standardized Regents exams in English that the state had began to require for graduation.
The network of 28 schools鈥攖he New York City-based New York Performance Standards Consortium鈥攈as since received a waiver that keeps its students from having to take Regents exams. But the exemption doesn鈥檛 cover the English exam, and the waiver runs out with the class of 2013.
But amid the disenchantment with the federal NCLB legislation that has spread since it became law in 2002, educators and alternative-assessment supporters in Rhode Island and elsewhere see a chance to show not only that performance-based assessments are superior, but also that they can be implemented on a statewide scale.
Eight other states have expressed interest in Rhode Island鈥檚 unique system, according to education officials here.
鈥淭here is a window opening for performance assessment now for the second time,鈥� said Raymond L. Pecheone, who designed the nation鈥檚 first performance-based teacher-licensure system when he was in Connecticut, and is now the co-director of the School Redesign Network at Stanford University. But, he said, 鈥淭his time we have to be smarter.鈥�
鈥淲e are in a moment where there is a possibility for great big transformative change鈥� around performance-based assessment, agreed Paul K. Leather, who鈥檚 in charge of high school redesign in New Hampshire, 鈥渂ut it won鈥檛 happen if our policies aren鈥檛 coherent.鈥�
Coherency鈥攕pecifically, its lack鈥攈elped doom Vermont鈥檚 experiment in the 1990s. The RAND report鈥檚 author, Daniel M. Koretz, now a professor of education at Harvard, found that Vermont鈥檚 鈥渞ater reliability鈥欌�欌�攖he extent to which portfolio graders agreed about the quality of individual students鈥� work鈥攚as very low.
The state eventually made portfolios optional and reintroduced standardized tests, which some experts say is only practical.
鈥淪ome things need to be demonstrated by performance, and that鈥檚 a fact,鈥� said Chester E. Finn Jr., the president of the Washington-based Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, citing driving tests and music auditions. 鈥淏ut making those things count on a large scale and in a high-stakes environment is fraught with difficulties.鈥�
The relatively recent addition of an essay portion to the SAT college-entrance exam, Mr. Finn added, shows that performance-based assessments still have their place. Still, he contended, 鈥淰ermont and Koretz pretty much killed off鈥� the idea of statewide performance-based tests.
Roy M. Seitsinger Jr., Rhode Island鈥檚 director of middle and high school reform, begs to differ. 鈥淏een there, done that? No way,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is just beginning of getting the fruit of decades of work.鈥�
鈥楻efer Back to the Rubric鈥�
Back at Barrington High School, before the afternoon鈥檚 set of performance assessments, work was the operative word for the 225 educators and community members gathered for a 90-minute tutorial on judging students鈥� presentations and portfolios.
Stoked with school-provided coffee, they lobbed questions from their seats in the school auditorium to Judianne P. Point and Stephen A. Lenz, Barrington鈥檚 senior-project coordinators:
鈥淲hat if I know a student?鈥�
鈥淲hat if a topic doesn鈥檛 seem as hard as another student鈥檚?鈥�
鈥淲hat happens if they go over 10 minutes?鈥�
鈥淚n all cases, refer back to the rubric,鈥� Mr. Lenz told them, standing on the auditorium鈥檚 stage and indicating the double-sided sheet of paper each judge would use for the students, grading them on 24 criteria鈥攅verything from the effectiveness of audiovisual features and the amount of eye contact to whether their presentations鈥� content adequately supported the main ideas.
Roughly half of each panel of judges is made up of regular citizens, but the other half comes from the statewide teaching pool. Ms. Lee and other state education officials say the experience of reading the portfolios of their colleagues鈥� students has increased teacher collaboration, and helped improve the consistency of scoring across schools.
Regardless of the students鈥� topic, said Ms. Lee, 鈥淲e want them to have their own individuality. But we want the outcomes in terms of accountability to be the same.鈥�
Therein lies the rub, some experts say.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 see how it鈥檚 possible to do the 鈥榝air and consistent鈥� aspect of what is always a subjective judgment,鈥� said Mr. Finn. 鈥淚f I sing a song and you cook an omelette, we鈥檙e each engaging in a performance, but it鈥檚 impossible to imagine the judges being equally well suited to evaluate both.鈥�
鈥淲e have long encouraged performance assessment,鈥� said Robert Schaeffer, a spokesman for the Cambridge, Mass.-based National Center for Fair & Open Testing, or FairTest, a watchdog group. But, he added, 鈥淢ethodologically, there are some issues about doing high-stakes assessments with regard to performance.鈥�
Rhode Island officials, however, say they are constantly tweaking the process, and are confident in their system.
In addition to school visits and spot checks by state officials and a cadre of teacher leaders and retired administrators, Mr. McWalters said, the state鈥檚 鈥渃ollegial system鈥� ensures that should the RAND Corp. want to again test the consistency of performance-assessment grading, Rhode Island鈥檚 system would pass muster.
Still, it is unclear whether Rhode Island鈥檚 performance-assessment system will be seen as a model for other states, especially in light of the budget constraints afflicting education departments nationwide.
Kenneth R. DiPietro, the superintendent of Rhode Island鈥檚 5,500-student Coventry school district, estimated the cost of implementing the performance-based-assessment system at about $2 million just for the district鈥檚 one high school. Such costs add up to real money in a state facing a projected $430 million gap in its $7 billion fiscal 2009 budget.
Contracts and Caution
What鈥檚 more, schools鈥� ability to adequately implement the system depends on the goodwill and flexibility of teachers鈥� unions, because it requires extra staff planning time not covered in pre-existing teacher contracts.
鈥淲e have to give a little credit to our union,鈥� said Raymond E. Spear, the chairman of the Coventry school board. 鈥淲e made that a major issue in the last contract, to build in the flexibilities we felt we need to move forward with our reform and reorganization of our high school.鈥�
That鈥檚 one union. But Rhode Island has 36 districts, and not all union locals may be receptive. 鈥淲e have 11 districts that have contracts coming up,鈥� said the state education department鈥檚 Ms. Lee, 鈥渟o we鈥檙e getting a little nervous.鈥�
It鈥檚 perhaps little wonder that other states are taking a wait-and-see attitude.
鈥淚 would just want to approach anything like [Rhode Island鈥檚 system] cautiously,鈥� said Gail Taylor, Vermont鈥檚 director of standards and assessment. Voicing concerns over 鈥渢he complexity and what you gain for that, given issues of capacity,鈥� she added that 鈥渨e have no plans at this point to mandate ... specific portfolio requirements again as we did in the past.鈥�
New Hampshire is taking a similar approach, encouraging performance assessments in districts, but not mandating them.
Mr. Sizer called Rhode Island 鈥渁 vital test ground鈥� for statewide performance assessments, but acknowledged the hurdles of running such a program in a large state. 鈥淚t鈥檒l be different in different places,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what you鈥檇 do in Texas.鈥�
Rhode Island officials, however, are staying focused on the reason they adopted the performance system.
Driving back to Providence from Barrington High School in Mr. Seitsinger鈥檚 car, Ms. Lee described how well Rachel Patterson had done on 鈥淯nheard Words,鈥� her presentation on using sign language.
Under the scoring procedure, the judges鈥� highest and lowest grades are dropped, and when the other three were averaged, she ended up with a score of 34.6 out of a possible 40鈥攁mong the top scores of her group, and well above the passing threshold of 27.
In the defense phase of her presentation, Ms. Lee said, Ms. Patterson told judges that learning to sign had opened up a whole new realm of communication, especially because she has dyslexia and thus trouble reading and spelling written words.
Mr. Seitsinger beamed, but he also shook his head at Ms. Patterson鈥檚 high score. Referring to the paper-and-pencil-only standardized test Rhode Island students must also take, he said: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the kind of young lady who would blow up on NECAP.鈥�
