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Showing posts with label ePortfolios. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ePortfolios. Show all posts

Preparing Students for Life-Long Success is Not Preparing Students for Long Bubble Tests

Unfortunately, in the 21st century education reform has equated to measuring a school’s ability to produce good test takers. But think about it. In real life there are few if any tests to be taken. More than a decade into the 21st century and I have yet to take a test and I don’t envision any being in my future either. How did we get to a point in America where we’re measuring schools by their success in forcing students to waste their time being good at something few will ever need to do in real life?  Could it be that this meaningless time waster is doing exactly what it was designed to do?  
  1. Line the pockets of testing companies and publishers who are good at following the money, but know this does little to prepare students for success.
  2. Produce compliant young consumers who are good at believing, memorizing, and regurgitating what they are told without questioning authority.


For some it is hard to imagine anything different or better.  There are tools however, like Personal Success Plans or Project Foundry that help schools provide a personalized, learner-centered approach that tracks performance-based assessment and values real world skills.  There are also tools like OurLearningfolio that help home learners and their families do this.  What these tools do is help learners identify their passions and interests and help them engage in real-world, authentic activities to develop them while also providing a framework for measuring success. Completion of an activity doesn’t simply result in a letter grade. Instead it becomes part of an authentic online portfolio that can be used to attain academic or career goals.  

Rather than demanding schools produce good test takers, parents and their children should support schools in moving from being memorization and regurgitation machines and moving toward customizing learning in meaningful ways that produces personalized results that are valuable to individual learners. 


Fortunately, there are schools that are moving in this direction.  Here are some of them:
Here is a video sharing a student perspective of this type of learning.  

Providing students with a say in how and what they are learning should be a right, not a privilege. While the video shows a model that is a vast improvement over traditional school, I’d like to see more authenticity.  Rather than present to a class, present to the real audience. Rather than having the teacher provide assessment, have a real-world expert do so. I’d also suggest the student website be created outside the school learning management system.  This should be owned by the student created on a platform of their choosing that can stay with them for life.  
How are you helping your school move from an environment of preparing students for life long success rather than long bubble tests?  Project Foundry, Personal Success Plans, and authentic portfolios are the type of tools that can help schools move in the right direction.  
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6 Ideas to Prepare Students for Success & Assess Teachers without Standardized Testing



Just type the word “test” into the search box on Facebook and you’ll find thousands of parents distraught over the standardized tests their children are being forced to take despite the fact that these parents know it is not in the best interests for their children who in many cases are becoming physically ill and emotionally traumatized by the experience of sitting for up to two weeks straight filling out bubble sheets and answering prompts.  Schools are reluctant and even misleading when it comes to informing parents they can simply opt out often arguing that although they acknowledge that it might not be in the best interest of the child, without standardized tests, everything will fall apart.  


For many there is no alternative imaginable as in this comment from a student studying to be a teacher.

I can't STAND standardized tests. Every professor (and grad student) at my teaching college hates them. And yet, I have not heard a single responsible alternative to them. How do we assess if students are learning the curriculum without them? If teachers are teaching? If entire schools are failing? Yes, they are undeniably hideous, and "teaching to the test" is an awful, unavoidable consequence of them, but if we take them away...then what?


Isn’t it odd
Isn’t it odd that in PK - 12 school life we think we can’t measure success without one-size-fits all government imposed tests, yet, once we leave school and enter college or the real world, this magically is no longer true?  For those unable to imagine a world where we can assess without standardized tests, I bequeath upon you these ideas. 

1) Just ask the students
People know what they’re good at and what they’re good at and what they’re bad at.  They know what they need help in and what really doesn’t seem relevant to their lives...at least at this point in their lives. In most cases students and teachers could tell you how they’d perform on a test before they’ve taken it. So, if you want to know, just ask.

Kate Fridkis Berring does a wonderful job of elaborating on this idea on her blog in a post entitled, “But How Will Kids Know? – Learning with out Testing.” ...

2) We don’t need tests to measure success of teachers and principals
To effectively measure success, we need to know where it is we want our children to go. Most parents agree that  they want their children to be happy and satisfied. Standardized tests have no place in achieving such goals as they don’t measure either of those things. If we want to want to know if students are happy and satisfied survey them.  If we want to know if students are happy and satisfied with their teachers and principal, survey them about that too.  Give the same survey to parents. Have the principal and teachers complete evaluation surveys about one another.  Ask for suggestions and advice in the survey.  This is similar to the customer satisfaction surveys of the real world.

3) Authentically demonstrate rather than test how standards are met
Students can be assessed in a standardized way by authentically demonstrating how standards have been met.  This could be captured in an ePortfolio or some other system which could be created on a national level.  Students could meet standards at their own pace, in their own way and learning could be differentiated and aligned to each child’s talents, passions, interests, and abilities.  

4) Let’s measure what matters
If we really want to measure effectiveness of a school we can measure success by things like employment rate of graduates, number of graduates who went to prison, the number of students who dropped out, number of suicides, percentage of students with obesity, the percentage of students who had college as a goal that earned degrees, and happiness and satisfaction surveys. If you’re thinking, but wait, much of this is affected by family and community, not the school, the same could be said for standardized tests, but at least now we’re measuring something that matters.

5) Personal Success Plans
Who owns the learning?  The student of course.  We can measure student success using personal success plans which empower students to create goals for and measure themselves. Students can also assess how well their teachers, parents, and school are doing in helping them to meet their goals.

Teachers and principals can develop plans for themselves as well.  The school community can develop a school success plan for their school.  They can also assess how well the district and government are supporting them in meeting their goals.

6) ePortfolios help us remember why we’re measuring
With all this standardized measuring and testing, sadly, the system has forgotten to keep their eye on the prize.  It’s as if measuring more often has become the key to helping students succeed, but succeed at what???  Being good at filling in bubbles and/or answering prompts they have no interest in?  As a result, in more cases than not we are leaving our high school and college students unprepared for success in the world and their future employers are calling educational systems out on this loud and clear as students are graduating with literally nothing to show for their work besides transcripts and boxes of tests and papers destined for the circular file.  It is not uncommon for high schools to forget that they should be helping students like Armond McFadden prepare for the real-world rather than artificial measures.  


As a result of this educational neglect, Armond has spent nearly a dozen years in schools which have never focused on helping him compile his real world talents to showcase.  There is no support for a resume, ePortfolio, or assistance in supporting him with the skills he needs to seek out an internship, apprenticeship, or part-time work.  Instead of prepping these students for tests, which they will no longer experience once they leave school, why not prepare students for life? Today’s grads known as “Generation Debt” are often leaving school with a diploma in hand and nothing else to show for their years of study.  

A simple solution to this is supporting students in their creation of ePortfolios in alignment to their personal success plans. With that we are truly supporting students in personal mastery in a way that differentiates learning, meets their goals, enables them to own the learning, and prepares them for success in life.  

Now aren’t these a better option for measuring students than 
filling in bubblesheets or reacting to someone else’s prompts?
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Developing an Authentic ePortfolio

Did you ever feel frustrated that in school you are supposed to spend all this time studying, taking tests, completing worksheets and handing in reports with no audience beyond the teacher and after years of that all your left with is a pile of tests and papers nobody cares about? School shouldn’t be preparing you for more school. Should be preparing students for the world, but unfortunately, the thing that is most important often falls through the cracks and is replaced by more and more testing and measuring. If you’ve decided to opt out of school and opt into the real world, you’ll have time to begin preparing your ePortfolio where you can share with everyone how great you are!


In the real world ePortfolios are actually just called websites or blogs and the point is to show the world how fabulous you are and what you can do. When you create it here are some of the sections you may consider including.


  • Landing page:
    This is the main page and gives your audience an overview of who you are and what you do.
  • About Me page:
    Give a brief overview of yourself and your talents. You may want this page to have links to pictures of you as well as your resume.
  • What People Are Saying:
    You may want to collect and share what people are saying about you and your work.
  • Work Samples:
    Share samples of your work. You might consider organizing this by types of work or how the work is displayed i.e. photos, videos, animations, podcasts, etc.
  • Content Areas:For an academic ePortfolio you might want to have pages for content areas that you want to highlight i.e. Science, Writing, Math
  • Contact:
    Give people a way to contact you i.e. your email, your Facebook page, your Twitter handle.
These are some general sections that most people in the real world have. When creating your own, check out the sites of experts who share your interests and follow their lead in the parts you like.

 Creating your ePortfolio aka Website or Blog
The first thing you want to do is get a domain name. I recommend doing so though Google since Google Sites is free and easy to use. The domain name will cost you about $10 a year. Here are the directions to set it up through Google. Here is where you get going with Google Apps for free! Here is your guide to starting with free Google Sites. If you want to make your ePortfolio more business/entrepreneurial just look at sites of those you want to be like. If you want it more education focused visit Helen Barrett’s ePortfolio site at http://electronicportfolios.com.
You have read this article ePortfolios / Google for Educators / Google in Education / helen barrett with the title ePortfolios. You can bookmark this page URL http://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/05/developing-authentic-eportfolio.html. Thanks!

Have schools forgotten they were supposed to prepare kids for success in the world?


I’m helping passion-driven high school student Armond McFadden put together a resume, cover letter, and ePortfolio website so he can secure an internship, apprenticeship, and/or part-time job this summer in his area of expertise which is photography, videography, and transportation.  You can see some of his photos here and his video series on YouTube at this link.  While I am happy to assist this talented teen, I’m concerned that this is completely absent from the curriculum of most high schools and many colleges. Instead politicians like this one and places like the board of regents believe the key to getting students ready for the world is more school, longer days, more tests, harder tests, increased graduation requirements.  

Why is it that artificial, meaningless-to-real-world tests and grades are the way we think we prepare students???  How about preparing students by providing real-world opportunities to explore careers through internships, apprenticeships, and/or part-time jobs?  Why not assess students on their experience and what they learned rather than test them in their ability to memorize and regurgitate facts which in many cases don’t matter and aren’t remembered?
School is torture because I am required to spend all my time doing menial tasks, worksheets, and rote memorization. This takes too much time away from being able to discover my hobbies, interests, or passions. I’m in 10th grade and I don’t foresee having the ability to do that before I graduate high school.
Honors society student . #1 in his class.
On the path to becoming valedictorian
In essence we’re doing a good job of preparing students to do a good job of doing as they’re told when it comes to memorization, and regurgitation.  These are not qualities that lend themselves well to success in life or the workforce.  We have more and more kids leaving high school and college with no portfolio to showcase the work they’ve done, no resume, no ability to write a cover letter and no guidance in developing a professional digital footprint.  In many cases they’re left to their own devices when it comes to the real world...the very thing that schools were supposed to be preparing our kids to succeed in.  

Parents are the key here.  They could demand school support their child in providing evidence of their work in a real online platform that the student will own and have access to outside of school.  To be clear...this is not a collection of test scores and data.  Instead it’s evidence of real, meaningful student work.  If this doesn’t exist in your school, that’s a whole other issue because if schools aren’t keeping it real, they’re really not preparing students for success.  

I’m often asked, if you think tests and grades suck, how do you suggest we assess students.  I always find it ironic that schools are supposed to be in the business of preparing students for the world yet they (rather than the student) take ownership of their learning and assessment.  Instead I recommend empowering students to take ownership of their learning with something like a The Personal Success Plan that allows students to define and measure success for themselves based on their passions, talents, interests, and learning styles.  Such a tool also supports students in identifying and working with mentors and seeking out opportunities to pursue their passions.  

While most schools are not preparing students for meaningful success in the real world, there are some that are.  These schools have terrific models that others might consider emulating.  

Schools that Give Students Real World Career Exploration and Experience
If your school is only preparing kids for the pretty useless skill of being good test-takers and grade makers, you might want to consider programs like those mentioned above that help prepare kids for the real world.  
If you want to read more about why I think tests and grades should be abolished and replaced with something along the lines of a personal success plan, you can read these articles. 
Oh, and if you think you might have a position for Armond, please contact me to let me know. 
You have read this article Educating Innovatively / ePortfolios / learning innovatively with the title ePortfolios. You can bookmark this page URL http://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/04/have-schools-forgotten-they-were.html. Thanks!

Diplomas Don't Prepare Students for the World. ePortfolios Do.

I recently spoke to a frustrated young man who at 25 years old was graduating college in May with a degree in advertising and marketing but he was having a difficult time finding a job.  As we spoke a little longer, he shared the degree wasn't enough. Without experience, doors were being slammed in his face.  I was shocked.  He was pursuing a career in a field designed to market, advertise, showcase, yet no time or energy had been placed by the school in helping this student do the same for himself.  A true example of the College Myth that leaves so many young graduates disappointed.  Years and money down the toilet all in turn for a piece of paper heralded as preparation for life, but it is no longer enough!

School can not be a series of disconnected and inauthentic activities.  To prepare students for real life we must provide them with real experiences as well as a "real" method for capturing, advertising, and marketing their successes.  This does not mean purchasing some costly ePortfolio system. Instead it means giving every student a "real world" option for collecting the work they've done that will help them as they pursue academic, apprenticeship, and career opportunities like they do at College Unbound. By real I mean, the student, not the school, owns the portfolio.  No one does this better than Helen Barrett and while I've shared and applauded her work frequently, I was excited to learn that she had done the same with mine at a recent conference.  Below is a presentation that captures her recommendations for creating ePortfolios using Google Apps.  You can find out more at her blog, ePortfolios for Learning. 

NCCE mar11
You have read this article ePortfolios with the title ePortfolios. You can bookmark this page URL http://machining33.blogspot.com/2011/03/diplomas-don-prepare-students-for-world.html. Thanks!
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