Just the Facts

ANSWERING 'LORD CORNWALLIS' and you get an A, write down 'Benjamin Disraeli' and you don't. So what is wrong with this picture? This correct answer, as is the case in most limited response assessment tests, does little to help students understand the subject. Though some can demonstrate their knowledge of the "facts," can they truly explain why, in what context, and with what ramifications these facts took place? Though limited response assessment gives educators and politicians an efficient means of ranking students as successful or not (and thus demonstrating whether certain edcational guidelines were met), it does very little for the student in terms of understanding the subject, not to mention encouragement or guidance.

Why is assessment faulty?
What is the the traditional view of intelligence?
How has this view impacted schools historically?
What does Multiple Intelligences theory propose?
Tell me more about Howard Gardner.
Tell me more about Harvard Project Zero.

I'd like to examine other reform styles.