On Top of the News
Grand Test Auto: The End of Testing
Washington Monthly| May/June 2012

Behind the Headline
Future Schools
Education Next | Summer 2011

In a special issue of the Washington Monthly, Bill Tucker writes about “stealth assessment,” the use of formative assessments built into the learning process which allow teachers to keep tabs on learning continuously. As he describes the process

students would spend their time in the classroom solving problems, mastering complex projects, or even conducting experiments, as many of them do now. But they’d do much of it through a technological interface: via interactive lessons and simulations, digital instruments, and, above all, games. Information about an individual student’s approach, persistence, and problem-solving strategies, in addition to their record of right and wrong answers, would be collected over time, generating much more detailed and valid evidence about a student’s skills and knowledge than a one-shot test. And all the while, these sophisticated systems would adapt, constantly updating to keep the student challenged, supported, and engaged.

Tucker notes that one glimpse of this future can be found at School of One, a personalized learning program in New York City. In the Summer 2011 issue of Ed Next, Jonathan Schorr and Deborah McGriff wrote about School of One and other schools that blend online and face-to-face learning.