School Reform in Massachusetts: Comparing Educational Initiatives in 1893 and 1997

School Reform in Massachusetts: Comparing Educational Initiatives in 1893 and 1997

Michael Lorenzen

(I wrote this paper back in 1999. It had previously resided on a now defunct website. It is a bit dated but I feel it may be of interest to some readers.)

The concept of reforming and changing schooling is not a new idea. This desire to make schools better has a long tradition. There are many examples of this throughout American history. However, one good example is the case of schools in Massachusetts. Two documents demonstrate the different ways educational reform has been approached. This essay will examine the written record of a speech made by Charles Eliot in 1893 where he laid out six key changes he felt were necessary for grammar schools in Massachusetts. This essay will also look at report published in 1997 by the Massachusetts Department of Education examining five years of state mandated educational reform initiatives in schooling. Surprisingly, many of the themes addressed by Eliot in 1893 are still being thought about in 1997 although there are also many differences in the documents.

Description of the 1893 Speech

Charles Eliot, the President of Harvard University, gave a speech at the Massachusetts State Teachers' Association Conference in December of 1893. The speech was titled, "The Grammar School of the Future." A written version of this speech was included in a collection of Eliot's work, Educational Reform: Essays and Addresses , which was published in 1898. As such, the written version of the speech has been edited and probably reads slightly different that what was presented at the conference. However, as the written version was published only a few years later and was prepared by the same author it is reasonable to assume the intellectual content remained unchanged.

As President of Harvard University, Eliot was in a position that was respected and his words would have been given serious consideration by the conference attendees. Further, Eliot had developed a reputation as an educational reformer. Although the speech was delivered to Massachusetts educators, it is reasonable to assume that Eliot intended for his ideas to be disseminated nationally and be given consideration beyond Massachusetts. This is evidenced by the inclusion of the speech in Educational Reform: Essay and Addresses. This speech then was delivered with the purpose of influencing the reform of schools nationwide.

There are six main reforms considered in Eliot's speech. To begin with, Eliot wanted every grammar school to have a playground. He thought this was important for both the health of the students and to create a better learning environment. Secondly, he believed that schools should purchase curriculum materials such as books and maps. He did not believe that a bare classroom where only the teacher had the textbook was conductive towards a learning environment. Not surprisingly, Eliot also thought that additional funding was necessary as a reform in and of itself. Further, he was appalled at the large class sizes of the day, which had one teacher with fifty or sixty students. Eliot wanted to move towards a teacher/student ratio near 25 to 1.

Finally, Eliot wanted teaching at the grammar school done closer to the university model. He saw several experienced teachers organizing and directing learning while assistant teachers saw to the day to day operation of the classroom. Students would meet infrequently with experienced teachers who would direct the overall curriculum. The assistant teachers then conducted the daily lessons. This method of teaching would allow for the experience of the lead teachers to be spread out among a larger number of students while still allowing for the students to have access to an assistant teacher on a daily basis.

It is evident that Eliot had assumptions of what was best for students. His ideas lend themselves towards an active learning, hands-on classroom environment. Eliot wanted the students to have access to books, maps, and other curricular materials so that they could directly participate in the learning themselves. He wanted students to have the opportunity to have a playground so that the students would be able to be physically active which was both healthy but also allowed the students to get rid of excess energy allowing them to concentrate on their schoolwork. An emphasis on small class sizes as well seems to indicate that Eliot wanted the students to actively participate in the learning rather than sit and listen to a lecture. This leads one to believe that Eliot believed that learning was an active process and that the role of the student was to participate directly in his or her own schooling.

The above assumptions clearly impact Eliot's vision of the role of the teacher and the organization of the educational experiences in the school. Again, Eliot's belief in small class sizes allows the teacher to give more attention to each individual student, which leads away from the lecture towards more one-on-one and small group learning. The acquisition of curricular tools that allow students to learn on their own also gives the teacher more opportunities to direct individuals in learning outside of lecturing. Eliot's desire to use a university approach to teacher organization in his view would allow for experienced teachers to share their expertise with both students and assistant teachers, which would create a more learner friendly classroom as well as empower the teacher to set curriculum. It is apparent that Eliot assumed that the organization of the educational experience and the role of the teacher were to allow for the student to actively become engaged in education. Further, and most importantly from the point of comparison with the next artifact, this university model clearly placed a great deal of responsibility for the curriculum with the teacher. Eliot had strong views on what he felt schools should teach but ultimately in this model the decision on curriculum and assessment was left to the teacher.

Description of the 1997 Report

In 1993, the Massachusetts legislature passed The Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993. This law called for changes in school funding, statewide student testing, and statewide standards for schools and teachers. To bring this about, Massachusetts allocated over two billion dollars to bring about reform mandates. In 1997, the Massachusetts Department of Education published Education Reform in Massachusetts: A Progress Report, 1993-1997. This was distributed in print form but it was also placed on the Massachusetts Department of Education World Wide Web site. The purpose of the report was to allow for citizens and politicians to see how the reform was being carried out.

The report organizes the description of the reforms around the goals that the original legislation laid out. Over half of the reforms deal directly with state intervention in the curriculum or in graduation requirements. The state has mandated a statewide curriculum encompassing what the state considers core academic subjects. All schools in the state must conform to this statewide curriculum. Further, all elementary schools must spend 900 hours an academic year in the study of "serious" subjects. For secondary schools, this requirement is 990 hours in core academic subjects. The state is requiring testing of all 4th, 8th and 10th graders to ascertain how well each student is doing. These tests are not intended to be punitive but students failing them may be required to take remedial classes to get them up to state standards. A similar test is required of all 3rd graders to test reading skills. Massachusetts is also changing graduation requirements statewide. All students must pass a 10th grade proficiency exam to receive a diploma. Failing to pass this test will result in a denial of graduation.

Massachusetts is also concerned with the quality of its teachers. New teachers will be required to pass a test of subject competency in order to be certified. (After the publication of this report, the first tests were given this year. To much public outcry at the perceived low quality of teacher education in the state, half of the potential new teachers failed.) All teachers after certification are required to participate in "serious" professional development that relates to their subject knowledge or in teaching skills.

Other reforms are being tried as well. Early childhood education is now a priority and it is receiving over one hundred million new dollars in funding. The State Board of Education was reconstituted with fewer members all of whom were appointed by the Governor. The method of school funding is being rethought so that all schools receive the same basic "foundation" funding. Educational technology use is being encouraged and matching grants are being awarded to schools for this purpose. Charter schools have been introduced to give students (and parents) a choice of schools. School districts are being measured on several scales including success rates on the state student testing, dropout rate, and other factors. Districts not achieving a certain level can be taken over by the state. Finally, education regulations are being reformed to simplify them. (Although, it would seem, the passage of this legislation would actually complicate regulations more.)

It can be difficult to see all of the assumptions that were behind the passage of this reform legislation. The large variety of educational reforms being tried at the same time further makes this difficult to ascertain. However, one clear assumption is evident. Massachusetts does not believe that teachers or school districts can be trusted to provide a "serious" education to students. It is evident from this report that Massachusetts does not believe that public schools are providing a strong education to students. The reform legislation indicates that it is not believed that schools are teaching core academic subjects enough and that students are graduating lacking sufficient knowledge of these core subjects. Further, Massachusetts has serious doubts about the quality of the teachers in the schools.

One assumption about learning that is apparent is that it is believed that a basic, core knowledge should be learned by all students regardless of their backgrounds. The very real presence of state testing throughout schooling coupled with mandatory exam passage for graduation is designed to assure that students actually acquire this knowledge. The role then of the teacher is to instruct the students in this state-dictated curriculum. The implementation of this legislation shifts responsibility for curriculum design and assessment to the state away from the teacher and the school district.

Comparing the Two

There are several ideas that Eliot and the educational reformers in Massachusetts a century later agree upon. The first is the need for additional funding to carry out reforms. Eliot simply called for more money for schools. Current Massachusetts reform concentrates additional money in three different fashions. All schools are entitled to a certain level of "foundation" funding. This would appear to be an attempt to address educational funding inequities between differing school districts. Massachusetts believes that early childhood education is important and a large amount of the new money is going towards it. Finally, educational technology is seen as important to student success and matching grants are being used to encourage school districts to acquire more of it.

The current acquisition of educational technology compares favorably to Eliot's reform ideals. Eliot wanted books, maps, and other curricular materials to stimulate the student. Educational technology serves a similar purpose. Computers and the Internet allow students to explore knowledge on their own. Educational technology leads towards active learning for the most part. It is not certain if this is why the reform was selected by the state. After all, the reform could have been geared towards orientating students towards educational technology because this knowledge is a valuable job skill. Regardless, it serves a similar function in the classroom as does Eliot's books and maps.

This emphasis on giving students access material outside of the lecture is very much in John Dewey's idea of students and active learning. Although Dewey has been interpreted in many ways, it is evident that Dewey approved of materials that made core subjects such as arithmetic, geography, and grammar more appealing to the student. Wrote Dewey (30), "The legitimate way out is to transform the material; to psychologize it - that is, once more, to take it and to develop it within the range and scope of the child's life." Allowing students to use books, maps, computers, and other tools allows the student to see the material in a more relevant way that the student finds more attractive. Both Eliot and the educational reformers in Massachusetts appear to have faith in this.

The real change in reform assumptions in Massachusetts between the centuries is the emphasis on the role of the teacher. Eliot showed some concern about the teacher in that he wanted small class sizes. However, his university model of teaching also showed his desire to place responsibility for curriculum in the hands of the experienced teachers. This is very different in the late 20th Century version of Massachusetts educational reform. Massachusetts is now directly dictating what is important for the student to learn by controlling curriculum, requiring a set number of hours in the study of core subjects, mandating numerous state tests, and requiring passage of an exam for graduation.

This change has come about from a perceived lack of serious education in the schools. Wrote Sedlak et al (preface, x), "There appears to have developed an implicit 'bargain' between students in virtually all of our high schools, which results in a de-emphasis on academic learning and student disengagement from learning. The bargain is negotiated, albeit tacitly, between two parties, both of which have resources, but unequal power. This bargain determines the level of academic learning that takes place in the classroom. Although content and the acquisition of knowledge ultimately suffer, the bargain struck in most classrooms furthers its primary goal of making the relationships between educators and students more comfortable and less troublesome."

However, this bargain is exactly what those outside of education want to eliminate. Since the schools are in on the bargain, the reformers feel they need to take the school out of the decision on what to teach and how to assess the learning. The community in Massachusetts wants students educated rigorously in serious subjects they believe are important to success. They do not want the students taking easy subjects and they do not want students being allowed an easy time while in class. They want the students challenged academically and they want the teachers to push high standards. Requiring a test for graduation is an attempt to bestow value on what is believed to be a tarnished diploma. The notion that teachers are in on this publicly perceived illegitimate bargain has eroded confidence in the teachers and now the state is placing additional standards on the teachers.

The role of the student has changed between the times of these documents as well. While Eliot clearly intended for the teacher to have a great deal of control of the curriculum, the student invariably has a great deal of say in what is learned in an active environment. A student, by choosing which curricular tools to use, helps to educate herself. A student in Massachusetts today still has this option. There are libraries, maps, and computers that can be used to pursue learning independently of the school curriculum. However, while the teacher in Eliot's vision of reform would be guiding this independent study and could consider this in the assessment of the student, students in Massachusetts are all assessed by same standard tests given by the state. No knowledge of what the student has independently acquired can be assessed unless the student studied exactly what was covered on the different exams.

A good example of why many wanted more "serious" core subjects studied in schools with regular state assessment can be found in a book by H. G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights. Wrote Bissinger (142), "There were other football players with light schedules. One of his teammates, Jerrod McDougal, had taken senior English the previous summer so he wouldn't have to grapple with it during football season. His class rank was in the top third, but because of football Jerrod wanted as little challenge as possible his senior year. With English out of the way, he was taking government and the electives of sociology, computer math, photography, and food science." Other details in the book reveal that even in serious classes, the level of learning can be low. The vast majority of people in the community want students educated in core subjects and they do not want student like Jerrod having the option of picking easier schedules that are seen as not being as rigorous.

Looking at the changes in thinking about reform between 1893 and 1997, the new emphasis on state standards in schooling is not surprising. Wrote Cusick (1992), "Individual freedom runs all the way through the system. Parents may or may not support the school board; superintendents may support or oppose the state department; state department staff may alter the intent of federal policy makers. People make and exercise personal decisions, enter and take part on their own terms, and regards these as their rights. Students mix their classes, cultures, and friendships with school requirements; teachers adjust their curriculums to their predilections, create their student relations, and support and oppose the principles as they choose. Reformers decide schools need accountability, or principals decide their teachers have too much or too little power. Teachers decide students need more freedom. Each member of the system is free to make his or her own decision and set out on a course of action."

What exists then in Massachusetts's schooling is not a surprise. The changes and similarities in Eliot's thinking and the thinking of reformers today make sense. Over time, teachers and districts have made decisions based on their own opinions on education and their personal desires on what to teach in schools. The community has influenced these decisions. Students have bargained with teachers to get courses that are easier and more to their liking. This has resulted in the perceived value of the education having gone down in the eyes of politicians and many in the community. This has resulted in a reform movement that has chosen to dictate a new curriculum in schools that is seen as a return to a serious study of core subjects. This reform movement was successful in imposing its vision on the education system in Massachusetts. Over time, this vision of reform will be changed as all the players (students, teachers, community, and politicians) continue to participate in shaping it.

Works Cited

Bissinger, H. G. (1990). Friday Night Lights. New York: Addison-Wesley, 1990.

Cusick, Philip (1992). The Educational System: Its Nature and Logic. New York: McGraw Hill.

Dewey, John (1902). The Child and the Curriculum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Eliot, Charles. (1898). 'The Grammar School of the Future" in Educational Reform: Essays and Addresses. New York: Century Company.

Massachusetts Department of Education (1997). Education Reform in Massachusetts: A Progress Report, 1993-1997.

Sedlak, Michael et al. (1986). Selling Students Short: Classroom Bargains and Academic Reform in the American High School. New York: Teachers College Press.

Standardized testing of college students won't work, says new book by UW researchers

A University of Washington news site has the article Standardized testing of college students won't work, says new book by UW researchers. It is about the book Inside the Undergraduate Experience by Catharine Hoffman Beyer, Gerald M. Gillmore and Andrew T. Fisher.

I have not read the book but I think I will be looking at it soon. This will be on my acquisition list for my higher education book ordering for Central Michigan University this summer.

Here is what makes this interesting to me. The article notes, "Results of the study show that writing, critical thinking and quantitative reasoning are not generic skills and that even among freshmen, such skills are mediated by the disciplines. Thus Nolan's report on monkeys in Indonesia will be different in many ways from a chemistry lab report or an English essay. What counts as good thinking, writing, quantitative reasoning, and information literacy practice in college is closely aligned with the professional practices in those fields. "

I note how closely this parallels Stanley Wilder's call to tie information literacy instruction directly to the disciplines. He wrote in a 2005 article in the Chronicle, “Librarians should use their expertise to deepen students' understanding of the disciplines they study. More specifically, librarians should use their intimate knowledge of the collections they manage and the writing process as practiced in the disciplines to teach apprentice readers and writers.”

This books should be interesting and may be highly relevant to information literacy instruction in higher education. I think it is worth a read. I probably will not get to this book for a few months but I probably will post a review on it in the future here.

Information-Literacy Test Gets New Name

From today's Chronicle:

The Educational Testing Service announced today that it has changed the name of its test meant to measure skills in retrieving, analyzing, and communicating online data. The ICT literacy test -- ICT stands for "information and communication technology" -- will now be called iSkills assessment.

"We selected iSkills because it is catchy, contemporary, and relevant," says Mary Ann Zaborowski, director of product management for the test. "The new name is more spirited."

The Educational Testing Service also said educational institutions can now receive test scores in a way will allow them to compare their students' performance with those of students from similar institutions.

Librarians Tackle Information Illiteracy

Inside Higher Ed has this article titled Librarians Tackle Information Illiteracy by Andy Guess. The article looks at different approaches such as tests and tutorials to deal with the situation.

I found this comment from a reader very interesting, "Perhaps requiring students to take discipline specific methods courses early in their majors would help. Perhaps, requiring multiple books with multiple points of view in first-year courses (or anthologies with multiple views), especially in the social sciences and the humanities, might help. A single tutorial cannot do it alone, nor can tutorials divorced from content courses. There needs to be a wider approach to a deep and complex problem."

From the site:

It came as no surprise to many of those attending the annual meeting of the Association of College and Research Libraries this weekend that the typical liberal arts freshman believes Time and Newsweek to be legitimate scholarly sources. Groans and laughter accompanied this and other non-surprising factoids — 100 percent of incoming liberal arts freshmen surveyed use online sources, most think it’s easy to know when to document a source but nearly half couldn’t determine when one was required — that are familiar to anyone who works at a college library.

But while the problems of “information literacy” and the limitations of otherwise tech-savvy students’ abilities to differentiate between legitimate and unacceptable sources are well known, there is yet to be a unified, coherent approach to combating them.

Information Literacy Assessment: Standards-Based Tools And Assignments

Information Literacy Assessment: Standards-Based Tools And Assignments. I just ordered this book for the library. It is by Teresa Y. Neely. I hope it is good. Authentic assessment can be tough to pull off.

Here is a review from Booklist by Linda Loos Scarth:

Even prior to the ACRL Information -Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, there were concerns on what to teach and how to assess information competency. Librarians, researchers, and others seeking examples of teaching activities, teaching evaluation, and student outcomes assessment will find a wide selection of examples tied to these standards in this book. Neely and her cowriters discuss ways to integrate standards in what is taught about planning, gathering, evaluating, and using information. They also emphasize information literacy assessment as important to the college accreditation process. There are numerous suggestions for developing and writing assessment instruments. One error that jumped out is the statement in the foreword that other "empirically proven" influences on information literacy are discussed in chapter 8. It would more accurate to say (as was done in chapter 8) that there is evidence of other important variables beyond the ACRL standards, and these too should be assessed. Recommended for researchers and information literacy librarians.

My Ideas for Active Learning for an Online Course

I have been thinking about how I might apply active learning to an online course. I took two courses entirely online this last semester. I got a 4.0 in each and I believe it was a good introduction to taking a course online. It also clearly gave me some ideas on how I would go about teaching a course online. There are some aspects of the courses I would emulate and some I would avoid. This leads nicely then into a question of how I might design a course to implement some active or collaborative learning ideas.

Bonwell and Eison (1991) argued that strategies that promote active and cooperative learning environments have five commonalities. The students are involved in class beyond listening. Lesser emphasis is placed on transmitting information and more effort is placed in developing the skills of the students. The students are required to participate in higher order thinking such as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluation. The students are also involved in activities like reading, discussion, and writing. Finally, greater emphasis is placed on the exploration of student values and attitudes.

These five points would appear to be very important to active learning in an online environment. The student must be able to move beyond listening as lecture opportunities are more constrained than in an online course. The student must become engaged in the course or it will not work for him. However, since the students are physically separated from each and the instructor, the students must be able to participate in activities that allow to do things like analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluation without the students ever physically interacting. This brings into play very different course activities that one would use in a physical course. Not surprisingly, most of the activities I participated in the two online courses had active learning written all over them even if they looked very different from active learning activities in more traditional courses.

Another reason for using active learning in an online course is that non-traditional students in higher education (that is those that are older than 18-24) prefer it over lecturing. As most students taking online courses have statistically been non-traditional, this is a good point to remember. Slavin (1991) reported that traditional students have been lectured to their whole lives and expect it. However, older students have had the opportunity to work and have life experiences that have shown them that they can learn things on their own and can participate and interact with both other students and the teacher in the classroom. This would lead me to conclude that most online students are going to be able to adjust to online active learning activities.

Mind you, I am not arguing that traditional aged students are going to have trouble with a virtual course with active learning activities. These 18-14 year old students use Facebook, Ratmyprofessors.com, chat, IM, etc. almost daily. However, I think most non-traditional students will respond well to active learning because they are more oriented to active learning rather than any particular ability to adapt to technology.

Looking at what I did not like from the courses I took online, I would not require discussion board posts. Both courses required students to post weekly and then also make replies to several of the posts made by other students. Can you say contrived discussions? In essence, the teacher made students post a mini-paper each week. This is by itself is not very interactive although the writing itself can be beneficial. However, forcing responses weekly had the predictable consequence of poor discussion threads that were dominated by short obvious statements from students just trying to get the assignment done. Once people had two "response" posts, they were done. There were no lively interactive discussions that would to me mimic a lively in-person class discussion.

I much preferred other attempts at active learning. One of the courses I took required a group paper. I was assigned to a group with four other people and over a period of weeks we collaboratively wrote a paper. One of the people in my group was logging in from Iraq as she was an army supply officer in Baghdad. The group went well and there was tons of interaction even though we lived in different time zones and had radically different lives. Unlike the discussion board, there was a real project to work on and this helped us focus and work together.

I liked this enough that I would use it for an online class. The learning has many of the characteristics described by Bonwell and Eison (1991) for active learning. Frankly, this is very similar to a more traditional course. The students online will use the phone, e-mail, and chat to work out a group paper. Students in a traditional course may meet in person but they will also gravitate towards technology such as e-mail to write the paper. I believe assigning a group a paper online works very similarly to assigning a group a paper in an on campus course.

One approach that was not tried that I think would work for active learning would be to develop a WebQuest to include with the course. Dodge (1995) wrote that a WebQuest was a good method for getting online students to work in an active method albeit one that it is done usually in a solitary mode. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebQuest) notes, “In education, WebQuest is a research activity in which students collect information, where most of the information comes from the World Wide Web. It was first invented by Bernie Dodge and Tom March at San Diego State University in 1995.” Dodge (1997), wrote that a WebQuest is "an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing."

I think I would use a WebQuest to encourage active learning in any online course I taught. The actual layout would depend on how the content of the course but I would design an assignment that required a student to have a guided surf of the Web to sites of interest. Through questions, I would require the students to write about what they discovered. In particular, sites and questions in the WebQuest would be coupled together to require the student to critically think and synthesize different concepts together. I would also use some multiple choice questions which would appear at certain points of the WebQuest to make some initial assessments but also to help "clue" the students into what they should be looking for as they are surfing and writing.

I would assess the group writing project for my online class in the same way I would for a more traditional physical course. Is the paper well written with good grammar and spelling? Does it address the assignment and meet all of the assigned criteria for completeness? Are the ideas well articulated? Was the paper turned in on time? Even though the assignment was done by an online group, it can still be graded in a standard format.

One additional step I would use for grading on online group written paper would be to have the group members assign each other grades. Group members who did not contribute or did not contribute well will usually be identified in this way. Courses taught on campus use this method but I think it is particularly important to do this for an online group to identify slackers on a project. Those I believe who did not contribute their fair share to the project would have their grade adjusted downward by me.

The WebQuest active learning assignment would have to be graded differently. Writing is a component of it so I would be able to grade that portion based on the criteria I listed above for the group writing assignment. However, as the writing during a WebQuest is less polished as it is written over a few hours time as the student completes the different steps, I would grade items like grammar and spelling less harshly. Instead, I would be mostly looking to see if the students made acceptable observations and found connections between different points. I would give little weight to the multiple choice questions unless a pattern emerged which showed the student just blew off that portion of the WebQuest.

The assessment of the WebQuest varies from how an assessment would be done in a physical class. The online course assessment is going to have to focus on the written output of the student that was created as the student worked through the various portions of the WebQuest. A similar activity in a physical course would allow the instructor to assess the student not only one written comments but also on items like interactions with others, contributions to group discussion, etc.

In summary, I believe active learning can be done in an online course and I think I have some ideas for doing it. The criteria identified by Bonwell and Eison (1991) are found in online activities even if these activities have a different look and feel to them. The two activities I would like to try (online group writing assignment and WebQuest) have real potential in this are I think. I may feel different after trying them out of course but I think they are worthwhile. In the case of the group writing, I think the assessment is almost identical to a more traditional class assessment. However, the WebQuest would require a different assessment track.

References

Bonwell, C. C. and Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. Washington, DC: George Washington University.

Dodge, B. J. (1995). WebQuests: A technique for internet-based learning. The Distance educator, 1(2), 10-13.

Dodge, B. J. (1997). Some thoughts about WebQuests. Accessed at http://webquest.sdsu.edu/about_webquests.html on 10 December 2006.

Slavin, R.E. (1991). Group rewards make groupwork work. Educational leadership, 48(5), 89-91.
Wikipedia. WebQuest. Accessed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebQuest on 10 December 2006.

Most youths may be tech savvy, but they lack 'digital literacy,' report says

Most youths may be tech savvy, but they lack 'digital literacy,' report says. I found this interesting article at the Fort Worth Star Telegram. The author is Leila Fadel. I do not think that there is anything here that would surprise a librarian but I am always glad to read when higher education faculty are becoming aware of the need for information literacy.

From the site:

Of 10,000 high school and college students asked to evaluate a set of Web sites last fall, nearly half could not correctly judge which was the most objective, reliable and timely, according to preliminary results of a digital-literacy assessment. The Information and Communication Technology Assessment was administered by Educational Testing Service, a New Jersey nonprofit organization.

“What we’re finding is not only does it [digital literacy] need to be taught at the higher education level, it needs to be taught a lot younger than that,” said Terry Egan, project manager for the assessment. “I’m hoping that having an assessment like this available is going to change the paradigm of what people think is important to test and important to teach.” Students may know how to use an Internet search engine, but professors have complained that the online information students use is not reliable, said Mary Jo Lyons, information literacy coordinator at UT-Arlington.

Now, some professors are requesting seminars to teach students about the library catalog and the approximately 200 computer databases available to them at the UT-Arlington library. But unless specified in a class, information literacy seminars are not required.

Exam measures students' 'information literacy'

Exam measures students' 'information literacy'. The Educational Testing Service is set to release an information literacy test this spring to test the skills of high school students. ETS is the same company that distributes the SAT.

I would be interested in taking this test. I have worked on several information literacy tests including SAILS at Kent State University and our own in-house test at Central Michigan University. Creating good questions is tough and I have found that the answers to the questions do not always translate into the actual information literacy skill levels of the students.

Anyway, I hope this is a successful test. More awareness of information literacy skills is a good thing. And if the test catches on, and universities start requiring students to submit their information literacy scores right along with their SAT scores, I see a lucrative job in the future for me consulting. I am sure many upper class parents would be thrilled to pay me money to teach the test to their children to give them an edge on getting into the college of their choice.

From the site:

When it comes to downloading music and instant messaging, today's students are plenty tech-savvy. But that doesn't mean they know how to make good use of the endless stream of information that computers put at their fingertips.

Educators and employers call those skills "technology literacy," and while everyone agrees it's important to have, it also is difficult to measure.

Now a test that some high school students will begin taking this year could help.

The ICT Literacy Assessment touches on traditional skills, such as analytical reading and math, but with a technological twist. Test-takers, for instance, may be asked to query a database, compose an e-mail based on their research, or seek information on the Internet and decide how reliable it is.

The Case for Authentic Assessment

The Case for Authentic Assessment. This is a text of an ERIC Digest from 1990. I find it apt for me now as I struggle to find ways to assess the library instruction program at my library.

Most of our instruction is one-shot. The librarians usually have 50 minutes to teach about library skills. How do we assess it? Surveys after class are always positive. The instructors who bring their classes to library are always grateful. It is real tough to test and see if the instruction the library provides has any real term impact.

So, I am all for authentic assessment. I guess I'll just need to conduct more research (and discover that even more of the assessment plans written about by other librarians do not work!) before finding what will work here.

From the site:

Assessment is authentic when we directly examine student performance on worthy intellectual tasks. Traditional assessment, by contract, relies on indirect or proxy 'items'--efficient, simplistic substitutes from which we think valid inferences can be made about the student's performance at those valued challenges.

Do we want to evaluate student problem-posing and problem-solving in mathematics? experimental research in science? speaking, listening, and facilitating a discussion? doing document-based historical inquiry? thoroughly revising a piece of imaginative writing until it "works" for the reader? Then let our assessment be built out of such exemplary intellectual challenges.

New test would measure students' Web wisdom

New test would measure students' Web wisdom. I found a link to this CNN article over at KC Tipton's We Interrupt This Broadcast Blog. In essense, the Educational Testing Service is trying to devise a test that will allow for the measurement of Web evaluation skills.

While I admire the approach to this, I wonder if it matters? I truly believe most college students know that some resources are better than others on the Web. In addition, many are quite apt at picking out the better more scholarly resources. They just do not care. Students will usually choose to pick the easiest to find and read resources if the person grading the paper will accept it.

From the site:

Students apply to college online, e-mail their papers to their professors and, when they want to be cheeky, pass notes in class by text-messaging.

But that doesn't necessarily mean they have a high Internet IQ.

"They're real comfortable instant-messaging, downloading MP3 files. They're less comfortable using technology in ways that require real critical thinking," says Teresa Egan of the Educational Testing Service.

Or as Lorie Roth, assistant vice chancellor of academic programs at California State University puts it: "Every single one that comes through the door thinks that if you just go to Google and get some hits -- you've got material for your research paper right there."

That's why Cal State and a number of other colleges are working with ETS to create a test to evaluate Internet intelligence, measuring whether students can locate and verify reliable online information and whether they know how to properly use and credit the material.

Assessing Library Instruction Assessment Activities

Assessing Library Instruction Assessment Activities. This article is by Jim Kapoun. It was published in Library Philosophy and Practice Vol. 7, No. 1 (Fall 2004).

From the site:

Common questions that instruction librarians may ask before creating an assessment instrument for their classes are; “What are other libraries doing?” or “What should I ask and what question(s) will really assess outcomes?” As a continuing effort to examine our instructional assessment at Minnesota State University, Mankato, I decided to assess library instruction assessment tools/surveys. This research will examine and reflect on how academic libraries conduct or administer their instructional classroom assessment. We wanted to know what types of questions were asked and how they were delivered to the students. I identified 320 peer libraries from across the nation who have instruction programs and sent a letter inquiring about the assessment procedures used in their instruction program, and asking them to send a paper or e-mail copy of the assessment tool(s). After the information was collected, the documents were analyzed to look for common themes and ideas.

Assessment is not new to library instruction programs, but methods and theories change frequently. At the Minnesota State University, Mankato Library we needed to update our instructional survey but were not sure how to do it or what types of questions to ask. Our old survey assessed the librarians' style and teaching methods and we wanted to change that emphasis. Our campus, like others across the nation, is interested in gathering data that assess student outcomes rather than assessing the style of the instructor. We wondered how other peer libraries with instruction programs were conducting their assessment.

Our university set aside money for faculty members to conduct special research projects on professional research, teaching, or assessment. This program was valuable for evaluating library instruction assessment activities.

Student learning as information behaviour: exploring Assessment Task Processes. This paper is by Nicola Parker. It was published in Information Research, Volume 6 No. 2 January 2001.

From the site:

This paper describes the early phases of a research project exploring student learning as information behaviour during literature based assessment tasks in higher education. Although information and learning are closely linked, their relationship has been framed by a narrow interpretation of 'information' in the Higher Education literature and considered beyond the scope of Information Science. Understanding the interactions between seeking and utilising information is fundamental to a meaningful investigation of student learning. The varied processes involved in Literature Based Assessment Tasks are vital to students' success, because they are used extensively for assessment in many faculties. Bringing together information science and education perspectives can provide educators with more answers to questions of how and why students change as a result of information interactions. A clearer understanding of how information tasks and subject learning are related within the context of a specific discipline will also be gained by interdisciplinary exploration of students' perceptions of their information and learning environments as they complete assessment tasks.

Assessment of Information Literacy: Lessons from the Higher Education Assessment Movement. This essay is by Lois M. Pausch and Mary Pagliero Popp. It was presented in 1997 at an ACRL Conference in Nashville.

From the site:

Assessment in institutions of higher education is being driven by demands for accountability from legislators, trustees, and accrediting agencies. These assessment efforts are now expanding to library instruction programs. The library literature, however, reveals few rigorous efforts to evaluate the teaching of information literacy concepts and skills. Objective methods are being developed in many teaching disciplines, resulting in a body of research and descriptions of effective evaluation methods. Instruction librarians need to investigate these to determine which of them might be adopted/adapted for use in libraries. This paper reviews higher education assessment methods; identifies useful theories and practices; describes assessment programs in academic libraries; and makes recommendations for changes in library education and for future research.

Assessing student learning: Available resources This article is by Amy E. Mark. It appeared in the May issue of College & Research Libraries News. It is a collection (with annotations) of sites which have good information on assessing students.

From the site:

The national attention on assessment in education is here to stay. Teaching librarians are focusing