Assessment is both a cornerstone of measuring learning and a point of contention between educators and policymakers, Mind/Shift reports. Most educators agree that learning must be evaluated to track student progress, but many also resent that high stakes testing determines public school funding, teacher salaries and children’s futures. While many educators want to see more authentic forms of assessment become the standard in public education, decades of policies and practices reinforce the current system. “When we innovate in schools, we need to do so with care,” said Bernard Bull, assistant vice president of academics and education professor at Concordia University, in a Global Education Conference presentation. Bull calls assessment one of the “load bearing” walls in education, a long-standing practice and belief system that can’t be removed or changed easily. Any innovations to assessment must be done carefully, and whatever replaces the current system must be well thought out…
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