The Fragile Compatibility of Test Scores and Progressive Pedagogy
Date: Monday, September 26, 2022
Time: 12:00 to 1:00 pm (HST) / 3:00 pm (PDT) / 5:00 pm (CST) / 6:00 pm (EST)
Location: Online via Zoom
Cost: $20 per person Scholarships available! Inquire here.
What role should tests play in progressive pedagogy? It depends on what one means by “test.” In this public talk Dr. Andrew Ho of the Harvard Graduate School of Education will explore the relationship between quantitative assessment and progressive education. Dr. Ho will distinguish between two types of quantitative assessments, both of which may serve progressive aims (but rarely do). He will talk briefly about the importance of limited uses of standardized tests for large-scale monitoring of educational progress. Then he will talk about the fragile place of quantitative assessments in progressive classrooms to measure and inspire learning. When should a “three-way conference,” or any other classroom assessment, result in quantitative scores? How do children, teachers, and parents interpret such scores? Can scores be useful for progressive aims? Or are scores too powerful, leading to triage, discouragement, and competition? Come to this online public talk and join Dr. Ho in this ongoing progressive education inquiry.
About the Facilitator:
Andrew Ho is the Charles William Eliot Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a psychometrician whose research aims to improve the design, use, and interpretation of test scores in educational policy and practice. Professor Ho is a director of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and has served on the governing boards for the National Council on Measurement in Education and the National Assessment of Educational Progress. He holds his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and his M.S. in Statistics from Stanford University. Before graduate school, he taught Creative Writing and Physics at Punahou School, AP Physics in Ojai, California, and summer school Science at his alma mater, Hanahau‘oli School.