DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 360 419 UD 029 336

TITLE Building a Learning-Centered Curriculum forLearner-Centered Schools. interim Report of the NewYork State Curriculum and Assessments Council to theCommissioner and the Regents.

INSTITUTION New York State Education Dept., Albany.PUB DATE Oct 92NOTE 43p.

PUB TYPE Reports Evaluative/Feasibility (142)

EDRS PRICE EF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Access to Education; *Curriculum Development;

Educational Assessment; *Educational Change;Educational Objectives; Elementary SecondaryEducation; *Equal Education; Learning; *Outcomes ofEducation; Portfolios (Background Materials); StaffDevelopment; Urban Education

IDENTIFIERS Compact for Education; *Learner Centered Instruction;New York; Reform Efforts

ABSTRACTThe Council for Curriculum and Learning was appointed

to develop a plan for implementing the promises of the New Compactfor Learning of New York State. This document considers the roles ofthe Council and state and local districts in working toward NewCompact ideas. The New Compact requires a new vision of curriculum,instruction, and aLisessment that will help schools focus on thedevelopment of a greater range of student talents at a higher levelof performance for all. The state will develop curriculum frameworks.Learning goals are to be monitored through state program assessmentsand local student assessments. A unitary Regents' diploma system,supported by a Rege,Its' portfolio, will be developed. Working inconsort, the state and local authorities will promote equal access toeducation and educational equity for all students. The Council willprovide advice regarding outcome standards, curriculum frameworks,assessment, staff development, and program implementation. Councilrecommendations will be implemented in congruence with other parts ofthe New Compact. Three appendixes contain assessment principles, adescription of curriculum and assessment committees, and the Regents'goals for education. (SLD)

***********************************************************************

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madecc from the original document. cc

***********************************************************************

r

BUILDING ALEARNING-CENTERED CURRICULUM

FORLEARNER-CENTERED SCHOOLS

Interim Report of theNew York State Curriculum and Assessment Council

to the Commissioner and the Regents

PERMISSIONTO REPRODUCE

THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

Ciussoil

TO THE EDUCATIONALRESOURCE:-,INFORMATION CENTER irRtc.

U 3 DEPARTMENT Of EDUCATIONflIbre ouzzoional Ramarcn and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURSOURCES

INFORMATIONCENTERERICI

th,s cloCument has been ,e9f0d.Ced as',Ce,ven:1 "ern the Oitillon or organizationohgnbng itkAnor changes have Dien made to improve

roproductron gush!),

a Points of v,ewo, 00"Ona Staled .nt^'Sdont,rnent do net necessarily represent oflic,1OE RI posaion o policy

October, 1992

r,ati,e;iL.telan

CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT COUNCIL MEMBERS

Cochairpersons of the Council

Linda Darling-Hammond, Teachers College, Columbia UniversityNathan Quinones, Educational Consultant

Frank Ambrosie, Cayuga-Onondaga BOCESLois Barry, NYS Congress of Parents and Teachers, Inc.Caro! A. Beck, Thomas Jefferson High School, BrooklynSteven T. Bossert, Syracuse UniversityJeffrey Bowen, New York State School Boards AssociationErnest L. Boyer, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of TeachingPeter Cobb, The Nichols School, BuffaloPaul F. Cole, New York State AFL-CIOJoan Ganz Cooney, Children's Television WorkshopJoyce Coppin, Brooklyn High SchoolsAntonia Cortese, New York State United TeachersLois B. DeFleur, SUNY BinghamtonConstance J. Eno, National Education Association (NEA) of New YorkMaxine Greene, Teachers College, Columbia UniversityIrving S. Hamer, Jr., Globe Book CompanyTimothy S. Healy, New York Public LibraryFred M. Hechinger, Carnegie Foundation of New YorkRichard Jarvis, Office of Academic Programs & Research, SUNYArgie Johnson, New York City Board of EducationEsther W. Lopato, Brooklyn Public LibraryDorothy A. Luebke, Eastman Kodak CompanyDeborah Meier, Central Park East High School, ManhattanThomas Minter, Lehman CollegeDavid S. Seeley, College of Staten Island, CUNYJoseph Shenker, Bank Street College of EducationDonald M. Stewart, The College BoardRobert Tobias, New York City Board of EducationAdam Urbanski, Rochester Teachers AssociationSaul M. Yanofsky, White Plains Public SchoolsEdmund Gordon, Professor Emeritus, Yale University (consultant to the Council)

PREFACE

In 1991, the New York Board of Regents approved A New Compact for Learning, which provided therationale for educational transformation in the State of New York:

We need a New Compact for Learningone which focuses on results, which promotes local initia-tive, and which empowers people at all levels of' the system... to narrow the gap between the educa-tional haves and have nots, and to raise the entire enterprise to a new plane of excellence.

Our educational system today is meeting neither our aspirations nor our needs. Too many are leftwithout the skills and knowledge to function effectively in a sophisticated society, Even many of ourbest students do not measure up to their potentialor to the academic achievements of the youngpeople of competing nations.

The problem is simply stated: the legions of dedicated people who work in our schools are caught upin a system that is obsolete. Either we make fundamental changes in that system, or we oegin theslide into a darker and less prosperous time.

Yet the changes we need cannot be made by the school system alone. What is required is a commoneffort by all members of our society to change the way we raise and educate our children.

The New Compact is based on six key principles:

1. All children can learn;2. Schools must focus on results;3. Schools must aim for mastery for all students;4. Schools must be provided with the means to achieve the results;5. Schools must be provided authority with accountability;6. Success m--st be rewarded and failure must be remedied.

This Council for Curriculum and Assessment was appointed to develop a plan for implementing many ofthe New Compact's promises. The Council is charged with advising the Commissioner and the Regents con-cerning the design of a program of desired learning outcomes, standards, and new forms of assessment that(a) are consistent with the Regents Goals, (b) develop higher order cognitive skills and understandingthroughout and across the curriculum, and (c) achieve a balance between breadth and depth of curriculumoutcomes.

The Council is working in collaboration with seven Curriculum Committees engaged in developing state-ments of learning outcomes within and across disciplines and proposing recommendations for assessmentstrategies. The Council is also charged with assessing the quality and appropriateness of these Committees'recommendations, evaluating the efficacy of implementation plans and practices, and developing a programfor informing the educational community and the public about these changes. Finally, the Council andCommittees are to consider how staff development and State and local programs should be developed tosupport and assist teachers in preparing students to achieve the desired learning Outcomes and statewidelearning goals.

fi

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Curriculum and Assessment Council wasappointed to make recommendations to theCommissioner and the Board of Regents on how tomake many of the promises of New York's NewCompact a reality. The Council is to provide adviceregarding:

1) student outcome standards;2) curriculum frameworks that can sup-

port these outcomes, includingstatements of learning outcomeswithin and across disciplines;

3) assessment strategies;4) staff develorment; and5) implementation plans and practices.

The Council's Recommendations

The New Compact requires a new vision of cur-riculum, instruction, and assessmentone thathelps schools focus on the development of a greaterrange of student talents at higher levels of perfor-mance for all. In order to accomplish the Compact'sgoals, curriculum, instruction, and assessment mustbe designed to encourage active learning, emphasiz-ing in-depth understanding along with applicationsof knowledge in new and complex situations, ratherthan rote responses. Curriculum, instruction, andassessment must contribute to the development ofstudents' abilities to use their minds well; to thinkcritically and creatively; to make informed and rea-soned judgments; to produce and invent as well as tocritique and analyze; and to develop habits of per-sonal responsibility and concern for others.

Curriculum, instruction, and assessment mustalso be interrelated and interconnected. What istaught, how it is taught, and how the success of thatteaching is interpreted must all be part of a continu-ous process, with learning integrated within andacross disciplines and between school and non-schoolperformance settings. Assessment must be embed-ded in the teaching and learning process, ratherthan "delivered" out of context at discrete testingmoments throughout a student's career. It shouldprovide information about student potentials as wellas progress, and be motivating to students, teachers,and schools as it illuminates compelling goals alongwith means for reaching them.

Student Learning Outcomes andStandards

The State will be issuing broad statements oflearning outcomes, describing what students shouldknow, understand, and be able to do at graduationand at certain developmental points during theirschool careers. Local districts and schools will estab-lish their own educational outcomes that are consis-tent with and extend beyond State goals.

Student outcome standards should:

express the core concepts and essential perfor-mance abilities found within and across allsubject areas;

apply to all students;

be developed for broad educational levels (e.g.elementary, middle and secondary educa-tion) rather than separate grade levels, so asto allow for flexibility in meeting students'needs;

lead to a unitary Regents diploma based ondemonstrated performance, recognizing lev-els of distinction (e.g. proficient, highly profi-cient, distinguished).

indicate areas and levels of proficiency as mea-sures of progress toward the desired out-comes, not as control gates thatbdeny stu-dents access to further learning opportuni-ties.

Curriculum Frameworks

The State will, with wide consultation, developcurriculum frameworks that reflect the desiredlearning outcomes for students, providing guidancebut not straitjackets for local curriculum develop-ment.,The frameworks should enable schools to meetthe statewide goals and learning outcomes, whileencouraging necessary innovation and flexibility inschool organization and instruction, including manydifferent configurations of courses, classes, andinstructional arrangements. The curriculum frame-works should:

iii

develop a coherent vision of important learningoutcomes to be sought over the course of stu-dents' schooling across as well as withineach disciplinary area;

support the development of students' abilities todemonstrate in-depth understanding of coreconcepts, to think and reason, to use a widerange of communication and informationmanagement skills, and to generate andapply knowledge in real-life situations;

foster instruction that nurtures students' imagi-nation, creative vision, and aesthetic appre-ciation, along with their appreciation forpersonal, civic, social, and intellectual val-ues, and for the diversity of human experi-ence;

encourage teachers to use a range of teachingstrategies that recognize diverse ways oflearning and performance and allow formany different kinds of evidence about whatstudents have learned;

encourage schools to use other learning settings,including libraries, museums, businesses,and community organizations, and to teachin interdisciplinary ways.

Assessment of Student Learning

The State's learning goals are to be monitoredthrough a system of State program assessments andlocal student assessments. The State component willfocus on p4ogram evaluation, allowing policymakersto gauge progress toward desired learning outcomesin ways that can direct investments and interven-tions where they are needed. The local componentwill focus on individual student assessment, allow-ing teachers to gauge student growth, progress,strengths, and skills in ways that are useful toinstruction.

Between its State and local components, theassessment system will provide a view of students'work and learning that is cumulative, multifaceted,and authentic: it will evaluate students' abilities totackle complex tasks requiring integrated knowl-edge and application of skills over time and in avariety of contexts.

The unitary Regents diploma system willenable all students to work toward a Regentsdiploma, documenting their learning in a RegentsPortfolio that incorporates performance tasks, pro-jec's, and performance-based examinations. Levelsof distinction would be awarded for particular sub-ject areas and overall performance.

iv

Assessments of student performance should:

be as authentic as possible, representing real-world tasks and situations requiring "higherorder" thinking and complex, integrated per-formances;

provide multiple ways for students to demon-strate their skill, knowledge, and under-standing, including written and oral exami-nations, performance tasks, projects, portfo-lios, and structured obse -vations by teach-ers;

enable teachers to assess student growth in acumulative, longitudinal fashion using manykinds of evidence;

'be measures of actual performance which can beeasily expressed, used, and understood bystudents, parents, teachers, counselors, andthe public;

'communicate expectations and support studentmotivation, self assessment, and continualgrowth;

use criteria that are public, open, and clearlyarticulated so that they can guide teachingand learning;

'inform instruction and encourage reflectivepractice;

be valid and accurate for identifying students'strengths, abilities, and progress, openingup possibilities for encouraging furthergrowth rather than precluding access tofuture, advanced instruction.

A major goal is to develop an integrated, coherentBystern of assessment that serves multiple purposesappropriately and well, without unecessary cost andduplication, and in ways that are supportive of thelearning outcomes desired for all students.

atatgand Local Roles in a System 5.2faharad Accountability

To ensure that students receive the learningopportunities to which they are entitled, a system ofshared accountability must be built on a sturdy tri-pod of responsibilities for outcome standards,resource standards, and professional standards ofPractice. The assessment of desired learning out-comes must be accompanied by commitments toensure adequate and equitable opportunities for stu-dents within and across districts, and by supports toensure that schools and teachers are able to useappropriate teaching practices. In each area, theState, school districts, and schools must assumetheir different appropriate roles.

The State's responsibility includes:

conducting statewide assessments for programevaluation purposes that use state-of the-artperformance assessments on a samplingbasis to evaluate what students know andare able to do;

reporting aggregate student performance resultsin ways that describe specific tasks studentscan perform in clear, understandable terms;

reporting on school practices, programs, staffing,and other aspects of students' learningopportunites along with statewide progresstoward educational equity;

supporting the development of local schools'assessment programs by providing access toresources such as a bank of assessment pro-totypes, portfolio ideas, performance tasks,and other instruments;

supporting -;n Assessment Quality AssurancePanel, as a deliberative body charged withevaluating and approving local assessmentsystems;

developing the Regents Portfolio Standards forgraduation by exhibition;

creating a school quality review process, inwhich teams of local practitioners and Statedepartment staff visit schools to help themexamine how their teaching and learning

processes prepare students for success;supporting improvements in practice by:

1) providing a rich array of curriculummaterials;

2) recognizing successful schools, docu-menting their work, and relieving them fromunnecessary regulation;

3) supporting school networks for dissemi-nating promising practices;

4) remedying the problems of schools thatare failing, with a diagnostic process of inter-vention and support;

5) supporting staff development opportuni-ties;

6) supporting compatible reforms in teacherand administrator preparation programs.

Local school and district responsibilities include:

developing local statements of learning out-comes, performance standards, and curricu-lum strategies to enact and extend theState's goals;

developing a local assessment system for provid-ing information about individual studentsone that is compatible with State and localgoals and uses a range of assessment strate-gies, including portfolios of student work,observations of students, and performancetasksto be approved by the AssessmentQuality Assurance Panel;

developing the form and content of assessmentsto meet the Regents Portfolio Standards;

creating regular occasions and means for shar-ing information and eliciting feedback aboutschool programs and students' experiencesfrm community members.

Implementation

The implementation of the Council's recommenda-tions should be managed in congruence with theother parts of the New Compact. Implementationshould include:

a long-range plan with incremental steps towardfull implementation;

integration of the school review process with thenew curriculum and assessment reforms;

a vigorous program of public information andinvolvement;

a major initiative to support and disseminatepromising practices across the State;

a major initiative, using current understandingsabout teaching, learning, and organizationaldevelopment, to strengthen staff develop-ment and technical assistance;

vi

carefully developed legislation to implement theplan;

a budg4tary commitment to the supports neededfor success; and

ongoing evaluation of each component of thisnew system, to promote reflective policymak-ing and continual evolution of the State'sefforts to achieve learner-centerededucation.

6

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT IN THE NEW COMPACT 4

A New Vision of Learning-Centered Curriculum 4

A New System of Performance-Based Assessment 9

State Evaluation of Programs 10

Local Assessment of Students 11

Graduation by Exhibition: A Shared State and Local Responsibility 12

Reporting of Results 14

IMPLEMENTING THE COMPACT IN A CONTEXT OF SHAREDACCOUNTABILITY 15

Shared Accountability 15

State and Local Responsibilities 15

Supporting and Ensuring Accountability 16

Constituency Communication 17

Recognition and Remedy 17

Implementation 18

A Plan for Implementation 20

APPENDIX A 22

APPENDIX B 25

APPENDIX C 30

,)vii

INTRODUCTION

As New York's A New Compact for Learningmakes clear, our educational enterprise must betransformed to meet the demands of the 21stCentury and the aspirations of our children, theirparents, and educators and citizens across the State.If students are to be prepared to live in the globalvillage of the future, schooling must be reconceptual-ized and recast to reflect that future. Schools mustprepare students to function in a world that will beinformation rich, technologically complex, incrediblydiverse, and rapidly changing. We have only justbegun to imagine these schools clearly. As a societyand as educators and parents, we have begun toplan together and think more clearly about the stu-dents and graduates we want, and the more capableand productive citizens we neednot just whatsome lucky few, but virtually all of them, need tobecome.

The schools we envision are exciting places:thoughtful, reflective, engaging, and engaged. Theyinclude people of all ages who discuss, share, reasontogether, synthesize, discover, and create. They areplaces where meaning is madeconstructed, negoti-ated, critiqued, applied, evaluated, and remade.They are places that resemble workshops, studios,galleries, theaters, studies, laboratories, parlia-ments, field research sites, and newsrooms. Theyfeature moments of difficult and creative tasks, andresponsive interchange. Their spirit is one of sharedinquiry.

The students in these schools feel supported intaking risks and thinking independently; they arealso engaged in initiating and assessing their ideasand products, developing a disciplined respect fortheir own work and the work of others. They takepride in tackling and following through on tasksthat are hard and sometimes tiring, but alwaysmeaningful. They cover less on a superficial level,but learn deeply about much more, especially aboutthings that are profoundly important to them andtheir lives. They demonstrate what they know andcan do oy making things, examining things, conduct-ing research, writing about what they havediscovered, and by displaying their data, products,and performances in graphs, charts, models, video-tapes, computer programs, essays, and a variety of

1

other forms. They are animated by a sense of theirown accomplishment and the vast intrigues ofworlds waiting to be touched, explored, and con-quered.

Their teachers function more like coaches, men-tors, wise advisors, and guides than as informationtransmitters or gatekeepers, They offer high stan-dards with high levels of support, combiningpatience and faith with knowledge and skills for cre-ating a bridge between challenging curriculum goalsand students' unique needs, talents, and learningstyles. They use a wide array of richly informativeassessment strategies to understand their studentsand how they learn. These are interwoven withmany different strategies for facilitating students'exploration, learning, and performance that draw onthe diverse intelligences students possess. They arecontinually learning because they teach in schoolswhere everyone would be glad to be a student, or ateacherwhere everyone would want, to beandcould be--both.

Central to the creation of these schools is thereexamination and redesign of curriculum, instruc-tion, and assessment We have approached this taskin the context of New York's Regents' Goals and theNew Compact for Learning. Our recommendationsdraw upon and stand in close resonance with bothdocuments, which proved to be useful and inspiringguides.

We read these documents for the implicit princi-ples they entail as well as the details they codify. Wefound particularly valuable the insistence, in theRegents' Goals and the New Compact based onthem, that schools must setand actually embodyhigh goals for all students. This consistent themethat higher order learning, high level knowledge andskills, and high expectations must be pursued for allstudentspervades both the Regents' Goals and theCompact established to implement them.

We are keenly aware that in today's unpre-dictable labor market, it is important to educate insuch a way that students can deal with novel ques-tions and problems and can successfully encounternew situations. We are also aware that, as citizens,

students must be able to look at situations withempathy, understanding others' points of view, aswell as being able to evaluate what is lacking, wherethe sources of problems lie, so that they may becollectively solved in the public sphere.

The Regents' Goals (included in Appendix C)articulate the essential core components in clear anduseful terms. In addition to knowledge, skills, andvalues within and across disciplines, the Goalsemphasize throughout that all students must "devel-op a capacity for self-directed learning." This onecentral requirement recognizes the core of learningwhich empowers all students and vouchsafes theirfreedom of thought and autonomy as persons andcitizens, along with their intellectual and careerdevelopment. We have worked to embody this goal ofdeveloping a capacity for self-directed learningalong with the letter and spirit of each of the relatedGoalsin every aspect of the principles for curricu-lum and assessment and the design of policies tosupport them.

The Compact also emphasizes that learning "mustbegin and end with students themselves," as theultimate authors of their oNn understandings; andthat the "service delivery model" of packaged school-ing and passive students is not a model for genuinelearning. We thoroughly agree. The Compact envi-sions the students as "curious, questioning, restless,thoughtful, eager to use their minds, imaginative,willing to accept the occasional tedium, and increas-ingly self-directed and self-disciplined." We heartilyconcur. The Compact insists that parents must beactive, participating partners in their child's educa-tion, helping to sustain the values and atmosphereof "shared purpose and consistent expectations;"that teachers must be well-supported in terms ofresources and time for collegial consultation; thatschools must be institutions where shared delibera-tions and collective inquiry guide learner centereddecisions. We endorse each one of these ideals andthe philosophy that undergirds them.

The challenge for all of us is to imagine and thenimplement a set of policies and practices that canmake these commitments realthat can support,from the "top" of the system, collaboration and colle-giality throughout the schools and =unities inthe State. Because we understand that shared pur-pose cannot be mandated, and shared )ractice mustbe invented in each and every school cu_amunity, we

must find ways to stimulate and support locally-inspired deliberation and action aimed at our com-mon State goals. We must do this through policiesthat build commitment and capacity rather than byregulating practices and constraining the possibili-ties for uniquely successful strategies. Sincelearning must begin with students themselves--andwith the members of' their school communitieswemust find ways to help all of the facilitators for stu-dent learning to assess and understand where andhow students come to the task, so that they candevelop means for supporting continued growthtoward the learning outcomes we intend for all chil-dren.

2

The Regents' Goals and the New Compact, intheir organization as in their details, point to theneed for a coherence of educational needs and goals;and to a clear sense that educators, parents, andcommunities must agree on what must be done inorder to arrive at such comprehensive outcomes, toget the best for all students. This "in order to" isinscribed between as well as on the lines of this doc-ument, for it forces us to consider what schools andcommunities must do and he like if we are to havestudents who know and can do that which consti-tutes their own "personal best." Schools must oper-ate differently if students are to learn in differentways. These differences must be imagined beforethey can be implemented. What we know aboutinspiring organizational change and social inventionis that each community must engage in a process inwhich they wrestle with these questions for them-selves, and create their own mandate for how to pro-ceed. At the same time, the State must envision thepolicy and practical supports needed to assist thisprocess of goal-setting and invention and to sustainthe kinds of learning environments that will result.

Our principles for curriculum and assessment,along with our recommendations for schoolingdesign and policy, seek to strike this balance, inwhich the State's leadership role inspires local inno-vation, and high standards are achieved withoutdysfunctional standardization. Our conclusions areinformed by much recent research in the disciplines,on teaching, on organizational change, and in educa-tion policy aaalysis. Our recommendations alsoreflect the findings of such groups as the Secretary'sCommission on Achieving Necessary Skills(SCANS), the New York State Career Pathways

Report, and the reports of the State university andCity university systems,'

Their findings converge on a theme which perme-ates our recommendations and unites the reforms ofthe New Compact to the Regents' Goals; there istoday no longer a hard and fast distinction betweenwhat is needed for higher education and what isneeded for "job or career"; or between academiceducation and vocational education; or between

' Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills(SCANS), U.S. Department of Labor. What Work Requires ofSchools: A SCANS Report for AMERICA 2000. Washington,DC: The Commission, June 1991.

Governors' Task Force on Career Pathways for New YorkState Youth. Education that Works: Creating CareerPathways for New York State Youth, September 1992.

State University of New York Task Force on College Entry.Level Knowledge and Skills, Preliminary Report on Entry.Level Knowledge and Skills. Albany, NY: The Task Force,February 1992.

Advisory Committee on the College Preparatory Currieulun,Executive Committee of the University Faculty Senate. ACollege Preparatory Curriculum for the City University ofNew York. New York, NY: The Executive Committee, March1991.

3

schooling and "real life." Today, our knowledge-based economy requires a capacity for life-long, self-directed learning involving cooperative work on com-plex tasks in technologically sophisticated, and con-tinually changing, settings, We hope the principleswe outline below begin to address the seriousnessand the depth of all the complex implicationsentailed for school and for communities as theybegin to actually build systems capable of' respond-ing to this new set of challenges.

iry

CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT IN THE NEW COMPACT

Implementing A New Compact for Learning willrequire a new vision of curriculum, instruction, andassessmentone that helps schools focus on thedevelopment of a greater range of student tolents athigher levels of performance for all. Curriculum,instruction, and assessment must emphasize com-prehension and understanding, along with applica-tions of knowledge in new and complex situations,rather than rote response and inert knowledge.Curriculum, instruction, and assessment must con-tribute to the development of students' abilities touse their minds well; to think critically and creative-ly; to make informed and reasoned judgments; toproduce and invent as well as to critique and ana-lyze; and to develop habits of personal responsibilityand concei n for others.

The shared purposes of curriculum, instructionand assessment are to develop and cultivate the fullrange of human intelligences and capabilities; toinstill the habits of mind and dispositions of charac-ter needed to use understanding wisely andhumanely; and to develop the skills necessary tolive, work, and succeed in a ci;:rnocratic society andan ever-changing world commut ity.

In order to accomplish these goals, curriculum,instruction, and assessment must be designed toencourage active learning in which students evalu-ate, construct, and generate knowledge, becomingself-initiating, life-long independent learners in theprocess. They must encourage students to developtheir abilities to work alone and with others, to dothings competently as well as to think about themclearly, to reason, question, draw connections, com-pare, relate, contrast, communicate clearly and per-suasively, evaluate viewpoints, frame problems,acquire and use evidence, draw inferences, and cre-ate new knowledge, understandings, relationships,and products.

These capabilities depend on the development ofmany kinds of human intelligenceverbal, logicaland mathematical, physical and motor, artistic, per-sonal, and interpersonal, not all of which have gen-erally been appropriately valued in school or by theassessment instruments used to evaluate school andstudent success.

If learning experiences are to be challenging,coherent, and aimed at developing the full range of

4

students' capabilities, then curriculum, instruction,and assessment must also be interrelated and inter-connected. What is taught, how it is taught, and howthe success of that teaching is interpreted must allbe part of a continuous process. They must be seenas mutually dependent and jointly aimed at enrich-ing the continual growth and learnint, of each stu-dent. Schools must view learning as an integratedactivity, connecting ideas and understandings withinand across disciplines and between school and non-school performance settings. Assessment must beembedded in teaching and learning, rather than"delivered" out of context and, frequently, out of con-tent, at discrete testing moments throughout a stu-dent's career. Assessment must be dynamic, richwith information about student potentials as well asprogress, and motivating to students, teachers, andschools as it illuminates compelling goals along withthe means for reaching them.

A New Vision of Learning-Centered Curriculum

Over the past decade, we have learned a greatdeal about how people learn. This new understand-ing requires major changes in how we approach cur-riculum, teaching, and assessment. First, we under-stand that learners construct knowledge from com-plex mental maps they have developed based ontheir experiences. They start with concepts and theninterpret and understand information in light ofthese concepts. This means that facts do not precedeconcepts, and "basic" skills do not precede thinkingskills as many previous approaches to curriculumassume. Instead, conceptual learning and higherorder thinking are the foundations that make allother kinds of learning possible.

In addition, because individual students learn indifferent ways, at different rates, and from the van-tage point of their different experiences, no highlyspccific, predetermined curriculum can ever beequally effective for all students. To be successful,teachers must meet students where they are andcreate a bridge between their individual talents,interests, and experiences and common, challengingcurriculum goals. This means that teachers andschools must have the flexibilityalong with the

owledge, skill, and material resourcesneeded tobe responsive to the students they serve. Especiallywhen the goal is universal high standards for all

students, the ability to take a variety of pathways toget there is critical.

Thus, we need forms of curriculum that encour-age the development of students' conceptual abilitiesand higher order thinking skillsrather than feed-ing them bits of disconnected infor.ationand thatpermit teachers to link new concepts to students'very diverse prior experiences and understandingsrather than assuming that students will all learnthe same things in precisely the same ways.

As a result, implementing the Compact willrequire new strategies for supporting and guidingclassroom practicestrategies that redefine theState's role from one in which it seeks to prescribeand regulate classroom practice to one in which itclearly defines the goals of education and supportslocal innovation and creativity in achieving thosegoals. "Top down support for bottom up reform," theCompact's guiding principle, will depend on strate-gies that build local capacity for restructuringthrough infusions of knowledge, technical assis-tance, and needed flexibility. These strategiesshould place the State in the role of enabler ofchange and facilitator for good practice.

Because there is no "one best system" that canprove equally effective for all students, and becausewe know that well-intended prescriptions for prac-tice frequently do not lead to the d( sired results, theState cannot a, sieve its goals for all children byimagining and enforcing a set of methods by whichthey will be achieved. Instead, it must set directions,provide supports, monitor results, and ensure safe-guards so that neither children nor schools areallowed to "fall through the cracks."

Accordingly, the Council's recommendations forcurriculum and assessment create means for assess-ing learning outcomesthe desired knowledge,skills, values and dispositions students shouldacquire. These learning outcomes are to l-y reflectedin curriculum frameworks which provide guidancefor local curriculum development but are not strait-jackets. The curriculum frameworks will articulatebroad learning goals within and across disciplinesand describe the kinds of skills and abilities stu-dents are expected to acquire, but they will not spec-ify the procedurescourses, syllabi, grouping orgrading practicesschools must undertake toachieve these goals. Instead, the frameworks pro-vide criteria for curriculum development and identi-fy attributes that curriculum should have in order to

ensure that students encounter the kinds of learningexperiences to which they are entitled.

School districts are expected and encouraged todevelop materials, instructional strategies, andorganizational approaches that will enable studentsto successfully achieve the desired learner outcomes.The State should provide a rich array of curriculumresources and materials along with assessment toolsfrom which schools and teachers can also choose indeveloping strategies that work for the diverse stu-dent populations they serve. Teachers are expectedto have sufficient fle,:ibility that allows them to cre-ate learning experiences which draw on students'prior understandings, lives, and community contextsin order to develop connections between these expe-riences and broader curriculum goals.

5

The State's learning goalsalong with local-ly developed goals and standardsare to bemonitored through a system of State programassessments and locally-developed studentassessments that carefully distinguishbetween the State's need for assessment toinform policy, on the one hand, and the localschool's need for assessment to inform andimprove teaching and learning, on the other.Between its State and local components, theassessment system will provide a view of stu-dents' work and learning that is cumulative,multifaceted, and authentic: it will evaluatestudents' abilities to tackle complex tasksrequiring integrated knowledge and applica-tion of skills over time and in a variety of con-texts. The local component of the assessmentprogram will allow teachers to gauge studentgrowth, progress, strengths, and skills in waysthat are useful to instruction. The State com-ponent will allow policymakers to gauge localand statewide progress toward desired learn-ing outcomes in ways that direct investmentsand interventions where they are needed.

The Council's principles for developing curricu-lum frameworks and assessment, described below,are rooted in the Regents' Goals for education andaimed at helping New York State realize this newvision for curriculum, instruction, and assessment.With the specific recommendations that follow, theCouncil hopes to make good on the Compact'spromise to focus on outcomes rather than procedureswhile maintaining the State's responsibility forensuring that all students receive the learningexperiences to which they are entitled.

t

The "Principles for Developing CurriculumFrameworks" provide guidance to the Curriculumand Assessment Committees currently working toarticulate learning outcomes in seven areas: Artsand Humanities; English Language Arts; Health,Physical Education, and Home Economics;Languages Other Than English; Mathematics,Science, and Technology; Social Studies; andTechnical and Occupational Studies. The companionlist of "Principles for an Assessment System" out-lines the assumptions and directions the ,ouncil hasadopted to guide its work with the Committees indeveloping an integrated approach to State and localassessment that will support student progresstoward high standards of learning and performancefor all students. A set of additional recommendationson accountability and implementation outlines theCouncil's views about how these approaches to cur-riculum and assessment must be embedded in abroader accountability system and supported withappropriate implementation strategies.

Principles for Developing CurriculumFrameworks

1. Curriculum frameworks, in conjunction withhigh, publicly visible performance standardsfor all students, should define desired learningoutcomes aimed at preparing students toassume their multiple roles in society asthoughtful citizens, lifelong learners and liter-ate adults, and workers in a complex andchanging global society. These outcomes shouldbe based on a broad consensus of what studentsshould know and be able to do, as well as whathabits of responsible citizenship they shouldacquire.

2. Curriculum frameworks should be organizedaround core concepts within and across disci-plines. These should be pursued through thedevelopment of integrated standards for con-tentwhat students should knowand perfor-mancewhat they should be able to do.

3. Curriculum frameworks should support thedevelopment of students' abilities to demon-strate in-depth knowledge of core concepts andto generate and apply knowledge in real lifesituations.

4. Curriculum frameworks should encourage thecultivation of students' thinking and reasoningskills, enabling them to distinguish betweenevidence and assertion and to analyze and eval-uate ideas from a variety of perspectives.

5. Curriculum frameworks should foster instruc-tion that nurtures students' imaginations, cre-ative visions, and aesthetic appreciation.

6. Curriculum frameworks should emphasize andsupport the mastery of a wide range of commu-nication skills. They should support the devel-opment of students' abilities to acquire, man-age, employ, and generate information for arange of purposes using a variety of informa-tion technologies.

7. Curriculum frameworks should encourageteachers to use a range of teaching strategiesthat recognize diverse ways of learning andperforming and allow for a variety of kinds ofevidence about what students have learned.

6

8. Curriculum frameworks should encourageschools to use other learning settings, includinglibraries, museums, businesses, and communi-ty organizations.

9. Curriculum frameworks should emphasize theinterrelatedness and interdisciplinary nature ofknowledge and skills. Frameworks should inte-grate academic and vocational knowledge andskills within and across subject areas.

10.Curriculum frameworks should reflect thediversity of human experience, including diver-sity of culture, ethnicity, race, gender, class,and religion.

11.Curriculum frameworks should make explicitthe personal, civic, social, and intellectual val-ues raised and affirmed within and across dis-ciplines, encouraging students to examine andreflect on these values.

12.Curriculum frameworks should enable schoolsto meet the Statewide goals and learningoutcomes for all students, while encouragingnecessary innovation and flexibility in schoolorganization and instruction.

While the goal of uniform high standards forlearning outcomes for all students must be clear andvigorously pursued, the Council is committed toimplementing the Compact's promise to focus onresults, while allowing schools to use many differentstrategies for achieving them. We recognize thatmany schools have achieved success with mixed-agegroupings students, nongraded instruction, inter-disciplinary coursework, community learning set-tings, and other variations from the traditionalforms of school organization. Over time, these tradi-tional organizational patterns have been translatedinto curriculum and testing programs and otherforms of instructional guidance that have tended tofocus more attention on compliance with the curricu-lum and procedures than on doing what works forstudents.

Thus, we recommend that curriculum frameworksshould articulate learning outcomes for broad levelsof schooling (e.g. elementary, middle, high school)rather than grade levels, and should accommodatemany different configurations of courses, classes,and instructional arrangements. So as not to pie -scribe particular organizations of grades, subjects, orgroupings of students, curriculum and assessmentguidance should be developmentally appropriate,but not tied to particular grade levels. Similarly,such guidance should maintain the integrity of eachdiscipline, but should not be tied to specific courseconfigurations. In addition, creating new forms ofschool organization that allow close personal contactbetween students and faculty, by restructuring howcourses and students are clustered, should not bediscouraged by the ways curriculum guidance isoffered. Finally, this kind of work should go on inmany settingsfor example, in community work set-tings where internships are pursued as well as inlibraries, where children are able to use technologyfor access to information and ideas, and librarians,like teachers, act as facilitators for learning duringand after school hours have ended.

We are also concerned that the State's articula-tion of learning goals across the seven areasassigned to its Curriculum Committees begins toreduce the fragmentation and inconsistencies appar-ent in its current system of curriculum guidance.The existing system resembles a patchwork quilt ofbroad curriculum guidelines for some subjects andgrade levels interspersed with specific course syllabiand testing programs that deliver an implicitcurriculum frequently at odds with the rhetoric ofother intentions and pronouncements. The new

curriculum frameworks should aim to develop acoherent vision of important learning outcomes to besought over the course of students' schooling acrossthe disciplinary areas as well as within each area.

This effort to seek coherence should include theidentification and integration of intellectually pow-erful core concepts within and across the disciplinesalong with common values, such as honesty, cooper-ation, teamwork, respect for knowledge and evi-dence, and respect for other people and cultures. Inso doing, the frameworks should seek to encourageinterdisciplinary teaching, learning, and assessmentin schools. The Council feels this is important for anumber of reasons. Students must be prepared toengage real-life tasks and problem-solving, whichalmost always require interdisciplinary thinking,knowledge, and skills. Such interdisciplinary workenriches the understanding of individual disciplinesby helping students understand what the disciplinecontributes to their ability to think and solve prob-lems. At the sane time, interdisciplinary workenables students to capitalize on their areas ofstrength while extending those strengths to newareas.

7

As we move to a performance-based system of cur-riculum and assessment based on universal highstandards for all students, it is critical that theState's curriculum frameworks and other guidancenot be based on the assumption of a tracked or two-tiered system. Students' access to courses and learn-ing opportunities should not be predetermined bythe projected receipt of a different type of diploma,or by premature assignment to an anticipated futurelife course (e.g. college vs. immediate employment).Neither students' differential talents nor the worldthey are entering allow for such tidy, unchangingdistinctions in what they ought to care about, begood at, or be prepared for.

The new standards require attention to students'talents and diverse modes of learning and perfor-mance without tracking them into programs or col-lections of courses that restrict their learning oppor-tunities. While many different grouping arrange-ments can be useful aids to instruction and studentlearningfor example, cooperative work groups,grouping and regrouping for differential instructionin particular skills, and students' selections of differ-ent activities or courses based on their interests andaptitudesmore rigid forms of tracking can reducestudents' access to knowledge. Students' choices ofcourses should not be determined by whether they

believe they may be bound for college or work afterhigh school, but by their needs, interests, and tal-ents, which are exhibited in much more individual-ized ways. There are a number of ways of allowingfor specialization of student work at the high schoollevel without the kind of gross tracking intounchanging course options that currently occurs.Using their own resources, those of other nearbyschools, and community colleges, schools shouldenable a student to simultaneously pursue coursesin advanced mathematics and woodworking, forexample, based on his or her aptitudes and interests.These possibilities are discouraged, however, by thetwo-tiered diploma system that encourages trackingin the State.

At all levels of schooling, the implementation ofcommon high-level standards for all will requireattention to creating means for open-ended pacing(allowing for more time and different uses of timeresponsive to student, needs), access to a thinkingcurriculum for all students, and use of multimodalteaching strategies that address the many ways stu-dents learn by all teachers. The State's curriculumsystem ought not to perpetuate distinctions thatserve neither students nor our society well. TheCouncil recommends that the State move to a uni-tary Regents diploma system based on demonstratedperformance, with acknowledged levels of distinctionalso based on performance. All students would beexpected to engage challenging course work aimed atthe desired learning outcomes as they work toward aRegents diploma, awarded by exhibition as docu-mented in a Regents portfolio which incorporatesperformance tasks, projects, and documentation ofoutcomes as well as performance-based examina-tions. As described more fully below, those whosework exhibits high levels of performance couldreceive a diploma with distinction, both for overallperformance and in particular subject areas.

To begin to move toward this new vision of cur-riculum, instruction, and assessment, the State willneed to provide a variety of curriculum tools, materi-als, resources and ideas that local educators maydraw upon in developing their own curriculum andassessment systems. These systems will continue toinclude some of the better-developed forms of stan-dardized testing appropriate to the limited purposesthey are designed to serve, but supplemented andgreatly enriched by assessments that are embeddedin the curriculum and teaching process.

As we discuss more fully in the implementationsection of this report, the possibilities for student

8

success lie in teachers' abilities to use resources cre-atively and adaptively on behalf of different studentneeds and approaches to learning. Thus, we believethe State should invest its efforts in building teach-ers' knowledge and capacity to address students'diverse needs rather than trying to create the "onebest system" of detailed curriculum mandates, whichis inherently bound to fail. The State's efforts shouldinclude investments in staff development opportuni-ties, Teachers Centers, preservice education, andmentor programs for enhancing teachers' knowledgeand skills, along with investments in a rich array ofcurriculum materials to choose from in addressingstudent needs.

In line with the Compact's promise, the Councilhas developed a plan that places its bets for schoolimprovement on supporting better teaching ratherthan writing better regulations. Yet, one questionthat often arises in debates about how highly pre-scribed school curriculum should be is: What hap-pens to students who transfer from one class orschool to another? Shouldn't all students be studyingthe same things in roughly the same ways at basi-cally the same time in order to allow for inter-changeability among schools and students? In reali-ty, such uniformity in daily practice does not nowexist across schools (even when it is sought), norwould it prove effective in educating students if itwere more aggressively enforced. While learninggoals must be uniform, teaching strategies must beflexible. To be effective, good teachers must alwaysmeet students where they are and take them as faras they can go in developing their talents and abili-ties. Overspecification of the curriculum for eachsubject and grade level ultimately reduces the abili-ty of teachers to meet students where they are inorder to help them reach for the next level. The cur-riculum marches on, while many students are leftbehindor are left unchallenged.

As one New York State teacher explains:

Students come to us at different stages ofdevelopment and levels of prc, oration, andeducation increases those differences. In thelong run, if a student is good at something, wetry to encourage the student to pursue theinterest, to excel, which results in inequality,differences, heterogeneity. It happens natu-rally. Heterogeneity is not a problem to besolved. In fact when embraced, it is a positiveforce in the classroom....

Instead of the futile prescription of uniform treat-ments for nonstandardized students, we believe thatgreater effectiveness and accountability will resultfrom a system of curriculum, instruction, and assess-ment that explicitly attends to students' differencesand unique abilities while creating multiple path-ways to common goals. In this system, students whomove from class to class, teacher to teacher, orschool to school will carry their portfolios with them.These will provide a rich documentation of theirgrowth, accomplishments, approaches to learning,and current needs, enabling teachers to meet themwhere they are, using a wide array of curriculumresources to create and adapt instruction that movesthem toward the shared learning outcomes. Theassessment system that will support this kind ofadaptive teaching and learning is described below.

A New System of Performance-Based Assessment

A major aspect of the Council's deliberationsabout assessment concerned the development of anintegrated, coherent system of assessment that couldserve multiple purposes appropriately and well,without unnecessary cost and duplication, and inways that are supportive of the learning outcomeswe want for students. The proposed system includesa variety of strategies aimed at different purposes,each requiring different approaches to assessmentand different levels of' rigor. Those that are to beused for decisiormaking purposes important to stu-dents' educational and occupational futures must bemore formal and rigorous than those that areembedded in the instructional process. Those thatare intended to inform decisions about individualstudents must be more richly detailed than thosethat are intended to inform decisions about programand policy interventions. As a system, though, theassessments should have certain characteristics thatsupport the Compact's goals. They should:

measure progress toward the full range of goals

be as authentic as possible (i.e. representingreal performance tasks and situations)

measure higher order skills and abilities (e.g.abilities to analyze, synthesize, apply knowl-edge in new situations, produce, create)

emphasize depth and power rather thanbreadth and surface knowledge

9

be criterion-referenced

report progress beyond minimums towardhigher levels of proficiency

provide multiple ways for students to demon-strate their skills and knowledge, includingmany different kinds of performances and mul-tiple assessment strategies and measures

provide multiple opportunities and occasionsfor assessment that allow students manyopportunities to demonstrate their proficiencyand allow teachers to evaluate student growthin a longitudinal, cumulative fashion using sev-eral kinds of evidence (e.g. samples of work,observations, performance on tasks)

be as open as possible, with publicly knownstandards and criteria

allow for the determination of student accom-plishment by exhibition of performance ratherthan course credits or seat time.

These criteria are consistent with national trendsand developments in the restructuring of assessmentthat are accompanying the restructuring of educa-tion. States across the nationfrom California toConnecticut and Vermont to Texasare engaged indeveloping outcomes-oriented, performance-basedassessment systems aimed at much more challeng-ing skills, abilities, and learning goals. New York ispart of this national movement, through its ownassessment reforms and its participation in collabo-rations such as the Council for Chief State SchoolOfficers Assessment Consortium and the NewStandards project.

This participation in a nationwide set of initia-tives, however, should be understood as quite dis-tinct from advocacy of a national test or testing sys-tem, several quite different proposals for which havebeen advanced and debated, but not defined orenacted, at the federal level. We make no endorse-ment of any of these still-evolving proposals. NewYork's initiatives and the Council's work are focusedsolely and explicitly on the improvement of curricu-lum and assessment for the students of this State,drawing upon the best knowledge and informationavailable, but not abdicating responsibility forstandard-setting to external agencies.

The Council developed some basic principles forthe development of the overall assessment systemfor New York State that guide our work and that ofthe Curriculum Committees. These provide therationale for the recommendations that follow andare included in Appendix A. The principles stressthat assessments must take many different formssuited to their many different purposes; that theymust evaluate higher order thinking skills and com-plex performance abilities as they are used in theworld outside of school; that they must support stu-dent growth and motivation to achieveopening uprather than closing down new learning opportuni-ties; and that they must be valid, trustworthy, andreliable. The principles also establish a frameworkfor a State and local assessment system that elimi-nates duplicative testing, reduces external testingburdens on classroom time; ensures that differentState and local needs for assessment are met withhigh quality, useful information; and assesses thelearning opportunities provided to students in schoolas well as their performances.

In working through the ways in which the multi-ple purposes of assessment can be best served, theCouncil developed recommendations for (1) a Statesystem of program assessment; (2) local systems forindividual student assessment; and (3) a shared sys-tem of State and local assessment for graduationbased on exhibitions of performance.

State Evaluation of Programs

The State's major role in assessment shouldbe for the purposes of assessing programs formonitoring and reporting aggregate studentperformance at the State level. The State's pro-gram assessments should be state-of-the art,leading good practice by modeling what isexpected of districts and schools, including theuse of projects, performance tasks, and otherforms of authentic assessment. Some of the cur-rent State program evaluation tests (PETs) areamong the more innovative assessments used inNew York. The State's program should continue toexert leadership in this regard. For the purposes ofmonitoring, reporting, and program evaluation,assessment can and should be conducted on a sam-pling basis, rather than testing all students in allschools every year. By virtue of limiting the popula-tion of students evaluated, investments in thequality of the assessments can be greater.

The program assessments should be based on theState learning outcomes and curriculum frameworks

currently being developed. For each program area,the State's learning outcomes should be the basis fora program of performance-oriented assessment,including interdisciplinary assessment tasks,administered in key areas and at key points in stu-dents' development. For each area, districts will befree to develop their own assessment program fortheir own program audit purposes, but if they donot, must use the State program to evaluate theirprograms.

The c. -te's assessments should rely on multipleassessment strategies and tasksfor example per-formance tasks, projects, oral and written examina-tionsand use a set of performance standards thatrepresent different levels of performance (e.g. profi-cient, highly proficient, and distinguished). Theselevels of performance should be reported in concreteterms across the many domains of performance ineach field, describing the kinds of tasks students canperform at each level in ways that are understand.able to students, parents, teachers, and the generalpublic. Thus we should know, for example, how wellstudents write in terms of the kinds of writing tasksthey can performa persuasive essay, a researchreport, a narrativeas well as the aspects of writingthey can displayuse of evidence, logical structureand argument, use of clear, vivid language, use ofconventions, and so on.

As is currently the case, these assessments mustbe developed to ensure valid, reliable measures ofperformance, with carefully-developed criteria, stan-dards, and scoring methods used to judge a student'swork. The assessments should provide samples ofstudent work that exemplify different levels of per-formance across different domains of each task, withprocedures to enable consistent evaluation of stu-dent work across schools and classrooms.

The State's role with respect to the assess-ment of individual students should changefrom one of developing and administeringtests to supporting the development of localschools' assessment programs. These localassessment systems should be closely tied to teach-ing and learning, with a primary goal of informinginstruction rather than sorting and screening stu-dents out of educational opportunities. The Stateshould evaluate the appropriateness ofschools' assessment programs in terms of thenature of assessments and the manner inwhich they are used, should provide guide-lines for the appropriate use of assessment

10

data, and should provide options for assess-ments, for those districts who want to draw uponthem in developing their own systems.

Local participation in assessment development isfundamental to school improvement for many rea-sons: It stimulates a reflective process among staffand the community in support of school change; itheightens commitment to the assessment system;and it assures that curriculum and assessment arealigned. The State' role, then, should nurture thisprocess at the local level by providing access toresearch, models of assessment, staff developmentopportunities; and appropriate forms of preserviceand administrator preparation.

Local Assessment of Students

The State should charge local districts with devel-oping their own assessment systems for providinginformation about and guiding instruction for indi-vidual students. These should be guided by theState's learning outcomes, plus other learning goalsand standards developed at the local level, andshould be consistent with and complementary to theState assessment program. The local assessmentsshould be multifaceted and cumulative, shouldengage a range of performance modes and relyon several assessment strategiesincludingobservation of students, samples of studentwork, and performance tasks. The local assess-ment systems would be approved by the Stateand would meet the criteria for scope, authen-ticity, openness, compatibility with higherlearning goals, and multiplicity of assessmentstrategies and opportunities described at thebeginning of this section.

Cumulative assessments of student progress andperformance would be required for evaluation ateach schooling level, e.g. early elementary, middlegrades, high school. Local schools and districtsshould determine when these cumulative assess-ments occur, depending on the ways in which theyhave chosen to organize schooling levels. Theseassessments, which should include a portfolio of stu-dent work and evaluations of student performance,must be longitudinal in nature, taking studentprogress and individual talents into account alongwith levels of performance. They should be used toinform instruction, not to deny students access tofurther learning opportunities.

The State should establish a body to evaluate andapprove local assessment systems, including both

the assessments used and. the manner in which theyare used. This Assessment Quality Assurance Panelwould be comprised of appropriate curriculum andassessment experts and SED personnel along withlocal educators expert in curriculum and assessmentissues. The panel would provide a means for provid-ing guidance to local districts about how to structurean assessment system that provides high quality,valid, and reliable data about students that is alsoinstructionally useful. It would ensure that theState's responsibility to ensure appropriate,comparable assessment of students is carried out asthe State's manner of discharging its role ischanging.

Meanwhile, a school quality review process cur-rently under development by the State EducationDepartment would periodically provide schools withdevelopmental information about how well theirassessment systems (as well as their curriculum andteaching practices) are functioning to achieve theschool's and State's goals for supporting students inattaining the desired learning outcomes. The schoolquality review establishes a process of collaborativeschool development in which external reviewers,local practitioners, and Education Department staffassist school's staff in examining the quality ofteaching and learning. The process engages every-one involved with the school in a constructive dia-logue about its progress and that of its students. TheAssessment Quality Assurance Panel and the schoolreview process, though independent of each other,would both organize their work around the State'slearning outcomes, a common knowledge base aboutteaching and learning, and an understanding ofauthentic assessment practices.

Local assessment systems should meet estab-lished professional standards for assessment use.For example, no major decision regarding a studentshould be made on the basis of a single piece of evi-dence (e.g. a test score). Decisions about studentsincluding placement or promotion decisionsshouldbe based on the use of at least three types of dataand evidence: samples of student work, teacherobservation, and performance tests or tasks.

11

The State should encourage local practitioners todevelop innovative and thoughtful assessment pro-grams by inviting local initiatives and supportinglocal development with assessment options. Amongthe resources the State can provide is access to aportfolio or bank of assessment ideas, tasks, andinstruments that have been developed through the

2.)

New Standards Project, the partnership schools' ini-tiatives, the Coalition of Essential Schools' exhibi-tions, the Council of Chief State School Officers'assessment group, and other local and State assess-ment initiatives. The State should reprioritize itstesting program and energies to link more effectivelyto the restructuring of assessment that is going onnationwide and to the range of options available.

The relationship of local districts to the State andthe process for implementing this part of theCompact could be described as follows:

The State will be issuing broad statements oflearning outcomes describing what students shouldknow and be able to do at graduation, and at certaindevelopmental points during their school careers.These provide direction regarding the goals of cur-riculum and teaching, but leave latitude for localdistricts to decide how they will structure students'learning activities.

Within this framework, districts should start con-vening conversations in the local community todetermine what they value, what they want stu-dents to do, and how they think their goals can bebest accomplished. The State and local districtsshould encourage schools to establish their own edu-cational outcomes that are consistent with and mayextend beyond State goals, both in terms of theirdomain and level of mastery, and should facilitatethe convening of local school constituencies to estab-lish such goals and assessments.

Using the general principles expressed in the out-comes and curriculum frameworks, local districtsand schools should develop their curriculum strate-gies and assessment plans.

The State's role should be to support districts indeveloping these systems and to provide assessmentoptions, along with research and information aboutassessment strategies and issues. The State wouldnot prescribe what tools districts must use; however,it shouldas part of its role to evaluate and ensurethe appropriateness of local systemsproscribe cer-tain inappropriate uses of tests.

The Council feels strongly that such proscriptionshould include the use of mass-administered, stan-dardized tests for students below grade 4 as the solebasis for making any major decision, including pro-gram placements, tracking, and promotions. In

terms of existing external program requirements,the State should support districts in developingalternatives to mass-administered standardizedtestsas well as pull-out programsfor Chapter 1purposes (in line with upcoming changes in federal

v).

The State should also proscribe the use of suchtests for placing students in gifted and talented pro-grams as both an inappropriate use of tests and anundesirable encouragement to tracking. TheCouncil believes that a fundamental tenet of theCompact is that schools should provide for adaptiveteaching within a thinking curriculum for all stu-dents. In the context of multiple intelligences, allstudents have gifts and talents that must be nur-tured. A curriculum that nurtures higher orderthinking and performance skills, along with individ-ual gifts and talents, should be available to all stu-dents. Assessment should he structured to help iden-tify students' talents and to shape instruction sothat it uses them as a basis for learning across thecurriculum.

Graduation by Exhibition: AShared State and Local

Responsibility

Graduation standards, to be met by exhibition,should be developed by the State, in consultationwith experts from higher education and local schooldistricts. The graduation standards should specifythe kinds of competencies students must demon-strate to graduate, derived from the State's learningoutcomes. Achievement of these competencies shouldbe documented through a Regents Portfolioa com-pilation of record data, projects, products, perfor-mance tests or tasks, observations and evaluationsby teachers, attestations, oral or written examina-tions, and other evidence that the competencies havebeen achieved.

The development of the Regents Portfolio stan-dards must occur in close collaboration with repre-sentatives of higher education, who should heencouraged to use the requirements as part of theirstandards for higher education admissions. Existingjoint secondary-higher education committees, suchas the SUNY Task Force on College Entry-LevelKnowledge and Skills, have already made similarrecommendations for assessment reform and couldserve as the appropriate bodies for coordinating thiswork.

12 94_

The actual form, content, and assessment of theportfolio requirements should be developed locally.The graduation portfolio should grow out of and berelated to the cumulative assessment strategiesused throughout the earlier grades by the localschool or district. The school's assessment systemshould allow for the accumulation of portfolio creditstoward graduation throughout the students' highschool years. Schools should be encouraged toengage their faculties in collaborative developmentof portfolio standards and criteria as well as teamevaluations of student work, as this approachenriches the assessment process by marshallingmultiple viewpoints and varied perspectives. Onesuch approach to graduation by portfolio in a NewYork State partnership school is described here asan example of one kind of system that might bedeveloped.

[A sidebar describing Central Park EastSecondary School's portfolio graduationrequirements will be inserted near here.See pp. 33-34 for the text.]

[NOTE: Other sidebars on local perfor-mance standards and assessment will alsobe added before the document goes outfor wide public dissemination.]

Local districts' portfolio requirements, whichwould address both the State outcomes and localstandards, would be approved by the State as part ofits overall evaluation of the total local assessmentsystem. Because of the importance of establishingthe validity and comparability of a wide variety ofperformance-based assessments used for graduationdecisions, this review process should be augmentedand validated by research designed to determine therelationship between performance on the assess-ments used for graduation and postsecondary out-comes, including success in higher education andemployment.

The Regents Portfolio, which would require sever-al types of assessment in a number of differentareas, would provide for common standards for allstudents but would allow for varied content. Forexample, students might meet the requirement fordemonstrated mathematics proficiency by designingand building a house to scale or by developing a"pure" mathematical proof, so long as both met thestandards established. Schools and districts wouldbe expected to develop their own portfolio systems tomeet the State and local standards.

While the graduation portfolio would be devel-oped locally, districts should have the option of satis-fying portions of their portfolio requirements byselecting from existing (and evolving) State devel-oped assessments and other options the State makesavailable. Performance-based options (e.g. projects,performance tasks, and portfolios) for all Regentsexaminations should be developed immediately fordistricts that want to choose them. These shouldinclude interdisciplinary assessmentsfor example,a Regents Humanities assessmentthat could beselected by districts that have organized.

coursework. Districts should also be encour-aged to submit performance-based options forRegents examinations to the State for approval.Over time, the entire Regents assessment systemmust evolve to become more compatible with thenew learner outcomes, relying on performance-ori-ented assessment tasks requiring challenging in-depth study rather than reliance on multiple-choicetesting technologies.

The Regents assessment system should alsobecome a unitary rather than a bifurcated system,so that the assessments students encounter are nottied to a rigid tracking system. Regents CompetencyTests in specific subject areas should be eliminatedand replaced by Regents assessments that allow fordifferent levels, but not kinds, of performance. Thus,for example, rather than a Regents examination inU.S. history and a separate RCT in social studieswhich are determined by track and lead to differentdiplomas, a set of performance-based assessments insocial studies would be developed for all studentsand made available as options for districts whichhave not developed a State-approved option theyprefer.

Satisfactory completion of all of the portfoliorequirements would entitle students to a Regentsdiploma. The Regents diploma should become a goalfor all students. A student's level of proficiencywould determine the level of distinction on the diplo-ma (e.g. proficient, highly proficient, distinguished).Such levels of distinction should be developed to rec-ognize excellence both across-the-board and in spe-cialized areas. Thus, for example, a student mightearn a distinction in mathematics as well as aRegents diploma awarded at the "distinguished"level. These distinctions would differ from the cur-rent two-tier diploma system in that they are basedon demonstrated performance on complex tasks (i.e.outcomes) rather than on courses taken withinpredetermined tracks (i.e. inputs or processes). They

13 O

would reward effort, allow for acknowledgment anddevelcpment of students' individual talents, anddiscourage blanket tracking.

Reporting of Results

Reporting of student performance results willneed to change alongside the reforms in assessment.One necessary change will be the reporting ofassessment information according to criterion-refer-enced performance levels which describe specificlearning outcomes, rather than norm-referencedpercentile rankings. Reports of student performanceshould describe how many students can actually per-form particular kinds of tasks, rather than merelyassigning a numerical score that has no substantivemeaning to students, parents, teachers, or the pub-lic. We should know, for example, that 80 percent ofstudents can write a persuasive essay that uses evi-dence effectively, rather than that the average NewYork student scored a 72 on a particular test.

Reporting should also allow for progressstandards that are based on aggregated longitudinaldata about individual students. That is, data shouldallow for analysis of how much actual growth inperformance students have experienced, rather thanmerely averaging school-level data that is influencedby shifts in student population and other factors.

A new form of what the State now presents as itsComprehensive Assessment Report (CAR) shouldemphasize descriptive information about schoolpractices, instructional programs, staffing, and otheraspect of students' learning opportunities, built uponthe evidence base developed in the school qualityreview process. Reporting should also include analy-sis of funding, resources, and allocations of expendi-tures, between schools and districts as well asamong expenditure categories.

The CAR should also provide descriptive dataabout school programs and related student out-comes. For example, an analysis of State programassessment data in mathematics should describe thekinds of mathematical tasks students can and can-not accomplish as well as the nature of the mathe-matics instruction they are receiving: who is takingwhat kinds of mathematics curriculum and whatoccurs in classrooms.

The goal of the reporting system should be toenhance accountability by providing informationthat will enable the public to evaluate how well theState and districts are progressing toward attain-ment of New York's goals for outcomes, practices,and resot rce equity, and also to analyze how andwhy.'

14

'Data from the state NAEP would provide some of this kind ofinformation to augment School Quality Review data and muchenriched forms of assessment information.

IMPLEMENTING THE COMPACT IN A CONTEXT OFSHARED ACCOUNTABILITY

The Council beli es that the Compact must beaccompanied by new and more effective means forachieving genuine accountability in our State'sschools, Although accountability has frequently beenthought of as measuring schools' and students' testscores, we concur with the Compact that measuringschools is not the same thing as improving them. Webelieve that accountability must include those thingsthat the State and school districts do to Provide highquality education for all students as well as to evalu-ate school offerings and student performance. Wemust construct and implement a vision of "sharedaccountability" that focuses on the provision of highquality education for all students and that includesparents, community organizations, businesses, andother citizens along with State agencies, schoolboards, administrators, teachers, and students.

The foundation for genuine accountability shouldrest on a sturdy tripod of responsibilities for schoolinputs and resources, Professional standards of prac-tice, and standards for desired learning outcomes.Attention to all three of these areas is necessary toensure that students receive the learning opportuni-ties to which they are entitled. In each area, theState, school districts, and schools must assumetheir different appropriate roles for establishingstandards which convey goals and expectations, notalways mandatesto guide their actions.'

Shared Accountability

The State's "outcome standards" describedthroughout this report are aimed at encouraging thedevelopment of students' capacities for higher orderthinking and performance, for creativity, analysis,conceptual integration, and invention. Alongsidethese standards for desired learning outcomes,described in the previous section, the State mustalso consider how to support school delivery sys-tems (i.e., inputs and resources) and practices thatare likely to produce these valued student abilitiesand that fulfill the State's responsibility to children,standards for inputs and resources should ensurethat government agenciesStates and school

'This discussion draws heavily on a paper prepared for NewYork State's "Standards of Excellence" project: Linda Darling.Hammond, Standards of Practice for Learner-Centered Schools.NY: National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, andTeaching, Teachers College, Columbia University.

districtsprovide the wherewithal for all schools, inrich and poor neighborhoods alike, to offer the cur-ricular opportunities and programs required for theachievement of student performance standards. TheState's annual report (Chapter 655) should report onthe progress of New York in meeting its deliverystandards for inputs and resources.

atansiardEd_ar a cti c e should guide school organi-zations in developing approaches that will enablestudents to learn those things that are assumed bystandards for their performance. They describe theareas in which schools and educators can be expect-ed to exercise their professional responsibilities tostudents based on current knowledge of best prac-tice, commitment to student welfare, and under-standing of student needs. These standards wouldhelp inform the State's school quality review process,in which teams of local practitioners and StateEducation Department staff visit schools as "criticalfriends" who examine the teaching and learningprocess and create an "evidence base" for describingschool practices to parents and other members of theschool community.'

State and Local Responsibilities

As the Compact unfolds and authority is realignedto follow responsibility, the State, school districts,and schools must each become accountable for thepolicies they adopt: for ensuring that their decisionmaking processes rely on the best available knowl-edge and the interests of children, for evaluating thesubsequent effects of the policieson teaching andlearning, on student access to opportunities, on cur-riculum goals and for changing those policies or reg-ulations which prove to be counterproductive. Localdistricts, like the State, should begin to evaluatehow over-regulation of school-level practice can berelieved, by granting waivers from unnecessary con-straints and moving toward new forms of account-ability based on improved outcomes for all students.

' This school quality review process should be supportive anduseful to schools in their own processes of ongoing inquiry andimprovement. To avoid its becoming a prescriptive approach, thereviews should not be used for accountability purposes. Anotherprocess should be developed for schools that are having substan-tial difficulty and require intervention. Such an interventionprocess is also discussed in this section.

15

,;

As a new accountability system evolves, each levelof the system should assume its appropriate kind ofresponsibility.

The State should be responsible for providingequitable and sufficient resources to schools, and forencouraging equitable and appropriate practices inschools.' In terms of curriculum and assessment, theState should establish broad learning outcomes anda system for assessing programs. The State shouldalso provide assistance to districts in developing andevaluating the appropriateness of local districts' andschools' assessment programs for programs andstudents.

To enhance the accountability of the overall sys-tem, the State should evaluate both the appropriate-ness of local school/district assessment programsand the effectiveness of the State's overall assess-ment program, including each of its componentparts. To evaluate whether the system is producingthe kinds of outcomes intended and desired, theState should sponsor research, on a sample basis,about what happens to students and their learningafter high school, evaluating their success at subse-quent transition points (college, employment post-secondary training) and beyond.

Schools districts should be responsible for ensur-ing adequacy and sufficiency along with equity inthe distribution of school resources and for creatingcommunication and feedback processes that makethem responsive to the needs and concerns of par-ents, students, and school-level staff. They shoulddevelop systems for evaluating programs (or maychoose to adopt State assessments for this purpose)and should support schools' development ofassessment systems for individual students.

Schools should be accountable for operating inways that reflect professional knowledge and theinterests of children and for equity in the distribu-tion of learning opportunities to children. Theyshould establish professional developmentopportunities which enable staff to continually learnand refine their skills; create processes for

° In addition to providing equitable funding to schools, theState should report on the resources made available in all schoolsand districts, while evaluating the adequacy and use of fundingand resources for schools that have been identified as failing. TheState and local district together must take responsibility for recti-fying such inadequacies in opportunity to learn as are found toexist in these schools.

communication, problem identification and problem-solving; and create methods for involving andresponding to the concerns and ideas of parents, stu-dents, and staff.

In terms of curriculum and assessment, schoolsshould be responsible for developing appropriate sys-tems of assessment that inform instruction, by pro-viding sufficient information for making decisionsabout individual students.

Teachers and other staff should be accountable foridentifying and meeting the needs of individual stu-dents responsibly and knowledgeably based on pro-fessional standards of practice, for continually evalu-ating how well their own practices and those of theircolleagues are accomplishing this goal, for seekingnew knowledge and information, and for continuallyrevising their strategies to better meet the needs ofstudents.

While it is essential that all of the components ofthe educational system be accountable for perform-ing their roles in this effort, it is clear that thesegoals cannot be achieved without a sense of account-ability on the part of students. parents. and the com-munity. They must "buy into" and hold themselvesaccountable for achieving these new goals as well.As modern management theory demonstrates, excel-lence is achieved only when all participants areinvolved in decisions about what to do and how to doit, and can hold each other accountable for perfor-mance. That is why a fully accountable system mustrely on both State leadership and vigorous local par-ticipation and engagement.

Supporting and EnsuringAccountability

Two kinds of processes are critical for supportingand ensuring a kind of accountability that actuallyresults in better education for children: two-waycommunication processes that provide importantinformation to parents and other constituencies andneeded feedback to schools, along with processes forrecognizing school success and remedying schoolfailure. The State's new learning outcomes andassessment systems will not produce responsibleand responsive education for students without moreeffective processes in place for attending to thesecrucial functions.

16

Constituency Communication

information sharing is an important part ofshared accountability. Each local school district andschool should have regular occasions and means forinitiating a dialogue and exchange of ideas. This dia-logue should elicit input about school performanceand ideas for school improvement from parents, stu-dents, staff, and other members of the school com-munity. It should also include regular occasions forreporting to constituents about school practices andstudent progress. This reporting should extendbeyond test scores and other quantitative data toinclude substantive descriptions of what schools aredoing and what students experience in terms of pro-grams, curriculum, and teaching. The reports shouldalso discuss student access to school curriculumopportunities in terms of student program place-ments and course-taking opportunities, as well asprogress toward graduation. Academic achievementshould be reported in terms of longitudinal progressfor students over the time they have been in theschool or district, and in terms of concrete abilitiesand tasks students have mastered, rather thanabstract percentile rankings.

Methods for communicating to parents and thepublic about schooling should include student exhibi-tions of their work, including displays and demon-strations of what they have learned and accom-plished. Like the town meetings and recitations con-ducted at schools in the early days of this country,people should be able to see what schools are doingand what their students can do as a result, Theseprocesses of communication should be cooperative,providing opportunities for the community toactively participate.

In the spirit of fuller and more educationallyinformative communication, the State'sComprehensive Assessment Report (CAR) should beredesigned to include the kinds of information aboutschool and student performance and progressdescribed above. The CAR should be used in publicforums at the local and State levels to stimulatediscussion about future plans for and improvementsin educational policies, structures, and practices.

Recognition and Remedy

The Compact promises to reward success andremedy failure. 'We believe that a n-ore decentralizedand learner-centered approach to curriculum and

assessment will succeed only if these promises arewell kept, We are persuaded that the most impor-tant barriers to restructuring are the isolation ofschool practitioners and the paucity of learningopportunities available in schools, along withunequal acc!ss to the resources needed to providechallenging teaching for all students. Consequently,the State's efforts to offer incentives for reform andsafeguards for students in failing schools must bestructured to enhance opportunities for school learn-ing and professional development, and to ensurethat necessary resourcesranging from qualifiedteachers to curriculum materialsare put in placewhere schools are failing, An effective interventionsystem for diagnosing the underlying sources ofschool failure and for remedying them is an essentialcomponent of an accountability system that worksfor students.

Schools that demonstrate that they are serv-ing students well should be recognized both byhaving their success documented to be sharedwith other schools and by having greaterautonomy from State regulation. The means ofrecognizing school initiative and achievementshould promote learning and cooperation,rather than competition among schools,enabling us to create not just learner-centeredclassrooms, but also learning orgar izationsand a learning-oriented system of education inthe State of New York. One means for doing thisis to award grants to successful schools to furtherdevelop, document, and share their practices withother schools in school-to-school networks, much likethe teacher-to-teacher networks that have been sosuccessful in stimulating classroom and curriculumreforms. Such strategies are already in use in NewYork through such vehicles as the Excellence andAccountability Program (EAP) schools, the CompactPartnership schools, and the Coalition of EssentialSchools. These should be built upon and expandedwith a more widespread program for recognizing,documenting, and sharing school successes.

Intervention strategies that are diagnostic andprovide supports should be developed for schoolsthat are not serving students well. When the Stateascertains that there are serious shortcomings in aschool's practices and educational outcomes for stu-dents, a process should be triggered that enables andrequires State and local district intervention andproblem-solving. This problem-solving processshould involve a qualified team of educators in

17

'Ii

evaluating the nature and sources of problems. Itshould deal with the root causes of school failureincluding the availability and use of qualified per-sonnel, curriculum resources, student access to high-quality curriculum and teaching, teaching andadministrative strategies, organizational structures,student grouping and promotion practices, and othercore features that define students' experiences inschool.

The local school, in cooperation with the district,should develop a plan for remedying these problemsthat meets with State approval. The State and dis-trict should cooperatively assume responsibility forensuring that the resources and technical assistanceneeded to implement the plan are made available. Ifpolicy changes are needed to implement the plan orto ensure that the problems experienced by theschool do not recur on a regular basis (in that schoolor in other schools), then the State and local districtshould also assume responsibility for developingnew policies that are more supportive of school suc-cess and that ensure students' entitlement to highquality education is protected.

It is critical that the State's efforts to recognizesuccess and remedy failure be based on thoughtful,educationally sound means for identifying schoolsthat are succeeding or failing. We have learned fromexperience with other policy initiatives that whenincentives are triggered by simplistic measurementssuch as average school test scores, perverse incen-tives are created that harm students. Since suchmeasures can be manipulated with changes inschool population, schools often seek to boost theiraverage test scores in educationally counterproduc-tive ways: by encouraging low-scoring students todrop out or transfer, by refusing to admit low-scor-ing students, by retaining them in grade so thattheir scores look better on grade equivalent scores,or by placing them in special education so that theirscores don't count.

New York's efforts to support school success andprovide student safeguards must be more sophisti-cated and more educationally productivethanthese mechanistic approaches have proved to be.Our measures need to be based on the growth andsuccess of all students in the school and on educa-tionally sound evaluations of school practices. Theincentive structure must provide incentives forschools which provide wonderful forms of educationto be rewarded for opening their doors to the stu-dents who are in the greatest educational need and

for supporting the spread of these educationalinnovations to as many other schools as possible.

Implementation

The Council recognizes that the changes impliedby the Compact and by our companion recommenda-tions will require rethinking and restructuring ofmany fundamental aspects of current school opera-tions, including school structures, the ways in whichstaff and time are allocated and used, the kinds ofteaching strategies that are employed, the ways inwhich adults and students are organized for instruc-tion and the relationships of schools with parents,students, and their communities. Implementationwill depend upon organizational development aswell as individual practitioner learning about newpossibilities and practices. These kinds of reformscannot be accomplished by mandate. They requireinvestments in the capacity of schools and schoolpeople to reflect upon and analyze their practicesand to develop alternative possibilities, along withinfusions of knowledge and information aboutstrategies that can transform curriculum, teaching,and assessment.

The Council identified a number of factors as crit-ical to the implementation of the Compact and theserecommendations. Two of themfunding and staffdevelopmentare singled out for special attention,and an outline for a comprehensive implementationplan follows.

FundingThere are three related aspects ofschool funding that will influence the implementa-tion of the Compact in important ways.

(1) Equity in funding-As part of theState's fundamental ac.:ountability, it should beseeking adequate and equitable per pupil allocationsof funds (adjusting for students' special needs)between districts and within districts. It will beunfair and ultimately impossible to hold schools andstudents accountable for common outcomes if theState cannot be held accountable for the equitabledistribution of resources.

(2) Reallocation of educationalresourcesIn order to provide for the time neces-sary for teachers to conduct the kinds of teachingand assessment envisioned by the State's learningoutcomes, for students to learn at their own paces,and for investments in ongoing teacher consultationand learning, schools and districts should be

18

considering how to reallocate resources in ways thatput more educational money in classrooms than inperipheral programs. This means investing in creat-ing more personalized environments with high qual-ity teaching in the first instance so that students areprevented from failing, rather than investing pri-marily in the bandaids that follow when the systemhas failedattendance officers, security guards,remediation programs, and special categorical pro-grams for students who have already fallen throughthe cracks. It also means investing more in teachers'capacity for teaching diverse learners well ratherthan in supervisory and inspection systems designedto compensate for the lack of investment in teachers.Changing the current situation will require deregu-lation and rethinking of staffing patterns as well ascategorical program requirements at the State andlocal levels.

(3) Funding for building school andteacher capacityFinally, implementing theCompact and the new curriculum and assessmentsystem will require special funding for school anddistrict-level technical assistance, staff development,and reforms of teacher and administrator prepara-tion programs to enable development and use of thenew approaches to curriculum and assessment.

It should also be noted that a commitment to theconcept that "all children can learn" requires atten-tion to children's development from birthemotion-al and verbal support, child care, preschool educa-tion, and supports for physical and mental health.This means that broader societal supports for childwelfare must accompany school reforms, and thatschools must be structured so that they can relateeffectively to a wide range of other services whichstudents need to learn successfully. Though qualityeducation cannot be bought at bargain prices, it isfar less expensive than the costs of so many of ourstudents leaving school facing a lifetime of low self-esteem, poor productivity, and periodic welfaredependency.

,Staff development and technical assistanceThekinds of reforms called for by the Compact requiremajor investments in both teacher and administra-tion knowledge about curriculum, teaching, andassessment and organizational capacities to supportthese kinds of learning and assessment opportuni-ties. Furthermore, the kinds of capacity-buildingactivities needed must extend beyond traditionalapproaches: one-shot inservice days will not be sufficient to transform the culture and practices of

schools. The State must find new and effectivemeans for investing in staff development, organi-zational development, and reform- (4 teacherand administrator preparation prog ums.

Both staff development and initial preparation forteachers and administrators should help developunderstandings of:

-the purposes of A Compact for Learning,including much higher learning expectations forall students, and major reorganization of educa-tion;

how to teach and assess in ways that identifyand support different learning styles, talents,and modes of performance;

how to facilitate higher order learning andstudents' capacities to learn independently (i.e.helping students learn how to learn, to accessand use information, to generate knowledge);

how to develop, use, and evaluate the productsof a range of assessment strategies, includingteacher observations, student work samples(portfolios, projects, and performance tasks), andperformance tests.

Staff development should be conceived as ongoingand embedded in the process of developing and eval-uating curriculum and assessment tasks. As teach-ers and students engage in these teaching, learning,and assessment activitiesand as teachers consultwith one another in collectively developing, analyz-ing, and evaluating student worka powerful formof learning occurs. An important, part of staff devel-opment, then, should include timealong withresources of research, information, and expertisefor teachers to work together on the developmentand implementation of the assessment system.Changes in school schedules (and concomitant hir-ing of additional staff to allow for new allocations oftime and people) will be important.

Teachers centers, principals centers and local uni-versities that have developed expertise can betapped to serve as resources for staff development toaugment other school district resources. The Stateshould sponsor the development, synthesis, and sys-tematic dissemination of research and informationabout new forms of assessment so that schools anddistricts have ready access to these resources forassessment development and staff development.

19

i

Libraries can be used more creatively as sources ofinformation for schools and teachers about theseissues.

Strategies and supports for organizational devel-opment will also be important: schools and districtsmust learn how to organize themselves to engenderand support new forms of teaching, learning, andassessment. Networks of schools and districts shouldbe important bases for this kind of learning. SEDregional teams should focus on providing supportsfor organizational learning and restructuring.Technical assistance should be less a one-on-one con-sulting relationship than a process of helping dis-tricts and schools forge connections to each otherand to the resources and expertise necessary to helpthem explore new organizational approaches.

Finally, the ongoing nurturance of learner-cen-tered teaching in New York State will depend on theongoing work of schools of education in preparingpractitioners for the more demanding and productiveforma of teaching and management required inCompact schools. Incentives to stimulate and theninstitutionalize innovations in teach( r education andadministrator education will be needed. Professionaldevelopment schools which prepare incoming teach-ers and administrators in partnerships between uni-versities and local school systems should be createdin schools that demonstrate "leading edge" practicesthat support the goals of the Compact.

A Plan for Implementation

The Council feels strongly that the implementa-tion of the Curriculum and Assessment reportshould be managed in congruence with the imple-mentation of all other parts of the Compact. The sev-eral strands of the Compact should be compatibleand coordinated. In addition, it is imperative thatthe implementation of this Council's recommenda-tions proceed in careful alignment, such that theRegents' Goals, the State's learning outcomes, thecurriculum frameworks, and the assessment systemall work together to support the goals of theCompact. The Council recommends that implemen-tation plans include at least the following stages andstrategies:

(1) Development of a long -range plan foractualizing the Compact and these recommen-dations with incremental steps toward fullimplementationIt is important for districts tokiww where the State is headed over the next ten

years, and to know what steps will be taken alongthe way. The changes need to be as sweeping as theCompact's promises imply, yet they need to occurincrementally, allowing for appropriate transitionsand learning opportunities, for local experimenta-tion, and State and local adjustments. The planshould not compromise the desired goals by limitingthe endpoint to what is feasible today, yet it shouldnot compromise the attainment of those goals byseeking to turn the system on its head overnight.The plan should describe some changes that can bemade immediately, some changes that can be madegradually by the provision of options and alterna-tives for districts that are prepared to use them, andsome that will be made over a period of years.

20

(2) Public information and involvementInitially and throughout the implementationprocess, it will be very important to engage in publicdialogue and to develop strategies for public involve-ment. A "caravan" of State Education Department,Council, and Curriculum Committee representativesshould be organized to present the plan around theState, discussing why these changes are proposed,what they consist of, and why they are importantnow. Other continuing strategies for informing andinvolving the public could include steps to bring com-munity members together to work through parts ofthe curriculum and assessment plan, such as thedevelopment of local learning goals and standardsand the development of assessment strategies, muchin the way Vermont developed its portfolios. Thereshould be several layers of participation, with across-section of parties involved in development,school practitioners and other community memberscommenting, then additional discussion and refine-ment within professional organizations and schoolagencies. The process should include parent educa-tion and should involve networking with communitygroups, libraries, museums, workplaces, churchgroups, and other agencies in the community. Itshould illustrate the participatory, collaborativemodel for accountability and assessment envisionedby the Compact.

(3) Support and dissemination of promisingpracticesThe State should learn from local inno-vations and find ways to share knowledge about suc-cessful practices. New York already has a number ofinitiatives underway in which schools and districtsare engaged in transforming curriculum and assess-ment in the ways recommended here. The Compactpartnership program, the EAP schools, the Middle-Level Challenge Schools, the Coalition of Essential

2.)

Schools network, and districts participating in theNew Standards project are examples. These initia-tives should be documented and disseminated in away that draws out lesson" eor practice and for poli-cy, including regulations or deregulation needed tosupport the new standards and assessments. Toassist other districts in learning about how to stimu-late change, the State Education Department shouldpublicize innovations and the variances it hasapproved, educating other schools about the freedomoffered by the Compact and what can be done withit. The State should support the synthesis and dis-semination of research and knowledge about newcurriculum and assessment practices throughlibraries, networks, centers, and other means.

In addition, the State should consider expandingthe school partnership program to stimulate morewidespread experimentation, and should launch pilotsthat are designed to try out particular ideas that arepart of the plan. Because districts are at differentstages of implementing the Compact, the State shouldalso create a District Partnership Program which freesup selected districts from existing regulations,enabling them to demonstrate, in cooperation with theState, that they can develop their own systems ofaccountability of assessment in a holistic manner,rather than requesting waivers or clearances one at atime.

(4) Developing and enacting legislation andregulations needed to implement the planTheSED should conduct a thorough review and analysis ofwhat statutory and regulatory changes are needed toimplement the plan, and launch those immediately.The SED should also identify and seek to remove regu-latory barriers that currently exist and would make theimplementation of the plan difficult or impossible forlocal schools and districts. The State should seek toavoid layering ever more requirements on local dis-tricts without removing pre-existing requirements thatconflict or interfere with the Compact's intentions. Inparticular, the State needs to remove proceduralrequirements for specific course-taking, grade-levelorganizations, or school structures that impede imple-

menting the Compact's promise to focus on what stu-dents actually know and can do as a result of schooling.

(5) Developing and enacting a bu et for mmenting the planThe SED should analyze theareas and types of funding needed to provide theimplementation supports described here and createa budget to pursue them.

(6) Creating and implementing a .plan for staffdevelopment and technical assistance which uses avariety of existing State resourcesschool networks,Teachers Centers, universities, libraries, SEDteamsand designates what additional resourcesmay need to be created to ensure that districts,schools, and teachers have the capacity to engage inthe kinds of practices required for student successwith these new learning outcomes.

This plan should include needed changes inteacher and administrator preparation programs,and investment strategies for encouraging thosechanges, to ensure that educators are prepared todevelop and use these kinds of teaching andassessment practices.

(7) Integrating the school review process with thecurriculum and assessment reformsThe schoolquality review process currently under developmentwill be an important component of the overallaccountability system and an important tool fororganizational learning and development. Careshould be taken to ensure that it is developed in tan-dem with, and as a complement to, the implementa-tion of new standards, curriculum, and assessments.

(8) EvaluationThe State must plan for how itwill evaluate the appropriateness of localdistrict/school assessment systems. The State shouldalso plan for continuing evaluation and revision ofeach component of this new system as they operateindividually and in combination. We should assumethat this is a learning process and plan to continual-ly reflect on how things are going, assuming thesystem will evolve and change over time.

APPENDIX A

Principles for an Assessment System

1. The assessment system should embody the learning outcomes that are established in the curriculumframeworks, and should include aspects of the school program that affect the achievement of student out-comes.

Assessment tasks should reflect integrated performance skills as they are used in the worldoutside of school.

The demands posed by assessment tasks should include the full range of performances and abil-ities desired of students, extending beyond recall of facts and simple operations to critical analysisand reflection, synthesis of information and integration of skills, problem structuring and problemsolving, production, imagination, and invention.

The assessment system should create multiple strands of evidence about student abilities, theirprocesses of learning, and achievements, incorporating different types of tests, tasks, and documen-tation (e.g., written and oral examinations, performance tasks, student projects, cumulative portfo-lios of student work, records of achievement, structured observations and teachers' descriptive state-ments).

2. The many different purposes of assessment require a variety of assessment strategies tailored to meetthose purposes. No single test or vehicle can serve all purposes equally well. The assessment system forNew York should be designed to provide appropriate mechanisms for:

providing a wide variety of useful information about individual student capacities, growth. andprogress that can

-identify students' talents, their developed abilities, and their needs.

-inform instruction, assist reflective practice by providing information on students'progress and performance in an integrated ongoing fashion.

-communicate expectations, achievements, and progress to students, parents, andcommunities in ways that are open and supportive of self-assessment.

-support decisions about school graduation.

-support local dialogue, teacher development, and school improvement and restruc-turing.

improving student learning and performance y stimulating Productive school and teachingpractices that

-focus on challenging learning goals for all students

-help all students learn, and intervene to prevent students from failing

-promote student (and school) effort and valued behaviors

22

monitoring and reporting on overall student achievement and progress

evaluating State and local programs

developing means by which schools, districts. communities. and the State can hold themselvesaccountable for focusing on the needs of' learners and improving the services and opportunitiesthey provide

3. The assessment system should include both State and local components focusing on challenging learningtools developed at both levels. State and local assessments should be articulated so that they address thedesired learning outcomes in complementary ways. Different components of the system will serve differ-ent purposes, and the system as a whole will be coherent and sensible from the point of view of' teachersand students.

The assessment system should include:

areas in which effective and authentic assessments are developed by the State

areas in which schools will be required to develop assessments which serve to assist teachingand learning locally. These should be responsive to the standards they have developed as well as toState learning goals.

areas which schools will show that they are systematically addressing in their programs, even ifthese are not directly assessed (e.g., developing student responsibility)

provisions for schools and local communities to articulate and assess learning outcomes theyvalue in addition to those required.

The assessment system should:

be constructed to provide needed information appropriately and economically, respecting andsupporting schools', teachers', and students' time for teaching and learning. The system should aimto eliminate testing providing information that is duplicative or of low utility, while increasing thequality of' information provided by assessments that are closely connected to teaching and learninggoals.

use sample testing for program audit purposes where appropriate, and carefully selected Stateassessment points supplemented by rich, cumulative local assessments of student progress.

be devel -ed to ensure that assessments are credible, publicly defensible, reliable and valid forthe purposes for which they are used.

be supported by State technical assistance to local districts, schools, and teachers in developing

-authentic and instructionally valid forms of assessment,

-instructional and organizational strategies to achieve the new learning outcomes,and

-ways of educating the public about the need for and the nature of the changes incurriculum goals, assessment strategies, and school structures.

23

4.The assessment system should be designed to:

survey possibilities for student growth, rather than to deny students access to educationalopportunities.

encourage valued and varied kinds of learning and activities in classrooms, providing clear cri-teria of performance and open access to the processes and products of assessments so that they canmotivate learning.

allow students to judge their own achievement, developing self-direction for attaining higherperformance levels.

provide opportunities for students to engage in extended, real-world, cooperative tasks that pro-vide worthwhile learning experiences illustrating the relevance and utility of the knowledge andskill being acquired.

5.The assessment system should include means for assessing the extent to which school practices and stu-dents' opportunities to learn are supportive of desired learner outcomes. An external school review sys-tem which incorporates self-examination, focuses on school climate, curriculum and practices should bedeveloped to help schools and communities document, examine, and improve their own practices and toensure that adequate resources are available and appropriately used in support of student learning.

APPENDIX B

The Curriculum and Assessment Committees

The Curriculum and Assessment Committees were established to work with the Curriculum andAssessment Councilbringing expertise in the school subjects, pedagogy and community organizationsranging from the arts to business and industry to the tasks of revising curriculum and assessment programsin New York.

A number of basic working assumptions and principles guided the collective work of the Council and thespecific Committees as the Outcomes were being developed. Both the Council and the Committees beganwith an integrated charge and set of assignments from the Commissioner; a unified set of concerns abouteducational needs; and a shared commitment to fundamental change.

Following their charge, the Committees have had the tasks of providing advice concerning the specifica-tion of and design of programs for desired learning outcomes; related relevant standards; new systems ofassessment; and needed programs of staff development for their respective subject areas. Building on theprinciples the Council has developed, their specifications of learning outcomes and program directions are tomeet Regents' Goals; allow for local choice and design in curriculum and assessment; guide development ofeducational texts, software, and materials; and inform and assist instruction. The Committees were to con-sult, as they have, other educators and specialists throughout the State and the nation on matters of desiredoutcomes, assessment, staff development, and school reform for elementary, middle and secondary educa-tion.

Curriculum and Assessment Committees for Mathematics, Science, and Technology, English/LanguageArts and Social Studies were appointed in November and December of 1991. These three Committees havecompleted interim reports which are being reviewed by the Council members and Education Departmentstaff. All reports are providing a focus on philosophy and outcomes while some contain further informationrelated to the charges given to the Committees.

A Committee for Languages Other Than English, was appointed in January of 1992. Committees forHealth, Physical Education and Home Economics; Technical and Occupational Studies; and Arts andHumanities were appointed in April and June of 1992 and conducted their first meeting in October 1992.

Co-chairs of the Council and Co-chairs of the Curriculum and Assessment Committees have worked tocoordinate the activities of all groups through these initial months to clarify issues, resolve questions andgenerally bring articulation to the work of all.

The major outcomes developed by the Committees are being further refined by the development of stan-dards at elementary, middle and secondary levels. The Council, the Committees and various interestedpublics will be reviewing the work throughout the next cw months. Feedback from potential userscom-munity and board members, teachers and administratorswill serve to give reactions to outcomes from dif-ferent standpoints: Are the outcomes sufficiently clear to develop a local program? Do they indicate desiredabilities and performances sufficiently clearly to assess them? Do the standards cover important areas andare they high enough? Are the outcomes truly representative of what the publics think the students shouldknow and be able to do?

The Council and Committees will work with the Education Department staff in reviewing the answersthat the field provides to these and other relevant cuestions and in revising the work accordingly.

The broad learning outcomes produced by three of the Committees to date are included below. TheCouncil and Committees will consider these independent pieces of work for those aspects that are generic;pertain to all the subjects and are suitable for application across all the disciplines.

25

English Language Arts

The broad learning Outcomes for English Language Arts follow. In developing the outcomes for English,the committee considered English not only as a separate discipline within the school curriculum but also asthe means of constructing meaning in every area of the individual's life. Therefore, the outcomes reflect theindividual's language use in all of the areas of endeavor in which he/she is engaged. The development ofsuch language proficiency is not the sole purview of the English teacher.

The committee defines outcomes as the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that individuals can and dohabitually demonstrate as a result of instruction and experience.

In English Language Arts the knowledge essential to students includes an understanding of:

the interpretive (as opposed to the denotative) nature of languagethe control that language exerts on individuals and groupsthe means through which individuals and groups can exert control over languagethe functions and limitations of linguistic and literary conventionsthe value of the language, literature, and perspectives of multiple culturesthe ways language conventions and interpretations differ across situationsthe aesthetic qualities of language and literature

The essential skills and attitudes in language include an ability and propensity to:

critique spoken and written languageexperiment and take risks with languageconstruct multiple interpretationsexplore the consequences of languageuse language to enhance personal lifeuse language conventions productively, critically, and creatively

These essential understandings, abilities, and propensities are reflected in the performance indicators forfour broad language outcomes.

-Students will read, write, listen, and speak for aesthetic response and expres-sion. As listeners and readers, students will enjoy and appreciate both oral and written textsand performances, relate texts and performances to themselves, and respond sensitively to textsand performances with diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions. As speakers and writ-ers, they will use oral and written language to express self and to evoke an aesthetic response inothers.

-Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, con-cepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral presentations and writtentexts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language to acquire, interpret,apply, and transmit information.

-Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.As listeners and readers, students will use multiple criteria to form opinions and to make judg-ments about experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others. As speakers andwriters, they will present, in oral and written language from a variety of perspectives, opinionsand judgments on experiences, ideas, information, and issues.

-Students will write, listen, and speak for social interaction. Students will use oraland written language to establish and maintain positive interpersonal relationships.

26

Mathematics, Science, and technology

The broad learning Outcomes for Math, Science and Technology follow. The intent of such Outcomes is toimprove the mathematical, scientific, and technological literacies of all students; as well as the knowledgeand skills at higher levels needed by those who can or should move on to advanced studies and careers inthese fields. We note that for both basic science and math literacy needs and more sophisticated levels ofstudy and achievement, the goals embedded in these Outcomes indicate that students should not just knowsomething about, but should become capable of making concrete use of, the essential ways of knowing anddoing described and used in mathematics, science, and technology.

Students will have knowledge, skills and values that empower them to use mathematical analysis,scientific inquiry, and technological concepts, as appropriate, to pose questions, seek answers anddesign solutions.

Students will acquire an understanding of the basic concept of systems and their uses in the analysisand interpretation of complex interrelated phenomena in mathematics, technology and science.

Students will be able to use a full range of information systems including computer technology toaccess, organize, process, evaluate and communicate information within the context of mathematics, sci-ence and technology. This includes networking with different school and community resour.r.s (libraries,people, museums, business, industry) to achieve a balanced method of processing information.

Students will demonstrate knowledge of science's contribution to our understanding of (1) their physi-cal setting, (2) their living environment, and (3) the human organism.

Students will acquire the knowledge, skills and values relative to the tools, materials and processes oftechnology to create products, services, systems and environments. This will be done within the contextof human endeavors such as agriculture, health, production, shelter, transportation and communication.

Students will understand and use (a) numerical relationships, (b) symbolic relationships. (c) geomet-ric patterns and relationships, (d) logic and reascaing, (e) probability and statistics, and f) measure-ment.

Students will demonstrate the ability to identify the interconnectedness of mathematics, technology,and science and to transfer systems of knowledge, internally and externally to other areas of learningand performance.

Students will be motivated to strive for knowledge and understanding on a continuing basis through-out their lives, to enrich and enhance themselves, and to improve their capabilities to use mathematics,science and technology in making informed choices about daily living and societal issues.

Students will leave high school with proficiencies in mathematics, science and technology that willenable them to:

A. Work cooperatively with othersB. Achieve success in a post-secondary school settingC. Enter the work place ready to adapt successfully to different jobs.D. Enter the workplace ready with the skills necessary for continuing advancement in a

high performance job.

27

Social Studies

The broad learning Outcomes for Social Studies follow. While the first nine of these 18 Outcomes are con-tent-centered, the last nine focus moi e on skills and capacities for application, along with communication,participation, and attitudes. We note that these Outcomes reflect a view of social studies which includes thesocial sciences generally, history, as well as elements of the humanities and cultural studies, The Outcomesalso reflect awareness of the interpretive and perspectival forms of knowledge, the multi-cultural social con-text, and the global, technological, and ethical significance of the themes and resources addressed in socialstudies. We note that development of tolerance, engagement and partiApation, and empathetic understand-ing of differing points of view, including those represented in social research, are all expected of students, forwhom social studies are to be a resource and point of departure for responsible engagement in the socialworld.

Students will employ methods of inquiry from history and the social sciences to:

Understand that the people of the United States are united by shared values, practices, and traditionsdrawn from diverse sources and modified by the American experience.

Understand that the population of the United States is composed of diverse groups, for example, cul-tural, ethnic, racial, socio-economic and gender groups, and that differences frequently result in variedperspectives.

Analyze and evaluate historic, social, economic and political events of the U.S. and the world fromdiverse perspectives.

Compare political, economic, and cultural systems throughout the world - over time and in their geo-graphic settings,

Analyze human, technological, and natural factors which have supported stability and change, andevaluate their effects on individuals, groups, and societies.

Evaluate in light of up-to-date scholarship differing, competing, and changing interpretations ofevents, eras, ideas, and the roles played by individuals and groups.

--Understand global interdependence and assume personal and collective responsibility for humankindand the global environment.

Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the development of democratic principles and theideals of human rights in the U.S.

Understand that democratic principles and the ideals of human rights are evolving concepts in theU.S. and the world, that the U.S. has been an important model in this process, and that the struggle tobridge the gap between these principles and reality is a shared responsibility.

Participate as informed and responsible citizens in a democratic society.

Identify, access, organize, analyze, and interpret textual and non-textual data from diverse sources.

Develop and use decision-making and problem-solving skills.

Develop and use conflict mediation and resolution skills.

Communicate information clearly and effectively.

28

Respect the rights of others to think, act, and speak differently from themselves.

--Demonstrate socially responsible behavior as family members and participants in school, community,State, and world.

Develop civic values consistent with the ideals of the U.S. democratic principles.

Develop a positive sense of one's own worth.

APPENDIX C

Regents Goals for Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School Students

In 1991, The Board of Regents revised the Regents Goals for Elementary, Middle, and Secondary SchoolStudents to reflect its vision for students as they prepare to live and work in the 21st Century. Thesegoals are intended to inform and support educational planning locally and at the State 'rive], They arethe basis for the development of learning outcomes.

The revised goals have an increased emphasis on understanding and application of information andskirls, on the roles of adults and family members in society, and on critical employment skills. Theresponsibility for achieving the goals remains shared among the State, the local community, the school,the family, and the individual student.

The goals reflect the knowledge, skills, values, and character young people must acquire from their edu-cational experiences to enable them to take advantage of career opportunities; to exercise fully thtirrights and obligations as citizens of the United States of America and members of the world community;and to meet their responsibilities to self, family, and others.

The goals are the same for all students. However, all students are not the same. Each has different tal-ents, abilities, interests, emotions, and strengths. Schools must recognize and attend to these differencesin order to provide an educational experience that enables all students, regardless of circumstance orbackground, to succeed and achieve excellence.

The Regents Goals represent expectations for students. They are an integrated statement, of what stu-dents need to know, do, and be like. Taken together, the goals represent the judgment of the Board ofRegents as to the essential purposes of a comprehensive elementary, middle, and secondary education.

Goal 1:to:

Each student will master communication and computation skills as a foundation

1.1 Think logically and creatively1.2 Apply reasoning skills to issues and problems1.3 Comprehend written, spoken, and visual presentations in various media1.4 Speak, listen to, read, and write clearly and effectively in English1.5 Perform basic mathematical calculations1.6 Speak, listen to, read, and write at least one language other than English1,7 Use current and developing technologies for academic and occupational pursuits1.8 Determine what information is needed for particular purposes and be able to use libraries and

other resources to acquire, organize, and use that information for those purposes

Goal 2: Each student will be able to apply methods of inquiry and knowledge learnedthrough the following disciplines and use the methods and knowledge in interdiscipli-nary applications:

2.1 English language arts2.2 Science, mathematics, and technology2.3 History and social science2.4 Arts and humanities2.5 Language and literature in at least one language other than English2.6 Technological and occupational studies2,7 Physical education, health and home economics

30

Goal 3: Each student will acquire knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of theartistic, cultural, and intellectual accomplishments of civilization, and develop the skillsto express personal artistic talents. Areas include:

3.1 Ways to develop knowledge and appreciation of the arts3.2 Aesthetic judgments and the ability to apply them to works of art3.3 Ability to use cultural resources of museums, libraries, theaters, historic sites, and performing

arts groups3.4 Ability to produce or perform works in at least one major art form3.5 Materials, media, and history of major art forms3.6 Understanding of the diversity of cultural heritages

Goal 4: Each student will acquire and be able to apply knowledge about political, econom-ic, and social institutions and procedures in this country and other countries. Includedare:

4.1 Political, economic, and social processes and policies in the United States at national, State,and local levels

4.2 Political, economic, and social institutions and procedures in various nations; ability to com-pare the operation of such institutions; and understanding of the international interdepen-dence of political, economic, social, cultural and environmental systems

4.3 Roles and responsibilities the student will assume as an adult, including those of parent, homemanager, family member, worker, learner, consumer, and citizen

4.4 Understanding of the institution of the "family," respect for its function, diversity, and varietyof form, and the need to balance work and family in a bias-free democratic society

Goal 5: Each student will respect and practice basic civic values and acquire r'nd use theskills, knowledge, understanding, and attitudes necessary to participate in democraticself-government. Included are:

5.1 Understanding and acceptance of the values of justice, honesty, self-discipline, due process,equality, and majority rule with respect for minority rights

5.2 Respect for self, others, and property as integral to a self-governing, democratic society5.3 Ability to apply reasoning skills and the process of democratic government to resolve societal

problems and disputes

Goal 6: Each student will develop the ability to understand, appreciate, and cooperatewith people of different race, sex, ability, cultural heritage, national origin, religion, andpolitical, economic, and social background, and to understand and appreciate their val-ues, beliefs, and attitudes.

Goal 7: Each student will acquire the knowledge of the ecological consequences of choicesin the use of the environment and natural resources.

Goal 8: Each student will be prepared to enter upon post-secondary education and/orcareer-level employment at graduation from high school. Included are:

8.1 The interpersonal, organizational, and personal skills needed to work as a group member8.2 The ability to use the skills of decision-making, problem-solving, and resource management8.3 An understanding of ethical behavior and the importance of values8.4 The ability to acquire and use the knowledge and skills to manage and lead satisfying personal

lives and contribute to the common good

31 4 ,)

Goal 9: Each student will develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes which will enhancepersonal life management, promote positive parenting skills, and will enable functioningeffectively in a democratic society. Included are:

9.1 Self-esteem9.2 Ability to maintain physical, mental, and emotional health9.3 Understanding of the ill effects of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs and of other practices dan-

gerous to health9.4 Basic skills for living, decision-making, problem solving, and managing personal resource, to

attain goals9.5 Understanding of the multiple roles adults assume, and the rights and responsibilities of those

roles9.6 Basic skills for parenting and child development

Goal 10: Each student will develop a commitment to lifetime learning and constructive useof such learning, with the capacity for undertaking new studies, synthesizing new knowl-edge and experience with the known, refining the ability to judge, and applying skillsneeded to take ethical advantage of technological advances.

4 A.

32

GRADUATION BY PORTFOLIO AT CENTRAL PARK EAST SECONDARY SCHOOL

As students prepare for graduation at Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS), a high school of 450 studentsin an East Harlem neighborhood in New York City, they work intensively to prepare portfolios of their work that willreveal their competence and performance in 14 areas. These range from science and technology to ethics and social.,issues, from school and community service to mathematics, literature, and history The portfolios will be evaluated bya graduation committee composed of teachers from different subjects and grade levels, an outside examiner, and a stu-dent peer. The committee members examine the entries and hear the students' oral "defense" of their work as theydetermine when each student is ready to graduate.

Of the fourteen Portfolios, seven are presented orally before the Graduation Committee, four from the core subjects.(asterisked below). The other seven are evaluated independently, although the student may be asked about them dur-ing the Graduation Committee hearing. While the final review is based on the individual student's accomplishments,Portfolio requirements can be based on group work.

The fourteen Portfolios include the following:

1. Post Graduate Plan: Each student outlines his or her current purpose for earning a diploma, since "reflect-,ing on purposes helps to set goals." Long and short-range career and life goals, financial concerns, living arrange--ments, and indicators of progress, such as examinations, interviews, and letters of reference are included in thissection.

2. Autobiography: This provides another opportunity for the student to reflect on his or her life and to planfor the future. Material included in this area may examine family history, special events or relationships, values orbeliefs in any of a variety of media--written or oral narrative, essay, art, video, drama, music, or other form selectedby the student.

3. School /Community Service and Internship: Opportunities for working and serving others are part of stu -.dent experiences each year starting in 7th grade. Students develop a formal resume of their work experiences along.with a project that demonstrates what they have learned from one or more of these experiences. Projects can includeessays, videos, work samples, reference letters, and other demonstrations of their accomplishments combined withevidence of what they have learned.

4. Ethics and Social Issues: Students demonstrate their capacity to see multiple perspectives, weigh and useevidence, and reason about social and moral issues in any of a number of waysby staging a debate, writing an edito-rial, discussing important issues raised in a novel or film, and/or creating a project that demonstrates these abilities.

5. Fine Arts and Aesthetics: Creative expression and creative appreciation are both evaluated. Students mustcreate a "hands-on" exhibition of performance in any of the arts, and offer evidence of knowledge or understanding inan aesthetic area by studying or critiquing a work, an artist, or a field of artistic expression.

6, Mass Media: Students must show that they understand how different forms of media work and how theyaffect people and their thinking. This understanding can be demonstrated through many types of projects or activities,ranging from essays to exhibits or media presentations, and must include a relevant bibliography.

7. Practical Skills: In line with CPESS's commitment to preparing students for all aspects of life, they mustshow evidence of working knowledge in a number of areas, ranging from health and medical care to employment, citi-zenship, independent living, computers and technology, and legal rightsin a variety of ways, ranging from securinga driver's license to registering to vote to demonstrating the ability to operate a computer.

5,atcamajay: A teacher-made test and a student-designed performance assessment are used to evaluategeographical knowledge and the ability to use geographical tools such as maps and globes.

33

... ... . . . . . . .

9. Second Language and/or Dual Language: All students must demonstrate competence to work in a languageother than English as a speaker, listener, reader, and writer. This requirement may be met through the New YorkState language proficiency exam or a College Board examination. In addition, all students must descr11..., person-al experience with dual language issues and be prepared to discuss a key social or cultural issue associated withlanguage use.

10 Science and Technology:* Students demonstrate knowledge in traditional waysa summary of thework they have completed in high school and passage of a teacher-made or state competency testas well as in per-formances that demonstrate use of scientific methodology (e.g. conducting and documenting an experiment) andawareness of how science is used in the modern world (e.g. by staging a debate or conducting research on a scientificdevelopment analyzing social costs and benefits).

11, Mathematics:* Students must demonstrate basic skills knowledge by passing a state competency test and.a teacher-made test. In addition, they must demonstrate higher order thinking abilities by developing a project using:,mathematics for political, civic or consumer purposes (e.g. social science statistics or polling; architectural blueprints).and either scientific or "pure" mathematics (e.g. using mathematics in a scientific application and/or studying atheoretical problem.)

12. Literature:* Students prepare a list of texts they have read in a wide range of genres to serve as the basis:.for discussion with the Graduation Committee. They also submit samples of their own essays about literary works orfigures, demonstrating +heir capacity to reflect on and communicate effectively about literary products and ideas.

.13. History:* In addition to passing a state competency test or faculty-designed test in history, students mustprepare an overview of the areas of history they have studied in secondary school and a time-line of major events andpersons. They must also demonstrate understanding of historical work by conducting historical research using prima-ry as well as secondary sources and developing a bibliography. Their work must draw connections between and amongpast and present events, weigh and use evidence, speculate on other possibilities, and evaluate how history is used orabused in current debates.

14 P_hysical Challenge: Students demonstrate and/or document their participation and proficiency in anyteam or individual sport or activity over the past four years. The goal is to encourage the development of life-longhealth habits and attitudes of independence, interdependence, personal responsibility, and sportsmanship.

A final Senior project is also required in an area of particular interest to the student, which may be one of the,portfolio items explored in greater depth.

Portfolio items are evaluated for quality and demonstrated mastery using a grid which reflects major criteria: aviewpoint which encompasses wide knowledge and deep understanding; an ability to draw connections amonginformation and ideas; appropriate use of evidence; an engaging voice and awareness of audience; use of properconventions; and an understanding of the relevance of the topic/issue to contemporary concerns. When studentshave completed the portfolio, they have learned to inquire, critique, analyze, present, and defend their ideas. They.,have also learned to manage long-range tasks that require invention, planning, perseverance, initiative, reflection,and revision. In short, they are ready for the world outside of school.

34a. )