National Standards

With our change of Government in November cam a new focus in education - National Standards, AKA National Testing. On National Radio today there was a an interview with Minister Tolley and other personal from various educational sectors, including some children from Khandallah School in Wellington. These 9 and 10 year old talked about their writing and how they were critiquing each others writing to provide formative feed back. They were very articulate.
There is a lot to digest in the National Standards debate, and no doubt it will gather momentum. All the advisers at UC Education Plus hve been given a directive to attend a days PD on National Standards next month, which will help me to be better informed.
Points from today that I want to ponder on:
International PISA results 2007. Where are we compared to 2003?
John Hattie's research 2009, Feedback in the top 10 for making a difference to student learning.
Formative assessment
Points that concern me.
That age old adage... Weighing a pig frequently doesn't hep the pig to gain weight. Testing kids verbatim won't help them gain.
The data and the media, whats a fine balance.
Will this create elitist schools, white flight etc?
How can we use the data collected to make a difference to student's learning.
On Tuesday I shall ensure the students I work with know and understand exactly what the learning intentions are.
Watch this space