Beyond the Bubble Test: How Performance Assessments Support 21st Century Learning

PRAISE FOR BEYOND THE BUBBLE TESTOnce again Linda Darling-Hammond has focused our attention on the facts. We don't have to destroy good education for the sake of 'accountability.' She lays it out in this clear and well-researched book. A must read for us all to rally around. --Deborah Meier, Senior Scholar, New York UniversityWith a background in classroom teaching, Linda Darling-Hammond has become our most authoritative writer on educational policy. In this book, she and her collaborators provide us with wise alternatives to the narrow conceptions of assessment that cause so many problems. Here we find information begging to be used! --David C. Berliner, Regents' Professor Emeritus, Arizona State UniversityIn an era of intensified reliance on testing as a tool of educational reform and improvement, it is imperative to consider the benefits of performance-based assessments on student learning. This volume should be read by anyone wishing for a fresh, accessible, and provocative summary of the issues most relevant to policy, practice, and continued research. --Michael J. Feuer, PhD, president, The National Academy of Education; Dean and Professor, Graduate School of Education and Human Development, The George Washington UniversityReaders who are concerned with conceptual leadership, instrument development, pedagogical practice, testing and measurement, as well as those interested in the generation of public policy will benefit from reading and understanding the ideas and the models provided in this splendidly conceived book. --Edmund W. Gordon, John M. Musser Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, Yale University; Richard March Hoe Professor of Psychology and Education, Emeritus, Teachers College, Columbia UniversityBeyond the Bubble Test offers welcomed relief to educators who are increasingly distressed by the over-reliance on standardized testing as the high-stakes factor in determining student, teacher, principal and school success. Linda Darling-Hammond's powerful research and thoughtful analysis build a persuasive case for rethinking how schools can and should adopt performance assessment to measure what matters most for students to be successful in the 21st Century. --Gail Connelly, Executive Director, National Association of Elementary School PrincipalsWe have been long overdue in these times of increasingly complex learning targets for a comprehensive update on our performance assessment state of affairs. It has arrived. Linda Darling-Hammond and Frank Adamson have collected what I believe to be the most complete analysis of this methodology yet published. It represents an outstanding resource for those concerned with current assessment policy, international developments, and performance assessment development. --Rick Stiggins, Assessment Policy and Training Consultant, Portland, Oregon