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authentic instruction and assessment common standards for rigor and relevance in teaching academic subjects fred m newmann m bruce king dana l carmichael prepared for the iowa department of education 2007[close]
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state of iowa department of education grimes state office building 400 e 14th st des moines ia 50319-0146 state board of education gene e vincent carroll president rosie hussey clear lake vice president charles c edwards jr des moines sister jude fitzpatrick west des moines brian gentry des moines kameron dodge student member cambridge wayne kobberdahl council bluffs mary jean montgomery spencer max phillips woodward administration judy a jeffrey director and executive officer of the state board of education gail m sullivan chief of staff division of prek-12 education kevin fangman administrator teaching and learning services jim reese chief rita martens consultant it is the policy of the iowa department of education not to discriminate on the basis of race creed color sex sexual orientation gender identity national origin gender disability religion age political party affiliation or actual or potential parental family or marital status in its programs activities or employment practices as required by the iowa code sections 216.9 and 256.102 titles vi and vii of the civil rights act of 1964 42 u.s.c § 2000d and 2000e the equal pay act of 1973 29 u.s.c § 206 et seq title ix educational amendments 20 u.s.c §§ 1681-1688 section 504 rehabilitation act of 1973 29 u.s.c § 794 and the americans with disabilities act 42 u.s.c § 12101 et seq if you have questions or grievances related to compliance with this policy by the iowa department of education please contact the legal counsel for the iowa department of education grimes state office building des moines ia 50319-0146 telephone number 515/281-5295 or the director of the office for civil rights u.s department of education 111 n canal street suite 1053 chicago il 60606-7204.[close]
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anks to the staff of teaching and learning services iowa department of education for initiating a pilot project with iowa high schools to help students produce authentic intellectual work and for their support in preparing this publication we look forward to participating in the project with the department and iowa high schools f.m.n m.b.k d.l.c july 2007[close]
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what should be the main goals for student learning across academic subjects in a school is report is for teachers and administrators considering whether to invest in sustained professional development on instruction and assessment that emphasizes the goal of student production of authentic intellectual work aiw reading and discussing this report is intended as a first step in an extended adventure in professional development for schools to increase rigor and relevance in teaching academic subjects to diverse students e framework sets standards for teaching academic subjects that · · · maximize expectations of intellectual rigor for all students increase student interest in academic work support teachers taking time to teach for in-depth understanding rather than superficial coverage of material provide a common conception of student intellectual work that promotes professional community among teachers of different grade levels and subjects and most important equip students to address the complex intellectual challenges of work civic participation and managing personal affairs in the contemporary world · · from 1990 to 2003 researchers completed studies at the wisconsin center for education research at the university of wisconsin-madison center on organization and restructuring of schools cors and research institute on secondary reform for youth with disabilities riser the university of minnesota and at the consortium on chicago school research which demonstrated that students who experienced higher levels of authentic instruction and assessment showed higher achievement than students who experienced lower levels of authentic instruction and assessment e results were consistent for grades 3-12 across different subject areas mathematics social studies language arts science and for different students regardless of race gender or socioeconomic status.[close]
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most of the research has not evaluated the impact of programs deliberately trying to implement the aiw framework rather than training teachers to use the framework and then evaluating their success we used the framework as a research tool to measure the quality of education provided in many schools regardless of the specific approaches to curriculum and instruction the schools had adopted e framework allowed us to describe the quality of instruction teachers assignments and student work across grade levels and subjects but in conducting the research we did not share the language of the framework or the specific rubrics for evaluating instruction and achievement in describing their teaching teachers used language such as inquiry teaching students to think teaching for understanding and helping students to apply their learning but they did not use the language of the framework or its specific standards to describe their work however the powerful research results that emerged in several studies led us to conclude that if the framework for aiw and the scoring rubrics were deliberately used by teachers to guide instruction students and teachers alike should benefit.1 we realize that the aiw framework focuses exclusively on only one aspect of instruction authentic intellectual quality as such it does not address many other issues important to teachers a broader more complete look at the quality of instruction would probably also include other concerns such as what specific curriculum content to include how to achieve coherence among daily lessons that connect to a larger unit of study and to other grade levels and how to generate a positive climate in classrooms such concerns while legitimate can often override attention to intellectual quality our purpose here is to support a systematic focus on intellectual rigor and relevance as defined by criteria for authentic intellectual work education in the u.s and efforts to reform it face persistent obstacles that undermine emphasis on rigor and relevance low expectations for intellectual challenge and academic excellence especially for students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds lack of student engagement in their courses demands for extensive coverage of subject matter proliferation of incoherent reform projects and professional development initiatives and testing programs that emphasize only basic skills and recall of knowledge all these leave teachers administrators parents students and the public at large without a clear sense of the core intellectual mission of schooling 1 avery freeman and carmichael-tanaka 2002 and ladwig et al 2007 present positive results of such training.[close]
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since the 1980s national commissions with representation by public officials the business community higher education private foundations and the k-12 education profession have tried to address some of these issues through state and national standards for curriculum and assessment improvement has been demonstrated for some students in some subjects or grade levels within some districts and states but on a national scale the movement toward standards has not significantly alleviated the main problems many reasons are offered for lack of success inadequate political support and funding for reforms which lead to only short-term rather than sustained effort controversy over the mission of curriculum and schooling lack of coordination among key actors that influence classroom activity and inequity in the power of socio-economic groups that deprives lower-income students of educational opportunity unless these social and political issues are addressed more comprehensively the standards movement alone is unlikely to improve education on a large scale whether policy makers and larger institutions will successfully tackle these systemic problems remains to be seen but even with these issues unresolved individual schools and districts can increase student achievement for all socio-economic groups with curriculum classroom instruction and assessment of student work guided by a framework of authentic instruction and assessment.[close]
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for most students the usual work demanded in school is rarely considered meaningful significant or worthwhile learning tasks call for specific memorized information retrieval of given information or application of routine computational procedures but rarely do they call for higher-level thinking interpretation or in-depth conceptual understanding schoolwork is regarded largely as a series of contrived exercises necessary to earn credentials grades promotions required for future success but for many especially poor students of color this work leads to disengagement and dropping out e challenge for students is to figure out how to comply with teachers and tests requirements rather than to use their minds to solve important meaningful problems or answer interesting challenging questions what is meaningful intellectual work to define it more specifically we analyzed the kinds of mastery demonstrated by successful adults who continually work with knowledge for example scientists musicians childcare workers construction contractors health care providers business entrepreneurs repair technicians teachers lobbyists and citizen activists adults in these diverse endeavors face a common set of intellectual challenges that can serve as guidelines for education that extends beyond basic skills to more complex academic work we do not expect children to achieve the same level of mastery accomplished by skilled adults but identifying the nature of intellectual work in these professions can help to define criteria for intellectual performance necessary for success in contemporary society consider for example an engineer designing a bridge to complete the bridge design successfully the engineer relies on extensive factual knowledge from engineering architecture science and mathematics but the particular context for the bridge such as its length height peak points of stress and load and the impact of local variation in weather conditions require the engineer to organize analyze and interpret all this back-[close]
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ground information to make a unique product consider also a citizen trying to make an informed decision about whether an elected officeholder has done a good enough job to be reelected over the challengers or trying to make a convincing public statement to increase local funding for school security finally consider a single mother of pre-school children who calculates the costs and benefits of working outside the home paying for childcare and deciding how to choose among childcare providers e examples illustrate how diverse endeavors of work citizenship and personal affairs present adults with intellectual challenges that differ from those commonly experienced by students in schools such challenges can serve as guidelines for curriculum instruction and assessment that extend beyond the basics and extensive lists of content standards to more complex intellectual work compared to the work of students in school which often seems contrived and superficial the intellectual accomplishments of adults in diverse fields seem more meaningful as a short-hand phrase that signifies the difference between the intellectual accomplishment of skilled adults and the typical work that students do in school we refer to the more complex adult accomplishments as authentic intellectual work authentic is used here not to suggest that students are always unmotivated to succeed in conventional academic work or that basic skills and proficiencies should be devalued but only to identify some kinds of intellectual work as more complex and socially or personally meaningful than others more specifically authentic intellectual work involves original application of knowledge and skills rather than just routine use of facts and procedures it also entails careful study of the details of a particular problem and results in a product or presentation that has meaning beyond success in school we summarize these distinctive characteristics of authentic intellectual work as construction of knowledge through the use of disciplined inquiry to produce discourse products or performances that have value beyond school skilled adults in diverse occupations and participating in civic life face the challenge of applying basic skills and knowledge to complex problems that are often novel or unique to reach an adequate solution to new problems the competent adult has to construct knowledge because these problems cannot be solved by routine use of information or[close]
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skills previously learned such construction of knowledge involves organizing interpreting evaluating or synthesizing prior knowledge to solve new problems teachers often think of these operations as higher order thinking skills we contend however that successful construction of knowledge is best learned through a variety of experiences that call for this kind of cognitive work not by explicitly teaching a set of discrete thinking skills constructing knowledge alone is not enough e mere fact that someone has constructed rather than reproduced a solution to a problem is no guarantee that the solution is adequate or valid authentic adult intellectual accomplishments require that construction of knowledge be guided by disciplined inquiry by this we mean that they 1 use a prior knowledge base 2 strive for in-depth understanding rather than superficial awareness and 3 develop and express their ideas and findings through elaborated communication · prior knowledge base significant intellectual accomplishments build on prior knowledge accumulated in an academic or applied discipline students must acquire a knowledge base of facts vocabularies concepts theories algorithms and other conventions necessary to conduct rigorous inquiry transmitting a knowledge base along with basic skills is usually the central focus of direct instruction in content areas in-depth understanding a knowledge base of value to students involves more than being familiar with a broad survey of topics to be most powerful students must have a complex understanding of that knowledge that helps them gain deeper understanding of specific problems such understanding develops as one looks for imagines proposes and tests relationships among key facts events concepts rules and claims in order to clarify a specific problem or issue elaborated communication accomplished adults in a range of fields rely upon complex forms of communication both to conduct their work and to present its results e tools they use verbal symbolic graphic and visual provide qualifications nuances elaborations details and analogies woven into extended narratives explanations justifications and dialogue elaborated communication · ·[close]
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