It feels like a lot of the AISI themes that have been a priority in recent years are at the core of competencies. Even the navigation (on the right side) of Alberta Education's website for this topic of competencies has these themes:
Okay, so what are these competencies? The following graphic is what you are guaranteed to see again and again and again in the next few years. The "three-Es" are the guiding traits students are expected to graduate with. How students achieve these is through all center items (creativity, communication, collaboration, etc.)
In my opinion, I very much understand the focus on competencies. I would love to focus on my student's character traits and build our next generation. My biggest question is in regards to assessment. Will our assessments still be measuring outcomes like we do now? Or will "gradebook" primarily assess things like communication and collaboration? How do I make a math test using factoring as a vehicle to grade communication?
I look forward to seeing what the curriculum prototyping creates and how people are assessing competencies. I certainly don't know how an outcome-based course like math or science will do it, so I hope someone out there is thinking outside the box.
I very much agree with the focus on competencies in mathematics. The idea that the content is simply a vehicle in which we encourage the growth of competencies, which are the skills that we are ultimately trying to strengthen.
ReplyDeleteI guess the best thing I heard about this is that "We couldn't measure what we valued,so we started to value what we measured." Since it's easy to measure the lower levels of thinking (computer, calculate), we are starting to value it more than the higher thinking processes through things like diploma exam marks.
If we really want to encourage the growth of these competencies, we need to change the way that we assess so that we are measuring what we value. I think that this change is already happening. As far as I know, teachers have stopped marking homework and averaging it in with other assessments. Quizzes are often formative, so that the student's grade isn't calculated using data that is not longer relevant (i.e. when they were still trying to learn material).
I think we need to change our assessment methods to have students actually demonstrate the skills and outcomes that we want them to have. Demonstrating proficiency isn't the same as getting it right on a test. Especially multiple choice, where students are able to plug answers back in, random guess, etc. If you want to see if someone can dunk a basketball, you ask them to dunk a basketball. If you want to see if a student understands how to rationalize a denominator, you ask them to demonstrate rationalizing the denominator and explain their thinking.
I know it sounds like totally wishful thinking, but I honestly think that giving kids a problem that is meaningful and interesting and makes them curious can provide a wealth of assessment data that is more accurate than any written exam.