How Do We Know What We Know?

By On November 1, 2021 · 2 Comments

As scholars, we spend years training in our disciplines, developing techniques to make meaning of the world. As a chemist, I start with a hunch about a chemical reaction, then design experiments and measurements to collect data that provide insight into the reaction. From there, I continue with the iterative process of hypothesizing, experimenting, measuring, and analyzing. For me, engagement in the scientific research process began […]

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NCLB Turns 20: When Assessment is Used to Disguise a Dark Agenda

By On November 1, 2021 · Leave a Comment

This January the vaunted education legislation known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) will turn 20. Signed in the wake of 9/11 and sold as a revolutionary piece of legislation to help all children learn, NCLB leveraged a general naivete of how to measure student success to support an agenda of private interventions that generated billions of dollars in profits for shareholders while offering little in the way of fair and high-quality education. NCLB caused such a dramatic shift […]

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Learning to Like Brussels Sprouts . . . and Assessment

By On November 1, 2021 · 2 Comments

There are three stages to teaching: planning, instruction, and assessment. For many of us one of these stages is more satisfying than the others. We may be better versed in one more than the others. In those areas in which we are weak, or not as well versed, we might avoid or instead just “fly by the seat of our pants.” Instead of avoiding those stages where we feel less confident, we can […]

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From the Assess@CUNY Staff (Vol 2, Issue 1)

By On September 17, 2020 · Leave a Comment

We welcome you to Volume 2, Issue 1 of Assess@CUNY, an online quarterly publication of the CUNY Assessment Council that supports the Council’s Mission. In our second issue we bring […]

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Assessment 101

Assessment 101: A CUNY Collaboration

By On September 17, 2020 · Leave a Comment

In Summer 2018, members of the CUNY Assessment Council decided to collaborate on developing an online course to benefit faculty and staff across the CUNY system by introducing the  basic principles of assessment.  With the recently revised Middle States Standards and the increased demand for institutional effectiveness, the timing was ideal for a project of […]

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Student Workflow for Weekly Homework

Pedagogical Love during the Age of the Pandemic: Formative Assessments to the Rescue

By On September 17, 2020 · 1 Comment

Pedagogical love is the genuine care and empathy expressed by a teacher towards a student’s learning experience and growth. This concept became starkly relevant when we transitioned abruptly to an online mode of instruction. During this period, the immense power of the assessment revealed itself while the significance of the grade dimmed somewhat. More specifically, formative assessments […]

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How 20 Years of Education Reform Has Created Greater Inequality

By On September 17, 2020 · Leave a Comment

When the Program for International Assessment (PISA) results were released in December 2019, they indicated that the last 20 years and billions of dollars spent on education reform in the USA had been ineffective. But the rankings are misleading. While American students remain roughly the same on aggregate, the top quarter of American students […]

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Assessment at an Urban Community College: From Resistance to Discovery

By On September 17, 2020 · Leave a Comment

Over the past decade, resistance to assessment has dwindled, no doubt because of two factors. One is compliance. Regional accreditors across the country are exerting more pressure and enforcing stricter oversight at institutes of higher education under the pressure of the federal government. Rather than risk […]

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From the Assess@CUNY Staff (Vol 1, Issue 2)

By On July 6, 2020 · Leave a Comment

We welcome you to Volume 1, Issue 2 of Assess@CUNY, an online quarterly publication of the CUNY Assessment Council that supports the Council’s Mission. In our second issue we bring you five articles, all written by CUNY faculty and staff […]

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Creating a Charrette Process to Ignite the Conversation on Equity and Inclusion

By , , , , and On July 6, 2020 · Leave a Comment

The gaps in graduation and retention rates between ethnic and gender groups continue to be a foremost area of focus at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), The City University of New York (CUNY). Equity and inclusion is also a critical concern as it relates to faculty and staff. At BMCC, a college-wide initiative, Designing for Success, is seeking […]

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