EDL 773: Curriculum Development for School Leaders

Artifact: Dayton Daily News article about OGT testing problems ( Download at the right) and the following graphic provided by Dr. Cline:

Artifact Reflection

I. What is the artifact from this course?
I selected two artifacts from EDL 773, an article from the Dayton Daily News and a handout provided by Dr. Chris Cline which sums up his views on high stakes testing.

II. Why is this artifact selected?
This article started a discussion about how Ohio high stakes tests are not tested for validity or reliability the way many standardized tests are.

III. What learning or understanding occurred through the selected artifact?
I learned that Ohio's tests are not thoroughly tested for reliability and validity nor are there any plans to do so. We had this class before this summer when a majority of Ohio Graduation Tests were improperly graded resulting in students being told they failed when they really passed.

IV. In what ways (personally and/or professionally) are you different as a result of this learning or understanding?
After statistics and curriculum development, I now understand the basics of what makes a test a fair test. Our class then delved into looking at the Ohio standards and learned techniques to group and teach more than one benchmark at a time (called power standards). I have used this information in Life Science to hit multiple standards in a single week.