What Do Police Cars and Education Have in Common?

This is my opening blog for my dissertation in an EdD Program.  I plan to focus on the importance of assessments in education. Really original, you scoff? Well, bear with me... I have a slightly different take on it.

To fully grasp why I think assessments are so important, I want you to imagine that you are driving down the road in your favorite car.  The weather is nice.  Your favorite song is on the radio.  You are cruising... How fast are you going?  Does it matter?  Yes (legally) but you are not concerned. Then, you see a police car in your rear view mirror. What do you do? Duh.. You check your speed to see if you are speeding.  Until then, you weren't worried about it.  The policeman is going to hold you accountable, so now you are concerned.  In education, that policeman is an assessment. Students cruise along, taking notes, listening to lecture, going through the day-to-day activities without concern until a TEST is announced.  Then, they hit the brakes and slow down.  They worry about getting hit with a bad grade like you worry about the cop giving you a ticket.

I can stretch the analogy...  Study Guides are the speed limit signs...  Think how panicked you would be if you saw blue lights approaching and you had no idea what the speed limit actually was. Drivers' Education class is the equivalent of lesson plans. You need to teach students how to safely drive...  This is, of course, done through small assessments along the way.  Formative embedded assessments.  I also plan to address speed traps.... otherwise known as standardized testing. Even when you do everything right, you can get tripped up.

Come back and join me on the journey.  Toot your horn at me to let me know what you like and blast your horn at me if you see me going off track.  It's a long process, but I believe that by implementing a program utilizing Gagne's Instructional Design Model and Standard-based Assessment Grids, I can help students along the way to graduation...