Chapter 4 - Performance Based Learning

In Chapter 4 of Strategies for Teaching English Learners, we learn about performance based learning and assessments of English learners.  Measured objectives are central to the development of professional standards that can be used to assess abilities and aptitudes of students.  If appropriate standards are incorporated into lesson plans, especially those designed specifically by smart teachers who have assessed and know (or have a good knowledge of) the learning strategies necessary for their students, than student goals can be obtained simultaneously with alignment between the student’s needs and what Dept. of Education standards are.  These kind of performance standards included in curriculum are recognized as Outcome-based education.

Assessment is central to helping students achieve the goal of meeting the standards.  The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has made our education system a test-driven one – that often excludes ELL’s from high-performance scores.  What bothers me about No Child Left Behind is that it is all marks and bubbles – there is no room for oral presentations, teacher comments, and personalized input about the student that may exclude them from performing well on these types of tests.  When a school has a high level of ELL’s, these test scores are dramatically lower, and schools – the ones that need the most support because of their cultural teaching challenges, are penalized financially.  There is a strong amount of bias in these tests, and I think there should be many different diagnostic and achievement tests to meet these standards, rather than one set factor.

Response #1:  I really enjoyed reading Ian Caldon's blog about standards-based instruction.  Maybe I enjoyed it because I agree that one should always question and answer why and what we are doing.  No one should ever blindly follow instructions without questioning things.  Rubrics are an excellent way to achieve this kind of self-assessment and can only add to a student's learning experience.

Response #2:  As far as PBL learning is concerned, Yong Aday writes in his blog that "a successful PBL instructional plan should have content to meet the standards, but more importantly it should meet its language objective and learning strategy objective."  Content is so important when it comes to meeting objectives.  One cannot learn efficiently if the support content, including proper scaffolding, is not included in the lesson plans.