Optimizing Assessment for All May 2020

OPTIMIZING ASSESSMENT FOR ALL MAY 2020 OPTIMIZING ASSESSMENT FOR ALL Classroom-based assessments of 21st century skills in the Democratic Republic of Congo, The Gambia, and Zambia OPTIMIZING ASSESSMENT FOR ALL Authors Helyn Kim was a fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution Esther Care is a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution Optimizing Assessment for All (OAA) is a project of the Brookings Institution. The aim of OAA is to support countries to improve the assessment, teaching, and learning of 21st century skills through increasing assessment literacy among regional and national education stakeholders, focusing on the constructive use of assessment in education, and developing new methods for assessing 21st century skills. Acknowledgements The authors and the OAA Africa National Teams appreciate the support of UNESCO’s Teaching and Learning Educators’ Network for Transformation (TALENT) and our thanks are extended in particular to Davide Ruscelli. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Democratic Republic of Congo National Team; The Gambia National Team; and the Zambia National Team for their substantial contributions to their respective country sections of the report. Additionally, the authors thank Joesal Jan A. Marabe of the Assessment Curriculum and Technology Research Centre, University of the Philippines Diliman, for technical contributions, and Aynur Gul Sahin for her creative and editorial support. The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and policy solutions. Its mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations for policymakers and the public. The conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s), and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars. Brookings gratefully acknowledges the support provided by Porticus. Brookings recognizes that the value it provides is in its commitment to quality, independence, and impact. Activities supported by its donors reflect this commitment. Cover photo credit: St. Peter's Lower Basic School, Banjul, The Gambia PAGE 2 OPTIMIZING ASSESSMENT FOR ALL TABLE OF CONTENTS 04 EXECUTIVE STATEMENT 05 INTRODUCTION 05 THE OAA APPROACH FOR AFRICA 07 THE THREE FOCUS COUNTRIES Democratic Republic of Congo The Gambia Zambia 09 OAA PROCESS FOR TASK DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP 1 10 UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF SKILLS The Gambia: Approach to understanding skills 12 THE TARGET SKILLS: PROBLEM SOLVING AND COLLABORATION The Gambia: Understanding problem solving and collaboration 13 RE-VISIONING EXISTING ITEMS TO TARGET 21CS 15 Think Aloud Sessions The Gambia: Think aloud 17 GENERATING NEW 21CS ITEMS BASED ON TEMPLATES WORKSHOP 2 18 TASK AND ITEM DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES Paneling of tasks: Nationals and collaborative WORKSHOP 3 19 PILOTING OF TASKS DRC: Pilot of Tasks 22 KEY POINTS WORKSHOP 4 23 WHAT DO THE PILOT DATA TELL US? 23 THE PILOT DETAIL 24 DESCRIPTION OF THE TASKS 24 ANALYSIS 27 TASK REVIEW 28 CONCLUSION 29 REFERENCES 30 APPENDIX A: NATIONAL TEAMS 31 APPENDIX B: THINK ALOUD GUIDELINES "Think Aloud" Record Form 34 APPENDIX C: TEMPLATES AND EXAMPLES PAGE 3 OPTIMIZING ASSESSMENT FOR ALL EXECUTIVE STATEMENT The Optimizing Assessment for All OAA, in collaboration with participating (OAA) project at Brookings explores countries from Asia and Africa, has approaches to educational assessment, helped identify 21CS valued by these specifically through developing countries, hypothesized what these assessments of 21st century skills skills might look like in classroom (21CS). assessment tasks, and developed these tasks with teachers to ensure that they Twenty-first century skills are now firmly are usable and valuable in the ensconced as new learning goals in classrooms. Notably, OAA has worked education systems worldwide, but their with established approaches to implementation in teaching and assessment with which teachers are assessment practices is lagging behind. familiar, and adjusted them to reflect new learning goals. Of course, the work We have taken decades to understand goes far beyond assessment to how to teach mainstream education implications for how we think about subjects like mathematics, history, education and what we value in the science, and language. But with these classroom. What we value are the new learning goals, which prioritize how thinking and social processes that to go about getting answers, rather than individuals use to explore and just providing a correct response, we are understand their environment. facing new challenges in both assessment and teaching. If we can More comprehensive information about identify useful approaches to the complete OAA approach can be assessment of 21CS in the classroom, found in the “Optimizing Assessment for then both the assessment tools All: Framework” report, while in this themselves as well as how students report we focus on the collaborative engage with them can provide insights activities undertaken in Africa by the for teaching the skills. Democratic Republic of Congo, The Gambia, and Zambia to create 21CS The overall goal of the OAA project is to assessment tasks. The mechanics of the strengthen systems’ capacity to integrate activities are described in detail in order 21CS into their teaching and learning to illustrate the methods used in the using assessment as the entry point to project and by the countries. For changing education practices in additional examples and guides for task alignment with changing learning goals. creation, see our forthcoming fourth Specifically, OAA is designed to shift report, and for discussion about scaling mind and practices around the use of and implementing the OAA approach, assessment; shift perceptions on how see the forthcoming fifth report in the assessment relates to the broader series. education structure—that assessment is not something separate but a critical part of the learning and teaching process; and develop new methods for assessing 21CS in the classroom. PAGE 4 OPTIMIZING ASSESSMENT FOR ALL INTRODUCTION THE OAA APPROACH One of the main goals of OAA was for FOR AFRICA participating countries to develop Similar to the work with three countries classroom assessment tasks that can in Asia, the Brookings Institution worked measure 21CS. The project adopted a intensively with three countries in Africa: collaborative approach to develop two Anglophone countries (The Gambia capacity in assessment design. The and Zambia) and one Francophone project was structured so that national country (Democratic Republic of Congo teams had the opportunity to develop [DRC]). The activities were undertaken assessment tasks together at the over a 15-month period through the OAA regional level, as well as individually at initiative to improve the assessment, the national level. The objective was to teaching, and learning of 21CS, with ensure that the national teams were support from the Teaching and Learning confident in the usability of the Educators’ Network for Transformation developed tasks and in their ability to (TALENT) at UNESCO Dakar. Although continue to develop tasks for their the overall objectives of the OAA particular conditions, needs, and initiative in Africa are identical to those curriculum. The development process of Asia, a slightly different approach was was undertaken through a series of taken. The decision to modify the workshops, usually convened in one of approach was both strategic and the participating countries so that the practical. The Africa approach drew on national teams had the opportunity to lessons learned both from the Asia understand the conditions under which experience (since OAA began in Africa each was working. Between workshops, about six months after Asia), as well as in-country development work took place, from a “mini-study” involving nine both within the national teams, and with African countries that identified current teachers from participating schools in national- and classroom-based tests or each country. The collaborative test items that would capture 21CS. approach and task development processes are described in this report— covering the workshops and in-country activities—and culminating in a pilot of the assessments across the countries. As education systems increasingly emphasize the need for students to apply their learning, focus on 21CS has intensified. With relatively little assessment of 21CS in education, OAA has taken the stance that assessment in the classroom will provide the support needed for teaching in the classroom. Development of classroom assessments will provide grounded examples of what student learning practices in demonstration of 21CS look like, thus informing the development of tools for use at regional and national levels. Lead National Team members from The Gambia, DRC, and Senegal with OAA Brookings scholars convening in Dakar, Senegal to discuss the project PAGE 5 OPTIMIZING ASSESSMENT FOR ALL As countries increasingly adopt learning goals that reflect more holistic perspectives on education, they engage in curriculum review and consideration of what other aspects of education delivery need modification. The nature of learning goals has implications for selecting different forms of assessment, in that some learning goals, such as memorization of facts, for example, can easily be captured through constrained forms of assessment (e.g.,

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