Optimizing Assessment for All: Implementation challenges to assessment and teaching of 21st century skills

• In Event: Advocacy needs in implementation of 21st century skills in education systems

Proposal

The Optimizing Assessment for All (OAA) initiative, designed to enhance assessment of 21st century skills, is supported by two networks of countries facilitated by UNESCO Education Bureaus. OAA has a two layer structure, with small scale research undertaken at network level, and more focussed research and development undertaken with small groups of countries. The structure is intended to provide the facility for in-depth work with countries, as well as for advocacy within and between countries - toward the goal of implementing 21st century skills effectively into education systems. There are big challenges to such implementation, as has been made clear by a series of studies undertaken by networks based in the Asia-Pacific, the Network on Education Quality Monitoring in the Asia-Pacific (NEQMAP) and Education Research Institutes Networks in the Asia-Pacific (ERI-Net). Two network level studies on assessment tools and items currently used in nine countries in Africa and eight countries in Asia have been completed - these have provided a picture of the degree to which current educational assessments might be interpreted as capturing some aspects of 21st century skills. These "ministudies" have been followed by in-depth building of assessments with three countries in each region. The in-depth work has been collaborative, with each group of three countries co-identifying the skills, grade levels, and subjects to focus on for this proof of concept approach to development of classroom-based assessment approaches.

This presentation draws attention to recognition of mis-alignment between national policy and classroom affordances. OAA holds that assessment design and development must recognize classroom practice - each national technical team from each country is associated with four schools, teachers from which participate in the development process. They have participated through creating task concepts, and checking draft tasks from both curricular and teaching perspectives. In so doing, disconnects between what is necessary for teaching and learning of 21st century skills in classrooms and current practices become visible. For example, teachers mention class size as an inhibiting factor for the teaching and assessment of the skills, as well as their own lack of knowledge about the skills and how these might be demonstrated. These challenges are well recognized therefore at ground level, and at national technical team level, but not in specific education departments of curriculum or pedagogy. How to overcome these disconnects between layers of systems is a perpetual challenge in education reform - how do we ensure that learnings at one level are conveyed constructively to other levels to ensure alignment? OAA is taking a strong advocacy approach as one strategy to bridge these gaps.

Authors

• Helyn Kim, Brookings Institution

• Esther Care, The Brookings Institution