2009 ALISE Conference

2

Materials-to-standards alignment: How to “chunk” a whole cake and even use the “crumbs”: state standards alignment models, learning objects, and formative assessment – methodologies and metadata for education and business

Thomas Adamich

vls@tusco.net

Materials-to-standards alignment:
How to “chunk” a whole cake and even use the “crumbs”: state standards alignment models, learning objects, and formative assessment – methodologies and metadata for education and business

20 February 2008

Materials-to-standards alignment: how to “chunk” a whole cake and even use the “crumbs”: state standards alignment models, learning objects, and formative assessment – methodologies and metadata for education and business
Abstract:
As a result of the “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) Act of 2001, state-based educational agencies have made standardized testing a priority in their respective jurisdictions.  America’s public and private schools have adapted by analyzing their teaching strategies and curriculum delivery methods to find ways to better address the issues often associated with standardized testing (i.e. inadequate understanding of individual, test-related concepts by students, difficulty teaching individual, test-related concepts by students, lack of educator preparation time and often misdirected use of instructional materials).   The question arises, “How can educators teach individual, test-related concepts effectively?”  Also, “Are there strategies and materials available to “teach” individual, test-related concepts that are available, reliable, and pedagogically sound?”

Several states (including Ohio and California, which will be featured here) have taken steps to develop materials-to-standards alignment tools that address the relationship of instructional materials to individual, test-related concepts.  In the case of the former (Ohio), the alignment process is “strict and humanistic”, using rubrics and human collaboration. In the case of the latter (California), the alignment process is broad and facilitated”, using existing terminology and automation.  Both alignment processes rely heavily on information technology networks and IT design to function.

This article – presented in two parts – describes the role of standards-based individual, test-related concepts and materials-to-standards alignment in K-12 education today.  Part one attempts to describe how both an understanding of the theory associated with the learning object – an entity which can also be described as a “chunk” of information or the “smallest teachable concept” – as well as an understanding of formative assessment and the use of Bayesian inference models, can assist educators in making sound instructional decisions that promote the achievement of understanding a concept in a dynamic, diagnostic-based environment.  Part two features two materials-to-standards case studies – “The Ohio Alignment Concept” and California’s “Linking your Library Collection to the California State Content Standards” initiative.  Additionally, part two discusses the role that both print and electronic resources play in the alignment process, particularly the creation and maintenance of alignment-based metadata, as well as related content delivery and preservation issues.