In light of a recent article in the New York Times, I've been conversing via Twitter and Classroom 2.0 with several colleagues on the topic of "standards-based report-cards." If you're not familiar with standards-based assessment, grading and/or report-cards, I won't bore you with the details, but rather refer you to a nice resource on the benefits of this idea from the ASCD Inservice blog. In the midst of rolling out a "quasi-standards-based grading system" in my own classroom, I've wondered what it might look like in a semi-constructivist 21st century learning secondary math environment. By focusing so much on standards, are students losing out on opportunities to creatively express themselves and make connections among the various "real life" situations 21st century learning champions?
Should one be sacrificed for the other? Can we embrace technology appropriately while being explicit in the learning outcomes we'd like our students to address AND at the same time report this information out to stakeholders in a meaningful way?