Sandra Mathison
I am a Professor of Education at the University of British Columbia, but have previously worked at the University of Chicago, SUNY at Albany, and the University of Louisville.
My research focuses on educational evaluation and especially on the potential and limits of evaluation to support democratic ideals and promote justice in education. My research focuses in large part on the intended and unintended consequences of government mandated high stakes testing on teachers, students and quality of education. I have conducted national large- and small-scale evaluations of K-12, post-secondary, and informal educational programs and curricula; published articles in the leading evaluation journals; and edited and authored a number of books.
I served a long stint as Editor-in-Chief of New Directions for Evaluation and currently am a co-editor of Critical Education and a member of the Institute for Critical Education Studies.
My research focuses on educational evaluation and especially on the potential and limits of evaluation to support democratic ideals and promote justice in education. My research focuses in large part on the intended and unintended consequences of government mandated high stakes testing on teachers, students and quality of education. I have conducted national large- and small-scale evaluations of K-12, post-secondary, and informal educational programs and curricula; published articles in the leading evaluation journals; and edited and authored a number of books.
I served a long stint as Editor-in-Chief of New Directions for Evaluation and currently am a co-editor of Critical Education and a member of the Institute for Critical Education Studies.
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Educational standards and assessment practices are the engine driving the historic changes public schools are experiencing today. This dynamic collection of essays presents an overview of the origins and development of standards-based educational reform (SBER) and assessment; a description of SBER’s essential elements; and a critical analysis of the means and ends of what is perhaps the most important reform effort U.S. schools have ever experienced.
Contents and Contributors
The Nature and Limits of Standards-Based Reform and Assessment, Sandra Mathison and E. Wayne Ross • Part I: History, Context, and the Future of Educational Standards and Assessment • A Short History of Educational Assessment and Standards-Based Educational Reform, Sandra Mathison • Standards-Based Education: Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right, W. James Popham • The Costs of Overemphasizing Achievement, Alfie Kohn • International Comparisons: Worth the Cost?, Gerald W. Bracey • Assessment, Accountability, and the Impossible Dream, Linda Mabry • Authentic Accountability: An Alternative to High-Stakes Testing, Ken Jones • Evaluation of Schools and Education: Bad Practice, Limited Knowledge, Sandra Mathison and Marco A. Muñoz • Part II: Perspectives on Standards and Assessment • Teachers Working with Standards and State Testing, Sandra Mathison and Melissa Freeman • “Parental Involvement”: In Defense of What Kind of Vision for “Public” School? Melissa Freeman • Leaving No Child Left Behind: Accountability Reform and Students with Disabilities, Margaret J. McLaughlin and Katherine M. Nagle • The Accumulation of Disadvantage: The Consequences of Testing for Poor and Minority Children, Sandra Mathison • Educational Leaders and Assessment-Based Reform, William A. Firestone • The Mismeasure and Abuse of Our Children: Why School Officials Must Resist State and National Standardized Testing Reforms, William C. Cala
"
"No topic sparks an argument faster among the American public, even with relatively apolitical people, than how their children are taught. In schools across the country, school boards, parents, teachers, and students themselves debate issues ranging from charter schools, to the first amendment rights of students, to the efficacy of the No Child Left Behind Act. School districts in Georgia and Pennsylvania have seen battles over the teaching of evolution; places as diverse as Colorado, Washington, and Kentucky have had debates over how best to protect children while at school. Battleground: Schools provides an in-depth, balanced overview of these controversial topics and enables teachers, students, and their parents to better understand the foundations of these conflicts. Battleground: Schools cover the 100 most relevant conflicts involving education issues today. A sample of the debates analyzed:
* Charter schools
* Distance education
* Home schooling
* Students' Rights
* Military in Schools
* Religion and public schools
* Single-sex schooling"""
"No topic sparks an argument faster among the American public, even with relatively apolitical people, than how their children are taught. In schools across the country, school boards, parents, teachers, and students themselves debate issues ranging from charter schools, to the first amendment rights of students, to the efficacy of the No Child Left Behind Act. School districts in Georgia and Pennsylvania have seen battles over the teaching of evolution; places as diverse as Colorado, Washington, and Kentucky have had debates over how best to protect children while at school. Battleground: Schools provides an in-depth, balanced overview of these controversial topics and enables teachers, students, and their parents to better understand the foundations of these conflicts. Battleground: Schools cover the 100 most relevant conflicts involving education issues today.
Since 80 percent of America's student-aged population attend public schools, a fair and balanced look at a school system that has educated and continues to educate a population that is diverse in every way possible, is sorely needed. It can be said that a national school system has never had to educate so many young people through secondary school with mastery of so much information. While no one rejects the necessity of school reform to meet contemporary needs, the question of how to achieve the greatest good for the greatest numbers remains for thousand of schools across the nation. Defending Public Schools is a practical, necessary addition to the work of administrators, teachers, policy makers, and parents as they negotiate the difficult path of how to best teach and educate today's children and youth."
Book Chapters
Mathison, S. (2007) What is the difference between evaluation and research? And why do we care? In N. L. Smith & P. Brandon (Eds.). Fundamental issues in evaluation. New York: Guilford Publishers.
Los estudios sociales tienen una historia contenciosa como asignatura escolar y este artículo comienza con una visión general de los puntos de vista que históricamente compiten sobre la naturaleza y fines de la educación de estudios sociales en el contexto de América del Norte. A continuación, se ofrece un examen crítico de las reformas educativas recientes en los EE.UU. (Ningún Niño se Queda Atrás y los Estándares Estatales Comunes), que utilizan las pruebas de alta exigencia como una herramienta para estandarizar el currículo de estudios sociales y los métodos de enseñanza. La sección final del artículo examimna tanto los niveles significativos de resistencia de los estudiantes, profesores y el público a las pruebas de alta exigencia y a la estandarización del currículo y la pregunta de si la educación en estudios sociales promoverá ciudadanía adaptable al status quo o a la reconstrucción de la sociedad en formas mas equitativas y socialmente más justas.
Educational standards and assessment practices are the engine driving the historic changes public schools are experiencing today. This dynamic collection of essays presents an overview of the origins and development of standards-based educational reform (SBER) and assessment; a description of SBER’s essential elements; and a critical analysis of the means and ends of what is perhaps the most important reform effort U.S. schools have ever experienced.
Contents and Contributors
The Nature and Limits of Standards-Based Reform and Assessment, Sandra Mathison and E. Wayne Ross • Part I: History, Context, and the Future of Educational Standards and Assessment • A Short History of Educational Assessment and Standards-Based Educational Reform, Sandra Mathison • Standards-Based Education: Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right, W. James Popham • The Costs of Overemphasizing Achievement, Alfie Kohn • International Comparisons: Worth the Cost?, Gerald W. Bracey • Assessment, Accountability, and the Impossible Dream, Linda Mabry • Authentic Accountability: An Alternative to High-Stakes Testing, Ken Jones • Evaluation of Schools and Education: Bad Practice, Limited Knowledge, Sandra Mathison and Marco A. Muñoz • Part II: Perspectives on Standards and Assessment • Teachers Working with Standards and State Testing, Sandra Mathison and Melissa Freeman • “Parental Involvement”: In Defense of What Kind of Vision for “Public” School? Melissa Freeman • Leaving No Child Left Behind: Accountability Reform and Students with Disabilities, Margaret J. McLaughlin and Katherine M. Nagle • The Accumulation of Disadvantage: The Consequences of Testing for Poor and Minority Children, Sandra Mathison • Educational Leaders and Assessment-Based Reform, William A. Firestone • The Mismeasure and Abuse of Our Children: Why School Officials Must Resist State and National Standardized Testing Reforms, William C. Cala
"
"No topic sparks an argument faster among the American public, even with relatively apolitical people, than how their children are taught. In schools across the country, school boards, parents, teachers, and students themselves debate issues ranging from charter schools, to the first amendment rights of students, to the efficacy of the No Child Left Behind Act. School districts in Georgia and Pennsylvania have seen battles over the teaching of evolution; places as diverse as Colorado, Washington, and Kentucky have had debates over how best to protect children while at school. Battleground: Schools provides an in-depth, balanced overview of these controversial topics and enables teachers, students, and their parents to better understand the foundations of these conflicts. Battleground: Schools cover the 100 most relevant conflicts involving education issues today. A sample of the debates analyzed:
* Charter schools
* Distance education
* Home schooling
* Students' Rights
* Military in Schools
* Religion and public schools
* Single-sex schooling"""
"No topic sparks an argument faster among the American public, even with relatively apolitical people, than how their children are taught. In schools across the country, school boards, parents, teachers, and students themselves debate issues ranging from charter schools, to the first amendment rights of students, to the efficacy of the No Child Left Behind Act. School districts in Georgia and Pennsylvania have seen battles over the teaching of evolution; places as diverse as Colorado, Washington, and Kentucky have had debates over how best to protect children while at school. Battleground: Schools provides an in-depth, balanced overview of these controversial topics and enables teachers, students, and their parents to better understand the foundations of these conflicts. Battleground: Schools cover the 100 most relevant conflicts involving education issues today.
Since 80 percent of America's student-aged population attend public schools, a fair and balanced look at a school system that has educated and continues to educate a population that is diverse in every way possible, is sorely needed. It can be said that a national school system has never had to educate so many young people through secondary school with mastery of so much information. While no one rejects the necessity of school reform to meet contemporary needs, the question of how to achieve the greatest good for the greatest numbers remains for thousand of schools across the nation. Defending Public Schools is a practical, necessary addition to the work of administrators, teachers, policy makers, and parents as they negotiate the difficult path of how to best teach and educate today's children and youth."
Mathison, S. (2007) What is the difference between evaluation and research? And why do we care? In N. L. Smith & P. Brandon (Eds.). Fundamental issues in evaluation. New York: Guilford Publishers.
Los estudios sociales tienen una historia contenciosa como asignatura escolar y este artículo comienza con una visión general de los puntos de vista que históricamente compiten sobre la naturaleza y fines de la educación de estudios sociales en el contexto de América del Norte. A continuación, se ofrece un examen crítico de las reformas educativas recientes en los EE.UU. (Ningún Niño se Queda Atrás y los Estándares Estatales Comunes), que utilizan las pruebas de alta exigencia como una herramienta para estandarizar el currículo de estudios sociales y los métodos de enseñanza. La sección final del artículo examimna tanto los niveles significativos de resistencia de los estudiantes, profesores y el público a las pruebas de alta exigencia y a la estandarización del currículo y la pregunta de si la educación en estudios sociales promoverá ciudadanía adaptable al status quo o a la reconstrucción de la sociedad en formas mas equitativas y socialmente más justas.
neoliberalism particularly, is a primary influence
on conceptualizations of schooling and education;
as a consequence, it influences what we consider
to be quality schooling and education,
including themeans we employ to discern quality
in education.
—Ad Rheinhardt, minimalist American painter
professionalism associated with high stakes and mandated
testing (McNeil, 2000). So, we were not surprised in this
year-long study of two elementary schools in upstate New
York to hear teachers talk about the many ways the 4th
grade tests in English Language Arts, Mathematics and
Science undermine their ability to do their jobs with
integrity. We came to understand in more nuanced ways
the ongoing tension created by teachers' desires to be
professionals, to act with integrity, and at the same time to
give every child a chance to succeed. What we found in
these schools is that the high stakes tests continually
forced teachers to act in ways they did not think were
professional and often resulted in creating instructional
environments that teachers did not think were conducive to
student success.
Evaluators, while continuing to work within programmatic frames, should investigate the frames themselves. We must ask how these frames establish taken-for-granted forms of problem definition, solutions, and indicators of success. These frames are embedded within ideologies that structure human relations and social practices beyond, but including, evaluation.
I will trace the evolution of evaluation theory and practice as influenced by global ideologies from early progressivism (characterized by public funding for much program evaluation) to a possibly waning neo-liberalism (characterized by increased funding by philanthropists, NGOs and entrepreneurs) to a surging populism, and reflect on evaluation’s contribution to the public good through these changes.
While perhaps an uncomfortable consideration, we need to ask whether evaluation as framed by these dominant socio-political ideologies contributes to the public good, whether it contributes to positive change. By most accounts, evaluators’ work isn’t contributing enough to poverty-reduction, human rights, and access to food, water, education and health care. We need also to consider whether formal evaluation practice may be getting in the way of and hindering social change. I will conclude with some tentative thoughts about what we (evaluators, funders, and users of program evaluation) might do to make a positive contribution to the public good through evaluation.
Thursday, October 27, 2005 9:25 AM to 10:55 AM
Chair: Melvin Hall
Panelists: Chris Calabrese, Paul Copeland, Sandra Mathison, Robin Miller
Discussant: Pauline Brooks
http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/criticaled