Assessment in Saskatchewan: Examining Provincial Approaches to Contemporary Assessment Principles through School Division Administrative Policies

In Saskatchewan, school divisions have been largely tasked with creating classroom-based assessment policy as, until very recently, the province lacked a current, Ministry-produced guiding document. Using an inductive and qualitative approach to summative content analysis, informed by a policy analysis framework, this project focused on school division administrative policies (n=26) to ascertain their alignment with contemporary assessment principles. Three principles—standards-based assessment, reliability and validity, and fairness and equity—and seven sub-principles—ongoing/continuous, transparent, (involves) stakeholders, (excludes) extraneous/arbitrary factors, triangulation, differentiation, and inclusion—served as the focus of analysis, with particular attention given to how clearly and consistently principles were addressed.

Videogame Walkthroughs in Educational Settings: Challenges, Successes, and Suggestions for Future Use

In this paper we describe the use of videogame walkthroughs implemented in three different educational contexts: 1) an informal learning environment where 11-12 year-olds used text and video walkthroughs to supplement their Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker play during an optional, lunch-time video game club in their school library; 2) a formal learning environment where grade six (11-12 year-old) students used a written walkthrough for Lost Winds 2: Winter of the Melodias played as part of their Language Arts classroom; and 3) the use of a written walkthroughs by Grade 7 and 8 teachers as part of their preparations to teach a game-based learning unit in their Geography classrooms. Taken together, we argue that while walkthroughs can be useful pedagogical tools when using videogames in classroom settings, the social and cultural contexts in which they are introduced must be carefully considered in order for their effectiveness to be fully realized

Challenges with Measuring Learning through Digital Gameplay in K-12 Classrooms

Videogames have long been lauded for their potential to increase engagement and enhance learning when used in classrooms. At the same time, how to best evaluate learning presents challenges, especially when the game does not have standardized assessments built-into it and when games are taken up in a wide variety of ways in quite diverse contexts. This article details the use of a geography game to support learning in 32 diverse classrooms in Ontario, Canada, alongside challenges with evaluating student learning using a game that did not have a built-in assessment system. In total, 795 students participated in the study. Classroom observations and interviews with teachers were triangulated with student pre and post evaluations. Results demonstrated that students did learn from gameplay, as demonstrated through multiple choice and short answer change scores in the pre to post evaluation, despite variations in duration of play and how the game was integrated in the classroom more generally

Metaphorical Awakening: Curricular Reconceptualizations of Aesthetic Experience

This article details the author’s efforts to become wide-awake while engaging with art during a semester in Maxine Greene’s course on an aesthetic experience. Juxtaposing narrative accounts with a close reading of Releasing the Imagination (1995), the author outlines some of the difficulties of this engagement by sketching the visual metaphors that appear throughout Greene’s work. She ultimately argues that the presentational immediacy of visual metaphors grounds the ways in which wide-awakeness can be experienced. The paper concludes with questions about what it might mean to dwell in the spaces in between, by gesturing toward the words of Ted Aoki

Assessment in Saskatchewan: Examining Provincial Approaches to Contemporary Assessment Principles through School Division Administrative Policies

In Saskatchewan, school divisions have been largely tasked with creating classroom-based assessment policy as, until very recently, the province lacked a current, Ministry-produced guiding document. Using an inductive and qualitative approach to summative content analysis, informed by a policy analysis framework, this project focused on school division administrative policies (n=26) to ascertain their alignment with contemporary assessment principles. Three principles—standards-based assessment, reliability and validity, and fairness and equity—and seven sub-principles—ongoing/continuous, transparent, (involves) stakeholders, (excludes) extraneous/arbitrary factors, triangulation, differentiation, and inclusion—served as the focus of analysis, with particular attention given to how clearly and consistently principles were addressed

“Beg, Borrow, and Steal”: School Division Perspectives of Assessment Policy Creation in Saskatchewan

This study focused on school division needs pertaining to classroom-based assessment policies in Saskatchewan. Using a critical policy analysis framework, this project narrowed in on the creation of assessment policies within school divisions in the province through the lens of superintendents (n = 16). Applying Verhoest et al.’s (2004) organizational autonomy framework, school divisions were interpreted as having both a minimum level of financial autonomy and a higher (though ultimately ambiguous) level of policy autonomy. Interviews revealed a tension between policy creation at the school-division level and within the Ministry, highlighted the impact of higher policy autonomy and lower financial autonomy on policy development and implementation at the division level, and called attention to a desire from school divisions for provincial guidance. Keywords: Classroom-based assessment; policy; school divisions; Saskatchewan; Ministry of Education Cette étude a porté sur les besoins des divisions scolaires en matière de politiques d'évaluation en classe en Saskatchewan. À l'aide d'un cadre d'analyse critique des politiques, ce projet s'est concentré sur la création de politiques d'évaluation au sein des divisions scolaires de la province dans l'optique des directions générales (n = 16). En appliquant le cadre d'autonomie organisationnelle de Verhoest et al. (2004),on a perçu les divisions scolaires comme ayant à la fois un niveau minimum d'autonomie financière et un niveau plus élevé (bien qu'en fin de compte ambigu) d'autonomie en matière de politiques. Les entrevues ont révélé une tension entre la création de politiques au niveau de la division scolaire et au sein du ministère, ont mis en évidence l'impact d'une autonomie politique plus élevée et d'une autonomie financière plus faible sur l'élaboration et la mise en œuvre de politiques au niveau de la division et ont attiré l'attention sur le désir des divisions scolaires d'obtenir une orientation de la part de la province. Mots clés : évaluation en classe ; politique ; divisions scolaires ; Saskatchewan ; ministère de l'Éducatio