Multimodal K-12 Assessment Frameworks and the Interactive Audience: An Exploratory Analysis of Existing Frameworks

Multimodal writing often occurs through membership in an online, participatory culture; thus, the audience for student writers potentially can shift from imagined readers to actual, accessible readers and responders. In this article, we thoroughly review the idea of audience and then report results from an exploratory review of K-12 assessment frameworks and analyze how key frameworks address the need for consideration of an interactive audience. We found that multimodal composition is being defined consistently across all frameworks as composition that includes multiple ways of communicating, but the majority of multimodal composition examples were texts that were non-interactive composition types (as far as online and participatory interaction with the actual audience is concerned) even though many authors acknowledged the emergence of interactive online composition types that afford the writer the ability to communicate and collaborate with an audience

Authentic for Whom?: An Interview Study of Desired Writing Practices for African American Adolescent Learners

Across theory, research, and learning standards, there is a clear call for authentic writing experiences to increase achievement and engagement. According to theories of authenticity that stress its subjective nature, a writing task is authentic when a student perceives it as relevant to the real world—as they define the real world. Moreover, there is a need for authentic writing in classrooms that connects to increased student engagement, but the reality of writing instruction across schools in the United States remains rote and teacher-centered. These narrowed views and perspectives are further exacerbated when it comes to teaching African American youth in classrooms. Using qualitative interview data involving 12 African American students in the middle grades, the researchers examined the following questions: 1) How do African American adolescents describe their classroom writing experiences? 2) What factors do African American adolescents desire related to authenticity for writing instruction? Researchers found 24 present, desired and undesired practices expressed by participants when describing their classroom writing experiences. In this article, eight of the most prevalent factors (i.e., expression, personal connections, sharing with peers, sharing with teachers, structured writing, student and teacher choice of topics, and writing for impact) are illustrated to understand how these variables contributed to authentic writing experiences. Findings from this study suggest that more research is needed within classrooms that attempt to increase the perceived authenticity of writing tasks among African American youth

Agential Cuts for Justice: Honoring Complexity in Research through Intersectional Design Dimensions

This article explores the complexity and challenges of making decisions regarding which theories and social categories (e.g. race, class) should be emphasized in justice-centered research that includes participants’ identities as key variables in the design. Drawing on theories of intersectionality, agential realism, and complexity, the author proposes four intersectional design dimensions to help justice-centered researchers honor complexity: reflection on self and purpose; making agential cuts; complexifying social categories; and intersectional and collaborative re-view. Each dimension is illustrated with theory and empirical examples, mostly drawing from the field of educational research. By attending to and continually revisiting agential cuts related to social categories in conversation with community members, researchers can better represent layered, complex, and changing phenomena

Evaluación válida de la escritura desde la perspectiva de las comunidades de investigación en escritura y medición

Este estudio examina el concepto de validez en dos comunidades de práctica distintas: la de investigación en escritura y la de medición educacional. Las conceptualizaciones de validez han evolucionado diferencialmente dentro de cada una de ellas. Tres preguntas guían nuestro estudio: (a) ¿En qué consiste una evaluación válida de escritura según la comunidad de investigación en escritura? (b) ¿En qué consiste una evaluación válida de escritura según la comunidad de investigación en medición? (c) ¿Cuáles son los puntos de consenso y desacuerdo sobre el concepto de validez en ambas comunidades? El presente estudio busca fomentar la comunicación entre estas dos comunidades académicas con respecto a los problemas asociados con la validez en la evaluación de la escritura. También destacamos las contribuciones de la teoría de medición Rasch (Rasch, 1960/1980) a la comprensión y evaluación de la validez. Nuestras metas son fortalecer la conceptualización de la validez en la evaluación de la escritura e identificar áreas de consenso y disenso en las definiciones de validez existentes. Estos análisis expanden el trabajo previo de Engelhard y Behizadeh (2012), el cual exploró definiciones consensuadas de validez. El presente estudio tiene implicaciones para mejorar la investigación, la teoría y la práctica en la evaluación de la escritur

Righting Technologies: How Large-Scale Assessment Can Foster a More Equitable Education System

For the last century, the quality of large-scale assessment in the United States has been undermined by narrow educational theory and hindered by limitations in technology. As a result, poor assessment practices have encouraged low-level instructional practices that disparately affect students from the most disadvantaged communities and schools. In this historical and theoretical review, we examine the misalignment between educational theory and large-scale assessment practices that rely upon technology, using writing assessment as a case in point. Drawing upon sociocultural theory and critical software studies as conceptual frameworks, we find that today’s software-powered technologies, although capable of taking progressive educational ideals to scale, have not been used for these purposes. Our proposed solution is to shift from using technologies to assess predetermined samples of evidence of learning to using technologies to facilitate complex and negotiated models of assessment. This solution would require policy shifts that honor the needs of various stakeholders in the assessment process. We offer a power-sharing concept called negotiated control that engages policymakers, educators, researchers, and community members inthe assessment process

737306 – Supplemental material for Reframing for Social Justice: The Influence of Critical Friendship Groups on Preservice Teachers’ Reflective Practice

<p>Supplemental material, 737306 for Reframing for Social Justice: The Influence of Critical Friendship Groups on Preservice Teachers’ Reflective Practice by Nadia Behizadeh, Clarice Thomas and Stephanie Behm Cross in Journal of Teacher Education</p

President’s Panel

Jennifer Lesh presented at the National Technology Leadership Summit (NTLS). Lesh, a former president of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), discussed the initiatives of the CEC pertaining to the latest technology. The summit had a focus on generative AI. The NTLS brings together leaders from educational associations, editors of educational technology journals, directors of non-profit foundations and more