Linda Darling-Hammond 
Next Generation Assessment [PDF ebook] 
Moving Beyond the Bubble Test to Support 21st Century Learning

A forward-thinking look at performance assessment in the
21st century

Next Generation Assessment: Moving Beyond the Bubble Test to
Support 21st Century Learning provides needed
answers to the nation’s growing concerns about educational testing
in America. Drawing on research and the experiences of leading
states and countries, this new book examines how performance
assessments can offer a feasible alternative to current high stakes
tests. As parents, educators, and policymakers have increasingly
criticized the effects of the teaching to the test mandate from the
No Child Left Behind Act, the need for this resource has never been
more critical.

This summary volume to Beyond the Bubble Test speaks to
the nationwide unease about current tests’ focus on low-level
skills, like recalling and restating facts, rather than
higher-order skills such as problem-solving, analyzing, and
synthesizing information. It illustrates how schools can use
authentic assessments to improve teaching and learning as they
involve students in conducting research, designing investigations,
developing products and solutions, using technology, and
communicating their ideas in many forms. This important book:

* Serves as a must-have resource for those interested in the most
current research about how to create valid and reliable performance
assessments

* Explains how educators can improve practice by developing,
using, and scoring performance assessments

* Helps policymakers and educators accurately assess the benefits
and possibilities of adopting performance assessments
nationally

If you’re an educator, researcher, graduate student, district
administrator, or education policy specialist, Next Generation
Assessment is an indispensable resource you’ll turn to again
and again.

Table of Content

Acknowledgments vi

The Authors vii

1 Beyond the Bubble Test: How Performance Assessment Can Support Deeper Learning 1

2 Defining Performance Assessment 15

3 Experiences with Performance Assessment in the United States and Abroad 31

4 How Performance Assessment Can Support Student and Teacher Learning 43

5 Meeting the Challenges of Performance Assessments 57

6 Making High-Quality Assessment Affordable 75

7 Building Systems of Assessment 87

8 Conclusion 107

Notes 113

Index 125

About the author

LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND is the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University and former sponsor of Stanford’s Teacher Education Program. She is also founder and co-director of the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute and the School Redesign Network.