Body of Evidence

[PRISCILLA GUTIERREZ <pgutpgut@msn.com>]

This was an emerging term, pre-NCLB, especially in Colorado.  At that time, the State Legislature required all districts to provide a body of evidence that demonstrated student progress that encompassed a variety of skills and the know-how to use them.  As a result, a number of districts developed portfolios to maintain student samples over time.  Some were quite good due to the fact they were teacher-made, and included a variety of skills - they weren't just a random collection of papers.  Post NCLB, the concept of a Body of Evidence has been supplanted by single shot, high stakes tests that by their very nature cannot provide an accurate portrait of the whole child.

It occurs to me that we need to retrieve the term from the wayside where it has fallen and bring it back into the dialogue.  Our energy needs to shift towards a discussion of what constitutes a body of evidence and use that as a means to move the dialogue forward.  Legislators and policy makers, especially at the local level, tend to pay attention more if you spend their time helping them see what WILL work rather than harping on what doesn't work.  If we can define and provide a Body of Evidence, then perhaps we no longer will be accused of being anti-NCLB because of our fear of accountability. 

Richard Stiggins put it succinctly when he wrote that assessments must not only VERIFY learning, they must PROMOTE learning as well.  No single-shot standardized test is capable of promoting real learning - not the kind the student themselves OWN because they CHOOSE to learn.  Instead standardized tests promote dipstick ideas like naming a star after students.






Priscilla Gutierrez
Outreach Specialist
New Mexico School for the Deaf

...change is inevitable, growth is optional...