Listen "Episode 6: Re-Assembling Assessment (Part Two)"
Episode Synopsis
Join us as we explore the ways we are now considering re-assembling literacies assessment. Through this experience, we thought about undoing, decolonizing, liberating, and righting assessment. We used several questions to guide our thinking in each.
Undoing assessment: What happens when assessment practices uphold systems rather than the literacy practices of children? What needs “undoing” so that literacies assessment allows for noticing and reflecting differently—attuning to what matters in learners’ ways of knowing, being, and doing?
Decolonizing assessment: What is involved in the work of decolonizing assessment? What can be learned from Indigenous communities engaged in revitalizing Indigenous languages, culture, and literacies education through Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies?
Liberating assessment: How do we confront the ideological nature of literacies assessment? How might assessment be re-imagined as a practice of deep listening, of shifting power and agency to students whose voices and ways of knowing have been marginalized, de-valued, and de-legitimized?
Righting assessment: What happens when we begin from the premise that literacies assessment needs to affirm and engage students’ multilingual repertoires, identities, and competencies? How can literacies assessment support learners in their intellectual and creative endeavours?
Re-imagining Literacies Assessment is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Re-Imagining Literacies Assessment also acknowledges the support of the University of Manitoba, Brandon University, the Re-Imagining Literacies Assessment Research Team and the Re-Imagining Literacies Assessment Working Group. A special thanks to the Re-Imagining Literacies working group: Nicole Trottier, Monica Martens, Jen Tesoro, Bret Schmall, Karen Boyd, Sheila Seafoot, Chris Sarkonak, Barb Isaak, Steve Doell, Jon Sorokowski, and Dave Arbez, whose voices you hear in this episode. The song "The Perfect Life" by Moby appears courtesy of mobygratis.com. Additional sounds appear via freesound.org., including "Crowd before jazz concert.wav" by tom_woysky via https://freesound.org/s/219451/ -- License: Attribution 4.0, "R10-05-Footsteps on Hard Tile Floor.wav" by craigsmith via https://freesound.org/s/480592/ -- License: Creative Commons 0, "Voice_Crowd_Small_Expression_Laugh_Stereo" by Nox_Sound via https://freesound.org/s/752711/ -- License: Creative Commons 0, "Applause 07.wav" by kwahmah_02 via https://freesound.org/s/324182/ -- License: Attribution 3.0
For more information on Re-Imagining Literacies assessment, including other writings and podcasts, view our website at www.reimagininglitassessment.ca. You can also find us online in most online spaces with the handle reimagininglitassessment.