Video clip from the CES EssentialVisions DVD series"Exhibitions" are public demonstrations of learning by students to teachers, parents, outside experts, and other community members interested in evaluating the students’ level of achievement. They are a way in which schools and their communities can assess students' mastery of both a body of knowledge and the thinking skills that are required in the "real world." Whereas standardized tests may show a “slice” of what students have learned, exhibitions reveal the whole pie, offering a 360º look at what students know and what they can do with that knowledge.
The following video and print resources describe exhibitions and how they can be used to drive a school's assessment practices, curriculum, and planning at all levels.
Video clip from the CES EssentialVisions DVD series
Students at Quest High School in Humble, Texas, execute their Senior Exhibition.
Articles from Horace, the Journal of CES:
Horace 23.1 Demonstrations of Mastery in Essential Schools
The entirety of this recent issue is devoted to exhibitions and features eight articles on how exhibitions are used and how to implement them at various grade levels.
Horace 6.3 Performance and Exhibitions: The Demonstration of Mastery
Examines performance-based assessment-what it looks like, what it
measures, how it is graded, how standards can be applied; includes examples and ways to implement and evaluate them.
Horace 14.2 Demonstrating Student Performance in Essential Schools
Presents ways Essential schools are augmenting data from norm-referenced standardized tests to offer richer and more public evidence about student learning.
Horace 16.3 High Standards for Essential Learning Demand a Mix of Measures
Continues the discussion started in Issue 14.2 about alternative assessments that capture skills and habits of mind that transcend both narrow academic disciplines and standardized measurements. Includes current examples of the use of multiple measures in Coalition schools as well as reports from a "Competencies That Count" conference jointly sponsored by CES and Jobs for the Future.
Articles from other CES publications:
Exhibitions: Facing Outward, Pointing Inward
Three Pictures of an Exhibition: Warm, Cool, and Hard
A Culture of Exhibitions Begins to Take Hold
An Exhibition of Skills: A Cooperative Venture
Other Web Resources:
ChangeLab, an online library of CES resources, features a number of items on exhibitions. Select "Exhibitions" in the top left pull-down menu.