CommonGround 2008
Mindful Innovations

Building on multiple intelligence theory, VIA uses continuous observation and authentic performance assessment to reframe the measurement of intelligence, taking the radical position that all humans are robustly intelligent - largely in ways that standardized tests fail to measure.

This session has two main components. The What: Versatile Intelligence and Assessment, a new theory that seeks to unify the field of education based on honoring how students learn, demonstrating evidence of progress by the learner, and rigorous assessment that produces evidence which is more explanatory than current narrow views of standardized testing. The How: an interactive, “network intelligence” dynamic-practice process based on the work of brain researcher Peter Kruse.

Conference Strand: Curriculum and Assessment

Educators, Artists, Education Administrators, Cultural Organization Administrators, Community/Parents, Other: will actively explore new points of view on learning and put into use new tools, skills and methods to expand their range of possibilities in partnering with educators, artists, cultural organization administrators, ed administrators, community/parents, researchers and other AIE practitioners.

To see materials from this workshop, go to http://www.edspeak.org/

________________________________________

Robert A. Southworth, Jr. is a teacher, scholar, and leader with expertise in evaluation and research, specializing in research strategies to uncover and analyze “hard to understand” social problems. As founder and president of The SchoolWorks Lab, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to school reform research, assessment and dissemination, Rob has supported schools, districts, cultural organizations and educational leaders in evaluating organizations’ efforts on the improvement of student achievement.

Mike Halverson has taught children and adults in Virginia, New York, Haiti, Hungary, and Germany. Most recently Director of Programs at Stages of Learning in Brooklyn, he has collaborated in video, television, film, theatre and live musical productions as a writer, actor, musician and director. He earned a Masters in education at the College of William and Mary and completed three years of PhD study in Comparative and International Education at Humboldt University, Berlin (Germany). In his spare time, he can be found developing workshops on "embracing instability in arts-in-education practice," performing in NYC rock & roll venues with his embracingly unstable band, Volut, or surfing in the Rockaways.

back to Workshop Offerings