Have you ever had a day that changed your career? I did.
I met him at a conference when I was a doctoral student. I sat in the front row so excited about the topic during the all day pre-conference workshop focused on Authentic Assessment. That day changed my career and inspired me to focus my research on assessment.
The question is meant to show my students that there are unlimited pathways for discovering a career. I start the conversation on my podcast by asking the guest how they got started in their career. College students are the primary audience, and they are who I started making the podcast for over ten years ago. He was my third guest on the podcast. University of Pittsburgh professor shared his origin story, and how Dr. Bagnato started his career as a high school English teacher.
Macy: “Can you talk a little bit about how you got started in the early childhood education and assessment fields?”
Bagnato: “I tell my own sons and my students, most people’s careers are not planned out to the nth degree. So five-year plans don’t really work in the end. You just need to be ready for accidents and opportunities.” (BUTTERCUP Ep3, Bagnato, Aug 23, 2016).
Being ready for accidents and opportunities took him in a new direction into his career studying assessment. After many years of working together on research, Dr. Stefano Bagnato and I are publishing a book about assessment that we started writing in 2017. I’m so excited to receive the fall catalog from Brookes Publishing and see our new book. Very soon the authentic assessment book will be available.
In Italian we have a proverb, L'amicizia rimane un ancora fedele.
This proverb translates into: Friendship remains a faithful anchor. I’m grateful for my longtime friend and collaborator Professor Stefano Bagnato. Thank you to families, their children, and our colleagues who have studied authentic assessment with us.
Be ready for ordinary to turn into something extraordinary.
Sources:
Bagnato, S. J. & Macy, M. G. (2026). LINKing authentic assessment and early childhood intervention: Best practices for best outcomes (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Brookes Publishing Co. ISBN 1681259230; ISBN 978-1681259239
Macy, M. (Host). (2016, August 23). Authentic Assessment with Dr. Stefano Bagnato [Podcast]. BUTTERCUP episode 3.
We share two obsessions: Italian food and authentic assessment. Here we are discussing both topics at Modena in Washington DC.
