What do I know about assessment? It still feels like not nearly enough. I think I have only received bits and pieces about assessment as a whole; like a puzzle without a real picture to guide me. I have heard a lot of terms – formative assessment, summative assessment, assessment for learning, standardized assessment, Professional Learning Communities, self-assessment, quality assessment – but what do I actually know about each of them? What benefit do they have for myself and for my future students? Better yet, which of those things (or combination of those things) is going to be the most beneficial to my students’ learning?
Early on in this experience I thought about assessment as this tool that I would have to use to see if the student is meeting the curriculum expectations. I thought about assessment as a mark on an assignment, project, or test. In my own life I have pretty much only encountered that type of assessment. I would do a test or an assignment, I would get a mark for that test or assignment, and then that mark would make its way into my report card. Sure, sometimes the report card mark would be accompanied by some kind of comment. However, that comment usually had something to do with me being a “good girl” or “too quiet” or “too talkative”. Confusing right? As a student, that doesn’t really give me much information about what I know or what I still need to do to reach my goals.
I think that teachers need to ask why we are assessing, what we are assessing, as well as how we will assess it. Questions like these are key to Professional Learning Communities. By focusing on what the outcomes are really asking us to teach, we can figure out what we actually want our students to learn. By using the right assessment practices, we can figure out how we will know when a student has learned something. Teachers need to use differentiation so we can respond to students who are experiencing difficulty in learning as well as students who have surpassed the content being taught. These are the guiding questions of a PLC and they support the idea that all students can learn at high levels when given the appropriate time and support. An effective PLC has a collaborative culture, a focus on learning, is action and results oriented, and has a commitment to continuous improvement through the use of research based practices (Ontario Principals’ Council, 2008). That seems to say a lot of really good things, but what does it look like in action?
I want to focus on the second question; how will we know when our students have learned something? I ask my earlier question again: what type of assessment practices are the ones that will be most beneficial to my students? Assessments should be of sound design and should involve the students (Popham, 2003). When a student can help to create the assessment criteria, they have a better understanding of what is being asked of them. Allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge using authentic performance tasks or by looking at a portfolio of student work often provides a truer sense of student knowledge (Popham, 2003). So, we get our students to perform authentic tasks that they have helped create the criteria for. Now what? Then we take that task, grade it, and put it in the report card? I don’t see how that is any different than what I experienced as a student.
One of the main messages of this class seemed to be differentiating between formative and summative assessment. Most of the other content seems to fit somewhere under these blanket headings. Summative assessment is the assessment that makes its way as a grade or mark into the report card. Grades can be represented in percentages or letter or number scales and it often varies between school division. I still feel like I have so much to learn about summative assessment. I know examples of different types of summative assessment but I don’t know how I should weigh those things to come up with a final grade. Formative assessment, or assessment for learning, on the other hand I feel like I could almost be an expert in. Formative assessment is something that can be done quickly, often times on the spot, and gives feedback to both students and the teacher.
If I could have only one take-away from ECS 410 it would be feedback, feedback, feedback. Dylan William talks about how feedback is the biggest contributor to student success. When given feedback alone, students have shown a 30% increase over those just given grades or even grades and feedback (William, 2011). In a class discussion with Doug Reeves, he talked about the FAST feedback model. Feedback must be Frequent, Actionable, Specific, and Timely. I think there is more to great feedback than just those four components. Grant Wiggins talked about seven keys to effective feedback and I think they provide more to the student than the FAST model alone. Students need to have a clear purpose or target (William, 2011). They must have a goal. Wiggins (2012) would say that the feedback a student receives must be related to that goal and tell the student whether they are on track to reach that goal or if they need to adjust their course. Students should be able to take the feedback that they received and know exactly how they should adjust their course. As teachers, we need to avoid giving too much highly technical feedback to our students. Students need to be able to understand what the feedback means before they are able to implement it. That leads to another of Wiggins’ keys; students should receive feedback in a timely manner. It should be timely not only for the fact that they won’t have completely forgotten what they did in the first place, but so that they can use that feedback, make the adjustments, and try again. This is what Wiggins calls the “Powerful Feedback Loop”. We need to give students the opportunity to use feedback. Lastly, feedback needs to be consistent (Wiggins, 2012).
I get it, this seems like a ton of extra work. You are probably thinking “You expect me to look at all 30 of my students’ projects multiple times and leave meaningful feedback each time? You are crazy. I have absolutely no time for that. Did you forget that I am a teacher and also have 100 other things to do a day?” To that I answer “No, I did not forget. I feel your pain and I am sorry for upsetting you.” The thing is, we should be so consistent in the feedback we give students that they come to know and expect it. Once students know and expect it, then you have trained them to be a mini version of you. They are able to give student-to-student feedback that is just as valuable as the feedback you provide. Sure, it is more work in the beginning, I will give you that. But if at the end of the year your students are more successful than they would have been by receiving grades alone, then isn’t that what teaching is all about?
You can make it even easier for yourself if you begin with clear expectations (Popham, 2003). Prepare your students for success by not leaving them in the dark about what they should be learning. A great way to do this is by drawing their attention to the outcomes. Start with the word for word curriculum and break it down with your students. Make them a part of the learning experience. If a student knows from the beginning what they will eventually be assessed on, then nothing should come as a surprise to them. Sure, you will eventually still have to put something in that report card, but that also shouldn’t be a surprise to students. Students should know where they are in terms of their goal (reaching outcomes) at all times. They should know why they are falling behind or getting off course. They should also know what needs to be done to get them back on track.
Feedback isn’t just good for the students, the feedback you are giving students should also be guiding your teaching strategies. Maybe you tried something you thought was great and after a quick formative assessment, you see that only about a third of the students know what the heck you are talking about. That, my friend, is a learning experience for you. Do you move ahead with just a couple students understanding? I am going to say that “no” is probably a good answer. What didn’t the students understand? What misconceptions are they having? Use the answers to those questions as a guide for how you are going to teach it again. This is why it is so important to be assessing all the time. All. The. Time. It doesn’t always have to be big projects or tests, in fact, it shouldn’t be. It should be something that just takes a couple of minutes. Here is a list of 50 quick assessments for learning that you can do to gauge student understanding and the success or failure of teaching practices. I think it is important to remember that you get to decide what you are using as summative assessment and what is formative or assessment for learning. If something you designed as summative ends up showing you that students had absolutely no idea what you were talking about, then it is time to give formative feedback and let students give it another try. As a future teacher, I want to always be setting my students up for success. Maybe that is just the sweet naivety of someone without a lot of experience, but it is where I plan to start regardless.
Works Cited
Ontario Principals’ Council. (2008). The principal as professional learning community leader. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Popham, W. J. (2003). Test better, teach better: The instructional role of assessment. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.
Wiggins, G. (2012). Seven keys to effective feedback. Educational Leadership, 70(1). Retreived from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/Seven-Keys-to-Effective-Feedback.aspx
William, D. (2011). Embedded Formative Assessment. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service.
Mrs. Chyz's Classroom 