As I wrap up my current thoughts on assessment and begin prepping for the upcoming school year, I decided to reflect on what I’ve learned and what I believe. I said it from the beginning that assessment in the classroom is beneficial, can take many forms, and needs time. I still agree with these sentiments and found an abundance of research to support it. My Three Beliefs:Assessment is beneficial.First, assessment is beneficial to use in the classroom, if crafted and used properly. A quality assessment can provide a teacher with the data they need to inform further instruction, address students who need remediation, and understand where students are in their learning progress. A quality assessment can also allow students to understand the goals they are attempting to achieve and access where they are at in meeting them. Teachers can use assessments to communicate with students and give them feedback on their progress. Teachers also can receive feedback on what needs to be retaught or misconceptions that need to be corrected. To design this quality assessment, teachers must begin with the learning goals first. Meyer et al. (2014) state, “Clear learning goals are the foundation of any effective curriculum. Only by clarifying what we want to accomplish and when-in the next 10 minutes, in the next lesson, in the next year - can we begin to consider what assessments, methods, and materials will be most effective” (p. 70). Once clear goals are established, teachers can begin to craft lessons and assessments that acquire students’ understanding. By everyone knowing the goals, students and teachers can both find success in the classroom and see the benefit of assessments. Assessment comes in many forms.Assessment can come in many different forms. However, again, they need to be of quality no matter the form and keep the learning goals as their focus. Right now, at least in my experience, this is not the case, for multiple reasons. According to Lorrie A. Shepard (2000), “many teachers rely on a traditional, pre-test-posttest design to document student progress, but then do not use information from the pretest in instruction” (p.11). This system of pre-test and post-test has become ingrained in many classrooms, as teachers are asked to provide data showing student growth. While this could be used as a growth measure, many teachers, as Shepard suggested, do not analyze the pre-test data enough to adjust their instruction. Also, many assessments today force students into using memorization strategies to do well, instead of applying concepts they’ve learned. After Black and Wiliam reviewed 578 publications, it was determined that most classroom assessment today “typically encourages superficial and rote learning, concentrating on recall of isolated details, usually items of knowledge which pupils soon forget…” (Hattie and Timperley, 2007, p.101). Students study and memorize content, only to forget it after the assessment. This is unacceptable and teachers need to focus on creating assessments, whether electronic or on paper, that are of value, are goal-focused, and do not promote recall in any way. Assessments can take many forms, but they need to have a quality purpose at the same time. Assessment needs time.In order for assessments to be beneficial and engaging, teachers need time, support, and collaboration to create them. When designing assessments, Hattie and Timperley (2007) suggest that teachers should be “devising assessment tasks that provide information and interpretations about the discrepancy between current status and the learning goals at any of the three levels: about tasks, about the processes or strategies to understand the tasks, and about the regulation engagement, and confidence to become more committed to learn” (p.101). That way, teachers are providing students with information about the task, the process, and building their confidence to achieve the designated learning goal. That needs time. Many researchers also recommend that teachers get collaboration time, in order for other teachers to examine and critique teacher-made assessments. Wiggins and McTighe (2005) wrote, “Participants in peer review sessions regularly comment on the value of sharing and discussing curriculum and assessment designs with colleagues” (p. 27). This collaboration can allow teachers to receive feedback and share ideas about their assessments. It also enables their assessments to be checked for bias, which helps all students show their understanding in the most accurate way. This all takes time and teachers need it to create valuable, creative, engaging, goal-oriented assessments. Change in Beliefs:While my views on assessment never really changed, they did become stronger reading through a lot of the research. Every time I was introduced to a concept, like feedback, universal design for learning, game-based assessment, etc., it always seemed to connect to one of these main ideas. I really appreciated updating my Assessment Design Checklist with new criteria for teacher-made assessments. In my first blog post about assessment, I stated that assessment is beneficial due to the feedback that teachers and students receive. While this is true, that can only happen if students truly understand the learning goals and the assessments align with them. I’d always thought about making my assessments more goal-oriented and that is supported by research. Black and Wiliam support this statement by stating, “...pupils can assess themselves only when they have a sufficiently clear picture of the targets that their learning is meant to attain” (p. 143). The self-assessment is something that I feel I don’t challenge my students to do often, especially when I’m not confident they understand the true learning targets. However, that piece is vital to making an assessment beneficial in the classroom and therefore, it would be a phenomenal contribution to my learning environment to make some changes. Application of Beliefs:Learning more about how assessments should really assess the learning goals made me think that my classroom as a whole should be more goal-driven. Students should understand the goals and be able to successfully self-assess their progress toward those goals. A lot of my 8th-grade Literature class is about preparation for high school and if students can master the goals in my class, they are more than ready to continue on in their journey. Black and Wiliam (1998) argue, “What is needed is a culture of success, backed by a belief that all pupils can achieve” (p.142). This belief system is definitely something I want to promote with my students, where students support one another as we all work to obtain the same goals. Hopefully, by changing the mindset in my classroom and promoting the achievement of goals, students will be able to take ownership of their learning and truly put in their best effort. The assessments then serve as self-assessments and opportunities for me as the teacher to inform and support my students. For example, instead of asking students to recall details of a book they read, I will challenge them to cite evidence from the novel that supports their response to a given prompt. This shift in mindset was crucial for me and I hope it will be for my students too. With everything going on in our world today, the assessments that I create should not only be goal-oriented and engaging but also free from testing memorization and promoting any bias. “Perhaps most important, assessment tools should be just as diverse as the students who take them” (Milner, 2018, p.88-89). Assessments should be diverse in all types of ways, from form to goal to task. This will cause students to feel more engaged in my class, which may support them to become lifelong learners. According to Gee (2003), “...most important, people need to be able to learn to be literate in new semiotic domains throughout their lives” (p.19). Students need to learn all kinds of content throughout life, but by establishing clear goals and assessing themselves along the way, students are on track for success both inside and outside the classroom. ReferencesBlack, P. & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. The Phi Delta Kappan, 80(2), 139-144, 146-148.
Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112. Meyer, A. Rose, D.H., & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal design for learning: Theory and practice. Wakefield, MA: CAST. Milner, H.R. (2018). Confronting inequity/assessment for equity. Educational Leadership, 75(5), 88-89. Shepard, L. (2000). The role of assessment in a learning culture. Educational Researcher, 29(7), 4-14. Wiggins, G.P. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
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After receiving feedback on my formative assessment design, I’ve added some details to my assessment to make it stronger. Here is what I came up with:
Background
In my eighth-grade Literature class, we write two large essays. And yes, I said we, because I write them too, to model the structure for the students. Before we start the essay, I give the students the rubric, which they refer back to constantly throughout the unit. While that is beneficial, I think increasing the amount of formative assessment within the unit would allow for more feedback, more self-reflection, and more information on what to reteach. Here is the assessment:
Purpose and Bigger Picture
This assessment will correspond well with the Common Core State Standards that I teach. It aligns with standard 8.1.A., which is all about introducing a claim and reasons logically. This assessment also allows students to analyze if they are on the right track and if they are understanding the concept. While this assessment may lend itself to feedback on the specific task, there may be times when I need to comment on the process of achieving the task as well. Since this is one of the first assessments of the writing unit, students will begin to understand that if they don’t meet this crucial goal, they cannot move on to the next step. This quick formative assessment gives me data to see which students I may need to target for reteaching during our remediation time.
Description
When writing these essays, I spend a day or two on each component. One of the most challenging concepts for my students is the thesis, or in terms of their argumentative essay, the claim statement. It is important to note that the students are allowed the freedom to choose their topic and stance for their argumentative essay, so all of their claim statements are different. A basic, but well-structured claim would be written like: "Smoking cigarettes should be made illegal as it is unhealthy, expensive, and hazardous to others." This claim is strong and also provides the reader with the main points of the argument and the supporting evidence that will be provided throughout the essay.
Pre-Assessment
As I mentioned above, this assessment would serve as the first formative check, to make sure the students and I understand that the task has been grasped before we continue. Before this assessment, I have distributed the overall rubric for the summative assessment and informed the students of the individual goals that we will be trying to meet. We will have also discussed why essay writing is an important skill and compared our goals or learning targets to the rubric for high school writing. The first step in our essay writing process is brainstorming, so students typically have figured out their topic and have some basic logic to support their reasoning before writing their claim. Right before this assessment is given, I have modeled and drafted several examples of a proper claim statement, including getting rid of “I think” or “In my opinion,” as well as being sure to include the reasons that a student might have for their claim. My modeling is very dramatic and repetitive to make sure that students understand exactly how to write their claims. I wanted to be abundantly clear with the goal and the reason we strive to achieve it, so I added it as a few reminders into the Google Form.
Instructions and Use
As we wrap up the day’s lesson, I will ask students to get their assigned Chromebook from the cart. I will then verbally and visually (on the projector) inform them to go to their Google Classroom, where I have sent them this form to fill out. I will make sure to tell them to take it seriously. They can use their notebooks to copy their statements and may put their computers away once they have submitted the survey. I will then walk around the room answering any questions and monitoring computer use. This way, students are practicing their use of the computer, Google Classroom, and Google Forms. I've also considered making this form into more of a discussion board (like Padlet or Google Jamboard) for students to be able to help one another, which will be extremely beneficial if students are taught remotely this year. Upon receiving their answers, I can quickly flip through and see who has met the task, who may be struggling to come up with reasoning, who may need sentence structure help, and possibly even who may need help with spelling and grammar.
Post-Assessment
The issue then becomes how to give students individualized feedback. I cannot comment back on the information they have provided me directly. However, it was suggested to me that I could look at the data and place students into groups based on their responses. That way, they could collaborate and help one another achieve the goal. I also changed the form to offer a question about what the student would like feedback on the most, because then I know which element to prioritize when giving feedback individually. Once I have provided feedback and have collected data on who may need reteaching or assistance, I ask those students to come in my room for our remediation time, which currently occurs three times a week. I sometimes work with students one on one or reteach and model to the entire group. I start brainstorming and discussing with small groups on how they can assist each other. By then hopefully, they have met the target and are ready to continue. In class, we move along to creating an introduction using our claim statement, developing body paragraph structure, citing evidence properly, and drafting a solid conclusion. All of these elements deserve a similar formative assessment, as only in this way will students be able to self-assess and receive feedback. At the end of the unit, students will have revised and submitted their final essay as a summative assessment of their work. I believe this assessment is important as a checkpoint in the summative process and achieving one of the first steps.
Future Plans
I would love to find a different tool to host this assessment, because I want students to fill it out and I can give feedback to them based on their responses. With Google Forms, there aren’t a lot of options for me to give feedback to students. Once submitted, I would like to be able to quickly read the data (not in a spreadsheet) and type a comment back to them that they will then receive electronically. I’d love to leave comments that not only affirm to students that they have crafted the sentence correctly, but also give them feedback on how to develop that topic or evidence even further. By typing a comment somewhere, their feedback is private to them and I can request for those students to see me during remediation. I like the questions I am asking and the data that I will hopefully acquire. Hopefully I am introduced to a tool that does just this in the near future.
Upon completing my Assessment Design Checklist, I realized that something was missing. Yes, assessments should connect to learning goals and promote deeper understanding. Yes, they should allow for feedback and align well with concepts in a given school district. Yes, they should be accessible and engaging, but shouldn't they also be fair? With today's news surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, it was definitely important to me to promote equity in my classroom as well. Teachers need to be more mindful about what biases they may bring into their schools, whether they feel they have biases or not. It's important to become more knowledgeable about bias and how it impacts certain students. Therefore, I revised my checklist to include a criterion surrounding equity and removal of bias in an assessment. Check it out here or below:
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Jennifer StirlingThis is my #MAET journey! Thanks for reading! Archives
August 2020
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