Research and Perspectives on Classroom Assessments
This week BBC posted an article about an assessment question that appeared on a 5th grade exam in China. (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-42857864 )It was supposed to be a critical thinking question, but ended up being impossible to solve by students and educators alike. Many educators and press criticized their education department for posting such an impossible question.
Yet, all I thought was they tried. Yes, they failed. But they tried.
Sometimes as educators and adults in general, we forget that part of the improvement process is trail and error. But how do we make sure that we are improving and not repeating the same mistakes? Especially when it comes to assessments.
Next month I am starting a new job and my new boss is eager to find news ways in which technology can be incorporated into the classroom, especially in the area of assessments. While I am extremely eager to test out different kinds strategies, I am honestly very nervous. I am worried that I will not accurately assess my students, that I will place either to high or to low of standards on them, or that I ineffectively use the technology that is available for me.
The article by Rebecca Anderson brought some hope. In it Anderson (1998) beautifully states that, "students and instructors are co-learners, freely expressing and testing their ideas together." She goes on to explain practical ways that students can be involved in the assessment process (i.e. developing rubrics, providing valuable feedback, deciding objectives.) By getting students involved in the process, one is able to create deeper and more effective assessments. This can only be done if there is clear communication and if students are allowed to take ownership of the learning process.
Anderson's (1998) article gave me a good starting foundation for my new students, by providing solutions for some of my assessment fears. With this knowledge I know have a better understanding of how to create assessments that will be beneficial to both myself and my students.
I am currently teaching my students the song Try Everything from the movie Zootopia. In part of the song the lyrics are "I'll keep on making those new mistakes. I'll keep on making them everyday, those new mistakes."
New mistakes. Those words sunk in deep.
Yes, as an educator I will keep making mistakes. It is inevitable. However, the mistakes I make should be new mistakes. Not repeated multiple times.
I believe that creating a learning environment like the one described in Anderson's (1998) article will help in eliminating many unnecessary mistakes because it will create a culture where students and teacher have co-ownership in the overall learning process.
NOTE: I absolutely love China and the Chinese people. Some of my fondest memories are in that country. So to read this in the news actually saddened me.
Good understanding and thoughtful reflection Angela, I really liked you acknowledged teaching is more a co-labor process (students-instruction co-ownership and negotiating process on the fly). As we deeply discussed thus far, no matter what forms/models/ways of assessments are, the substance of assessment is the same: collecting and analyzing the evidence so as to accurately communicate student's learning. Yet, the unit of analysis is different based upon the relevant perspectives. One thing that I'd like to add and challenge you to think is that of the evidence of assessment. There are two types of evidence of learning that we can collect and analyze: direct and indirect. Direct evidence deals with the question of "what did the student learn? (e.g., sample of student work, quiz, etc.)" whereas Indirect evidence answers the question of "what do students report they've learned?(e.g., survey, course evaluation, etc.)" As far as good assessment practice is concerned, we need to have richer, multiple forms of evidence. The Unit 1 survey I collected and analyzed was an example of indirect evidence of assessment. And this could also be regarded as one of the examples of creating co-ownership for assessment practice. As you understood already, good assessment is not uni-dimensional, rather multi-demential (having multiple forms of evidence), with the goal of using assessment as an authentic/genuine communication mechanism for student's learning.
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