2 posts tagged “assessment”

...... that I am tired of the current trend in education that if we just rearrange how we figure grades that children will appear to be learning more and therefore, they did - all without any further effort on the part of the kids, or the teachers?

Formative assessment, the walking around the room and working with students until you know that everyone "got it" before you give a quiz or test is and always has been a part of my style.  Letting a kid do 3 extra problems to make up for the ones he bombed on the last test but now knows well how to do is something that most of us have done at one time or another.  Assigning a "group grade" just because we are too lazy to let each kid show what he knows has never been part of my practice.  I take late work when there's a reason - even if the reason is, "I didn't quite understand this so could you help me after school and I can turn it in tomorrow."

I cannot in good conscience let a kid have the same high grade when he turns something in 4 weeks after his classmates turned theirs in on the deadline (see above for late work).  I cannot give a kid 50% when he did not make any attempt to submit an assignment.  Every assignment, yes EVERY assignment that is scored in my classroom demonstrates a student's mastery of science standards or building goals as stated in our School Improvement Plan.  For me to mark off an assignment as half-done when in fact the student showed no mastery of a standard being measured is just not valid. The student did not "half-way" master something when there is no evidence.

This takes us full cycle to the late work issue.  If a kid does not complete something, should I mark it with an I and give him extended time to show that he can meet the standard?  How much time?  My principal doesn't have a problem with a student carrying an I in a sophomore class until the week before graduation, when he suddenly realizes that he needed to submit that photosynthesis lab to get credit for 1st semester biology.  The kid should be able to come to me and do the lab at that time, for full credit.  What?  I would have to spend a few hours re-teaching the concepts and helping him do a prelab write-up including safety,  procuring materials, making the sodium bicarbonate and bromthymol blue solutions, help him set up, hang around each day for a week while he records a daily measurement, and then help him through the data analysis and conclusion.  Oh, he could just do some lame simulation or alternative lab, maybe online?  I should have a video copy of the lab available for cases just like this (made with my own videocamera because my building does not have one)? 

Which brings us to the issue that we already face by taking late work when students choose to do it - our time.  When I assign something to be due on say, Tuesday, I usually have blocked 1-4 hours off that evening to grade/assess/give feedback.whatever the assignment.  When I get only 70% (on a good day) of those assignments, that means the rest will come in the week grades are due because someone's parent decides they need to pass (get a C, a B, whatever.)  Forget that I might have had a committment on my own time that week. I get to score the work and make sure the grade is recorded before the onnline gradebook closes up at the stroke of midnight.

My solutions:
1.  All assignments not submitted on time automatically revert to the alternate assignment.  This is either something more difficult for the student but simpler for me to assess, or a simple textbook worksheet packet that the student comes in after school and corrects himself.  Little or no time on my part. 
2.  We will take photos of all labs in progress and keep a sample set of reasonable data.  The procrastinator can then do the normal write-up, look at teh pictures, and use the data to do an analysis.  As I see it, the standard for lab technique would not have been met, so there will be some kind of grade penalty for not meeting that standard.  The assessment-for-learning purists would argue that this is a performance or behavior thing and should not be assessed at all, but I will disagree.  Perhaps they would be pleased with a dental hygenist who's never actually worked on a live person, but who's watched lots of movies about cleaning teeth. 
3.  No summative assessment (test or quiz) will be given until a student has completed the "formative," practice, or whatever.  On test day, the student will work on making things up while the others take the test.  He can then take the test on his own time, later.  Whenever is fine.  It will be an alternative test, possibly essay.

whew.  Do I have a plan here, or what?  I'm all for fair assessment and have been during all of my 20 years in the classroom.  I also insist on a reasonable dose of accountability and the effort to learn from my students.  Is that wrong?  

So here I am at a workshop last week with my principal, AP, and 3 colleagues. They are all scrambling to fill out their clock hour forms and grumbling while I am sipping a nice cup of coffee and reading my email. "You know you need to do this clock hour form, Luann," my principal said to me.
"Thanks. I really don't need them, " I replied.
She looked shocked. "How can you not need them?"
"I renewed my national board certificate so in Washington, I'm good until June 2019."
"You mean all you had to do was sign something instead of doing clock hours?"

My principal continued to be enraged that when I arrived in Washington from another state, I was immediately granted a professional certificate in Science. Only Science, mind you, even though my out-of state certificate has an old Comprehensive Science which was the equivalent of one major science field and an academic minor in 3 others (Earth and Space, Chemistry, Biology, Physics are the 4 fields) each individual cert endorsement, and all math 7-12, and that I have countless hours in both education and the sciences, at the graduate level, 20 years in the high school classroom, a few years teaching at 2 state universities, and am completing a doctorate in science education in a program that required original research in both a science field and science education, and a dissertation with more rigor than I've seen completed by doc students at UW.  I did go take the Praxis II in Chemistry ( I didn't miss any questions) and Biology and Physics ( I got the overachiever certificate thingy.) 

The conference was a great learning experience for us as we are beginning to implement standards-based grading.  Of course I want to "grade" my students in the most fair way, a way that shows everyone's alignment with standards,  in the most accurate and reliable way possible.  In reality, I've embraced many of the philosophies presented at the conference in a more informal way.  I've not "graded" homework for many years, as such.  Given a few token points for completing it, because this gives students confidence and a sense of accomplishment, but not ever demonstrated a technique on one day and expected students to hand me a perfectly completed problem set the next day. I've said to a kid, "No, you are not ready to take a test today.  Let's do yours tomorrow after we talk."  I've taken late assignments with no penalty because of some circumstance, like, "I just didn't get this one - may I have a little longer to work on this?"  I don't give a rip about tardies or attendance so long as the kid can do what's expected and don't disrupt class by making a grand entrance (yes they have to come in on their own to make up labs.) I've marked different assignments "no count"when completing the assignment didn't seem to impact the student's real learning and mastery of a standard. I could go on .......

We can't fix what's going on in education right now just by changing our assessment methods.  It takes a deeper approach, beginning with the engagement of students and holding them accountable for their learning.  The learning certainly takes place at a different pace for different students, each student benefiting from different approaches to the standard to be mastered.  Although I saw in almost every presentation at the conference that it was important for students to know their learning targets,  where they are in the progression of that learning, and how to get to mastery level for each target standard, I don't think my principal saw that.  I think she truly believes that if we just allow late work into infinity and don't include a mark of zero, ever, that grades will look good and students will be "successful."  I wholeheartedly disagree.  Fair assessment is essential and as with my entire teaching practice, I am always looking for a better way  - but if there is no learning, what is there to assess?

Apparently, although we as NBCT's attempt to educate our administrators about the certification process and how valuable it is in shaping our practices in ways that lead to above average gains in student learning, we still have work to do. We've talked and are not sure that we like the direction our administrators are taking - administrators who were not strong educators and who have no real clue what good teaching IS - and are going underground with our efforts; grassroots, if you will.  My plan is to get together a group of NBCT's in my district for some discussion, and I have a few plans in mind.  I'll let you know how it goes.