Minutes with Charlie 9
By Charlie | March 4, 2008
Three questions confront students in the learning process. In order to succeed in the mission of learning, the students must be able to answer all three. A quality classroom assessment program provides the student with the answer to all three on a regular basis.
The first of the three questions is “Where am I going on this learning journey?” This we addressed in Minutes with Charlie 7.
The second of the three questions is “Where am I on this learning journey?” This we addressed in Minutes 8.
The third question a student asks is “How do I close the gap between where I am and where I’m going?” We will address this question in this Minutes.
If a student does not know what steps to take to draw closer to the target he is handicapped in his efforts to get there and we as educators are greatly impeded in our efforts to get him there.
As we saw in Minutes 8, the importance of descriptive feedback that focuses upon a student’s accomplishments (strengths) as well as on what needs to be done to improve is non-negotiable if we are to impact student learning. In addition we spoke of the importance of investing time in training the students to self-assess against a clearly defined, articulated, and understood learning target or standard. There are several important steps teachers can and should make to bring the student to a clear understanding of his next steps in closing this gap.
First, if a student is to manage his learning and determine the next steps of learning from his self-assessment, there must be a manageable number of learning targets to address. It is important to narrow the number of learning targets for which we expect students to self-assess and address at a given time. This is particularly beneficial for struggling learners. Students are no more able to incorporate new learning in large bundles than are adults.
Second, we educators must train our students to, after they self-asses to do focused revision of their work. We must show and train students to revise an answer, product, or performance. This is a process that involves clear standards of quality performance, self-assessment, and analyzing work to determine how to improve.
Finally we should engage students in self-reflection and the tracking of their learning. With clearly defined learning targets, examples of quality work, descriptive feedback, self-assessment, and focused revision, students are in a position to become possessors of an understanding of their learning and able to track it over time. This becomes the factor that glues the other elements together and propels the student to true ownership of learning.
It is important to notice that the components involved in answer these questions form a progression of skills Teachers cannot give descriptive feedback in the absence of clear targets. A student cannot self-assess in the absence of quality examples of the targets. Educators must develop these components in progression, not in a “pick what you like most” fashion.
We must make concerted efforts to insure that students can answer the three questions of, Where am I going?, Where am I now?, and How can I close the gap? For too many years students have been left to solitary efforts to advance in learning without having the answer to these questions.
Personal Reflection: Do I invest time and effort to enable my students to take possession of their learning? Can my students answer these questions in a consistent, regular manner?
Topics: Minutes with Charlie, Student Involvement | No Comments »
Data Driven or Driven to Data?
By Charlie | February 28, 2008
One of the essential purposes of quality classroom assessment is to produce and record data by which teachers and students can make instructional and learning decisions. We are quite accustomed to working with data derived from standardized assessment whether they be state assessments such as TAKS or local assessments such as district checkpoints. We have learned to manipulate the data, combining various filters and looking from different lenses to gain information on student progress.
However, we seem to be somewhat limited in our use of data from classroom assessment. In fact, we tend to limit it to a grade average. An important question is how can we use quality classroom assessments to produce, collect, and use data that will impact our decisions regarding student learning and instruction? Will you share with us some of the types of data and uses of data derived from classroom assessments that you have used?
Topics: Data | No Comments »
Minutes with Charlie - Eight
By Charlie | February 26, 2008
Three questions confront students in the learning process. In order to succeed in the mission of learning, the students must be able to answer all three. A quality classroom assessment program provides the student with the answer to all three on a regular basis.
The second of the three questions is “Where am I on this learning journey?”
If a student does not know his current position of progress toward reaching a learning target, the difficulty of reaching it is greatly increased. It is quite similar to someone on a journey who knows the destination, but has no idea where they are located relative to their destination. There are more ways to go wrong than there are to go right.
A quality classroom assessment program provides the answer to this question with accuracy and in a timely manner to prevent the student from wasting time going the wrong direction or standing still. It does so by using two essential components or competencies.
The first essential component is that of providing the student with quality descriptive feedback. As a general rule, a teacher skilled (and it is a skill that can be taught and developed) at providing descriptive feedback has students who more quickly and more consistently hit and exceed learning targets.
Descriptive feedback should reflect student strengths and weakness regarding a specific learning target or targets of an assignment. It is most effective when it has a dual focus upon what the student is doing right as well as specifics on what they need to work on next in order to advance toward the target.
Descriptive feedback is not evaluative as in a grade. Neither is it ambiguous such as “good job”. A grade and “good job” type comments do not provide students with the direction they need to improve performance. Good descriptive feedback always provides that direction.
Descriptive feedback should be focused upon a limited number of aspects of the learning target and not address every fault or weakness the student may possess.
The second essential component or competency is teaching the student to self-assess and set goals. Having already provided clear targets and samples of high quality work and having already modeled descriptive feedback, the next step is to teach the student to self-assess against the standard of excellence.
We get considerable improvement when the teacher provides descriptive feedback, but the real bang for the buck comes when the student has learned to self-assess performance against the standard.
When a student can accurately measure progress, set goals for improvement, and plot the next steps in improvement a tremendous degree of motivation and responsibility sets in for the student. At this point again, it is the lowest achieving students who advance the most and the quickest as they learn to self-assess and set personal goals.
As students learn to self-assess they also become much more adept at providing descriptive feedback to peers in a standards/criteria based assessment system.
These two components work hand in hand. The teacher never gets out of the descriptive feedback business. Yet, as the students learn to self-assess against a standard, the teacher’s efforts are essential doubled.
Personal Reflection: Does the feedback I provide students give them direction as to what they need to do to improve? Do my students know how to self-assess with accuracy and set goals?
Topics: Feedback, Minutes with Charlie, Quality Assessment Components | No Comments »
Thoughts on Learning Targets
By Charlie | February 22, 2008
One of the core competencies of classroom assessment is the presence of clearly defined, understood, and articulated learning targets. If a learning target is not clearly defined we will have the teacher instructing in a quite unfocused manner as well as the student aiming at an unclear target. If it is clearly defined, it is of little value if either the teacher or the student does not have a good understanding of the target in the sense of “I know what quality looks like in this target”. Finally if the target is clearly defined and understood, both the teacher and the student should be able to articulate in user friendly language a good description of the learning target. If a learning target comes up short on any of these three items (clearly defined, understood, and articulated), the benefit it contributes to student learning is greatly reduced.
Speaking of benefit of established and posted learning targets, the research on this topics indicates when done well and in the proper timeframe, just simply using and posting learning targets results in somewhere around a 20 percentile point gain in student performance.
This is an easy component of quality classroom assessment to implement and brings almost immediate benefit to both the teacher and the students. However, there are a number of ways that learning targets can be used in the classroom. I would appreciate you sharing your thoughts and experiences in the use of learning targets in classroom assessment.
Topics: Learning Targets | 2 Comments »
“Feedback” - What Difference Does It Make?
By Charlie | February 22, 2008
Feedback given to students from teachers often serves to be the hinge-pin upon which the success or failure of student learning swings. Feedback can be both the instrument that serves to propel a student to greater learning or an instrument that stifles any advancement in learning or even the motivation to learn.
The difference between the two extremes lies in the nature of the feedback. In general, feedback falls either into the evaluative feedback or descriptive feedback. The former stifles learning and motivation while the latter encourages students to learn and facilitates that learning. So understanding the difference is essential.
Evaluative feedback consists essentially of feedback that judges the student’s work and assigns some sort of evaluation usually in the form of a grade. Regarding learning targets, evaluative feedback consists of a simple “you hit the target” or “you missed the target” or maybe “you missed the target by this much”.
Descriptive feedback consists of sharing with students specifics on their progress toward the target. It includes comments on specific things students need to change in their performance in order to improve. The classic example of descriptive feedback is that of a coach teaching athletics to improve their performance or music teachers working with students to improve their musical ability. Coaches never simply say, “you didn’t swim fast enough”. Instead, they tell the swimmer how to improve their stroke to increase speed or reduce drag. Classroom teachers, when operating from a clearly defined, understood, and articulated learning targets can provide the same type of feedback to the learners by telling them specifically what they need to improve to come closer to hitting the target.
Please share with the BISD assessment community your thoughts or experiences with feedback to students. It is not an easy or automatic proceedure to provide descriptive feedback.
Topics: Feedback | 1 Comment »
Minutes with Charlie 7
By Charlie | February 19, 2008
Three questions confront students in the learning process. In order to succeed in the mission of learning, the students must be able to answer all three. A quality classroom assessment program provides the student with the answer to all three on a regular basis.
The first of the three questions is “Where am I going on this learning journey?”
If a student does not understand what they are to learn to know and be able to do, the chances of them knowing and being able to do it are greatly reduced, if not eliminated.
A quality classroom assessment program addresses this question with two essential components or competencies.
The first component is clearly defined, articulated, and understood learning targets. They must be clearly defined in that they are focused upon specific learning goals that are appropriate for the students. They must be articulated by both the teacher and the student. If both the teacher and the student cannot articulate the learning targets, we can be pretty well assured that they are not clear learning targets. Finally, they must be understood by both teacher and student. At first it seems that if one can articulate the target, it should be understood. However, from experience we know that this is not the case. Students can often repeat what they have been told and be void of understanding.
Often we find teachers listing a learning target that is either actually an activity (not a learning target) or is stated in terms that virtually eliminate any chance of the student understanding.
An activity is usually expressed in terms of what a student will do while a learning target is usually expressed in terms of what the student will understand.
The learning target should be articulated in student friendly language without compromising the target itself. I have found the pattern of “I am learning to . . . .” is a form that is useful in simplifying learning targets into student friendly language.
The second component of classroom assessment that assists students in answering the question of “Where am I going?” is the provision of clear examples of good or strong and poor or weak quality work. All too often as teachers we ask our students to complete a task when they have no idea what a good final product should look like. It is essential to their learning that we provide them, prior to starting the project, with clear examples of what are considered quality work. This gives them a clear standard against which to measure their work and performance.
I have been asked a number of times something along the lines of, “But what if my assessments don’t lend themselves to examples of high quality? How do you give an example of high quality multiple choice answers?” To this question I give a two part answer: (1) While there are several assessment methods that do not lend themselves to providing good examples, there are few learning targets that do not lend themselves to providing good examples, and (2) if most of our assessments are of the type that do not provide examples of quality, we should carefully examine both our learning targets and our assessments since it would appear we are missing some tremendous opportunities.
Personal Reflection: Am I providing my students with a clear answer to the question “Where am I going in this learning?” Do I, as a matter of course, provide clearly defined, articulated, and understood learning targets in student friendly language? Do my students have examples of good and poor quality evidence of this learning?
Topics: Learning Targets, Minutes with Charlie | No Comments »
Minutes with Charlie 6
By Charlie | February 19, 2008
“Student involved classroom assessment” should be as normal in our classrooms as “student involved classroom learning”. Yet, as we strive to insure the student is actively engaged in learning we have not taken steps to likewise insure that the student is involved in assessment.
We easily see where and why students should be involved in a variety of learning opportunities, but it is not so clear to us where and why the students should be involved in the assessment process. It is often difficult to see the connection between the two. I would like to explore briefly what it means to have students involved classroom assessment and then address the connection between student involvement in learning and student involvement in assessment.
Student involvement in classroom assessment deals with students being actively involved in four areas of the assessment process. These areas largely reflect the last four areas mentioned previously regarding the role of the teacher in formative assessments.
First, students should clearly know and understand the learning target to be assessed. If a student cannot accurately describe the learning target and does not have a clear understanding of the quality of work required to hit that target, he is not involved in this stage of classroom assessment.
Second, based upon his performance on classroom formative assessment, the student should know and be able to explain his progress on the road to hitting the target. This involves a specificity that far exceeds knowing his grade average on a test. A student involved in classroom assessment can describe both his strengths and weaknesses in hitting the target.
Third, based upon the results of formative assessments a student should be able to describe the next steps he needs to take to improve his performance. Just as a teacher uses the results of formative assessments to plan instruction, the student uses the results to plan steps to improvement and greater learning. A student that cannot describe the next stages of his learning and what he will do to improve is not involved in this stage of assessment.
Finally, a student should be able to accurately communicate and provide evidence of his progress toward hitting the target. This communication should be more than a grade average. One of the most powerful assessment communication tools is the student led parent conferences where the student is able to describe to the parents, in the presence of the teacher, the learning target, examples of the standards of excellence , his progress toward excellence, and the steps he will take to improve.
The primary connection between student involvement in learning and assessment lies in the area of student motivation. As educators we readily recognize that if a student is not motivated to learn, little learning occurs. If a student checks out of the learning process and decides that he is either not willing or able to learn, there is little we can do to promote learning. On the contrary, we all know that when a student is motivated to learn, they often make great leaps of learning despite considerable obstacles. Involvement in the assessment process provides the needed ingredients to enhance motivation to learn, increases engagement in learning, and improves student performance.
Personal Reflection: As a general rule, are my students regularly and actively involved in these areas of classroom assessment? Am I providing this motivational tool to my students?
Topics: Minutes with Charlie, Student Involvement | No Comments »
Minutes with Charlie 5
By Charlie | January 28, 2008
Much has been said, written, discussed, and debated regarding the concepts “Assessment OF Learning” and “Assessment FOR Learning”. It seems that the more these broad types of assessment are discussed, the more confusion seems to reign. It appears to me that one of the most common and most destructive confusions is the view that we have assessment OF learning and assessment FOR learning and never the twain shall meet. There is an idea that somehow one is more important than the other or somehow superior to the other. I want to address in these few minutes the connection between and the role of these two valid types of assessment. First, a brief description of each is in order.
Assessments OF Learning are those assessments that happen after the learning is supposed to have taken place for the express purpose of determining if it did indeed occur. These usually take place at the end of a unit of study. In the classroom they are used to determine a grade for the unit of study.
Assessment FOR Learning occurs while the learning is still in process. These are assessments teachers conduct throughout the teaching and learning process to determine student needs in learning (i.e. misunderstandings, etc.), give teacher information to plan next steps in instruction, provide students with descriptive feedback, and give students a clear picture of their next step in learning. These assessments should not enter into the grading picture. Assessment FOR Learning is not an assessment for the purpose of accountability – it is an assessment FOR the purpose of learning.
It is important to note the commonalities between the two. Both are assessments. .Note that both focus upon “learning”. If we are ever guilty of giving an assessment in the classroom that does not somehow focus upon learning, then the assessment is certainly suspect.
In that they both focus upon learning they both also are related to instruction. Assessment OF Learning gives a teacher insight into just how effective they were in instruction. Assessment FOR Learning gives teachers insight into the next steps in classroom instruction.
Assessments OF and assessments FOR learning are different in that they serve fundamentally different purposes. Our success as educators depends upon our learning to use a balance between the two to insure and enhance student learning and performance.
The role of the teacher in assessment OF learning is:
- Administer accurate assessments, and
- Use sound grading practices.
The role of the teacher in assessment FOR learning is a bit more involved:
- Become a confident, competent master of the standards they are teaching
- Deconstruct the standards into classroom learning targets that form the learning steps that lead the student to the mastery of the standard,
- Convert the learning targets to student friendly statements of learning targets,
- Create high quality classroom assessments that reflect those targets,
- Use those assessments to track improvement over time, and
- Plan and prepare classroom instruction based upon the results of the classroom assessments.
Next we must consider the role of the student in each of these assessments. Just as a failure of the teacher to consistently fulfill his role in each type of assessment will greatly limit the quality of instruction and extent of learning, the same is true for the student. If the student fails to fulfill his role in each assessment category, learning will be greatly impeded.
Personal Reflection: Do I understand the categories of assessment? Do I consistently fulfill my role in each?
Topics: Assessment FOR Learning, Minutes with Charlie | No Comments »
Minutes with Charlie 4
By Charlie | January 21, 2008
We now approach an often overlooked, vitally important, underestimated, misunderstood, incredibly powerful fifth key to quality classroom assessment: student involvement.
The single most important user of assessment results is the student. Yet, all too often the student gets only a grade that at best is an ambiguous report of the result of enigmatic assessment that gives unclear direction. Unfortunately the idea of student involvement in classroom assessment is understood to mean that the student makes the test and the teacher gives the test.
Student involvement in classroom assessment consists of individual students being actively involved in self-assessment, recording keeping (progress monitoring), decision making, and the clear communication of results.
If students and teachers are to reap the tremendous benefits promised in classroom assessments, students must be trained and must practice the skill of self-assessment. All too often it is the professionals involved in the teaching that assesses the student rather than the person involved in the learning. In order for an individual to improve his performance (in this case learning), he must clearly know and understand what constitutes excellence in performance, where he currently abides on the path to excellence, and what steps he must take to draw closer to that goal. As a student learns to compare his work to the standard of excellence in an independent, self-assessing manner, he begins the process of self-assessment. The second stage of self-assessment comes as the student learns, upon recognizing the difference between his performance and excellence, to recognize the steps or changes he must make to improve.
An invaluable component of student self-assessment comes in the form of timely, descriptive feedback to the student from the teacher. This is perhaps the most powerful tool in the teacher tool box for helping students learn to self-assess.
A very powerful transformation takes place as the learner becomes proficient at self-assessment.
The second aspect of student involved classroom assessment comes in the form of the student being involved in record keeping. This deals with the student tracking his progress toward excellence in measurable ways. Included in this aspect is goal setting. Beginning with the end in mind, setting goals that are attainable and focused, and tracking progress toward those goals assist the student in developing and maintaining an intrinsic motivation.
Finally, student involved classroom assessment regards involving the student in communication about learning. The students should be able to clearly communicate their learning goals, their progress toward those goals, and the steps they are taking to reach those goals. This communication needs to be both with teachers and parents. This is a clear indication of authentic student involvement.
So, these are the five keys of quality assessment that we have examined:
- Establish a clear purpose for the assessment.
- Produce clearly defined, articulated, and understood learning targets,
- Insure a sound assessment design,
- Practice good communication regarding assessments and their results, and
- Work to insure student involvement in the classroom assessment process.
Personal Reflection: If I were to rate my common practice of these items in my classroom assessment from 0 to 5, with zero being “never do that” and five being “I do it on a constant basis with quality”, what would my sum be over the five keys of assessment quality? What can I do now to improve that sum?
Topics: Minutes with Charlie, Quality Assessment Components, Student Involvement | No Comments »
Minutes with Charlie 3
By Charlie | January 14, 2008
We continue with our discussion of the five keys of quality assessment. We have already mentioned the first key of a clear purpose of the assessment and the second key of having a clearly defined, articulated, and understood learning targets.
As mentioned previously the third key centers upon a sound assessment design. Most of us have our favorite type of assessment. It could be our favorite because it is the type we do better with. It could be our favorite because we feel the most confident in its administration. It could be our favorite because we believe it gives the most objective results. It could be our favorite because it is the type with which we have the most experience. Whatever the reason, the fact that it is our favorite has nothing to do with having a sound assessment design.
The design of our assessment is determined by the purpose of our assessment and the learning targets we plan to assess. Basically there are four broad types of classroom assessment: selected response, extended written response, performance assessment, and personal communication. Based upon the established clearly defined, articulated, and understood learning targets, some types of assessment are a good match for the targets and some are not.
A sound assessment design refers to selecting an assessment method that matches the learning targets. In essence it addresses the question of: Have the assessment developers translated the learning targets into a high-quality assessments that will provide accurate information to the intended users to accomplish the stated purpose?
A sound assessment design does not occur by accident. Quality assessment is the result of cooperative efforts of professionals who have learned the principles of classroom assessment and put those principles in practice. It is an ongoing learning and a honing of skills that provide quality assessments to enhance student learning.
The fourth key of quality classroom assessment deals with the elements of good communication. If you remember two aspects of the first key, a clear purpose, focused upon the question of “what information do we hope to gain from the assessment?” and “who will use the information gained?” Elements of good communication deal with these two aspects. Good communication in part can be evaluated by considering questions such as:
- Do the teachers accurately report the assessment results over time in such a way to convey student progress?
- Are the results being accurately communicated to the people identified as users of the information? (including students)
- Are the results being communicated in a timely fashion and in a manner that makes them useful for the decisions that need to be made?
One might assume that the mere attaching of a grade would serve as good communication. However, a grade rarely conveys to students the specific areas in which they need to improve. A grade often masks both strengths and weaknesses in student progress.
Perhaps the best way to evaluate the communication related to an assessment is to consider the decisions made and actions taken in response to that communication. Good communication of the results of accurate assessments places in the hands of users (teachers, parents, administrators, and most of all students) information that will serve to improve student performance.
Our next topic will be the all important key of student involvement in classroom assessment.
Personal Reflection: In general practice, do I use my favorite, or the most simple of assessment types without consideration of the soundness of the design? Do I communicate to all users the results of assessment in a manner that helps them make good decisions?
Topics: Minutes with Charlie, Quality Assessment Components | No Comments »