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ASSESSMENT: Quality is Mightier then Quantity

To borrow the words of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, “The pen is mightier than the sword:” Assessment is more powerful than testing. Teachers test to see what student’s learned. Schools use test results to evaluate teachers. Districts use them to track and chronicle achievement.

For teachers, it can be a challenge to fit all the required testing within the daily routines of teaching and learning. In some schools, weekly standardized measures that simply quantify learning are the norm.
Alternatively, assessments (from the Latin assidere, meaning “to sit with”) extend and elaborate data, offer insights on student thinking, and guidance on teaching practices, with an emphasis on progress and improvement.

Learning becomes deeper and longer-lasting when students discover, investigate, analyze, and reflect. Think about your own experiences. Did your best learning come from watching a video of someone making a free throw? Or perhaps you were trying to follow a multi-step cake recipe that required caramelizing sugar, clarifying butter, and cutting in the fat. In both cases, deeper learning occurs by working alongside someone with more expertise, asking questions, and seeking clarification throughout learning.

The purpose of assessment has always been to promote learning, while measurement has traditionally referred to numerical reporting of outcomes.
Additional comparisons include:

Assessment In Practice

Instead of a selected choice quiz, ask students to explain vocabulary in context. For example, when studying the Louisiana Purchase with a learning intention of: Students will define and explain the significance, connections, and outcomes of events, students begin by selecting 6 of these words: Federalists, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, French/France, borders, pioneers, New Orleans, Mississippi River, Lewis and Clark. This immediately reduces test anxiety as students activate connections to what they have learned. It also results in deeper insights into student thinking beyond recall of dates, locations, and names. Alternatively, as a substitute for a traditional test that asks who was president during the Louisiana Purchase have students record three pros and three cons of the Louisiana Purchase that Thomas Jefferson considered. Even better, ask them to write their response as if they were voting in favor of or against the purchase.

Verifying learning doesn’t have to be primarily on paper or through electronic devices. Consider ways to incorporate graphics and student-designed illustrations or student-friendly infographics such as easel.ly and Piktochart. Formative assessments can be incorporated directly within learning, such as a quick-draw of a timeline, designing a compare/contrast chart, or explaining to a Martian how to calculate 15 million (the price of the Louisiana Purchase) in today’s dollars Then self and peer-assess with an analytic rubric designed to appraise purposeful learning intentions. For example; accurate us of vocabulary in context, the ability to compare/analyze perspectives, provide a fact-based defense of the position.

Musings

1. How do these embedded and authentic assessments differ from more traditional summative strategies?
2. What effects could this have on student learning outcomes?
3. In what ways can you use these ideas for translating systematic measures into insightful assessments?

RESOURCES for further reading
https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/types-of-assessments-a-head-to-head-comparison.html
http://www.schrockguide.net/infographics-as-an-assessment.html
National Academy Press Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment.

Refocusing on Assessment

There’s no need to wipe the assessment lens clean each year. Instead of starting from scratch, return to these enduring assessment foundations that have consistently supported best practices in teaching and learning.

Assessment has always been about students: The word assessment comes from the same roots as assistance, meaning to help someone in completing a task or facilitating their achievement. Yet, over the years the balance has shifted from supporting/ sustaining individual learners towards reporting homogenized/collective scores.

Assessment must start locally, right in the classroom, in our own schools and communities. This means starting with what the students know and providing what is necessary for their peak progress and success.  Instead of planning backward from what high school graduates must know and be able to do, it is more effective to start with what incoming students know and can do.

When students arrive at school with dissimilar backgrounds, knowledge, and skills, it means that students may require a different path or different amount of time to grow into the curriculum. Lockstep curriculum does not result in all students reaching identical levels of achievement by the end of a predetermined period.

1. Refocus on Students

Start with on time-tested practices that work for most students then fill in lingering gaps and misconceptions with personalized and targeted interventions. Be proactive by involving all students in assessment as well as learning. Refocusing on students builds ownership and is relevant, engaging, and motivational.

This doesn’t mean that every student will get their own curriculum, resources, and private tutor. It does mean that some students may require different resources or can display their learning in diverse ways. While Jana writes an essay, Chul chooses to design an infographic. Students, peers, and teachers assess these products of learning with consistent criteria such as accuracy, organization, and clarity.

2. Refocus on Priorities

Rather than rating teachers on what they are doing, let’s assess students on their proficiencies, perseverance in overcoming challenges, and ability to solve problems. Instead of emphasizing productivity by the number of questions answered, refocus on the alignment of learning with success criteria and progress towards goals.

Just because student answers are displayed, doesn’t mean their learning aligns with the intentions and or even that students understand them. Blaise’s beautifully colored rainbow may attract our attention, but each segment includes only one concept. Blain’s is sloppy on first look, but when reviewed more closely his ideas show how the events blend and flow and illuminate his depth of analysis.

3. Refocus on Gains and Growth before Final Scores.

Learning is not an Olympic sport. In fact, for athletes to rise to the level of Olympian it requires more than knowledge of technique and physical preparation. The best athletes focus on goals, aim for consistent improvement, and work at developing a positive and affirming mindset.

Emphasizing personal best rather than top scores results in less stress and reduced anxiety. In these settings, all students have opportunities to succeed. Embedded formative assessment is a window into student’s thinking. Rather than passing judgment at the end, it’s far better to acknowledge progress during the process.

When students and teachers use the feedback and information from formative assessment they:

1. Recognize the current stage of learning,
2. Identify lingering gaps,
3. Select relevant interventions.

It is formative assessment combined with assistance that makes the most significant difference in learning outcomes.

Better than continuously reinventing the wheel, strengthening the underpinnings of assessment and fine-tuning those elements that work is more effective. There are many adjustments educators can make to assessment. These are just a few to think about and put into action. Let us know how this works for you and what questions you have.

ASSESSMENT TO REMEMBER

YOUR BRAIN ON ASSESSMENT  

Just like everything you see, hear, and experience, assessment gets filtered through the emotional center of your brain. Deep within the limbic system, the amygdala and hippocampus respond to your moods, fears, and joys even before the learning is sent to neurons in the brain’s procedural and memory centers.

Thus, for many brains, the mere vocalization of the word TEST creates anxiety. This anxiety changes the interface of the brain from a learning stance to a fight or flight response. When this happens, the brain is bathed with cortisol and blood flows away from the frontal cortex (the thinking part of the brain) and flows into the primal flight or fight response center.

Alternatively, a brain working on an interesting and engaging project or assessment is in a state of what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls Flow.  An engaged brain is processing learning through multiple areas, relying on the prefrontal cortex for complex thinking, decision-making, and self-regulation.

Rather than causing stress, ASSESSMENT CAN STRENGTHEN MEMORY. Here’s how it works in the classroom:

Students Who Feel Emotionally Safe Learn Better
If students anticipate failure or have negative feelings about the topic or the person teaching it, they are less apt to transfer learning to long-term memory centers. Classrooms must be places where failure is seen as an opportunity, and there is respect for all types of learners and learning.

Explicitly Teach Stress Management Strategies
Children who experience sustained activation of their stress response systems are less able to regulate behavior. Their brains have more difficulty transferring learning to long-term memory centers. With your class, before a test, practice deep breathing by taking “belly” breaths and then relaxing as you let it out. Also consider ways to include movement, music, visualization, and creative opportunities within teaching and learning

Activate Multiple Levels of the Learning Taxonomy
Learning is generally developmental and typically sequential, proceeding from content knowledge to production of original ideas. Begin assessments with recall and understanding to develop student’s confidence then extend questioning into the meaning or applications of learning. Also include analysis of visual prompts, evaluation of alternative perspectives, or production of original diagrams.

Balance the Methods of Assessment
Some learners prefer to match a word with its definition while others would rather include the word in a sentence that demonstrates and elaborates their understanding. Consider offering multiple measures or giving students options for displaying their learning. Variety and choice can reduce stress, but be sure they are aligned with consistent standards, learning intentions, and success criteria.

Rely on Non-cognitive Foundations of Learning
For teachers and students, there is a great deal of pressure to cram loads of testable knowledge into learning. At the same time, it is essential to acknowledge the non-cognitive underpinnings of learning. Teach students that intelligence is malleable, mindset helps them learn from mistakes, and conscientiousness leads to progress, even when the going gets tough.

Warning- Standardized tests don’t build neurons.
We each have different dietary needs and exercise requirements to maximize our health. Likewise, diverse approaches to learning and assessment also have different purposes and outcomes. Reducing stress leads to more accurate assessment. Engaging learners sustains their attention and builds ownership. The outcomes are a win-win for all.

Pre-Assessment: Where Teaching and Learning Begins

What is Pre-assessment? Pre-assessment is an action or strategy at the start of instruction that reveals student’s incoming knowledge and skills and, in response, informs teaching and learning. It can occur at the start of a lesson, the beginning of a unit, or the introduction of a new idea, concept or skill. Think about the skilled baker who may have pre-measured all the ingredients only to discover that the bread is undercooked because the oven temperature wasn’t calibrated.

Why Should I Use It?
Emerging research on effective teaching and assessing confirms the value of starting where the students are in their sequence and cycle of learning. Teachers need to be attentive to gaps in knowledge, foundational skills, and preconceptions. John Hattie, in his research on Visible Learning, found that informative assessment has an effect size of .9, nearly at the top of his list. http://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/

How Can I Use It?
Pre-assessment can be used to identify incoming knowledge, recognize misconceptions about a topic, raise student’s curiosity, and engage them in new learning. Pre-assessment informs planning and guides next steps for the teacher and the learner. Pre-assessment also supports the alignment of instruction with learning intentions, as well as selection of resources, pacing, and grouping. If it makes sense to use a GPS when traveling, then it also makes sense to use a pre-assessment when teaching to support each learner on their pathway to success.

Pre-assessment Without Technology
Corners: Students go to a posted subtopic of an upcoming unit (from shapes to nutrition) and collectively write what they know about their selected subtopic. (example, what is a quadrilateral or compare chronic to infectious diseases) Post, discuss, and review what everyone agrees is correct, what are the discrepancies, and which ones are definitely wrong. Then, ask students what else they want or need to know.
Entrance Slip: Students map what they know about a topic, respond to questions, solve a problem, or record their ideas about a topic.
Predictions: Students predict the content and purpose of upcoming learning about a given topic such as the solar system or the Renaissance

Pre-assessment with Technology
Padlet can be used for collective brainstorming or displaying incoming knowledge.
Lino is a type of electronic sticky note where students can post their ideas or sort responses by subcategory; perhaps cloud formations or systems of government.
Plickers lets you poll your class as each student holds up a card displaying their answer. Cards can be scanned with your phone producing a class graph or individual student report.
Additional quiz software includes Socrative, Goformative, Google Forms  and Edpuzzle

Pre-assessments should stretch beyond recall of prior learning. They can be used to pique student’s curiosity, support critical thinking, and encourage problem-solving. It’s important to keep in mind that just because you taught it yesterday, doesn’t mean students are ready to put it into practice today.

Technology: A Means or an End?

If you want to make a cake, does it matter if you beat the eggs with a fork or electric mixer? Either would work, but if you wanted to make meringue, you’d probably reach for the electric mixer. If you are gathering leaves in your yard, a blower may work faster than a rake, but the rake won’t wake the baby. Technology is like that too. It is crucial to be intentional in selecting the right technology and to be deliberate in matching it to explicit learning objectives.

Marketing by technology developers has been intensifying, accompanied by claims of overcoming inequality and improving critical thinking. Conferences such as ISTE, FETC, TCEA, CUE, iNACOL, and IETC all promote on educational technology. Professional education organizations that traditionally advocate for the development of the whole child are increasingly emphasizing the use of technology to personalize learning, learn collaboratively, inspire creativity, and prepare students for tests. But does technology truly make a difference in learning outcomes?

Don’t misunderstand, I love technology and even teach IT&DML in a graduate program for teachers. Students compile and evaluate technologies for specific learning intentions. They also design informative demonstrations of selected technologies. They are routinely asked to explain their reasoning in choosing a technology for this time, place, and purpose? We also rely on models of technology integration such as SAMR, TPACK, and TAR that support increasingly complex applications of learning technologies.

However, when I visit a 3^rd-grade classroom and see students spending an hour in the morning on an ELA tutorial and another hour in the afternoon with programmed math coaching, while seated in swivel or bouncing chairs with fidgeting devices, that’s when I worry about the direction that technology implementation is taking.

As a tool or utensil, technology can
*Develop foundational knowledge and skills
*Assist in information management such as compiling, clarifying, and categorizing
*Verify and advance prior learning
*Track scores
*Produce authentic products

As a conduit or process, technology can
*Engage students in evaluating evidence
*Strengthen higher level reasoning and divergent thinking
*Foster collaborative learning
*Oversee progress and improve learning outcomes
*Provide opportunities for displaying all types of learning in varied ways

Technology itself may be able to build children’s knowledge, but it cannot make children smarter. It has the potential to be transformational when teachers and students are prepared to constructively choose, use, and evaluate the technology and learning outcomes. Technology is not a panacea for learning nor a cure-all for raising test scores.  Rather, the emphasis must be on promoting thoughtful adoption and valid implementation of appropriate and substantiated technologies in support of instructional aims.

Considerations and Caveats
Personalized and competency-based describe technology that adapts to the learner’s progress. Evidence is still emerging on the advantages and best use of these technologies for instructional purposes. Concerns about insulating children from learning from their mistakes, and over-individualizing learning, can be balanced through teaching and learning that also embraces interpersonal skills such as self-regulation and perseverance, and intrapersonal skills such as collaboration and empathy.

Consider Amanda and Chanda who are learning about volume measures. Amanda starts with the electronic tutorial and quickly understands the relationship between cups, pints, and quarts. Chanda is stymied by the images and vocabulary until she goes home and bakes a cake with her father. He takes a different approach.  Rather than using the measures in the recipe, he gives her partial measures and has her figure out how to translate teaspoons into tablespoons and 1/3 cups into two cup measures. In doing so, she also learns to persevere and correct her mistakes.

It is also important to consider the developmental appropriateness of different technologies. A brief recap of Jean Piaget’s work explains that cognitive abilities emerge over time. Just as we don’t expect a 3-month-old to understand object permanence, we wouldn’t expect most 5-year-olds to demonstrate abstract problem-solving.

When used selectively, technology can support and encourage all modes and levels of developmental abilities. This requires easing up on the technology accelerator and taking the time to choose the best technology for a purpose. Don’t forget that children need to smell the real roses, play with tangible toys, and create original artifacts along the way. There’s always time, in real-time, for students to benefit from the advantages of a well-structured classroom debate, questioning deeply, teaching others, and monitoring progress, rather than simply reporting learning outcomes and scores.

Think about it:

1. How do you use technology to personalize learning?
2. In what ways can technology strengthen collaborative learning?
3. What technologies would you recommend to encourage higher and deeper thinking?
4. How would advise others in using technology to engage, activate, and inspire, thinking and imagining?
5. Instead of just substituting technology for a more traditional resource such as a workbook, how will you use it to augment and redefine learning?

The potential for technology is already proven. Selected technologies have been validated, but the full potential of technology integration with balanced learning systems is still under development. Most importantly, there is not yet widespread evidence on which practices are most effective for specific standards and targeted learning intentions. Like the camel trying to get into the tent, technology’s nose is already in: giving the rest of it entry depends on your purpose, context, and circumstances.

Postscript

If technology came with safety information, what should it include? What would you add?
>This technology may be more effective when blended with other instructional strategies
>Caution, this technology may be habit-forming: Do not use for more than 1 hour at a time
>To reduce side effects, use only for the intended purpose
>Frequent use can be detrimental to children’s physical, social, and emotional development
.May result in a decrease of spending on other important instructional initiatives

As Marshall McLuhan said decades ago: “The medium IS the message.”

Images: pixabay.com

Proactive Assessment

What does it take to develop and engage student’s minds while also improving learning outcomes? Habits such as regular exercise and a healthy diet contribute to good health. There are also habits of cognitive health that fortify knowledge and skills and promote success for all learners. Experts on habits praise their value.
                        “Quality is not an act; it is a habit.” Aristotle           Steven Covey’s (1989) first habit is to “Be Proactive,” and his second is to “Begin with the End in Mind.” In relation to learning and assessing he is asking us to think about where we are headed and how we will take responsibility for getting there. He recommends focusing on the things you can control: your thoughts, actions, and habits.

Art Costa and Bena Kallick (2009) describe “habits of mind” as essential skills and dispositions that empower critical thinking and support purposeful teaching and learning. From their list of 16, these five are especially pertinent to proactive assessment.
Persisting: Sticking with learning, seeing it to completion, utilizing practices that support goal attainment.
Striving for Accuracy: Maintaining high standards, doing your best, and seeking quality outcomes.
Remaining Open to Continuous Learning: Recognizing that there is always more to learn.
Thinking Flexibly: Looking at situations or problems from multiple perspectives.
Thinking about Thinking Ability to stand back and consider thoughts and actions in relation to a goal.

Developing a Proactive Assessment Mindset

Being proactive means being preemptive in averting problems as well as being prepared to respond to emerging situations before they become major problems. In contrast, a reactive approach means taking action on something that has already happened. Of course, it is not possible to prevent all debacles, but it is far better to anticipate them.

In relation to assessment, a proactive mindset recognizes and prepares for foreseeable changes and has strategies for responding to the unexpected. In education, this means considering emerging policies and directives as well as exploring promising practices. Then, in response, making judicious changes to a schools testing methods, assessment practices, and reporting. There are numerous proactive opportunities in balancing federal testing policy with authenticated trends in assessment.

Proactive Assessment and Policy

ESSA offers selected opportunities for states, districts, and schools to be proactive about assessment. At the high school level, they can choose from nationally “recognized” exams. States can also administer interim tests and develop performance tasks, but few have taken advantage of this opportunity due to concerns about validity and costs. Beyond test scores that make up at least half of the measurement of school performance, other accountability measures include student attendance, enrollment in advanced coursework, and school climate. However, most of the proactive potential is at the local level.

Proactive Assessment and Local Practice

The most effective, proactive assessments rely on the best practices in assessment: The ones that have been substantiated and withstood the test of time. Those that not only raise test scores, but engage students in clear, consistent, and informative measures of learning.

It Doesn’t Matter whether you use technology or more traditional strategies. What does matter is that the assessment aligns with and supports the learning intentions. From Animoto presentations to Coggle mind mapping, and Edpuzzle where questions are embedded in a video, what matters is how well they support and align with the expected learning outcomes. From a Fishbowl activity to a debate, the assessment of learning depends on clear and visible learning expectations that give student agency over their assessments.

Putting Into Practice
Reactive assessments sound like this: “Well I taught it but they just didn’t listen well enough.” Proactive assessments sound like this: “I wonder why they didn’t get this idea- how can I teach it differently?” or “I gave Magrite feedback; I’ll check on why she didn’t use it.” Which led to her explaining “I didn’t understand what cursory meant.”

Proactive assessment relies on giving students informative feedback, annotating descriptive rubrics, peer review and opportunities for self-reflection. In response, students use that information to edit, adjust, and correct their work.

Anton explains that “The review sheet made me realize that I skipped the third stage. I reviewed what we learned and corrected my work. Now, I think my grade should change from a 79 to an 84.”

Student activations for proactive self-assessment
Please be specific and include examples as you respond to these prompts:

1. In relation to these learning intentions and the success criteria, I now know and can do____
2. When I compare my work to the goals and success criteria, I become aware that I still am learning or wondering______
3. I am now working at this level of the scoring scale_______ on account of this evidence:
4. Here’s what I did to achieve this higher level outcome:
5. I still need help with___________ I will get this help from ___________
6. I have these lingering questions ______________
7. This is what I want to commend about my learning____________
8. This is what I recommend to improve my learning______________
9. Here are some ways I can use my learning__________

Source: Restorative Assessment, Strength-Based Practices that Support All Learners, Laura Greenstein, Corwin Press 2018, p.96

 References

Costa, A and Kallick, B (2009) Habits of Mind Across the Curriculum. ASCD

Covey, S. (2004) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Free Press

(Note: there is a subsequent version- Covey, S (2014) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens)

Courageous Assessment

Does being fearless, knowing how to dog paddle, and wearing floaties prepare you for a 50-meter freestyle? If that was a standardized test question and a student selected True, their answer would most likely be marked wrong. Students rarely have opportunities to explain their reasoning. But, what if Amara explained that she had been taught to visualize her success, learned the rules for the specific race (she actually participated in a dog paddle race), and to ease up on the intensity of practice shortly before the event? Rather than relying on the shallow end of numerical scores, consider how assessment becomes more transparent and meaningful when it delivers visible insight into student’s thinking.

In general, teachers receive minimal preparation in assessment, measurement, and evaluation. Too often, the powerful voices behind data-driven learning believe that if teachers are given detailed data reports and collaboratively study the reams of data, learning outcomes will improve. Like jumping into the deep end of the pool without preparation, knowing data but not understanding assessment leads to misinterpreting the overwhelming glut of assessment data. The result is inaccurate decisions about students and inadequate insight into what they know and can do.

Assessment Literacy
Developing assessment literate teachers, rather than expanding standardized testing, is essential to the success of every student. At the heart of assessment literacy is an understanding of the purpose of assessment, how to interpret and utilize data appropriately, and ways to provide opportunities for all students to succeed.

Standardized tests have a purpose in providing large-scale measures that summarize big-picture outcomes. However, there is no place for high-stakes tests that rate schools, judge teachers, and regulate students’ learning. Rather, it is in the classroom that assessment literate teachers cultivate assessment capable learners. Similar to successful swimmers, these students can: Set goals, develop actionable plans, improve skills, monitor headway, and adjust the course of learning. Assessment capable teachers and students have the skills to successfully navigate the deep end of thinking and learning.

For assessment literate teachers, these are the essentials:

1. Relying on high-quality assessments that align with the purpose and intentions of teaching and learning.
2. Incorporating multiple types of measures from selected choice to graphic displays, and justification of conclusions.
3. Assessing throughout learning taxonomies; from content knowledge to the analysis of evidence, and production of original ideas.
4. Communicating results and outcomes in ways that are understandable and actionable by students and parents.
5. Emphasizing progress and improvement in order to support and encourage student’s continuing success.

For assessment capable students it means:

1. Understanding the learning goals and intentions: Using their own words to explain what, why, and how they will learn.
2. Identifying and acting on the steps and resources they need to build their learning.
3. Monitoring their progress against specific indicators: This may be accurate use of content vocabulary or clarity and specificity in their learning journal.
4. Anticipating and utilizing constructive feedback from teacher, peers, and self-reflection that is specific to process and products of learning.
5. Improving learning outcomes by understanding and correcting missteps and misunderstandings.

Together assessment literate teachers and students:

1. Collaboratively develop, identify, and share understanding of learning intentions.
2. Continuously compare outcomes to intentions.
3. Recognize their location on the sequence of learning outcomes.
4. Identify lingering gaps and misunderstandings.
5. Collaboratively decide on interventions to resolve missteps and close gaps.

Things I’ve learned about assessing courageously, responsibly, and respectfully

• It’s not the best practice to throw your student into the deep end to see if they can swim.
• We all need floaties from time to time
• Other times dog paddling is sufficient
• Sometimes we must be prepared to swim the distance
• Everyone can reach their finishing line with just-right support, monitoring of progress, reasonable assessments, and constructive feedback.
• Sometimes students would rather run or fly than swim to their goal. There are also those who want to meander down their own stream, dive into the Hadal Zone, or skyrocket towards unknown galaxies.

ARE YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS READY TO DIVE IN?

First Published on EdCircuit: http://www.edcircuit.com/courageous-assessment-education/

Enrichment: What Teacher Preparation Programs Teach About K-12 Assessment https://www.nctq.org/dmsView/What_Teacher_Prep_Programs_Teach_K-12_Assessment_NCTQ_Report

When Students Own the Assessment

Who owns assessment? Is it the teacher, school, district, or the test industry? If the government requires them, do they also own the measures? Something was missing from those questions and if you noted that it was “the students”, you’re right. The more schools emphasize standardized tests scores, provide the measures of learning, and dispense scores and grades; the more students feel left out. Yet, research continues to confirm the importance of engagement and ownership in children’s success. (NWEA 2015)

Assess didn’t originally mean to measure. It meant to sit beside and assist. When assessment reverts to its true intent, students will predictably become less anxious and more curious. They will also become less resistant and more engaged. This, in turn, leads to motivation, inspiration, and initiative. Here are some ideas for engaging learners as assessors.

1. RELEVANT: Make assessment meaningful. In place of hollow tests that measure portions of learning, provide opportunities for students to show how they can integrate and use learning. A traditional test may start with vocabulary and content knowledge; a foundation for moving to higher levels of learning. Along with that, allow students choice in showing what they know. Samir chooses to write a traditional essay, while Ramina says she will write a script or poem, and Tashi wants to prepare an infographic. Ask students to then label their learning as content knowledge, application of learning, inquiry, production, and other outcomes that align with learning intentions.

2. INFORMATIVE: Assessments not only measure student learning, but students can also learn from assessments. During one, they annotate their confidence in their answer and explain or query those that have a confidence level of 3 or below on a scale of 5. When the measure is returned, students correct their errors, explain what they now know, and resubmit their outcomes. In this way, both students and teachers are engaged and informed by the assessment.

3. COLLABORATIVE: Debates, defenses of positions, advertisements, and other demonstrations of learning can be completed individually or collaboratively. Scoring of these can be more challenging, but a rubric that clearly defines learning intentions and levels of attainment smooths the way. Students assess their use of content vocabulary, research-based evidence, the coherence of their argument, and respect for diverse perspectives. They then also have a well-defined basis for scoring their peers.

4. INTEGRATED: The best assessments are those that a person doesn’t even know they are taking. For example, frequent student checkpoints provide ongoing updates on learning. At the conclusion of a learning intention or unit, show a brief video, then students use the unit vocabulary to respond to a prompt such as “if you were that person, would you have solved the problem the same way? Why? What other options are there? What knowledge and concepts were used; what are needed?” In doing so, the focus remains on the learning process and progress rather than a summative test.

5. OWNERSHIP: Informative and integrated assessments can be used for self-evaluation, misconception checks, revision of work, identification of next steps, and lingering questions. Ownership also gives student voice when they explain their answers, defend their views, and decide how to show their learning. They take ownership when they can explain their learning intentions, the strategies they used, analyze the outcomes, and describe their path to improvement. Collectively, these strategies give students the self-confidence they need to ultimately succeed not only on summative tests, but in school and life.

While testing can damage a fragile sense of self, assessment is the mindful practice of reflection, analysis, problem-solving, and improving. When children learn a sport, they consistently assess their progress and seek guidance on stepping-up their game. In the classroom, help students experience that sense of joy with embedded and meaningful assessments accompanied by coaching and scaffolds that support progress towards higher levels of achievement.

 “The aim is to get the students actively involved: their role is not simply to do tasks as decided by teachers, but to actively manage and understand their learning gains. This includes evaluating their own progress, being more responsible for their learning, and being involved with peers in learning together about gains in learning.”  John Hattie, Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning

NWEA (2015) Better Engagement Improves Learning

First posted on Corwin Connect, October 2017