At last weeks leadership meeting we struggled for some time with the question how to best use the latest assessments we had of students mathematical understandings. During March we had all our 350 Prep – Year Four students individually tested using this new online version of the Mathematics Interview.
Using the reports generated from the test we discussed on how we might use this assessment information which was collected to identify students current level of understanding for future learning. We tossed around how a teacher might structure a lesson and use this information and what might they do after 4 weeks to assess if the students”got it”.
Enter Rick the recovering psychometrician!
Sarah, the assistant principal and I attended a whole day workshop by Rick Stiggins on assessment for learning that week. Rick is from Oregon, and had established The Assessment Training Institute (ATI) in 1992 to support teachers, the first being his wife who had been a prep teacher at that time.
Rick gave a really good model for looking at assessment that would both inform instructional decisions and encourage students to try and learn. He made two powerful point that
if assessments isn’t working well in the classroom – if poor decisions arise from unsound assessments during the learning then other assessments at whole school or state level won’t fix the problems that arise.
This is self evident for us as principals but how much of our time is spent on the “bigger” state or national tests? I know we are bound up in all sorts of compliance issues around state or national tests but how much time do we spend with teachers supporting them with assessments for learning on a daily and weekly basis.
The second point was that the fundamental shift in education was
all students must hit the academic targets – not just a few at the top of the rank order.
Perhaps his words on students might hit us:
The student’s emotional reaction to results will determine what that student does in response and that students get to make their data-based instructional decision first.
Here I was thinking that students do what the teacher instructs and lots do however how many make the decision to stop trying [a few images of children do come to mind for me here] before I instruct.
I got Rick’s point that purpose in assessment is everything and that we need to determine which different assessment methods are more appropriate if we are to assess knowledge, reasoning, skills or work products.
Rick’s point is that we need to develop relationships with students around their work and provide in time descriptive feedback [not a page of red marks that overwhelms] that is understood by all users. Students need to see what “good work” looks like and learn to be able to compare their work to that standard so that generate their own feedback and learning goals [life long learning here].
All this sent us back to thinking about the mathematical assessment data we collected from the Interview and how we might advocate grouping and targeting student learning. Then how do teachers display “good work” so that students self reflection can occur and encourage students to continue practicing the skill and reasoning so that knowledge is acquired.
It also got us to thinking that supporting teachers in assessment for learning might best be achieved by working in small study teams with those teachers to want to learn and improve their assessment practice rather than try and get a tipping point by working with the whole staff. I have attached an article by Rick on assessment for learning in the middle years classroom which provides more information.
I’d be interested in hearing what other people think about this notion of students making the first instructional decision and what sort of “good work” to a standard is displayed in classrooms for students to self reflect and set their own learning goals.
