Sharing assessment & grading strategies that help students learn

March 2010 Blog Posts (5)

A Sports Analogy for Assessment

On page 96 of the book "A Repair Kit for Grading", the author (Ken O'Connor) draws a useful

analogy between performance-based assessment and a band or a sports team:

"It is critical that both teachers and students recognize when assessment is primarily for learning (formative) and when it is primarily of learning…

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Added by Justin Scoggin on March 25, 2010 at 3:30pm — 1 Comment

Assessment for Learning/Grading

Interesting ideas, there are those who would say if an assessment is graded (which is not the same as scored (rubrics)) it is probably not used by the student for learning as well as it could be.

Research from Wiliam would support this idea.

I have always maintained that is more a function of the culture in the classroom.

One thing is for certain if instructors will use more assessment that is not graded they will eventually get more buy in from students that…

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Added by Michael Rulon on March 25, 2010 at 1:30pm — 1 Comment

Assessment FOR Learning - Don't confuse it for a specific strategy

When faced with a new concept it is natural and necessary to attach meaning to that concept. Sometimes when we find an understandable example of that concept we begin to confuse that idea for the concept itself. As Salem High School and the City of Salem Schools strive to master the concepts of Assessment FOR Learning, it is understandable that this will happen to some degree.

For example,…

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Added by Scott Habeeb on March 23, 2010 at 4:27pm — No Comments

Cross-Curricular AFL activity at Andrew Lewis Middle School

Lee Hodges (World Geography - ALMS) and I created a cross-curricular activity two years ago. This activity was similar to the show "Amazing Race."

The "Race"

-Groups of students are given a World Map and an answer sheet. Each group then receives their first clue. On this sheet there is a World Geography AND a Math question related to a place in the World. (For example: Big Ben) that they have to answer. After they record their answers, they get each of them checked, the…

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Added by Kirstine M. Barber on March 6, 2010 at 11:45am — 1 Comment

Why is Allen Iverson on Assessment FOR Learning?

Members of this network may have noticed a video that seems out of place on an educational social network. The video is of a post-game interview with NBA player Allen Iverson. Why in the world is that on here?

Salem High School teachers on this Ning know the answer to that. When our school first started taking a serious look at AFL, we realized right away that how you chose to grade assessments could negate the learning that they… Continue

Added by Scott Habeeb on March 1, 2010 at 10:30pm — 2 Comments