All Posts (134)
Sort by
Classroom Assessment for Learning
Classroom assessment that involves students in the process and focuses on increasing learning can motivate rather than merely measure students.
Imagine a classroom assessment as a healthy part of effective teaching and successful learning. At a time when large-scale, external assessments of learning gain political favor and attention, many teachers are discovering how to engage and motivate students using day-to-day classroom assessment for purposes beyond measurement. By applying the principles of what is called assessment for learning, teachers have followed clear research findings of the effects that high-quality, formative assessment can have on student achievement.
… largely absent from the traditional classroom assessment environment is the use of assessment as a tool to promote greater student achievement (Shepard, 2000). In general, the teacher teaches and then tests. The teacher and class move on, leaving unsuccessful students, those who might not learn at the established pace and within a fixed time frame, to finish low in the rank order. This assessment model is founded on two outdated beliefs: that to increase learning we should increase student anxiety and that comparison with more successful peers will motivate low performers to do better.
By contrast, assessment for learning occurs during the teaching and learning process rather than after it and has as its primary focus the ongoing improvement of learning for all students (Assessment Reform Group, 1999; Crooks, 2001; Shepard, 2000). Teachers who assess for learning use day-to-day classroom assessment activities to involve students directly and deeply in their own learning, increasing their confidence and motivations to learn by emphasizing progress and achievement rather than failure and defeat (Stiggins, 1999; 2001). In the assessment for learning model, assessment is an instructional tool that promotes learning rather than an event designed solely for the purpose of evaluation and assigning grades. And when a student become involved in the assessment process, assessment for learning begins to look more like teaching and less like testing (Davies, 2000).
STUDENT-INVOLVED ASSESSMENT
Research shows that classroom assessments that provide accurate, descriptive feedback to students and involve them in the assessment process can improve learning (Black and William, 1998). As a result, assessment for learning means more than just assessing students often, more than providing the teacher with assessment results to revise instruction. In assessment for learning, both teacher and student use classroom assessment information to modify teaching and learning activities. Teachers use assessment information formatively when they:
• Pretest before a unit of study and adjust instruction for individuals or the entire group.
• Analyze which students need more practice.
• Continually revise instruction on the basis of results.
• Reflect on the effectiveness of their own teaching practices.
• Confer with students regarding their strengths and the areas that need improvement.
• Facilitate peer tutoring, matching students who demonstrate understanding with those who do not.
We tend to think of students as passive participants in assessment rather than engaged users of the information that assessment can produce. What we should be asking is, “How can students use assessment to take responsibility for and improve their own learning?”
Student involvement in assessment doesn’t mean that students control decisions regarding what will or won’t be learned or tested. It doesn’t mean that they assign their own grades. Instead, student involvement means that students learn to use assessment information to manage their own learning so that they understand how they learn best, know exactly where they are in relation to the defined learning targets, and plan and take the next steps in their learning.
Students engage in the assessment for learning process when they use assessment information to set goals, make learning decisions related to their own improvement, develop an understanding of what quality work looks like, self-assess, and communicate their status and progress toward established learning goals. Students involved in their own assessment might:
• Determine the attributes of good performance. Students look at teacher-supplied anonymous samples of strong student performances and list the qualities that make them strong, learning the language of quality and the concepts behind strong performance.
• Use scoring guides to evaluate real work samples. Students can start with just one criterion in the guide and expand to others as they become more proficient in scoring. As students engage in determining the characteristics of quality work and scoring actual work samples, they become better able to evaluate their own work. Using the language of the scoring guide, they can identify their areas of strength and set goals for improvement - in essence, planning the next steps in their learning.
• Revise anonymous work samples. Students go beyond evaluating work to using criteria to improve the quality of work sample. They can develop a revision plan that outlines improvements, or write a letter to the creator of the original work offering advice on how to improve the sample. This activity also helps students know what to do before they revise their own work.
• Create practice tests or test items based on their understanding of the learning targets and the essential concepts in the class material. Students can work in pairs to identify what they think should be on the test and to generate sample test items and responses.
• Communicate with others about their growth and determine when they are nearing success. Students achieve a deeper understanding of themselves and the material that they are attempting to learn when they describe the quality of their own work. Letters to parents, written self-reflections, and conferences with teachers and parents in which students outline the process they used to create a product allow students to share what they know and describe their progress toward the learning target. By accumulating evidence of their own improvement in growth portfolios, students can refer to specific stages in their growth and celebrate their achievement with others.
Source: From "Classroom Assessment for Learning," by S, Chappuis and R.J. Stiggins, 2002, Educational Leadership, 60(1), pp. 40-44. Copyright 2002 by ASCD.
As this site has grown, so has the number of sports and coaching analogies. It seems that one way to communicate excellence in the classroom is to compare it to excellence on the field or court. As sports-related posts/discussions/resources are added to The Assessment Network, links to them will be added to this blog, making it a one stop shop for all AFL-related sports references.
Videos:
- Michael Jordan Nike Commercial - the importance of failure
- Allen Iverson - talking 'bout PRACTICE
- I Want to be the Starting Tailback... - preventing grading practices from messing up AFL
- Spurs Players Coach Themselves - example of differentiation resulting from meaningful assessment
Pictures
Blogs:
- Fantasy Football and the Problem with Averaging
- Dean Smith, the Tarheels, and AFL in Action
- An AFL Lesson from Bayern Munich Football Club - keep drilling basic skills
- Good Teaching is a Lot Like Coaching a Mule - the importance of the basics
- Kevin Durant Teaches Us About AFL - using feedback to focus on improvement
- Of Batting Averages, Grading, and MVP Seasons - the problem with averaging
- Coaching in the Classroom - comparing good teaching to good coaching
- A Sports Analogy for Assessment - comparing formative assessment to practice and summative to games
- Why is Allen Iverson on Assessment FOR Learning? - explanation of Allen Iverson Practice video
- Assessment FOR Learning on the Football Field - success on the field happens for the same reasons as success in the classroom
- Applying AFL to a PE Class - comparing weight lifting and AFL
This network is dedicated to promoting outstanding assessment practices - the kind of assessment practices that help students learn as opposed to simply documenting what they do or don't know. These types of practices are known as Assessment FOR Learning (AFL) strategies - an appropriate name since they are assessment strategies that lead to learning.
One set or type of AFL strategies are those that fall into the category of Standards Based Learning (SBL). SBL strategies are AFL strategies that focus on specific content standards. Students are assessed and taught based on standards. Their learning is driven by standards mastery, and the ultimate grade they receive is a communication of how well they have mastered standards - instead of the result of averaging a bunch of numbers together in a grade book.
As SBL strategies are shared on The Assessment Network, they also will be added to this blog. This post will become a one-stop-shop for all sorts of SBL ideas scattered throughout the Network. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let Scott Habeeb know.
Blog Posts:
- It's TIme to Take an Assessment Journey from VASCD, Pawel Nazarewicz, & Scott Habeeb
- Getting Students to Focus on Learning
- Redos and Retakes? Yes. But don't forget to LOOP!
- Practical Examples of LOOPING - Philosophy in Action
- An Overview of Standards Based Learning from @CVULearns
- Quit Focusing on Standards Based Grading from @CVULearns
- Standards Based Teaching and Learning After Year One from JumpRope, Pawel Nazarewicz, & Scott Habeeb
- (Video) Standards-Referenced Grading from Des Moines Public Schools
- SBL Success: Things are moving in the right direction when students ask you questions like this...
- Standards Based Grading Flowchart from Matt Townsley
- Response to a Parent from Rick Wormeli
- Standards Based Grading Video from Rick Wormeli
- Formative Assessment and Standards Based Grading from Robert Marzano
- Redos and Retakes: 14 Practical Tips from Rick Wormeli
- How SBL Should and Shouldn't Look in a Math Class from Matt Townsley
- #SBLchat on Twitter
- Grade Like A Torpedo
- Vermont SBL Collective - great collection of resources
- AFL Teachers Reporting Progress in an SBL Method (using PowerSchool)
- Standards Based Learning and Grading Facebook Page
- The AFL/SBL Exit Slip
- This I Believe from Ken O'Connor
- Grading in 3D by Pawel Nazarewicz
- A Math Teacher Shares Her Students' Thoughts on SBL by Kristin Manna
- AFL: As Basic As Taking Off Your Coat
- A Winning Moment: A Math Teacher Shares SBL Success
- Letter to the Editor of Forest City Summit, IA from Rick Wormeli
Pictures:
Videos:
- Standards Based Grading Video from Rick Wormeli
Educators steal from one another all the time. It's how we get better.
The following post is stolen from Matt Townsley (@mctownsley) and his MeTA Musings Blog - a great resource for AFL and Standards Based Grading ideas. You can read the article in its entirety at: http://mctownsley.blogspot.com/2013/04/sbg-is-more-than-teach-test-reassess.html
In working with educators around the country I have found that most seem to cognitively grasp the concepts of Assessment FOR Learning. However, many have difficulty putting those concepts into practice. I think this often happens as a result of not planning with AFL in mind from the get go. Sometimes educators will teach as they have always taught and then try to attach AFL principles after the fact. To be most effective, AFL should be embedded into the lesson from the beginning. For some folks that might mean starting over from scratch. For others that might mean a few tweaks. But it must be intentional.
The following post that I copied from MeTA Musings gives an example of how not to practice AFL. Mr. Jones tries to apply AFL after the fact to this Math classroom. It then gives an example of how a lesson or unit might look if AFL is there from the start. This image (https://salemafl.ning.com/photo/sbgflowchart) goes along with the example below.
I'd love to hear any feedback you might have.
Here's an example of how SBG should not work in a middle school math class:
Mr. Jones teaches the area of a triangle on Monday and assigns some practice problems to complete in and outside of class. Some of the students complete all of the practice problems. Some of them do not. All students are provided the answers ahead of time on the board. Mr. Jones teaches the area of a circle on Tuesday and assigns some practice problems to complete in and outside of class. Again, students are provided the answers to the practice problems ahead of time. Some of the students complete the practice problems and some do not. On Wednesday, Mr. Jones gives all students a quiz on these two standards. After Mr. Jones looks at the quizzes, he sees that about half of the class still doesn't understand how to find the area of a triangle or the area of a circle. He thinks to himself, "Well, I'm really glad we have standards-based grading, because these students can reassess." The next day, he hands back the quiz and tells students what they need to do before they can participate in a reassessment. When only a few students show up for a reassessment opportunity during the next week, Mr. Jones becomes flustered and wonders why students aren't taking advantage of reassessments.
When I look at the visual above and think about Mr. Jones' SBG practices, I believe he's missing the "classroom feedback and informal assessment" part of the flowchart. Mr. Jones appears to think standards-based grading is merely teaching, testing and offering reassessment opportunities.
Here's an example of what SBG might look like in a middle school math class:
Mr. Johnson teaches the area of a triangle on Monday. Before he assigns some practice problems, he asks each student to complete a problem on their small whiteboard and hold it up in the air. Mr. Johnson can quickly see which students are still struggling to understanding the concept. Rather than assigning everyone the same practice problems to complete it and outside of class. Mr. Johnson makes a quick adjustment and groups together several students who appear to still be struggling. They will be working with Mr. Johnson for some of the remaining class time and will also be completing different practice problems than their classmates. The next day, Mr. Johnson asks each student to view a solution to a completed practice problem that is already written in the board. Each student must write a brief paragraph explaining if the solution is correct or not and evidence to support their reasoning. Mr. Johnson walks around the room while students are writing their paragraphs. Next, Mr. Johnson asks students to pair up and share their paragraphs with each other. Finally, he asks several students to share their written responses aloud and the class collectively decides what the correct solution is to the problem.
Mr. Johnson teaches the area of a circle to round out the class period on Tuesday. Rather than assigning practice problems from the text, he asks each student to find the area of a circle found in their home. Each student will be asked to share their findings tomorrow in class. On Wednesday, Mr. Johnson decides to administer a quiz that he knows will never land in the grade book. He uses the quiz as an opportunity to provide written feedback to every student, but only after each student has once again self-assessed themselves in pencil against the standards. Mr. Johnson writes comments by many of the students' solutions and then circles where each student is on a continuum of understanding for each standard.
Mr. Johnson asks students with relative strengths and weaknesses to pair up for seven minutes during class on Thursday. Josie understood area of a triangle at a high level, but stunk it up on the area of a circle. She'll be conferencing with Alex who didn't have a clue on the area of a triangle, but dominated the area of a circle.
Later in the week, all students complete another assessment, but this time it goes into the grade book. Mr. Johnson feels pretty good about the assessment results, because he had the opportunity to see and hear students' thinking during class and was able to provide them with structured feedback through the ungraded quiz prior to the most recent assessment. Reassessment opportunities are offered to students after the most recent assessment as well.
This fable is far from the ideal classroom, however I think it illustrates an aspect of standards-based grading that I believe deserves more attention in my own conversations with fellow educators: less grading and more feedback.
One of exciting things I've come to realize about AFL is that so many teachers are already practicing it in their classrooms. To become a more "AFL-ish" teacher usually doesn't require making major changes in practices. Instead it's usually a matter of focusing one's intent and purpose. When this happens, it seems that what we find is that the best classroom practices tend to be AFL in nature. When one's mind is focused on AFL purposes, it becomes much more likely that these best practices will become more frequent and pervasive.
Here's a simple activity that Mrs. Kelley, my daughter's 3rd grade teacher at South Salem School, does with her students. Everyday they review key Social Studies facts and key Science facts. Take a look at the worksheets pictured below (you can enlarge them by clicking on them) and then read on for some AFL analysis of this activity and the lesson that secondary teachers can take from it.
At first glance, there is really nothing extraordinary about this activity. The teacher teaches the content and then has her students review it daily. This isn't extraordinary because it is - and should be - a very ordinary activity. Everyday students should be reviewing content.
This is a perfect example of the fact that our best activities are usually AFL in nature. Rather than simply teach and then assess at the end (summative assessment), Mrs. Kelley is choosing to assess daily (formative assessment). If she uses this activity properly, 2 important AFL objectives will be accomplished:
- She will daily receive feedback on how well her students are mastering content, and
- Students will daily assess their own progress.
This type of activity needs to occur at all levels of education. I would contend that not a single class period should go by in which ALL students don't assess their understanding and provide feedback to the teacher. It's not enough for a teacher to rely solely on the feedback from the handful of students who answer questions in class. A systematic approach is necessary to make sure that ALL students are assessing their progress. In fact, I would strongly encourage all teachers at all levels to do exactly as Mrs. Kelley has done. Create a daily review activity and then train your students on how to use the feedback they receive from it.
I can think of 2 possible negative reactions that a secondary teacher might have. They are:
- Printing out this many daily review sheets would use too much paper, and
- This is an elementary-style activity. At the secondary level students should take more ownership of their own studying/reviewing.
Let me try to address both of those. The first is easy: Don't print out a daily review sheet. Project the daily review from a computer/LCD projector/overhead on your screen at the last part of class each day and have students use their own paper. Write it on the board. Review orally. There are many alternatives that will work great.
So is this activity too "elementary-ish"? I would respond to that with the following question: Would students learn content better if at the end of each class period/lecture/activity the teacher made them stop and review what they had just covered? I think it's pretty easy to say the answer to my question is "yes". Our first of order business is to NOT to make sure that students review on their own. Our first order of business is to make sure that our students learn. Therefore, if there is something we're not doing DURING our class time that would increase learning, then we're not doing all that we should.
Think about your own classroom. Are there ever days when your students leave without you being able to quantify how well they have mastered the content? Are there ever days when your students leave your class without you having provided them with a way to quantify their own level of mastery? Thinking back to my own classroom, I think the answer for many if not most teachers is probably "yes" to both questions.
The next obvious question is, "What should we do about this?" Some would say that the answer is to tell students to go home and review. I agree with that answer, but that answer isn't complete unless I don't feel a sense of ownership of my students' success. If I feel a sense of responsibility for how well my students do, then I will make sure that each and everyday I provide students with a time to check their understanding.
So go ahead and figure out a way to daily let your students assess themselves. It works great in 3rd grade and it will work in your classroom as well.
Pam Carter, an Ancient World History teacher at Salem High School, has taken a traditional activity and increased its AFL capacity by very purposefully training her students how to use the activity to assess their level of mastery.
As Pam teaches her students about the time period from the Paleolithic Era to the Agricultural Revolution she stops periodically to have students assess their level of understanding. They do this by completing portions of a 2-sided worksheet called the Ancient World History Guild (see images below or click on link below to download a pdf version of each page). As they move through the lessons/unit, students have to use their knowledge to answer the questions.
What makes this particularly "AFL-ish" is the fact that the questions are grouped into categories. Based on what you can answer you may have reached Apprentice Level, Journeyman Level, or Master Level. Students are trained to do more than just answer questions. They are trained instead to also assess how well they have mastered the content by the level they have reached. Students can use this worksheet as a study guide that will compare for them what they currently know with what they need to know to reach the goal of Master Level. In other words, they can use assement-elicited data to make decisions about their learning - AFL in a nutshell.
This is a perfect example of how AFL is not really about what assessment you use - it's about HOW you use the assessment.
Page 1
Page 2
Many of the posts on this Ning have dealt with how to communicate with students and parents about AFL practices. Let's face it, just like AFL concepts are new to many educators, they are definitely new to many students and parents. It's important to properly communicate with students and parents so that they understand what we we're doing and why we're doing it. This increases the likelihood that they will benefit from your AFL methods.
As additional resources for communicating AFL are added to the Ning, they will also be added to this blog.
- 3 Perspectives on AFL - how a parent and a student view a teacher's use of AFL strategies
- It's About Students Taking Ownership of Learning - practical examples of ways to train students to use AFL
- Getting and Giving Student Feedback - thoughts on giving students opportunities to use feedback
- AFL Principles Can Guide Many Different Types of Classroom Practices - training students to track their progress
- AFL Email to Parents and Students - let parents and students know about your AFL expectations
- A Great Reminder for Students - train your students to think in AFL terms
- A Student AFL Conversation Overheard in the Library - when students start putting AFL ideas into practice
- What we WANT students to do v. What we TRAIN students to do - let's get kids to think properly about grading
- Students Understanding the Value of Assessment - you want your students to appreciate the power of assessment
- Don't Forget the Power of SPIN - Explaining AFL to guide student perceptions
- AFL Communication and a Self-Assessment Rubric for Math - an example of communicating the purpose of AFL practices to students and parents
- The Power of Asking "Can You" - an example of training students to assess their own progress
- Which parent do you most hope to please?
- Response to a Parent (from Rick Wormeli)
- AFL Teachers Reporting Progress in an SBL Method (using PowerSchool)
If you've spent much time on this Network you are well aware that we promote the use of formative assessment - or Assessment FOR Learning. Formative assessments are often compared/contrasted with summative assessments. Typically, educators use the term "formative assessment" to refer to smaller checks for understanding and use the term "summative assessment" to refer to more larger assessments such as traditional unit tests. But to differentiate between the two can be misleading IF THE ULTIMATE GOAL IS FOR STUDENTS TO LEARN RATHER THAN FOR THE TEACHER TO BE ABLE TO DETERMINE A GRADE.
As educators make their lesson/assessment plans, they should keep this simple truth in mind: WE CARE MORE ABOUT LEARNING THAN WE DO GRADING. If this is true, then how can we allow some assessments to help students learn while other assessments help us determine a grade? If we care more about learning than we do grading, then shouldn't ALL assessments help students learn. ALL assessments should have a formative purpose, right?
Last week I entered the classroom of Mark Ingerson, a 9th grade Modern World History teacher at Salem High School, to conduct a quick walk-through. What I saw was a great example of how all assessments, even those that traditionally would be considered summative in nature, can have great formative benefit if the teacher is intentionally focused more on learning than grading.
Mark's students were taking a test in his classroom on the unit he had just finished. The test was designed by him in Quia, and the students took it on their Chromebooks. Mark had tagged all the questions on this unit test based on the standards they represented. Therefore, as students finished Mark received more than just a grade; he received an instant report of how well each individual student had mastered each specific standard.
As the students finished and submitted their tests, they immediately (as if they had been trained to do this....) came up to Mr. Ingerson's desk where he, one-at-a-time, gave each of them a post-it note on which he had listed their weakest standard ON THE TEST THEY HAD JUST TAKEN. After receiving the post-it note, the students went back to their desks to IMMEDIATELY use Quia to practice the standards they had just scored low on.
It definitely takes some work to create the infrastructure needed to provide this sort of instant feedback, and it's true that the Quia format would not work as well for all classes as it does for Mark's. But there's no denying the simple beauty of what is occurring here:
- The students are receiving instant and standards-based feedback.
- The teacher is able to differentiate and personalize the relearning experience for each student.
- The traditional summative assessment is truly a formative experience.
- STUDENTS ARE LEARNING THROUGH THE POWER OF ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING.
Let's remember the truth we believe:
Learning is more important than grading.
So here's the question for you:
How can you ensure that assessments in your classroom, rather than just help you determine a grade, actually help students learn?
Which do you care about more - Learning or Grading?
Educators always answer that question with Learning. And if you've spent much time on The Assessment Network, you know that our focus is to help educators use assessment FOR the purpose of learning - rather than to help ecucators figure out new grading systems.
So while our goal is to explore best practices related to assessment so we can increase learning, the reality is that in order to do so we must spend some amount of time examining our grading practices. It's not that grading practices are the focus, but many traditional grading practices have a negative impact on our ability to provide the type of feedback that leads to learning and on our ability to get students to focus on learning - rather than on "earning" a grade.
One traditional grading practice that has such an impact is an overreliance on creating mathematical formulas to determine a student's grade on a particular assignment. Based on our stated priority - Learning - we should instead be developing methods for providing descriptive feedback that helps students learn. Instead, our profession tends to try to develop just the right formula to "calculate a grade," thereby practicing assessment for GRADING rather than assessment for LEARNING.
For example, take a look a the scored rubric below. Pretend this rubric was used in your class. The student had an assignment that covered 4 standards or topics - 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4. You've scored the assignment as evidenced by the Xs in the boxes.
Based on this rubric, what letter grade ( A, B, C, D, or F) would you think the student should receive for this assignment?
If you said B, then you answered the same as almost every single educator who has seen this rubric.
When educators are shown this rubric, they tend to think the student should receive a B. After all, in 3 of the 4 standards the student was marked as being in the 2nd best (out of 5) category. Perhaps because in one standard the student was marked in the middle category, the student might receive a B minus, if "shades of B-ness" must be used. But most teachers would use their professional expertise to classify this student as roughly a B student on this assignment.
But, unfortunately, in an attempt to be objective, educators often find the need to "hide" behind mathematical formulas. They choose to let fractions, rather than professional expertise, make grading decisions and choose to provide grade information rather than learning-focused feedback.
Here's what that same rubric might look like when a formula is applied to it:
In this scenario the student would receive a total of 15 points (4+4+3+4) out of a possible 20. This fraction would then be converted to a percentage and the student would receive a 75%. Depending on the school system, this 75% would either be a C or a D.
But when we first analyzed the rubric, our professional expertise and instinct told us this student was in the B range on this assignment. Why then would we allow a mathematical formula to tell us the student should receive a C or a D? Why would we remove our expertise from the decision? More importantly, though, why would we get ourselves caught up in a "grading game"? Why would we employ practices that lead to students arguing about a grade or scrambling to earn more points when, instead, we could employ practices that provided feedback useful for learning?
Here's another way to use that same rubric:
By using this rubric, we prevent ourselves from getting caught up in a numbers game. We're not arguing between 75 or 76 or 77. It's very easy to see that, by and large, this student should be rated in the B range. We don't need 100 different points of rating to determine that this student falls into the B range - and frankly, does it really matter where in the B range the student falls? Because we're most interested in learning, right? Therefore, we don't really care about the B or the 75 or whatever the grade is. We care about providing feedback that will help a student learn, correct?
A numerical score of 75 leads to 1 of 2 things. It leads either to:
- A debate about the grading system, or
- A request by the student to earn more points
But if we provide feedback in the form of a letter grade that is not necessarily the result of a mathematical formula, we have the potential to get students to ask questions about how they can improve their learning, especially if the letter grade feedback is attached to descriptive feedback.
What if you used a descriptive chart like the one below that was created by Math teachers at Salem High School in Salem, Virginia?
A chart like this one attaches a descriptive meaning to the letter grades. The B no longer means that the student received 80-89% or 87-93% of the possible points. Instead, we now know that:
- In 3 of the 4 standards the student has a strong understanding but a fair number of mistakes are still being made;
- To improve to the A level in these standards, the student needs to check his/her work and strive to reach a point of complete understanding as evidenced by little to no mistakes and the ability to lead someone else; and
- In 1 of the standards assessed the student shows a basic understanding of the concepts but needs a lot more practice as evidenced by his/her ability to start but then the tendency to get stuck..
The descriptions in the chart above might not be the perfect ones for your class or your grade or your school, but they are examples of feedback that is much more learning-focused than typical fraction-based grading practices. If our goal was just sorting and selecting students, then perhaps a focus on an assessment OF learning based on fractions would suffice. But we are in the business of unlocking human potential to help all students learn and grow. Therefore, we need to focus on assessment FOR learning and descriptive feedback.
Please don't fall into the trap of thinking a mathematical formula is more objective than your expertise. You know much more about learning and about your students and about their growth than a formula does. Use your expertise to provide descriptive feedback. Tell your students where they are and what they need to do - not so they can earn enough numerator points to raise their grade but so they can master the important content and skills you teach.
Last spring during our division's professional development day I attended a presentation led by Curtis Hicks and Mark Ingerson. Their presentation was based on the book Why Students Don't Like School by author and cognitive scientist, Daniel Willingham. There was one statement in particular they shared from his book that really stuck with me. In his book, Daniel Willingham says MEMORY IS THE RESIDUE OF THOUGHT.
Think about that statement for a moment - MEMORY IS THE RESIDUE OF THOUGHT. All teachers are trying to get students to remember content. If Willingham is correct, then we must first get students to THINK about content. There can be no residue of thought if there isn't first thinking.
Reflect on your own classroom and teaching practices. Is the truth behind this statement evident in your classroom? I would contend that it's worth asking yourself the following question: "Am I doing enough to give students opportunities to THINK about my content?"
If it's true that MEMORY IS THE RESIDUE OF THOUGHT then the following statements are probably true as well:
- The more one thinks on something, the more "residue" that is left.
- More residue leads to greater memory of content.
- Greater memory of content leads to an increase in learning.
As you're thinking about your classroom and how much opportunity for thought your students have, I think it's worth noting an important distinction. There is a huge difference between LISTENING to content and THINKING about content.
Students often listen to content and listen to information and we fool ourselves into believing they've been thinking about it just because they heard us. However, we all know that there have been many times when we have been listening to or hearing a speaker while our thoughts were a million miles away. Or maybe we have a few students who are engaged in a meaningful class discussion about the content, which also then fools us into thinking that our class as a whole was really thinking about the content.
If we want students to actually THINK about the content, then we need to structure activities IN class that require them to engage with the content, to form opinions, to use facts, and to apply. We have to create opportunities to really think. This concept applies to ALL levels of students. Just because your students are IB or AP students who know how to sit and listen politely doesn't mean that they are thinking about your content.
This is where AFL comes in. Strategies that are based on the philosophy of AFL are strategies that lead to students thinking about content and assessing their own understanding. AFL strategies inherently lead to students THINKING about content.
As you head back to school from your Christmas/Winter break, consider what you can do this year to ensure that your students are actually thinking about content and building the residue that will lead to memory. For AFL strategies and ideas that will help you accomplish this goal, check out https://salemafl.ning.com/profiles/blogs/practical-examples-of-afl-to right here on Assessment FOR Learning.
Good Teaching is a Lot Like Coaching a Mule!
If you’re reading this and are from Salem, VA you might have a clue what that statement means. If you’re not from Salem you’re probably wondering what the heck I’m talking about.
A little background: High school football is a pretty big deal in Salem, just like it is in so many small towns across our country. But in Salem, Virginia, football might be a slightly bigger deal than in most towns. The Salem Spartans have had great success on the football field for many years. In the past 26 years, they’ve won 17 district, 13 region, and 6 state championships. There have been many reasons for that success, but one consistent throughout all those successful years has been the tough blue-collar play of the offensive line. And that offensive line is collectively known as The Mules.
From 2000-2004, I had the privilege of being a coach in Salem’s football program. I was at the bottom of the totem pole – middle school assistant coach – but it was tons of fun to work with the kids and to learn from the amazing coaches in the system. Willis White, the Virginia High School League Hall of Famer, was the head coach for the high school team. He liked to remind me that he had “holes in his underwear older than me.” A buddy I coached with once told me that Larry Bradley, the head coach of our middle school team, had forgotten more football than I’d ever know. There were so many excellent coaches in the program, but the one I learned the most from was Billy Miles, the coach of The Mules.
As a former high school offensive lineman who had already coached a middle school offensive line at another school, I thought I had a pretty good grasp of what it took to be a successful offensive line coach. When I was hired to coach for Salem, I sat down with Coach Miles so that he could teach me how to coach Mules. As I came to appreciate the way The Mules were coached, I also came to realize that I had a lot to learn!
The Mules were taught higher level thinking. They learned rules and philosophies which they then applied to the thousands of different situations they might encounter. They made calls, did combo blocks, read the defense, talked to one another, and changed their plans and assignments all within a matter of seconds depending on how the defense was lined up. Their ability to apply their knowledge was evident on Friday nights (and Saturdays in the playoffs) as game after game the Spartans were able to pound the ball behind The Mules and right down the opponent’s throat. Coach Miles was a phenomenal coach and an even better teacher. I had a never been around a high school offensive line that operated on that cerebral a level.
As Coach Miles taught me how to play like a Mule – a prerequisite to being able to coach Mules – I’m sure he could see that I was getting excited. I couldn’t wait to take all that I was learning and share it with the Mules of the future at our middle school. It was then that Coach Miles reminded me of something: Before I could get my players to this high level of play, I had to make sure they mastered the basics.
Coach Miles told me to stay away from teaching them how to read the defense and make calls until they could first get in a stance and could make the appropriate first step. And he told me that I needed to refresh the basics with my players every single day.
So that’s what we did. We practiced getting into a three point stance. We did it over and over again until they had mastered it. Then we did it some more. We got into three-point stances and took our first steps until they could do it in their sleep. Then we did that some more. As the season went on, we practiced the basics a little less than we did earlier in the year. After all, I needed to teach my guys how to apply their knowledge to game situations, and that takes time. But there wasn’t a single practice where we didn’t focus at least a little bit on the basics.
Occasionally I would go up to the varsity practice field to watch Coach Miles and his Mules. Man, did they work hard! If you think Marine Corps drill sergeants are tough, you must never have watched Coach Miles! He made the Marine Corps look like Sunday School! But Coach Miles loved his Mules and they respected him. It was a joy to watch them put into practice all he had taught them.
But even The Mules practiced the basics every day. That’s right – The Mules, who could read a defense and adjust their blocking schemes in a matter of seconds, still practiced getting in their stance and taking the correct first step every single day.
Coach Miles never assumed they were beyond the basics. Therefore, there was no way they would ever forget the basics. You really can’t become a cohesive and dominant offensive line if you don’t have the basics down. I suppose Coach Miles could have skipped the basics and assumed that as a varsity coach he was above that. I suppose when a player messed up the basics he could have bemoaned the woeful and inadequate coaching the players received at the middle school level. But instead, Coach Miles recognized that without the basics his team would never get to the higher level. Instead, he took the responsibility on himself to make sure his players had the skills they needed.
See how this applies to teaching?
Great teaching is just like coaching The Mules. The goal is higher level thinking. The goal is to take what has been learned and then apply it to new situations. But it all starts with the basics. Students newer to the content (like my middle school linemen) need more time focusing on the basics, but ALL STUDENTS need to continually refresh the basics if they’re going to truly reach mastery. Students more familiar with the content might not need as much time refreshing the basics, but they still need to revisit them to some degree on a regular basis.
I think sometimes we educators overlook the importance of the basics. We feel like we have too much to cover to spend time going over the basics. For example, an Algebra 2 teacher might not feel like he should have to focus on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and using fractions. A US History teacher might not feel like she has time to focus on vocabulary not directly related to her state standards. A Science teacher might not feel as though she should have to routinely revisit proper lab procedures. And these teachers would be (in my opinion) incorrect.
I routinely hear teachers point out that a lack of basic skills prevents students from mastering their course content. I think those teachers are correct. Students often lack the basics which in turn prevents higher level mastery. My response, though, is to copy Coach Miles. If the basics are what are preventing students from having success, then focus on the basics. Perhaps part of the reason students are lacking the basics is that we have a tendency to assume they should have been learned already and as a result move away from them.
Consider your own content area for a moment. Would your students have more success if they had a better level of mastery of the basics? Would you have a greater chance of helping them reach higher levels of application if they knew the basics better? If the answer to either or both question was “yes” then the only acceptable next step (assuming you want your students to have success and to reach higher levels of application) is to figure out how to work regular reviews of the basics into the fabric of your classroom.
This is how you coach The Mules, and this is how you teach students.
A colleague of mine reminded me this morning of an AFL strategy that she observed me using a few weeks ago. I decided to share!
Students had a quiz and I wanted to make sure that they understood what they were to be assessed on. So at the beginning of the class, I wrote 5 problems on the board similar to those on their quiz. I explained that after they had successfully completed those five problems, I would give them their quiz. Each student was able to get their answers checked, get feedback, and then rework the problems until I was satisfied that they understoof the material. Then they took their quiz. It was an easy thing to do, but gave me lots of feedback about what the students knew and didn't know. It also gave them confidence in their abilities to complete the work.
Here's a sure sign that you don't fully understand AFL and how AFL practices will lead to your goal of helping students learn the content you teach:
You teach a primarily fact-based class or are currently teaching fact-based content - such as History, Biology, or Health - and the first time that your students are assessed/quizzed/tested/etc on facts it's on a graded assignment that goes into your grade book and is averaged with other assignments to determine a final grade.
Think about it for a moment. AFL is all about assessment FOR THE PURPOSE OF LEARNING. If you assess your students and put the outcome of that assessment into your grade book - WITHOUT PROVIDING STUDENTS AN OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE OR IMPROVE THE GRADE AS THEY MASTER CONTENT - then that assessment was for the purpose of determining a grade NOT for the purpose of learning.
There is nothing wrong with assessing for the purpose of determining a grade. You are required to do this as a teacher. However, you are first charged with helping students learn. Your students' grades should be determined AFTER your students have had ample opportunity to learn by practicing and failing and practicing again IF you want the grade to reflect learning. If you give students notes on the facts of your content, have them take a quiz on those facts, assign a grade to that quiz, and then put that grade in your grade book to be averaged with other grades HAS YOUR ASSESSMENT HELPED STUDENTS LEARN?
The answer is yes - it has helped them learn. Now that they realize what they have missed they better understand the content. We definitely learn by mistakes. In fact, we need to give students more opportunities to make mistakes (see this post). BUT IF THAT GRADE ON THAT FIRST QUIZ IS ETCHED INTO GRADE BOOK "STONE" THEN THERE IS NO WAY FOR THE FINAL GRADE TO ACCURATELY REFLECT LEARNING.
Here's an example of what I mean: Let's say a student got a 75 on a quiz about people or vocabulary or dates. If as a result of that 75 the student learns from his or her mistakes and could get a 95 on a similar quiz the next day, then it's safe to say that you have taught them - at least for the short-term - the content at a 95 level. BUT THE GRADE IN THE GRADE BOOK IS A 75. If you are satisfied with this - if you allow this to happen in your classroom - then it's safe to say that you don't really get AFL. You're probably teaching as YOU were taught - or assuming that all students learn in the manner in which you learned - without really thinking about how your assessment strategies and grading strategies are inconsistent. You've taught content, but you're just not really skilled at assessment. You might be doing an excellent job of covering content, but you are not giving your students enough opportunities to practice. Some of your students are probably experiencing a certain level of grade deflation that doesn't indicate the degree to which they are learning from you.
So what are some solutions? How about if before you give and then grade the assignment that will go into the grade book, you first try one or more of these 4 easy AFL strategies:
- Try starting each class or most classes off with a short 5-10 question practice quiz. The practice quiz grade can go in the grade book as long as it can be replaced or improved by a later graded assignment. I guarantee you that your students will master the content better this way than they would if you gave 1 summative quiz/test after taking notes on the content. You could even give the same quiz several days in a row.
- Try ending each class with a quick check for understanding. Take 5 minutes and make sure EVERYONE has grasped that day's main points/terms/vocabulary. You might try this flashcard review method.
- Use white boards once a week to see how well students are understanding the content. Read here to see how this could work in your classroom.
- Start off a unit by giving students a review sheet or rubric. Then have them assess daily how well they understand the content. Here's an example of a review sheet and here's an example of a rubric.
Here's my next question? Why would you not try one of these ideas? Or more importantly, why would you teach something, give a graded assignment on it, and then put that grade into your grade book without FIRST doing a meaningful AFL activity? I can promise you this: If you give your students multiple opportunities to fail content and learn from mistakes prior to putting a permanent grade into a grade book, your students will start finding it easier to master the content in your classroom. And getting students to master difficult content is what teaching is all about.
A natural outgrowth of the AFL philosophy is the idea that redos are essential to learning. After all, if learning (rather than calculating a grade) is what's most important, and if for learning to occur students need lots of practice and opportunities to learn from their mistakes, then redoing an assignment just makes sense. If students can't redo an assignment - either right away, at a later date, or by demonstrating mastery on a future assignment - then by definition the assignment was summative.
It's common for teachers to grasp this concept but then have a difficult time figuring out how to make redos work in their classroom. That conversation is bigger than any one blog post, but Reed Gillespie from Nokesville, VA has taken a nice stab at it. Click on this link to read his recent blog post entitled: 12 Steps to Creating a Successful Redo and Retake Policy.
Thanks, Reed, for taking the time to add your voice and ideas to this important discussion!
The 2008-2009 school year was my school and school system's first year exploring Assessment FOR Learning/Formative Assessment. It was definitely a learning year for all of us.
Over the summer of 2009 I spent some time thinking back on what I had learned about AFL during the year. I thought about conversations that had occurred on our school's AFL Committee. I thought about time spent with individual teachers as we worked together to implement AFL practices into their classroom. I thought about articles and books I had read, videos I had watched, and many other AFL-related staff development opportunities in which I had participated.
The result was that I entered the 2009-2010 school year with a much greater appreciation for AFL. I had come to see how all-encompassing it really was - how it could truly impact our entire approach to instruction. I also realized that it was very easy to have misconceptions of exactly what AFL is all about.
All of that led to what I call my 6 Key AFL Ideas. When one understands and can apply these 6 ideas, AFL will have a positive impact on instruction and learning. However, when any of these ideas are missing or not understood, it seems to me that AFL loses its effectiveness or perhaps isn't even present.
6 Key AFL Ideas
1. Assessment and grading are not the same thing.
2. There aren’t AFL assignments and non-AFL assignments.
3. AFL provides a framework or reason for why we do what we do.
4. Assessment for LEARNING as opposed to Assessment for GRADING.
5. We learn from our mistakes.
6. Students need to know what they need to know so they can know if they know it.
Now let me explain in a little more detail what each of these ideas means:
1. Assessment and grading are not the same thing.
Try not to get into your mind that AFL means changing or altering the way you grade. AFL means assessing to help students learn. This can be done without grading. However, if you don’t grade well you can negate your AFL efforts. In other words, if you use all sorts of assessments to provide feedback to students and as a result your students learn, but then you grade in a way that causes their grades to not be reflective of their learning, then the AFL was negated by the grading practice. While assessment and grading are not the same thing, you must be willing to grow as needed in your grading practices as you grow in your assessment practices. But remember - when one speaks of assessing students it doesn't have to mean grading students.
2. There aren’t AFL assignments and non-AFL assignments.
AFL is HOW you USE assignments, not what assignments you use. Something has an AFL purpose if you
and/or the students use the feedback to further learning. All assessments can be used for an AFL purpose. AFL doesn't mean you will have to completely change the types of assessments you use. What it means is that you will be very cognizant of how frequently you assess so that you can provide very regular feedback to students.
3. AFL provides a framework or reason for why we do what we do.
AFL is a philosophy. When we attach a name or meaning to what we do, we are more likely to do it. A lot of people hear about an AFL strategy and say, "I already do that." But here's the thing - why do you do that? Education is not an exact science. Many of us stumble on certain activities or procedures that work. But do we understand why they work? If we have a governing philosophy for WHY we do things, then we are more likely to continue and even increase our doing them. Instead of doing something because we've always done it, we instead do it because it falls into our governing philosophy. This will most likely lead to that practice being enhanced and more practices like it being added to our toolbox.
4. Assessment for LEARNING as opposed to Assessment for GRADING.
Don’t be afraid to assess and not grade. Think of other ways to give feedback besides a traditional grade. Don’t get locked into the idea that you must average all feedback in order to determine a grade. Just because you give some sort of feedback doesn't mean the "grade" has to count into the whole. That is a box that educators find themselves in too often. It results in us grading student practice too much. The student ends up learning because of our teaching, but then gets a grade lower than their learning because of our grading. Assess for the purpose of learning.
5. We learn from our mistakes.
When a student makes a mistake in your classroom (does poorly on an assignment) can that mistake be used
for instruction and learning? Or does it always inherently lead to a lower grade and, therefore, discourage
learning? We all know that in life we usually learn the most from our mistakes. Too often in education students don't have the chance to demonstrate that or to erase their mistake. If students realize that they can learn from mistakes and then fix them then they will be more likely to take chances.
6. Students need to know what they need to know so they can know if they know it.
I have come to view this idea as perhaps AFL at its most potent form. If we use AFL properly we can empower students to take control of their learning. If students are regularly - preferable daily - given assessment feedback and then taught how to use it, they are more likely to grow into the types of learners we want them to be. They will gain skills that will carry them beyond us and into future learning experiences. Consider using rubrics on a regular basis. Let your students know your thoughts on AFL. Explicitly describe why you are assessing and doing what you do. Encourage/teach/require them to assess themselves.
I hope those 6 ideas make sense and that they help you out as you try to apply AFL to your classroom. Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts.
Sea World Trainer 1: "I am so tired of these seals. They always want a fish every time they do anything!"
Sea World Trainer 2: "Tell me about it. It's like they don't understand how important the show is. They only care about getting fish!"
The other day I was talking with Jamie Garst, a Chemistry/IB Biology teacher at Salem High School. He mentioned that he recently decided to use Smart Pals (a plastic sleeve that allows an ordinary piece of paper to be used like a small dry erase boards) as a way to review in his classroom. (See previous post on using white boards to review) This was his first experience doing this with his students. As he was instructing them on what to do he told them that they would also need a blank sheet of paper. As he started to tell them the reason why, the kids said, "We know - it's to keep track of what we don't know." This was the first time Jamie had done this with his students. Therefore, their knowledge of what to do is evidence of the fact that someone had trained them. It's not natural for students to get out paper to assess their understanding. These kids had been trained by another teacher or other teachers in the school.
As educators, what do we want students to do?
We want them to learn for the sake of learning.
We want them to work hard because it's the right thing to do and because it leads to learning.
We want them to be internally motivated to do their best.
We want them to care more about learning than they do grades.
I think you'd be hard pressed to find a teacher who wouldn't agree that he or she wants those previous statements to be true for his or her students. However, we train them quite differently.
We train students to learn for the sake of getting a grade.
We train them to work hard or else they'll get a bad grade and because it leads to good grades.
We train them to be externally motivated by grades.
We train them to care more about grades than learning.
Think about it for a moment. The typical classroom at any grade level is not all that different from the seal show at Sea World. The student does the work; he gets a grade or points. The seal does the trick; he gets a fish. The student doesn't do the work; he doesn't get the grade or the points. The seal doesn't do the trick; he doesn't get the fish.
Have you ever assigned something and had students say, "Is this graded?" Have you ever felt like your students wouldn't work as hard if they weren't getting a grade? Have students ever complained that you weren't grading them after they put effort into an assignment or activity? Does it ever seem like all the students (and parents) care about is the grade on the report card or transcript?
Look back at the start of this post. Wouldn't it be ridiculous for the Sea World trainer to complain about the seal always wanting a fish for the tricks it does? Why is it not just as ridiculous for an educator to complain about a student always wanting to know if something is graded or about a student being motivated by grades rather than learning?
Perhaps the answer is because unlike the seal, the student is capable of rational and logical thought processes and should, therefore, know better. However, think about how students have been conditioned from day 1 in school. Do the work - get a reward. Now consider that this has been the case for generations. Is it any wonder that our students tend to be more externally than internally motivated? Is it any wonder that they tend to focus so much on grades and lose sight of the bigger picture of learning?
So what can be done about this? Is it possible to change years of conditioning to get to what we really want from students? Of course, if all teachers in the educational system made a change then we could definitely alter the situation; however, that's probably (definitely) a bit of a stretch. So can students be trained to be more internally motivated and to look at grades differently?
The story of Jamie and his students tells me that the answer is "yes". From my experience, the typical student expectation of a review activity is that the teacher will tell the student everything he or she needs to know - or ask all the questions he or she will eventually be asked - and then the student goes home and studies everything that will be on the test. (Or in some cases, doesn't study at all.) However, what Jamie found out was that his students were being conditioned to expect something different. They now expected that when a review was finished each student would leave class with a personalized list of what that student had not yet mastered. This personalized list would become the student's unique study guide. What Jamie experienced is an example of the fact that student expectations can be changed.
So what if teachers in your building stopped practicing AFG? AFG is Assessment FOR Grading. AFG is what I did very intentionally as a new teacher. I assigned lots of graded assignments so that I could have lots of grades in my grade book. The main purpose of my assignments and my assessments was to get grades in the grade book which could then average together to get a final summative grade. I used points as rewards and withheld points as a consequence. This use of AFG would naturally lead to my students thinking that everything they did had to be graded. I was training my seals - I mean, students - to work hard for the fish - I mean, grade.
AFL is so different. AFL is about assessing and assigning to gain feedback. It's about teachers and students using that feedback to guide learning. The whole point of the assessments and assignments is learning - thus the name, Assessment FOR Learning. This site is full of resources and ideas for applying AFL principles to the classroom.
I think that we can train kids to think differently about grades. It will take effort and a lot of change on our part. It will take great consistency, but it can be done. Until we truly begin applying AFL principles with this goal in mind, does it make sense for us to complain that students react exactly as we have trained them to react?
The best part of this is that if we alter their view of grades, we will ultimately increase their level of learning.
