Assessment for Learning

Learning to Use Assessment To Promote Student Learning

Assessment is an important part of teaching and learning that deserves careful consideration.  So far in the UNBC Bachelor of Education program, I have experienced aspects of self, peer, formative, and summative assessments in my course work and practicum. With the versatility to be implemented in a variety of ways, it is important that educators use all forms of assessment effectively and appropriately, in ways that will promote student learning, rather than simply judging the achievements of learners.

With the right planning, self and peer assessments can be helpful to further student engagement and learning. The example of informal self assessment in Katie White’s (2017) Softening the Edges comes to mind, where students were asked to “tell the group one thing they were proud of and one thing they wished they had done differently” (p. 111). The low stakes of this assessment is one of the aspects I particularly admire, so I tried to incorporate self and peer assessment subtly in my formative feedback. For example, when a student asked, “Is this good enough?” I would respond with something like, “What do you think? Have you met all of the learning goals?” and because the learning goals were posted, the student could look back and discern the answer for themselves. When students finished an assignment quickly, I asked them to work together to see if there were any aspects they could improve on, by saying something like, “Is there anything your classmate did well that you could do, too?” Sometimes they just chatted, but other times a student would see something in their peer’s work that they had missed and was able to have help in accomplishing that element of the task. While self and peer assessment were useful when used in this way, I feel that these forms also have potential to be invaluable for students in the process of solidifying what they know during reflective exercises, too.

Initially, I planned on focusing on formative assessment for my 391 practicum. However, since my first planned lesson would occur about midway through a short story unit, I realized on my first day in the classroom that I had no idea of the students’ previous experience with short stories. I knew they had some background knowledge because they were about halfway through the unit, but I did not know what that learning had been. I had prepared by speaking with my coaching teacher about what she had already taught, but I could not know what the students had actually taken in without consulting them. I knew I should do a pre-assessment, but I was terrified of the idea because I had no previous experience. But what was more frightening was the risk of alienating the entire class on my first day teaching! So, I asked my coaching teacher if I could have about 15-20 minutes more of the next day’s class to do a pre-assessment. I had no idea what that would look like, but I went home that evening and figured it out. Thankfully, I came across a pre-made resource that fit my needs perfectly as an low-risk overview plot and short story concepts.

The next day, as my first real teaching moment with the class, I explained to them why I wanted to do the pre-assessment with them: to honor the knowledge they already had, so that I could understand what would be best for me to teach in my upcoming lessons (White, 2017, p. 70). I told them that the activity did not count for marks but would be helpful for both myself and them to understand what they already knew and what concepts to focus on. I fully expected many of them not to participate, but to my surprise, every single student handed in a sheet with writing on it. From this, I was able to discern that the class was approaching the level that I had anticipated, but not there yet. Therefore, I broke my lesson up to be taught over two days, slowing down, and explaining elements of the story and analysis that I would not have emphasized without the pre-assessment knowledge. The students seemed to appreciate my efforts and were more engaged and attentive than I had thought possible for an assignment that did not count toward their final grade.

Although my coaching teacher and I had planned on me doing only formative assessment during this practicum, during week two she challenged me to do summative as well. If I was going to attempt summative assessment, I wanted to do it right and make sure that the students understood what they were being marked on. Therefore, in all of my practicum teaching, I made sure I was clear about the learning goals by posting them on a PowerPoint and explaining them at the beginning of the lesson. It was also important to me to practice intentional clarity about how the Curricular and Core Competencies, First Peoples Principles of Learning, and Big Ideas fit into the lesson. I wanted to make sure that students had access to this information because these elements were something that I never understood as a high school student. I found that this practice decreased complaints and reduced questions like “Why do we have to do this?” and “When will I actually use this in real life?” so it was well worth the time spent explaining at the beginning of class to achieve the engagement throughout our learning time. Additionally, I used the learning intentions on the PowerPoint to create one-point rubrics for the assignments that went with each lesson. This way, students saw that they were being marked on exactly what I had outlined at the beginning of the lesson. In some cases, the rubrics I created worked great, but in others, I realized that a different type of rubric might be more appropriate to communicate the proficiency of students across the learning goals, rather than just whether they had met them or not. This was particularly relevant with assignments involving Applies Skills Design Technology and, as Yoon Jeon Kim, Yumiko Murai, and Stephanie Chang (2020) identify, “there needs to be a new form of assessment to better understand and support student learning in maker-centered activities” (p. 1422), so I intend to experiment with the embedded assessment practices that these authors suggest in the future.

When all the aspects of assessment are combined in intentional and holistic ways, the overall effect is a useful communication avenue between students and teachers, and potentially administrators, parents, or other community members as they may need to be involved. I feel that the most important aspect is to utilize assessment as a tool that facilitates communication about student learning in ways that are beneficial to the understanding of every person who is invested in the process. Self and peer assessments can be valuable in a formative environment, but I also suspect that they have great potential in reflective activities to solidify students’ understanding of what they know. Formative assessment continues to make the most sense to me and be what I naturally feel most comfortable with, but summative assessment can be applied in positive ways, by being clear about the learning goals. Its purpose is ultimately to communicate with students, parents, and other educators about the student’s learning, in a way that makes sense to all. There is still much more to learn about assessment, and I am excited to examine the implications of embedded assessment while I keep learning to make assessment a holistic, learner-centered practice that promotes learning rather than judges the process.

 

References:

Kim, Y. J., Murai, Y., & Chang, S. (2020, June 1). Embedded Assessment Tools for Maker Classrooms: A Design-Based Research Approach. Repository of the International Society of Learning Sciences. https://repository.isls.org/handle/1/6345.

White, K. (2017). Softening the edges: assessment practices that honor K-12 teachers and learners. Solution Tree Press.

A few links to refer to:

Transforming Assessment – BC’s New Curriculum
https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/node/88

BC’s K-12 Assessment System – BC’s New Curriculum
https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/assessment

Dylan Wiliam – YouTube – Assessment for Learning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiu-jY-xaPg

Dylan Wiliam – YouTube – Assessment Strategies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcJdZGz6ifY

Dylan Wiliam – YouTube – Formative Assessment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYdVe5O7KBE

Assessment: The Bridge Between Teaching and Learning – from Voices in the Middle, Volume 21, Number 2, December 2013
https://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/VM/0212-dec2013/VM0212Assessment.pdf