Inquiry #3 - turning the tables on assessment

This third and final field study for my graduate program is about midway through and I figured it was time to reflect on how things were progressing.  I had chosen to implement SBG (standards based grading) in my math 9 adapted class.  This group of students is made up of those who have really struggled all throughout their schooling with math and have in many cases just given up.  Its a challenging group to work with at the best of times and to keep them interested and motivated for a full 10 months has been difficult in the past.  So after much reading this summer from Matt Townsley, Alfie Kohn, Robert Marzano and many more I decided to completely change my approach to assessing these students in hopes that they would feel more willing to try, persevere and take responsibility for their learning.  So this is what I've done:

• given students a list of concepts that we are covering in this first unit
• given frequent short skills checks (aka quizzes)  I am including an assessment on the back where they indicated where they think they are in terms of their mastering and then I give them feedback and my opinion after checking their work

• NO marks of any sort are recorded on skills checks
• I have borrowed a mark recording sheet from Lisa to record mastery scores (thanks for sharing!)

• students have had the opportunity to reassess or "challenge" a concept during a scheduled class block
• have posted all the mastery scores online (www.engrade.ca) and have weighted everything to zero so that there is no % reported.  This way everyone is focused on the information that is there.

At this point there are a few key things that I'm noticing.  First, when I returned the first skills check, students actively helped each other and at the end of class there was NOT ONE crumpled up paper on the floor for me to pick up.  In the past when a score was recorded on the assessment, it wasn't long before someone who did quite poorly had crushed and had personally turned off.  The confirmation that they were "dumb" once again.  It was so neat to see everyone working together to figure things out.

I have a few students who had told me that in middle school they always wrote their tests in the learning center - to say they experienced test anxiety was an understatement.  After the first skills check (when I asked them to stay) they realized that the assessments weren't given to punish them, just to get a snapshot of what they had mastered.  They'd have another chance (and another and another ...)  if they wanted it. So now when a student arrives after an absence and we are writing a skills check, there is no panic in their eyes!  So far attendance on assessment days has been quite good.

With this particular group I choose to schedule an in class "challenge" time with the option of seeing me outside of class time if they wanted.  Students were given a print out of their current mastery level per concept and signed up for a challenge the following week.  Each was required to have some proof that they had figured something out before rewriting.  This first time had seven students challenge and all but two were able to improve their standing.  Nice!

As I get further into this I'm finding that the reporting of the information broken down by concepts so incredibly informative for both me and the students that I've started doing something similar in my math 9 classes.  Even though I'm not officially introducing SBG here (at least this year), when I'm recording information about skills checks in these classes I have ended up breaking down the assessment into core concepts.  Now when a parent asks me what their son or daughter needs help with .... I can provide them with much more useful feedback.

I like that assessments DON'T have to be skills checks or tests.  The other day I had a challenge question involving adding decimals and presented it in a "draw" format where all the kids submitted their answer and then I drew out papers until I had a winner (who received a pen as a prize).  Everyone had fun and I had a quick assessment that I could record in my mark book.

Down sides:  time, reassessment preparation, extra practice and the eventual conversion to some sort of grade.  Currently I'm finding that I'm spending a lot more time marking assessments - and then recording the data.  I'm just thankful that there are only 20 kids in this class!  If all 4 of my classes were involved I might be a bit more overwhelmed.  I seem to be only one step ahead of the kids in the area of reassessments - I'm waiting for the day a student approaches me and asks to challenge one that I don't have created and I'll do it on the fly.  Ideally students would locate some sort of extra practice to do but since we work without a textbook, I'm feeling like I am responsible for providing this for them.  This is taking LOTS of time and I really need to create a list of websites that they can go to for the extra practice rather than creating it myself.  The last issue is that of grades.  I'm concerned that as November approaches, I will have yet to come up with a nice clean way to determine a grade for the report card.  I had asked my principal if I could opt out of reporting a % as long as I wrote a full anecdotal on where they are at.  He indicated that I was required by the ministry to give a grade so I guess that is what will happen ... somehow.  I may involve the students in the determination of this mark - we'll see.

All in all this has been one of the most exciting adventures in my classroom that I've embarked on in a long time.  Its so cool to be able to refocus kids on what they are learning, rather than on the score at the top of a page.