This year I, along with my peers, am embarking on a brand new assessment journey. It is intense, it is challenging, it is a lot of work, but it is awesome...and misunderstood.
Traditionally, a student's grades were all weighted, meaning that a student was responsible for doing well on every assignment or else she would earn a low mark. As the months of school went on, the assessments in the gradebook would accumulate. If the student performed well on almost every assignment, she was rewarded with an "A." However, if she did not perform well on every assignment, she was rewarded with a lower mark. From there, assumptions about the student's abilities and intelligence were made. "This student is a hard worker and is very smart because she got an A in my class." "This student is a pain and just doesn't get it; she has a D." And the list goes on...
But, what these grades and these remarks failed to measure were the students progress, the students work ethic, the students growth-mindset. These grades forgot that no person, no student, will be good at a task the first time she tries it. Imagine for a moment, if you will, walking into work on your first day. Your boss walks up to you and says "Hello. Your first client is here and your meeting will be in 30 minutes. Remember, this is a huge client. We cannot lose them. If you fail to perform, we may reconsider our decision to have you on our team." While I know my business lingo is severely lacking, all of you can see how this scenario is quite seriously laughable. Walking into work on the first day and being slung into a huge client meeting? That would never happen! You need training! You need time to prepare! You need examples of success!
Exactly. And so do our students. We need to stop making the first few times a s
tudent tries a brand new skill a high stakes situation. We need to give them safe spaces to make mistakes, to have opportunities to see their own weaknesses and build strategies to improve.
So, we are turning the tables and looking at our students as trainees instead of assignment crushing machines. We are going to give them several building blocks, opportunities to fail, opportunities to succeed, and opportunities to fix mistakes before they are assigned to "a huge client meeting." (I know, enough with the business metaphor)
Basically my classroom assessments are now divided into 2 categories: formative assessments and summative assessments. The summative assessments are the doozies. They are the weighted grades based on rubrics that measure all of the skills a student should have mastered throughout a project. The formative assessments are just as important and are based on those same rubrics, but they are unweighted. They are essentially thermometer readings for the teachers, students, and parents. These formative assessments allow our students a few tries before being held to standard. They allow for our students to make mistakes and receive immediate feedback on what needs to be improved so that, when the time comes for summative assessments, they already know how to succeed.
After changing the assessment strategy in my classroom now for 5 weeks, I can honestly say I am loving it. The students feel less pressure to perform perfectly every single time, allowing them to feel comfortable with the "not knowing." They are more willing to ask questions. They are reading feedback from me. They are reading rubrics. They are accepting critique with open arms instead of being offended by needing to change their original drafts. They are creating multiple drafts.
We have had so many formative assessments so far and are just starting to dip our toes in the summative waters. Our first summative assessment was just graded and the lowest score was an 83%. A B WAS THE LOWEST SCORE! That is something to celebrate. I owe it all to the 3 check-in formative assessments and feedback meetings with groups. The students came to each one having improved and having a more clear vision for their work. And now, they are kicking butt and earning B's and A's. My teacher heart is crying the happiest of happy tears.
For many of us, myself included, this takes a huge shift in thinking. I know this assessment journey may not make complete sense to everyone. I know that this assessment journey may not be something that every parent, student, or even teacher agrees with at this point in time. But I urge everyone to be patient with the process. I think that if we just give this new method the time that it needs to grow, we will see an increase in our student's capabilities to be critical thinkers empowered by their taking comfort in the process of growth.
I will end my blog post with a student haiku written during yesterday's warmup that has nothing to do with assessment, but truly encompasses the moment that a teacher expects a haiku about flowers or the ocean and gets blindsided by logic. Kudos, young mastermind.
5 syllables here
7 more syllables here
5 syllables there*
*Disclaimer: This was transcribed by memory, apologies to the author for any mistakes.
