Issue 85: One Chance to Learn?
Starting with this issue, we will be emailing you our newsletters every second Tuesday, rather than weekly. We welcome feedback from our readers on whether you prefer this less frequent schedule.
In some discussions about formative and summative assessment, the controversy arises about giving students second chances to improve their assigned work. I think part of the challenge stems from the traditional practice of ‘assign and assess’ where teachers used to address the topic under study by giving a lecture, assigning some practice work and then evaluating students’ learning through a performance task or a test. In this world view, some people believe that it isn’t fair to let some students know what they’ve done wrong and then have a chance to try again to improve their marks, when others have achieved a good grade the first time.
Today, educators recognize that some students need more time than others to learn. Teaching involves assessing what students know, teaching to the needs that are evident through the assessment data, and then, after students have had time to learn, evaluating the evidence of learning. In order for all students to show what they know, it is often important to be flexible in terms of ‘what counts’ for evidence or proof of learning.
If you and your colleagues are still engaged in conversations about how to work with the numbers, marks, grades and scores related to assessing and evaluating student work, find Ken O’Connor’s work. His book, **How to Grade for Learning K–12, Third Edition** is a wonderful resource for conversations at this level.
More on this next week…
____________________________________________________
“Grades must be directly related to the learning goals for each grading period.”
~ Ken O’Connor
Check out “A Conversation about 21st Century Learning” by Dr. David Peat and Barry Allen, on our STORIES page:
http://www.annedavies.com/assessment_for_learning_stories.html
In some discussions about formative and summative assessment, the controversy arises about giving students second chances to improve their assigned work. I think part of the challenge stems from the traditional practice of ‘assign and assess’ where teachers used to address the topic under study by giving a lecture, assigning some practice work and then evaluating students’ learning through a performance task or a test. In this world view, some people believe that it isn’t fair to let some students know what they’ve done wrong and then have a chance to try again to improve their marks, when others have achieved a good grade the first time.
Today, educators recognize that some students need more time than others to learn. Teaching involves assessing what students know, teaching to the needs that are evident through the assessment data, and then, after students have had time to learn, evaluating the evidence of learning. In order for all students to show what they know, it is often important to be flexible in terms of ‘what counts’ for evidence or proof of learning.
If you and your colleagues are still engaged in conversations about how to work with the numbers, marks, grades and scores related to assessing and evaluating student work, find Ken O’Connor’s work. His book, **How to Grade for Learning K–12, Third Edition** is a wonderful resource for conversations at this level.
More on this next week…
____________________________________________________
“Grades must be directly related to the learning goals for each grading period.”
~ Ken O’Connor
Check out “A Conversation about 21st Century Learning” by Dr. David Peat and Barry Allen, on our STORIES page:
http://www.annedavies.com/assessment_for_learning_stories.html
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