Welcome to 2010! Whew, where did that year go? Thank goodness we have markers, like the New Year, to prompt us to step back and take a break from this frantic pace of life and think about where we are in our goals and where we want to go over the next year. It’s interesting to reflect back on the plans we made last year at this time and give ourselves feedback on whether we met the criteria that we set for marking our steps to success. Some of us may need to adjust our goals to fit better with our present situation, but we can all celebrate our achievements, whether large or small.

I believe it is possible to create our life to be the way we want it to be. We just need the courage and commitment to begin planning for success, both in our own lives and in our teaching practice. Goethe said, “Whatever you can do or dream, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

As a first step in helping your students plan for a new outcome (or for helping us to achieve our own goals), we suggest you try an idea called ‘Goal Envelopes’ from CONFERENCING AND REPORTING (pages 17-20). An outline is available for the first part of the exercise and a template; samples and adaptations are included in the book. They can be viewed at www.annedavies.com/pdf/20C_GoalEnvelopes.pdf and  www.annedavies.com/pdf/20C_p58_Conferencing&Reporting.pdf
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“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

CONFERENCING AND REPORTING is part of the three-book series called ‘Knowing What Counts’ which is available at:
http://connect2learning.com/store/publications/knowing-what-counts-series-3-books

Many years ago, I started looking for a way to simplify my life. Taking some clues from the writing of Stephen Covey and what I knew from my work with strategic planning, I began to review my goals and establish a picture of my life for myself.

I reviewed all the things I did that gave me pleasure and contributed to my quality of life and the lives of others: my family, my community, and my profession. I considered what my talents and gifts were and how they best found expression. I looked at those parts of my life that gave me little or no pleasure. I decided I wanted time to do the things that were of value to me. I made some decisions…

Now I try to use my newly-created time to do the things I value. I have more time to write – an activity I value. I have more time to talk with other educators about issues of concern and challenge to me – an activity I value. I have more time to be with my family – an integral part of the gift of life and a great value to me. My life is not perfect, but it does make more sense to me. When I stepped back and reflected on my life, these were some of the choices I made for me. They have given me the gift of time. What about you? How can you give yourself the give of time?

(Read more on this in my article called Gift of Time: Stepping Back and Making Sense at www.annedavies.com/images/PDFs/gift_of_time.pdf


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“Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”
~ Sidney J. Harris

“What we desperately need in business is reflection. Not more planning. Not more strategizing. More reflection.”
~ John Dalla Costa

Anne Davies has begun to share some of her tranquil moments through her paintings and writing. Find out more at:
http://connect2learning.com/store/publications/art-reflection

We have received feedback and questions from readers regarding the use of formative assessment data in Assessment OF Learning evaluations. Some teachers have requested more information about how they can do this.

When it comes to reporting, teachers need solid evidence of all of the learning outcomes or standards. There are two questions they need to address as they evaluate and report:
•    What has been learned in relation to all the learning targets? (That is, what does each student know, what can she or he do and articulate as proof of learning?)
•    What has been achieved? (That is, have students learned what they need to learn to an appropriate degree of quality?)

When responding to these two questions, teachers and students begin by collecting evidence of what has been learned over time. Then, teachers can compare what has been learned with expected quality levels and determine student achievement. Lastly, teachers report their professional judgment using the report card format required.

There are many ways that teachers use formative assessment data in their evaluations. I have provided some examples that focus on learning targets that are complex, and require knowledge, understanding, application and articulation. Please read more in the article posted on our website at www.annedavies.com/pdf/20A_No-MarksReporting_PP.pdf
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“With the no-marks system, the focus becomes more on demonstrating learning than it does on deadlines. The conversation changes from ‘What mark did you give me?’ to ‘I know I’m fully meeting the expectations because…’”
~ Gerald Fussell ~

Gerald Fussell writes about how he incorporated ‘No-Marks Assessment’ into his High School English classes in CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT: WHAT’S WORKING IN HIGH SCHOOLS? For more information about this award-winning resource, go to:
http://connect2learning.com/store/classroom-assessment-what-s-working-in-higschools

Formative assessment involves giving students valuable feedback about learning without using marks. As teachers have applied research findings, they have developed many ways to give learners specific, descriptive feedback that tells them what they’re doing well (“Continue doing this…”), what they need to improve on (“Do more of this…”) and what they need to do differently (“Try this…”) in a timely, efficient, and effective manner.

Here is a sample from a list of ten strategies that teachers have developed and are willing to share with other educators to adapt for their own use. Check out the other innovative ideas at www.annedavies.com/pdf/19D_10Ways_feedback_nomarks.pdf

“Think about dart boards and hitting the bulls-eye. Lisa McCluskey, a kindergarten teacher, used this strategy with her students. The inner circle was called “right on,” the next circle “working on it,” and the outside circle, “needs improvement.” The teacher modeled its use, the class used it as a group, and then, when students were ready, they used it to peer and self-assess.”

After demonstrating one of these strategies to give your students feedback, then you can ask them to adapt it to use when they are peer or self-assessing. For many more ways to give specific feedback without putting a mark or grade on student work, look at Chapter 2 in SETTING AND USING CRITERIA.


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“People ask for criticism, but they only want praise.”
~ W. Somerset Maugham

The **Knowing What Counts** Series includes three books: SETTING AND USING CRITERIA; Self-Assessment and Goal-Setting; and Conferencing and Reporting. Each book focuses on practical ways for teachers to involve students in their own assessment, by using criteria and setting goals in the classroom, as well as demonstrating their learning to others. For more info, go to:
http://connect2learning.com/store/knowing-what-counts-series-3-books

One of the many important international research reports on education comes from John Hattie at the University of Auckland. He looked at differences between ‘experienced’ teachers and ‘expert’ teachers. This report has implications for all of us with regards to Assessment FOR Learning. An excerpt from John’s article, which he has permitted us to post on our website, can be viewed at www.annedavies.com/pdf/19C_expertteachers_hattie.pdf


“Expert teachers do differ from experienced teachers – particularly on the way they represent their classrooms, the degree of challenges that they present to students, and most critically, in the depth of processing that their students attain. Students who are taught by expert teachers exhibit an understanding of the concepts targeted in instruction that is more integrated, more coherent, and at a higher level of abstraction than the understanding achieved by other students. These studies have demonstrated the need for a focus on dependably identifying, esteeming and encouraging excellent teachers, wherever they may be…”


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“To succeed as a team is to hold all of the members accountable for their expertise.”
~ Mitchell Caplan

For information about Assessment FOR Professional Learning opportunities through web-conferences and live in-person events, please visit: http://annedavies.com/catalog2009/index.html

We warmly invite you to join the conversation on a forum about assessment for learning, hosted by Dr. Anne Davies. Come and share your questions, thoughts, and stories here for the article.

Assessment FOR Learning provides ongoing evidence of learning that teachers can use to assist them in making professional judgments regarding how well students have achieved the learning destination. These assessments are based on TRIANGULATION OF EVIDENCE – observations, conversations and products – produced and collected over time. By incorporating these three types of evidence into our classroom assessment, we recognize ALL kinds of learning and involve ALL students – even those who lack the writing or test-taking skills to demonstrate their learning.

Teachers can design learning activities so that OBSERVATIONS focus on the clearly defined purpose and the criteria for evaluating the learning. To use CONVERSATIONS as evidence, teachers read or listen to what students have to say about their learning process, such as in journals, reader responses, self-assessments and student-teacher conferences. When we invite students to communicate about their learning and familiarize them with the language of assessment, they become able to give themselves and others feedback about how to learn. By providing exemplars of PRODUCTS that show stages of the learning process, teachers can help students clearly recognize what success looks like and what the next steps along the path of learning will be. This enables students to self-assess their products and ultimately, take charge of their own learning.

An illustration of triangulation of evidence from a Grade 9 English class, taken from page 53 of MAKING CLASSROOM ASSESSEMENT WORK Second Edition, can be viewed at www.annedavies.com/PDF/19B_MCAW_5.5b_53.pdf
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“Only if we expand and reformulate our view of what counts as human intellect will we be able to devise more appropriate ways of assessing it and more effective ways of educating it.”
~ Howard Gardner

To access free directions for Professional Learning Community Conversations, check out these resources at http://connect2learning.com/cp/

We warmly invite you to join the conversation on a forum about assessment for learning, hosted by Dr. Anne Davies. Come and share your questions, thoughts, and stories here for the article.

Some people are dismissive of using a broad range of evidence of learning (formative assessment) in place of conventional marking practices (summative evaluation). Assessment OF Learning is based on research methodology from the social sciences, not intuition, to create a system of checks and balances that teachers can employ to identify students’ progress over time.

Triangulation of evidence and informed judgment of professionals form the foundation for a trustworthy interpretation of data, providing a much more comprehensive assessment of what a student learns than a set of limited assignments and tests can show. Our next newsletter will focus more on triangulation.

Consider exploring the roots of evidence... I always liked the way Lincoln and Guba wrote about it. In contrast to the kinds of procedures used in large-scale assessment, there are different precedents in any qualitative research project. Four issues of ‘trustworthiness’ that must be present are: credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability.

You can read more about this on the Leadership website below where there is a discussion about their findings on ‘trustworthiness’ :
www.omnivise.com/research/trustworthiness.htm


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“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
~ John Adams

To read the research that shows how classroom assessment increases student achievement, check out: www.annedavies.com/assessment_for_learning_arc.html

Implementing the old-fashioned rule, ‘Thou shall not use formative assessments as part of a summative evaluation’ prevents students and teachers from considering all of the evidence of learning. It also limits the opportunities students must have if they are to add a greater range of evidence into the collection than might otherwise be considered by the teacher. Limiting the evidence of learning does a disservice to all those students who show their learning in multiple ways. It also increases the chance that teachers’ professional judgments will be based on insufficient evidence. Remember, everything a student says, does or creates is potentially evidence of learning. Teachers need to work WITH students to ensure the best collection of evidence is considered for summative assessment purposes.

The foundation for evaluating and reporting is put in place when the teacher develops the descriptions of learning, describes what success looks like for students, and thinks through the evidence that will be needed. When it is time to evaluate, teachers revisit those same descriptions of what was to be learned, and review the evidence students have organized and that teachers have collected, and then use their professional judgment to make their evaluation. They review their judgment and evidence with students and their parents, and report using the required format. Evaluating and reporting are straightforward last steps in an assessment process that begins much earlier.

This figure from MAKING CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT WORK shows a sample outline of evidence compiled by a Grade 9 English teacher and can be viewed at www.annedavies.com/PDF/18C_MCAW_102.pdf.


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“The process of assessing children’s learning – by looking closely at it and striving to understand it – is the only certain safeguard against children’s failure, the only certain guarantee of children’s progress and development.”
~ Mary Jane Drummond

MAKING CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT WORK (2nd Edition) is a teacher’s guide to successful implementation of assessment FOR learning into everyday practice. Check it out at: connect2learning.com/store/publications/making-classroom-assessment-work-2nd-edition

As you work with colleagues and search for ways to inform them about assessment, I recommend the following five research-based readings. These are arranged in the order I would recommend them – that is, if you’ve already read the first two, read number three. Each one will provide details about the actual research (rather than other people’s interpretation of the research).

1. Black, P. and D. Wiliam. 1998. Assessment and classroom learning. ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION, 5 (1): 7-75. Or, the summary of this study, Black, P. and D. Wiliam. 1998. Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. PHI DELTA KAPPAN, 80 (2): 1-20.

2. Harlen, W. and Deakin Crick, R. 2003. Testing and motivation for learning. ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION, 10 (2): 169-208.

3. Hattie, J. and Timperley, H. 2007. The power of feedback. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, 77 (1), 81-112.

4. Assessment Reform Group. 2006. THE ROLE OF TEACHERS IN ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING. Pamphlet produced for Assessment Systems for the Future Project (ASF), UK. www.assessment-reform-group.org/ASF%20booklet%20English.pdf

5. Dweck, C. 2000. SELF-THEORIES: THEIR ROLE IN MOTIVATION, PERSONALITY AND DEVELOPMENT. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press. Or, Dweck, C. 2007. Early Intervention at Every Age: The Perils and Promises of Praise. EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP, 65 (2): 34-39.

You will find 4 strategies for sharing this research with others in informal and more structured settings at www.annedavies.com/assessment_for_learning_ar_sharing_research.html

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“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
~ Isaac Newton

For more reading on assessment research, consider choosing a new one from the following list at www.annedavies.com/assessment_for_learning_ar_references_to_explore.html

 

Recently I received an advance copy of a new publication called *Assessment in Schools: Fit for Purpose?* The ARG publication reports the findings from a massive multi-year research project in the UK entitled LEARNING HOW TO LEARN. (Mansell, W., James, M. & the Assessment Reform Group (2009) Assessment in schools. Fit for purpose? A Commentary by the Teaching and Learning Research Programme. London: Economic and Social Research Council, Teaching and Learning Research Programme.) Clarifying the distinctions between formative and summative uses of assessment, it states,

“... ‘Formative’ is the use of day-to-day, often information, assessments to explore pupils’ understanding so that the teacher can best decide how to help them to develop that understanding. ‘Summative’ is the more formal summing-up of a pupil’s progress that can then be used for purposes ranging from providing information to parents to certification as part of a form evaluation course.

It should be noted that assessments can often be used for both formative and summative purposes. ‘Formative’ and ‘Summative’ are not labels for different types or forms of assessment but describe how assessments are used.”

Here is an example of using evidence of learning for both purposes:
Students who are striving to develop mathematical ‘habits of mind’ might select, as proof of their growth in this area, practice work from over the term. Earlier in the term, the practice work might have been used in a formative way by both the teacher and the student. Examining the practice work during the term helped both teacher and student review current understandings and consider next steps for learning. Later, towards the end of the term, the very same practice work might be selected by the student to help show growth towards the mathematical ‘habits of mind’ embedded in learning outcomes or standards. This collection of samples would become part of the evidence the teacher uses in the summative assessment.

More ideas are described in CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT: WHAT’S WORKING IN HIGH SCHOOLS? In her chapter called “Reflective Assessment in Mathematics,” Melissa Labbe discusses how she reports on her high school math students’ learning using a grading structure that involves assessments, assignments, portfolios and attendance/participation. (Chapter 17 can be found in Book Two on page 79.)



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“I believe that the testing of the student's achievements in order to see if he meets some criterion held by the teacher, is directly contrary to the implications of therapy for significant learning.”
~ Carl Rogers

“We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are.”
~ Anais Nin

Find out more about the IPPY Award winning books for High School teachers at:
connect2learning.com/store/publications/classroom-assessment-what-s-working-in-higschools