Assessment used to be a swear word for me…Seriously…
It always seemed that when the assessment word came up, overwhelm, frustration, and fear of getting the marks all in accurately seemed to take over and smudge out the most important part. The most important part being the impact of the teaching on the student’s learning and how they talk and think about themselves as a learner. So often, assessment becomes all about a report card mark instead of noticing patterns and trends over time. It becomes about a number and not about the student.
So…I dug into that.
I went deep into learning how we could change the way we assess so that kids become more included in assessment, more successful, were able to find proof and evidence of their learning, and teachers and leaders became better teachers because of the assessment practices. Now, let me get this real clear for you, assessment is still hard. But if it is impacting learning instead of reporting a number on a report card, then we have made massive progress. It has got to be about the student’s learning and how to get them to know, articulate and do something. The assessment practice has to be reliable and valid and reflective of what the teacher is doing in the classroom. This in turn produces better student results so they can become critical thinkers and problem solvers rather than just memorizers of tests for a moment. It also produces better teachers because they are learning alongside the students rather than feeding them the info.
If you can’t tell….I am PASSIONATE about improving assessment practices. When I did the work and sat in the muck of it all, it changed me. It changed the teachers. It changed the students. It impacted our school culture in the most powerful way. We have been doing these actions for over 5 years and it just keeps getting better and better. I went deep into the valley of the shadows of the experts and giants in the field of assessment. I learned these assessment for learning actions from Sandra Herbst and Anne Davies and then I made them my own so that it worked with my own leadership, the teachers in our community, and most of all the students. I am going to walk you through the actions for assessment for learning that changed everything. The doors to my course Leading Through Assessment for Learning are also open until Sunday, Nov. 7. In this course, I go deeper into the actions I am talking about in this post and I give you templates, spreadsheets, videos, worked examples, and so much more to help support your work in these actions. Part 1 of the course is to show leaders how to lead and model the assessment for learning actions to inspire and motivate teachers. Part 2 is more for the leaders to use with the teachers to help them implement the assessment for learning actions. Game changer…
Here are the actions that have changed the way we assess and increased student learning and teacher passion and purpose:
- Have a Clear Learning Destination: Show teachers how to set one outcome for each lesson and make it visible to the students. Heck, do this for every meeting that you do too. I always suggest the leader stating one outcome that they want the teachers to know, articulate and do by the end of the meeting. The goal is to teach, co-construct, and work through exactly how to achieve that outcome and then have them prove that they learned it. The teachers would also do this in their classroom. So for me, it might be, ‘by the end of this meeting, you will have researched your top priority and set 3 actions steps to tackle that priority that is backed up by research.’ For a teacher, it may be, ‘By the end of this lesson, you will co-construct a first paragraph checklist for writing a story and be able to find proof in a student piece of writing that they implemented this checklist.’ If we know what is expected to learn with a deadline, then it is easier for us to be successful because we know exactly what we are supposed to know, articulate, and do.
- Using Work Samples To Understand Quality and Proficiency – This action is all about digging into examples and non examples of teacher, student, and published work to figure out clear expectations for what is expected of teachers or students. In other words, it sets the bar. Now you may want to lead by modeling an example and a non-example and then have teachers dig into work samples to co-construct criteria for how to do something. You may teach teachers how to get students noticing the moves authors made in published, student, or teacher pieces of writing. You might have them notice the work that a mathematician did to solve a problem and then figure out criteria on what is important when solving a math problem. Maybe you will have them look at report card comments to set expectations. The sky is the limit. But the point is, immerse them inside of the work to understand quality and proficiency.
- Co-constructing Success Criteria – Build criteria with your whole staff for any set of expectations that you are implementing. Model writing, thinking out loud, solving a problem, showing a PGP, reading research, etc and have teachers notice the moves you make as a leader as you work through the problem, work sample, or writing. Then co-construct a master list of expectations so that everyone has a say. So for us, we co-constructed a master list about ‘what is important when contributing to your own professional learning and discussions.’ Teachers then watched how we co-constructed criteria and then did this same action in their own class. Some examples they used in their class were, ‘what is important when solving a math problem, what matters when writing, etc.’
- Involving Teachers and Students in Developing Feedback Cycles – This one is huge. It is so important for leaders and teachers to include students in the feedback cycles so that they have a chance to learn how to apply the feedback and give feedback to their peers as well. It is also important to set up a schedule so the feedback loops are short and frequent. The most important thing about feedback is that you have to teach people how to notice specific points for feedback within work, how to use feedback that is backed up with specific proof and evidence, how to give feedback using sentence starters like, “I noticed…next time…”, how to give feedback to others, and how to implement the feedback so progress actually happens.
- Collecting Evidence of Learning – Assessment needs to be backed up with valid and reliable evidence over time, not just at the end of the reporting period. It is so important for leaders to spend time teaching teachers what types of evidence to collect that is triangulated, how to notice proof and evidence inside the work beyond the final product, and how to justify their learning through using criteria language. Teachers can then include their students more in the assessment process because they are not just expecting kids to just write a test, but rather find proof and evidence right inside the work that shows they implemented the expected criteria. It teaches students how to talk about their learning, think critically, and be able to prove their learning.
- Using Samples to Set Goals and Next Steps – Another very important part of assessment is learning how to use the samples and evidence to determine next steps for each learner so that progress continues to happen. Make it a priority for teachers and student to learn how to set specific goals, set up milemarkers along the way, gather evidence that they are getting it, and how to set action steps so that they accomplish their goals.
- Communicate the Learning to Others – This one is huge for assessment. So often, the test or assignment is marked, handed back and forgotten about. These pieces of evidence are so crucial to development of learning for adults and children. As a leader teach teachers how to use evidence to communicate the learning to others. Model it for them, co-construct sentence starters to help to communicate and coach each other, have them bring work samples in to analyze and talk about how they could include students in gathering their own evidence of learning, and then create times at certain points of the year to have teachers coach each other on assessment practices. Set expectations that teachers start to work with students on how to talk about their learning using work samples and how to think critically about the work they are doing.
Assessment is not for a report card. It is not just a number. It is the work, the learning, the products, the conversations, the observations, and the proof and evidence of learning gathered over time that makes up assessment. It is assessment for the sake of learning. If we teach teachers these 7 actions, we are teaching them how to develop life long learners who can problem solve, analyze their work, set a roadmap of expectations, justify that they are making progress through providing proof and evidence right inside their work, set goals and achieve them. We are giving students responsibility and teaching them so much more than just a mark on a report card. These actions will also help teachers to find more passion and purpose in their work as well and you will build trust with them as their leader because you are walking the talk and learning alongside them.
If you are interested in diving deeper into how to lead through assessment for learning the doors are open now to my digital course called Leading Through Assessment for Learning. Click here to find out more!
Davies, A., Herbst, S., and Parrott Reynolds, B. 2012. Leading the Way to Assessment for Learning: A Practical Guide. Courtenay, BC: Connections Publishing.
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