Black & Wiliam (1999) express their belief that improving learning through assessment depends on five, deceptively simple, key factors
- the provision of effective feedback to pupils;
- the active involvement of pupils in their own learning;
- adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment;
- a recognition of the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem of pupils, both of which are crucial influences on learning;
- the need for pupils to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve.
Black, P. & Wiliam, D. 1999. Assessment for Learning: Beyond the Black Box, Assessment Reform Group, University of Cambridge, School of Education
What are YOUR beliefs concerning assessment? What challenges are you currently experiencing when implementing your beliefs?
Comment below or tweet your response with the #cisdassessment hashtag.
I mostly agree with Black & William. I struggle with the last part they mentioned about student self-assessment. We should also consider students giving constructive feedback to each other as a part of assessment. I teach a resource language arts class and there is a wide range of ability and self-awareness in my group. Some learners look at a rubric and feel they've met 100% of the expectations, when in reality they are often missing whole components. Others are too hard on themselves and think they need to start completely over once I ask them to self-assess. What I am teaching them is to stop having pre-conceived notions about the purpose of self-assessment. Instead of thinking, 'it's because the teacher thinks my work is horrible' or 'if I admit it's not perfect, I'm not perfect', we need to reach a point where learners realize it's all about improving understanding and products. In working with them to give eachother constructive feedback, they could better see the purpose behind constructive feedback from the teacher.
ReplyDeleteI love that you have come to understand the importance of learner-learner (peer) feedback on assessment through YOUR learners! I agree - that component is very important! We often forget to put ourselves in our learner's shoes and consider that feedback from our peers might be a bit more meaningful than feedback from the educator for certain things!
DeleteHow cool is this? So great to see that many educators are on the right track. "With-it facilitators" = "with-it learners"
ReplyDeleteI agree with Black and William on facilitators needing to readjust teaching based on assessment. If we need to slow down a cover the objective again, then we will be reaching a deeper meaning of the topic. I would much rather do this than skim over it and move on.
ReplyDeleteGreat point to make - I think that too many times we "skim over it and move on" because we feel so tied to our scope and sequences/benchmarks. We always have to think - 'what is the point in skimming over and moving on if there is no retention because we didn't do our job as educators to help our learners create meaning and understanding?' Great thoughts! Thank you for sharing!
DeleteGreat points. I really like the point about effective feedback.
ReplyDeleteI like this perspective. As educators we need to remember that Assessment doesn't have to be a bad word!! Assessments can take many forms; both quantitative and qualitative.
ReplyDelete