Assessment Training Institute Summer Conference

Here I am on my last night in Portland, Oregon, after spending a week with some of the great minds in the field of evaluation and assessment in education. What a rush this has been. The week has flown by and I have had the opportunity to engage in dialogue with Rick Stiggins, who is unfortunately retiring at the end of this year, Janet Malone, Ken O'Connor, Jay McTighe, and Tom Schimmer, among others.

The thing that has really resonated for me during this conference is the fact that I am definitely headed in the right direction. The theme was Classroom Assessment for Learning. I already believe in the sound practices advocated by the speakers we had the privilege to learn from. The message is not to encourage us to adopt yet another new procedure, but to analyze what we do and ensure that we are working in the best interest of the success of the child.

I am anxious to review my notes and start posting entries about the ideas and practices I can and will use in my own classroom. I love that this conference was offered in the beginning of July. This way, my work is still fresh in my mind and I also have a number of weeks to process the information before embarking on a new school year composed of great assessment practices that are research-based and proven to be effective for all students.

Seven Practices for Effective Learning by Jay McTighe and Ken O'Connor




November 2005,
Volume 63, Number 3

  This article is a must read for all teachers. One of the biggest problems I face as a teacher is the amount of professional reading I would like to do versus the time I have to get it done. I would love to see more articles like this one, where the essential points are made in a short article that gives a clear picture of what effective teaching looks like.

The practices described in this article list principles of what education is meant to be. I believe most teachers are in agreement with what is proposed here, but many become overwhelmed with the other demands we face (lesson preparation, assessment and evaluation, parent communication, coaching, report writing, extra-curricular activities) and experience real challenges when it comes to putting them into effect.

To begin with, the article defines the three types of evaluation used throughout the course of the teaching and learning process. Each has a role to play in assessment.

• Diagnostic assessments: are primarily used to get to know your students. Once we know who we are teaching, lessons can be created to meet their needs. By using diagnostic assessments, we discover what the students already know, what they understand correctly, what they misunderstand, and what their interests are, among other important facts.
• Formative assessments: are used to provide the necessary feedback to give direction to learning. This is the part the student does or understands well and this is what needs to be done next to continue on the path towards mastery. It also provides the teacher with information about the progress of the students in order to offer individualized guidance in the learning process.
• Summative assessments: give a portrait of what the student has learned by the end of an instructional segment. It defines the student's standing after instruction, practice and collection of summative evidence has taken place.

The Seven practices for effective learning are listed as follows:

1. Use summative assessments to frame meaningful learning goals.
2. Show criteria and models in advance.
3. Assess before teaching.
4. Offer appropriate choices.
5. Provide feedback early and often.
6. Encourage self-assessment and goal setting.
7. Allow new evidence of achievement to replace old evidence.

Each of these practices are described in such a way that the reader can see it as a living thing in the classroom. The examples provided are real and believable. I found it easy to visualize each of these practices in my classroom. They are not really a new way of thinking, but a reminder of what we all know to be true.

If I had to recommend an article on exemplary teaching practices and effective use of evaluation and assessment, this one would be it.

Feuille résumé pour l'évaluation d'un élève

Pendant son Webinar, Ken O'Connor a partagé une feuille d'évaluation employée par un enseignant. J'ai joué avec cette idée et j'ai créé une feuille d'évaluation qui donne l'aperçu globale d'un élève.

Sur cette feuille, il y a de la place pour 10 preuves par sujet et les domaines d'évaluation de notre bulletin pour chaque sujet sont inclus. Ceci me donne un aperçu de ce qui a été évalué ainsi que les domaines qui n'ont pas reçu assez d'attention.

Je vois l'image de l'élève instantanément donc, s'il y a un problème, il n'est pas perdu dans une feuille bourrée des données des autres. Je l'ai placé en attachement dans ma page d'évaluation. Je l'attache ici aussi.

Portrait de l'élève

Ken O'Connor - Webinar

Well, this was my first ever webinar (Ken O'Connor: How to Handle the Toughest Grading Challenges to Keep the Focus on Student Achievement) and it's great to know that these kinds of opportunities are available for me in areas in which I am ready to grow. I know where I want to go in evaluation and when I hear well-respected experts in the field confirm what I believe are great principles and best practices, I am encouraged. I now feel that I am going in the right direction!

The high points of this for me (although I have not reviewed in any great depth yet) were the following:

The difference between compliance and responsibility. I have always known there is a difference, but I love the way he explains it. I have even told my students about it so that they might be aware of what their actions really mean. He believes that compliance is when students do their work because they feel they HAVE to. If they don't, something will happen: failing grade, phone call to parents... Responsibility, however, is when students do the work because they choose to do it. They want to learn, or they know that they will understand by completing the work...

His 5 beliefs or guiding principles were also a good reminder of what we are really doing here.

• We are working with children/teenagers NOT adults.
• Schools should be educative: everything should focus on supporting learning.
• Responsibility and compliance are NOT the same.
• Fairness is equity of opportunity NOT uniformity.
• We should strive to maximize intrinsic motivation and minimize extrinsic motivators.

We have a ways to go to get all staff members on the same page. We all want to go to the same place, but we don't all want to use the same mode of transportation. The unfortunate part is that some of the methods of transportation mislead you into believing that their final destination is the desired target. It's kind of like believing the ferryman will get you there if you pay him in advance.

I'm anxious to put some of these ideas into practice so that I can be an advocate for tested and proven strategies in evaluation.