Assessment in the Service of Learning

It's funny how, every once in a while, everyone seems to start talking about the same thing at the same time.

This spring, I've been reading and reflecting on ways to utilize student self-assessment for evaluating the new Core Competencies in the BC Redesigned Curriculum.  Earlier in the year, I challenged our district's team of learning services teachers to write "competency driven IEP goals."  We spent time looking over the profiles for each of the competencies, and talked about ways that this work is linked to classroom programs.  We talked about ways to embed this work into things the students are already working on, and how we could collaborate with classroom teachers to make it happen.

It was a lofty goal, and we knew it was a "process,"  not a "moment."  

Fast forward 6 months, and now we're faced with the task of evaluating progress toward these goals, and starting our planning for next year as we review the current Individual Education Plans. Thus, my hunt for tools/suggestions/supports to offer to the team in our conversations.

I've come across a couple of things that I believe are useful in this quest.

1.  Kallik and Zmuda's book Students at the Centre. 

In it, the authors talk about four aspects of self-assessment to engage students:  co-creation of goals and steps toward them; finding their voice in sharing their work with each other, teachers, and parents; building ideas through relationships (social construction), and coming to understand themselves as learners through self-discovery.  

The text goes on to describe the 16 Habits of Mind that are characteristics for students' success, and provides examples of assessment strategies and rubrics for promoting student growth.

2. Successful Learner Traits:

School District 71 (Comox) began this conversation, but it's gaining traction across the province because of the flexibility of the framework, and the many, many ways it can be integrated into classrooms for students of all ages.  It supports learners towards being mindful of their approach and the way they apply themselves to various tasks.  The list is similar to the list of Habits of Mind above-  and is captured on a variety of colorful posters featuring different animals.  Strategies for Assessment for Learning are embedded throughout the materials.  (Click the photo to link to the website).

3.  In Grading, Reporting and Professional Judgement in Elementary Classrooms, (as well as in their companion book for the secondary school setting),  Sandra Herbst and Anne Davies share some  perspective on ways to prepare students and teachers to engage in self-assessment, and encourage teachers to collect "triangulated" data....from work samples, from observations of students, and from conversations with them.  

Herbst and Davies describe Assessment for Learning as "Assessment in the Service of Learning."  I love this.  It fits beautifully with my belief that educators are advocates for all students, and that we need to teach all students to be advocates for themselves.  Everything we say, do, experience, in school, has an aspect of service built it.  I'm a Scout.  This works for me.  

I enjoyed these texts while I was working through them, but it wasn't until I had the opportunity to sit in a session with them,  and they emphasized a few key ideas, that the deep meaning of what they were really saying, fully landed. 

They challenge us all to consider:

How can we put students at the center of pedagogical reflection?

In what ways does capturing evidence allow us to better know our learners?  
(Because Professional Judgement is not "trust me, I'm a teacher.  It's informed decision making based on solid evidence.)

They offered suggestions-  such as tools for collecting observational data, proof cards, and apps such as Aurasma and SeeSaw - to help us collect evidence beyond work samples in a seamless way.  For a deeper look, their website, Connect2Learning has lots of great tools and ideas available for educators to use.  

This brings me to the personal part of my reflection.  In sitting in the session with Herbst and Davies, I also realized there was so much more I could be doing as a leader to support my team in developing a deep commitment to student self-assessment of the competencies.  

So far, I have shared a collection of articles and artifacts.  I've spent time developing rubrics and participated in "group marking sessions" with colleagues.  I've reviewed IEP goals with teams and helped to tweak the language and determine assessment tools that matched.  I've modeled self-assessment strategies when teaching lessons in classrooms.

In every case, I was modelling and supporting things for others to do, but I wasn't really owning the journey for myself.   I've been saying for ages that it's really difficult to maintain a connection to classrooms and students when working in a district capacity, yet I now realize I've missed the first step in changing this.  While I've spent lots of time thinking about how to help and support others, I haven't worked nearly hard enough at helping and supporting myself.

Herbst and Davies challenged all of the administrators in my district to engage in their own learning and exploring of the tools as a way to model effective practice for others.  If you've not engaged in students in self-assessment in an embedded, authentic way, it's a leap of faith to implement things that will result in very different types of data than has been collected in the past.  If, as an administrator, it is my hope that the educators I work with will engage in this type of practice with their learners, then I should be authentically doing it myself.  

How have others modeled this journey as administrators?

- By creating a bulletin board of photos, work samples, and transcribed conversations, that support the school's journey toward the school goals
- By blogging....not just about personal areas of exploration, as I have been doing, but in response to specific goals and areas of growth
- By creating a personal e-portfolio of learning towards a professional growth plan, and sharing it with staff
- By being a part of classroom environments-  not just for a walk-through, but by practicing new things alongside a colleague
- By working with admin colleagues to practice offering deep feedback to teachers, and receiving/reflecting on deep feedback ourselves in terms of how effective this feedback is.

So.  I've decided to embark in my own process of Self Assessment for the Service of Learning. Herbst and Davies say that that getting going means taking the first, next, step.  I need to take two.

First....I'm going to begin transforming my e-portfolio.  I have one, but it shows where I've been.  It needs revamping to show where I'm going.  I will work on a goal and some plans for stepping toward it, so that it's all ready for the exploration that will follow.

Second...I'm going to find myself two critical friends.  One who is a classroom practitioner who is willing to let me come in and explore alongside next year.  Together, we can pick something to work on and begin crafting our pathway toward it together.    The other is an admin colleague who is willing to offer feedback on my journey, to help me reflect the learning I will do as I deepen my own understanding of self-assessment and using the competencies enhance student learning.

Assessment in the Service of Learning.  It's worth it, because They're All Our Kids.