The landscape of assessment and evaluation has changed
dramatically in recent years. As a
student, I was anchored in a world of right & wrong, percentages, and
letter grades. I think most of us were.
That’s why wrapping our heads around the changes is so
difficult.
When I started teaching 25 years ago, I marked all of my
student’s work by adding up the things that were right and wrong. The assignment was “out of 25,” blank spots were marked as incorrect. Answers either met the mark or they didn’t. Once
we’d finished the test for that topic or unit, we moved on. Some of us had “good” marks, others did not.
At the end of the term, I would go into my gradebook, added up
all the marks, find the percentage and then convert it to a letter grade.
Tests were weighted more heavily than quizzes or daily assignments. If you handed something in late, it lost
marks. It’s a paradigm that’s super
familiar to most of us. It seems really
clear. If you got an A, that meant you
learned more than the person who got the C.
It probably also meant all of your work was handed in on time, and that
you used your class time wisely.
Here’s the challenge. The curriculum is really different now. We aren’t teaching the way we used to, so it
doesn’t work to assess our learners the way we used to.
Let me use math as an example.
Instead of being focused on a list of discreet skills (Can
this student subtract with re-grouping to 10 000?), the curriculum is focused
on Big Ideas and Competencies (Does this student have computational fluency and
flexibility with numbers extend to operations with larger (multi-digit) numbers)?
Letter grades and percentages don’t tell us how fluent a student is, or if they
have developed the mental-math strategies required to approach problem solving
in a way that lets them work through things more flexibly and creatively.
For example, in terms of computational fluency and flexibility,
Grade 5 students should be:
·
using flexible
computation strategies involving taking apart (e.g., decomposing using friendly
numbers and compensating) and combining numbers in a variety of ways,
regrouping
·
estimating sums and
differences to 10 000
·
using addition and
subtraction in real-life contexts and problem-based situations
·
whole-class number
talks
Lessons to explore math this way look a lot different than
doing equations in a textbook. They will
be working independently, and with peers, to build physical models representing
these equations, or designing challenges for estimation, or building
opportunities for addition and subtraction into coding lessons or a project for
science class.
When we evaluate how the students are doing, we will look at
how their managing the traditional equations, but we’ll also listen to how they
explain things to us as teachers, and to peers as they work through the
challenges and projects they tackle. We’ll
take a look at the diagrams or models they make to explain their thinking. We’ll structure deliberate opportunities to
reflect on their learning, and describe their own level of understanding.
A sample from the Ministry of Education website describing
how this might look is as follows:
Knowing that this is the kind of data we are collecting, it
is very difficult to convert that to a percentage or letter grade.
This is where the new reporting system comes in.
The new report cards represent a continuum of a student’s
learning journey. We define the stages
as:
Emerging
|
Developing
|
Proficient
|
Extending
|
·
The student is starting to acquire skills, strategies and processes.
·
This student demonstrates an initial understanding of the concepts
and competencies, but is not yet working with them independently, or applying
them in other contexts. Direct adult support is required for success with
these skills.
|
·
The student has the ability to apply the skills, strategies and
processes, but still requires support.
·
The student has a partial understanding of the concepts and
competencies, but is not yet independently successful with these skills.
|
·
The student consistently demonstrates
the required knowledge, skills
and strategies
·
The student demonstrates a complete understanding of skills, concepts
and competencies, is able to apply the knowledge independently, can clearing
describe their learning and understanding of the concept.
|
·
The student demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of the skills,
strategies and processes- both creatively and strategically.
·
There is a sophisticated understanding of the concepts and
competencies.
|
When we describe learning in this way,
“Extending” is not about bonus marks, or doing extra assignments, it’s about a
deep, sophisticated understanding of the material explored in the
classroom. We are not able to say whether
it is “like the old A,” or “kind of like getting a 90%” because we have
measured things in a completely different way.
We look at the complete body of a student’s work around a particular
concept or competency, and determine their level of independence,
understanding, and application of it.
Where assignments are missed or incomplete, we assess their learning on the basis of what we have seen- and
learning is represented in different ways. For example, if a student is a struggling writer, but can provide a diagram, or sophisticated
oral description of a process explored in a science lesson, they can receive a mark of extending for that
scientific concept, even if the quality of the writing on the lab that was
submitted falls more in the developing range.
In a situation such as this, their writing is marked as developing, but
the curricular competencies for science are evaluated separately.
So…in a nutshell, letter grades and percentages have been
replaced by a continuum. We work with
our students from whatever place they are on that continuum at the beginning of
the year, and support them in growing and developing to whatever spot they are
ready for next. Being proficient means
that the student is confidently, independently, successfully tackling the learning
before them. This student is able to reflect on
their learning, is growing in their understanding of new concepts, and has mastered the skills needed to forward. If a learner is Emerging or Developing in a skill,
we will provide them with opportunities for extra support and practice. If a student is Extending,
they have demonstrated a sophisticated understanding, and we will provide this learner with opportunities to further their learning in that area, perhaps take on
additional challenges to stretch themselves moving forward.
This approach allows us to support our children in taking
more ownership of their learning, and to demonstrate their growth in a variety
of ways. The flexibility in the approach
in the classroom also helps us to develop flexible graduates who are ready to
tackle the changing world when they graduate.
For me, it’s an exciting time-
and I love to watch it unfold.
After all, They’re All Our Kids.
To learn more about the changing BC Curriculum, link to: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/assessment/classroom-assessment-and-reporting
