Why Being Proficient isn't the Same as Getting An "A"

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