Assessment & Grading

4 Keys to Student Self-Assessment

At T. Baldwin Demarest Elementary School in Old Tappan, New Jersey, we’re in the middle of a two-year process of implementing Writing Pathways across all grade levels. More or less, Writing Pathways is an assessment system that works hand-in-hand with the Writing Workshop framework, and the system will help us to better align our writing instruction, horizontally and vertically.

In addition, whenever we’re dealing with assessment, student self-assessment should be our endgame for the purpose of students owning the learning as much as possible.

As John Hattie tells us in Visible Learning for Teachers:

…the greatest effects on student learning occur when teachers become learners of their own teaching, and when students become their own teachers. When students become their own teachers, they exhibit the self-regulatory attributes that seem most desirable for learners (self-monitoring, self-evaluation, self-assessment, self-teaching). Thus, it is visible teaching and learning by teachers and students that makes the difference.

That being said, taking into consideration Writing Pathways and my work with project based learning, here are what I believe are the four keys to student self-assessment.

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How Do We Assess (And Possibly, Grade) Project Based Learning? #HackingPBL

By Ross Cooper 2 Comments

Last week, Erin Murphy and I facilitated a two-day project based learning (PBL) workshop for an inspiring group of educators from Madison City Schools, Alabama. As part of the workshop, we spent some time focusing on what assessment (and possibly, grading) can look like within the context of PBL.

When discussing this topic, it’s first and foremost important to keep in mind there is a difference between assessment and grading. Whereas the goal of assessment is to improve student learning, grading (or a grade) is generally used to evaluate current level of performance.

Should Projects Be Graded?

In short, the answer is a resounding “No!”

Project based learning experiences should call for a great deal of student critical thinking and creativity. And, research tells us that “carroting and sticking” these types of skills isn’t just ineffective, but detrimental.

Pause for a second and watch this Daniel Pink TED Talk, The Puzzle of Motivation, which is based on his book, Drive. Or, if you are in a rush, just watch from 1 minute 30 seconds to about the 7-minute mark. And, if you really don’t want to watch the video, here is the take-home point for this segment:

If-then rewards work really well for those sorts of tasks, where there is a simple set of rules and a clear destination to go to. Rewards, by their very nature, narrow our focus, concentrate the mind; that’s why they work in so many cases…But for the real candle problem [a problem that requires creative problem solving], you don’t want to be looking like this [tunnel vision]. The solution is on the periphery. You want to be looking around. That reward actually narrows our focus and restricts our possibility.

Pink also makes it clear this experiment is not the exception to the rule: “What’s interesting about this experiment is that it’s not an aberration. This has been replicated over and over again for nearly 40 years.”

Looking back on my work as a fourth grade teacher, I can draw a straight line from Pink’s work to my use (or misuse) of grades as the carrot and the stick. The more I engaged my students in project based learning, the more I realized that grading the actual project was not only unnecessary, but potentially harmful.

If Not Grades, Then What?

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My 3 Goals for This School Year

By Ross Cooper 2 Comments

As a classroom teacher, every year I had a small handful of self-imposed goals that I chose in order to fill in my gaps. Some of these goals included: becoming proficient in the teaching of inquiry-based mathematics, engaging my students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) units on an ongoing basis, and better use of essential questions throughout our project based learning (PBL) experiences.

Now, as an administrator, I still have these same types of self-imposed goals, but I also have three “official” goals that are monitored on a regular basis.

Here are my three goals for this school year.

5 Ways to Promote Student Agency

By Ross Cooper 10 Comments

In my school district we adopted the five learning beliefs from Education Reimagined to help drive our district vision: competency-based; personalized, relevant & contextualized; learner agency; socially embedded; open-walled.

In working with these five beliefs, we must (1) have a clear understanding of what they mean, and (2) be equipped with explicit strategies to make them a reality. Otherwise, a vision is not much more than words on paper.

That being said, here’s the Education Reimagined definition of learner agency:

Learning that is characterized by learning agency recognizes learners as active participants in their own learning and engages them in the design of their experiences and the realization of their learning outcomes in ways appropriate for their developmental level. As such, learners have choice and voice in their educational experiences as they progress through competencies. Harnessing his or her own intrinsic motivation to learn, each learner strives to ultimately take full ownership of his or her own learning.

And, reflecting upon my work with inquiry-based learning and project based learning, here are five ways to promote student agency.

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4 Reasons to Assess PBL with a (Somewhat) Traditional Test #HackingPBL

By Ross Cooper 10 Comments

This post is #9 in a series of 10 posts that serve as extensions of the 10 chapters in Hacking Project Based Learning, which I coauthored with Erin Murphy. This post is an extension of Chapter 9, which focuses on summative assessments. #HackingPBL

For all of the posts in the series, tap/click here.

Once again, as educators start to implement project based learning (PBL), two of their more popular questions are: How will my students and I know they are learning what they are supposed to be learning? How will I assess this? Yes, as stated in 5 Reasons Your Rubric Needs a Makeover, some form of a rubric is part of the answer. However, the conversation doesn’t end there.

While we can use a version of a rubric to provide students with feedback (in relation to the project’s learning targets) while the learning is taking place, I don’t think we should be so quick to ditch the paper and pencil test that is given after this learning has occurred.

Here are four reasons to potentially assess PBL with a (somewhat) traditional test.

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5 Simple Ways to Give Students Feedback During Project Based Learning #HackingPBL

By Ross Cooper 7 Comments

This post is #7 in a series of 10 posts that serve as extensions of the 10 chapters in Hacking Project Based Learning, which I coauthored with Erin Murphy. This post is an extension of Chapter 7, which focuses on feedback. #HackingPBL

For all of the posts in the series, tap/click here.

Grant Wiggins defined feedback as, “information about how we are doing in our efforts to reach a goal.” A few specific examples he included were:

A friend tells me, “You know, when you put it that way and speak in that softer tone of voice, it makes me feel better.”
A baseball coach tells me, “Each time you swung and missed, you raised your head as you swung so you didn’t really have your eye on the ball. On the one you hit hard, you kept your head down and saw the ball.”

For both examples, the recipient receives specific guidance in regards to what to do next…When we provide feedback during project based learning (PBL), or any type of learning, we should have this same goal in mind. Students should walk away with an idea of what their next steps will be (otherwise, what we’re giving probably doesn’t meet the definition of “feedback”).

John Hattie, who has synthesized over 1,000 meta-analyses related to student achievement, identifies feedback as among the most powerful influences on student success in the classroom. He says feedback, when goal-focused, has “twice the average effect of all other schooling effects.”

But, when and how do we make time for feedback during project based learning?

Here are five ways to make this happen.

5 Reasons Your Rubric Needs a Makeover #HackingPBL

By Ross Cooper 6 Comments

This post is #6 in a series of 10 posts that serve as extensions of the 10 chapters in Hacking Project Based Learning, which I coauthored with Erin Murphy. This post is an extension of Chapter 6, which focuses on the grading of projects. #HackingPBL

For all of the posts in the series, tap/click here.

How will my students and I know they are learning what they are supposed to be learning? How will I assess this?

These are easily two of the more popular questions that emerge as educators make the shift to project based learning (PBL), and some form of a rubric (and its effective use) is usually a big part of the answer.

As I continue to analyze rubrics (or adaptations of rubrics) there are a few specific look-fors that help to immediately indicate whether the tool is spot on, or if some revisions are necessary. Here are five look-fors that suggest your rubric needs a makeover.

Should we grade 21st century skills? #HackingPBL

By Ross Cooper 7 Comments

This post is #2 in a series of 10 posts that serve as extensions of the 10 chapters in Hacking Project Based Learning, which I coauthored with Erin Murphy. This post is an extension of Chapter 2, which focuses on explicitly teaching collaboration skills. #HackingPBL

For all of the posts in the series, tap/click here.

Last week I participated in the EdLeader21 conference in Denver, Colorado (highly recommended). Two of my highlights were Jay McTighe’s (@jaymctighe) two sessions – one on curriculum design and the other on project based learning – and a closing session on design thinking by two members of Stanford’s d.school.

Throughout the conference (and also during much of this year’s in-district professional development), the primary theme that served as the basis for all of the work was the 4Cs: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. In fact, the EdLeader 21 website sells 4Cs rubrics (free for members), and Jay McTighe’s latest book (which I purchased after watching him present, but have yet to fully read) also contains rubrics for these skills.

Should these skills be graded?

First, let’s keep in mind there is a difference between assessment and grading. Whereas the goal of assessment is to improve student learning, grading (or a grade) is generally used to evaluate current level of performance. And, I don’t think anyone would necessarily argue against assessing these skills, at least within the context of learning experiences.

So, back to the question at hand…

When I initially sat down to write this piece, my answer was a definitive “No!” However, upon further thinking, any well-designed project based learning experience (and many activities/assignments) will naturally require students to engage in all 4Cs, with the possible exception of collaboration if students are to work alone: critical thinking when students investigate higher-order questions, communication when students explain processes and decisions, collaboration as students rely on each other’s strengths, and creativity through opportunities for student choice…Therefore, if/when grading takes place, students’ abilities to navigate the 4Cs contribute to their grades in one way or another.

So, I’m thinking the better question is whether or not these skills should be graded in isolation.

Should practitioners ignore researchers?

By Ross Cooper 4 Comments

Since the start of my career in 2007, I have witnessed some form of educational debate take place on almost a daily basis. And, with the rise of social media – in particular, Facebook and Twitter – these types of conversations are now that much easier to create, engage in, and/or find.

The Problem

Overall, the majority of this communication does ultimately benefit our students, but at the same time I believe we owe it to our profession to not just interact when we’re “in the know,” but also when there is a lot to be learned…And, furthermore, we should be willing to admit to ourselves and others that we just might not know everything.

Over the past month I have witnessed a few arguments unfold on Twitter in which a couple of educators from other districts were justifying their actions by declaring, “Those ideas [proposed by others in the district] wouldn’t work with my students,” and at the same time they discounted the work of highly respected researchers because “They aren’t in the classroom!” In general, these situations were your typical resistance to change.

Reconstructing Multiple-Choice Tests

By Ross Cooper 3 Comments

The Problem

In education, the most common type of summative assessment consists of nothing more than multiple-choice questions. This is a problem. In general, these types of questions (1) do not lend themselves to higher-order thinking, and (2) do not promote creative expression as they declare, “You must demonstrate your learning in this way!”

From what I have seen/experienced, many teachers recognize the drawbacks of constantly using publisher created multiple-choice tests, but they do not have the confidence to try something new…As a classroom teacher, it took me a few years to overcome this fear of creating my own assessments. Looking back at some of what I put together, nothing was perfect, but I do believe it was all a step in the right direction.

Here’s the thing…