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Philosophy of Assessment Statement: Final Paper

Laura Sponagle

St. Thomas University

February 27th, 2017

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Introduction

Every teacher must work hard to develop their personal approach to assessment. We must

reflect, research, analyse and work to understand assessment practices and their place in our

current education system. There are many examples of emerging philosophies in evaluation such

as student input in assessment, learning-focused grading systems, retaking or redoing work and

balancing formative and summative assessment. In this paper, I will discuss my personal

approaches to these topics and reference research that supports these theories.

Students Must Have Input into Their Assessments

When students make choices about their learning, achievement increases; when choice

is absent, learning decreases (Davies, 2011, p. 8). This quote clearly explains the relationship

between interest and achievement; the more choice a student has in their learning, the more

motivated they will be and learning will increase. Assessment should be fluid, and have multiple

ways for students to show they understand an outcome. This can be choice in projects, labs,

papers, books to read and even within tests. It is common practice in both university Physics

examinations to have choice in questions, and I believe this practice should be used in secondary

school as well. For example, for one particular outcome, you could have option A or B on a

summative assessment piece. Both options could prove the student has mastered the outcome,

but in different ways. As an alternative, a student could answer a certain number of questions

within a given set. By carefully crafting the questions, teachers will still get the evidence they

need for evaluation, but the student will be given choice in their assessment. If the student

chooses, they can complete more than the required amount of questions, and the teacher would

take this into account when marking; letting the student know the teacher wants the student to
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succeed. This choice method can be effective in both formative and summative practices for not

only writing, but any type of project or reading.

Students can also have input into their grades by self-assessment. Self-assessment

techniques provide the students a chance to be reflect and be metacognitive. Learning to self-

monitor in this way is an essential skill for independent, self-directed, lifelong learners (Davies,

2011, p.5). When a student critically evaluates their own work, mistakes become a chance to do

something differently next time. One good practice would be to co-construct a checklist of

success criteria with the students (Davies, 2013). This would allow students to critically think

about their work and to better understand the expectations.

Descriptive Feedback: Stepping Away from Grades

I am a person who has been driven by grades throughout my secondary and university

education, so I see the value in stepping back as a teacher and asking myself: did I learn for the

test or for the future? Every time I memorized instead of analysed, I deprived myself of a

learning opportunity. There is evidence that suggest that less focus on the grade and more focus

on the descriptive feedback is valuable in encouraging learning and will increase student

achievement and motivation.

Brookhart (2011) encouraged teachers to reflect on the purpose for giving grades to our

students. Are they there to rank? Are they there to evaluate effort and behaviour? Brookhart notes

there has been a shift towards standards-based grading or learning focused grading. It is noted

that standards-based grading assess student achievement only, and there may be multiple marks

per subject. If the school decides its primary purposed in giving grades is to assess achievement,

it leads to some secondary questions, such as is it fair to give a missed assignment a zero? Under

this model, teachers must find alternative methods to report behaviour, attendance and effort in
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the classroom. I believe that grades should be in place for standards, so students can know how

much room there is for improvement instead of being de-motivated by additional grading

practices that hides student achievement with effort and behavioural assessment.

Kohn (2011) concludes that standards based grading is not enough. He advocates for the

removal or dilution of grades due to their negative effects on motivation and achievement.

Kohn makes three conclusions about grading, supported by research in educational psychology.

The first is that grades reduce students interest in the topic of study. Second, they push students

towards the easier task and makes them less likely to take risks in their learning to protect their

grades. Lastly, it reduces the quality of students thinking. Instead of thinking critically, they are

focused on producing the correct response on a test.

I also have fallen into the pressure of meeting standards instead of exploring ideas. I have

focused on the quantitative score more than the depth of my knowledge. As a practicum teacher,

I have heard many students who are struggling with concepts ask, will this be on the test? I

believe that by providing useful information through descriptive feedback, it we will condition

our students to focus on the learning and improvement instead of the numbers and letters. When

the focus is on constant improvement and skill mastery, the grades will follow.

Assessment Strategies: Portfolios and Conferencing

The shift from teacher-centered classrooms to student-centered classroom is an ongoing

movement that can be difficult for many teachers. It is sometimes easy to teach the way we were

taught instead of considering what may be the best practice for the students. There are two

particular assessment techniques that I have never experienced as a student which I am looking

forward to implementing as a teacher: portfolios and conferencing.

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A portfolio is a collection of a students work that is designed to show growth and

outcomes being met. The student must select evidence, organize work and reflect upon their

learning in order to create their personal portfolio. The students get to know themselves as

learners and will be required to know which skills they need to develop and how they will show

their mastery. It encourages formative assessment techniques, and the student can include graded

work (such as assignments and projects) as well as ungraded material (entry/exit slips,

reflections, journal entries, etc.) and self-assessment. This can, but doesnt always have to be

paired with conferencing. A conference is a meeting between the teacher and the student where

the student explains their portfolio, why they chose certain pieces, and how it shows their

learning progress over time. This student can feel proud of their work and will have a deeper

understanding of their own learning. The pieces in the portfolio do not necessarily have to

contain grades; the teacher could give descriptive feedback which the student could interpret. A

formal or informal conference is a great opportunity to build rapport with each student, to

scaffold goal-setting, to differentiate learning and to inform planning.

Rewrites, Redos, Retakes

I believe that if it takes a student five attempts to master a skill, the result is just as

valuable as a student who mastered it on the first try. Both students deserve a grade reflective of

the skills they are able to display despite how long it took them. The ultimate goal is to learn;

no matter what path is taken to get there. Wormeli (2011) provides a guide to managing the re-

write process in the classroom to make it effective and minimize extra effort for the teacher. His

article supports this practice by stating that every student will learn at a different pace, it gives

students extra practice, it mimics the real adult world where we are given multiple chances to

get things right and that it allows students to learn in the end, and that is what matters.
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This practice also encourages students to take risks and do their best. The mark doesnt

have to be a failure to allow them to improve, any student should be given the privilege of

learning and re-learning. Unless students understand that mistakes are essential for learning,

they may not take the risk necessary for it to occur (Davies, 2011, p. 16). We want our students

to feel comfortable taking risks, and for them to do this we must let them know learning is the

ultimate goal, and as long as they achieve this, their grades will reflect it in the end.

The perfect pair: formative and summative assessment

Traditional schooling tends to favor summative assessment; however, I personally tend to

favor formative assessment. On the first observation day of my practicum classroom, the

students wrote a test on the Pythagorean theorem. Although most of the students did very well,

there were quite a few who did not understand the concept, and did poorly on the test. I dont

believe this reflects their capacity to learn how to apply c2 = a2 + b2. It was a result of lack of

attendance, low prior knowledge or many other possible factors, they had not yet learned the

material. Through formative assessment, such as entry/exit slips, warm up problems, labs,

journals, quizzes, quick writes, small group work with teacher or in class assignments to name a

few, we as teachers can take a snapshot of student learning to help us modify our teaching. We

can use this to identify which students may need more help, or which topics may need to be re-

addressed to the whole class with an adjusted strategy to improve learning. Especially as a new

teacher, I think monitoring the learning process and making adjustments is very valuable.

However, summative assessment, which serves to assess student learning at the end of the

teaching of a topic, is valuable to ensure students have met the standards set in place. As

teachers, we need to gather both types of data to ensure our students have met the outcome, to

inform our teachings, monitor growth, and fairly evaluate our students learning.
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Standardised Testing

Standardized tests take samples of student work and make generalizations about the

learning that has taken place. The best standardized test is both valid for the students, and

reliable over time. Although norm-referenced tests are common, criterion-referenced test mimic

what students are traditionally used to. Instead of comparing students, they assess based on right

answers and percentile grades. The purpose of this test is to help officials assess if curriculum or

instructional changes need to be altered. Standard testing is a valid tool when it is being used to

assess the system as a whole, but not when it is being used to make decisions about one

particular student, teacher or school. There are many factors that may play in achievement when

a student writes a test; sleep deprivation and emotional distress may cause a student to do poorly.

Therefore, one test is not a good representation of everything a student has learned. Standardized

tests will continue to be a fair practice as long as there are no critical decisions made about

individuals based on the results of one test.

Conclusions

Current research in assessment practices have led to my personal approach to assessment.

Through a student-centred approach to evaluation, I hope to assess by putting the focus on the

learning. By giving students input into their assessment, focusing on descriptive feedback,

allowing regulated rewrites or re-dos on assessment pieces and balancing formative and

summative assessment, I hope to allow all students to be motivated and successful in the

classroom.
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References

Brookhart, S. M. (2011). Starting the conversation about grading. Effective Grading Practices.

69(3), 10-14.

Davies, A. (2011). Making classroom assessment work. Canada: Connect2learning.

Davies, A. & Herbst, S. (2013). Co-constructing success criteria. Education Canada. p. 16-19.

Herbst, S., Davies, A. (2014). A fresh look at grading and reporting in high schools. Canada:

Connect2learning.

Kohn, A. (2011). The case against grades. Educational leadership. 69(3), 28-33.

Kohn, A. (2011). Well duh Ten obvious truths that we shouldnt be ignoring. American

School Board Journal.

Wormeli, R. (2011). Redos and retakes done right. Effective Grading Practices, 69(3), 22-26.

Wormeli, R. (January 2014). Perseverance and Grit. AMLE Magazine.