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Teachers need to be accountable for the decisions they make about students.
Record keeping is how teachers document the basis upon which they arrive at
decisions that may be reflected in grade reports, in recommendations for
particular interventions for specific students and the like. Although teachers hold
in their heads a lot of information about students, there is a need to record
student learning systematically. Good records help teachers track student
progress against standards, and identify trends in their learning and areas
needing intervention. Decisions can subsequently be made on what to do next to
provide better teaching. As the amount of student information teachers might
potentially collect can be immense, it is sometimes hard for them to determine
what to record and what not to record, what methods to use to collect
information in one situation but not in another. Effective recording is easily
manageable, is meaningful to teachers and students and engages teaching and
learning.
Significance of Recording
Recording sheds light on teaching and learning. It enables the teacher to track
the progress of individuals and groups to make formative decisions on, for
example, what sort of feedback should be given to students and what should be
included in the next phase of teaching. Wilson and Fehring (1995) remind
teachers that collecting assessment data is only the first phase in improving
student learning and teaching practice. Additionally, they must take time to
reflect on the information of both individual student and whole - class results,
since assessments are purposeful and related to learning goals to decide future
teaching directions. This is essentially assessment for learning (AfL), because
teachers record pupils learning outcomes and make sense of pupils records for
making teaching decisions in improving student learning.
Teachers should determine what sorts of purpose they want the record to serve.
Any recording system should have a clear sense of purpose, to avoid the
collection of information for its own sake rather than for educational objectives.
Black and Wiliam (2002) make the criticism that many record - keeping systems
still suffer from an absence of educational purpose and that the collection of
marks to fill up records is often given a higher priority than the analysis of pupils
work to discern learning needs. What to record is determined by what is being
monitored or assessed. Recording should focus upon pupils learning in relation
to the curriculum, both of what they learn and how they learn. There should be
indications of students progress in more general, social and behavioural areas.
Recording systems should support AfL. According to the Strategic Review of Hong
Kong Examination and Assessment Authority (International Business Machines
Corporation, 2003), schools in Hong Kong are reminded to internally assess their
students more broadly and continuously in order to limit the effects of
examination. Any forms of recording by teachers and schools should be designed
to achieve this aim. Although there are no requirements about how or in what
form records should be kept and there are no statutory requirements concerning
record-keeping and the retention of evidence, schools are reminded that the
decisions about how to mark work and record progress are always in the context
of the needs of the students (QCA, 2000).
Before teachers record the information, Griffin and Nix (1991) suggest that they
should try to answer the following questions:
1. How will the recorded information be used?
2. How often will information be recorded?
3. What type of information will be recorded?
4. Who will record the information?
5. Who will have access to the recorded information?
6. Who requires the recorded information?
7. Where will the recorded information be stored for accessibility at a later date?
There are three main types of assessment information that teachers (sometimes
also students) can collect for recording: statistical data, anecdotal data, and
folio-type
information. Statistical data include marks, grades, student welfare and
biographical
information and attendance records. Anecdotal data include reports of critical
incidents, the reflections of both teachers and students, and notes from parents
and other teachers. Folio-type information includes work samples, records of
student work, and reports prepared by teachers in previous years. It can
generate a large amount of information which may be difficult to manage and
interpret. Taylor (2004) points out that recording is not simply collecting large
amounts of data to put in a mark book or computer file. The work produced by
the student should be selective, representing important learning outcomes.
Inventory
An inventory is a more formal record of observation. It records a students
behaviour
or performance in a school skill area. The standard of comparison is the
curriculum.
It examines how a student performs within a specific curriculum or with
instructional
material (McLoughlin and Lewis, 2005). Inventories assess a wide range of skills
by
including sample items of each skill that students are expected to master (Bigge,
Stump, Spagna, and Silberman, 1999). Information gathered can provide an
overall view of the skills the student possesses and those that are yet to be
developed.
It gives detailed information about whether a particular skill might not be
developed at all, or it might not be well developed but there is evidence that it is
at an early stage of development, or it might fully developed (Brady and
Kennedy, 2005: 81). Figure 8.2 is an example of an inventory.
Rating scale
Rating scales allow the scorer to rate performance along a continuum. Similar to
checklists, rating scales are designed with performance criteria to be measured.
What distinguishes rating scales from checklists is that rating scales do not force
scorers into making either yes or no answers. Instead, the scales allow more
options for scoring and more descriptive information to be obtained. When the
performance can be judged along a continuum of correctness, or suficiency, or
quality, then something more discerning than a checklist will be needed. Rating
scales allow us to establish meaningful, ranked, categories of the performance,
or elements of the performance, against which the actual observed performance
can be compared. Oosterhof (2001) suggests that rating scales can help teachers
to represent the frequency or degree of proficiency that students demonstrate on
the performance criteria. Rating scales provide an opportunity for detailed
diagnostic information to be obtained. There are three main types of rating scale:
numeric, graphic and descriptive. Figure 8.3 provides examples of these rating
scales.
Record-keeping portfolio
This kind of portfolio is a systematic record of the history of a students
development.
In Hong Kong, there is a much wider use of portfolios in the teaching, learning
and
assessment cycle. Most recently, this new initiative has been extended to early
childhood education. The Curriculum Development Council (CDC) (2006: 65)
indicates that:
To use portfolios for record keeping, teachers should recognize the concepts
related
to portfolios. A record-keeping portfolio contains samples of report cards, results
of
tests, and other such records. There is evidence of the students work over time
and the portfolio may include accomplishments, capability records, a history of a
persons
development, and critique of ones work by both student and teacher. Basically,
what
is included should authentically reflect what the student learned (Janesick, 2001).
Record of achievement
Records of achievement (ROA) share some similarities with record-keeping
portfolios.
The ROA of a student contains detailed developmental information about his or
her
school life. The record, which is maintained by the school and owned by the
student,
is like ones life history of schooling. Figure 8.5 (see p. 152) shows a student self
completed ROA, which will be used for teacher and student conferencing at a
later stage. Griffin and Nix (1991: 1256) list four basic purposes of ROA:
1. The recognition of achievement: Records and recording systems should
recognize
and give credit for what students have achieved, not just in public examinations
but in other ways as well.
2. Motivation and personal development. They should contribute to pupils
personal
development and progress by improving their motivation, providing
encouragement and increasing their awareness of strengths, weaknesses and
opportunities.
3. Curriculum and organization. The recording process should help schools to
identify
the all-round potential of their pupils and to consider how the curriculum,
teaching
process and organization enable pupils to develop the academic, practical and
social skills required.
4. Document of record. Students who are leaving school or college should take
with
them short summary documents of records, which are recognized and valued by
employers and institutions of further and higher education. Each document
should
provide a more rounded picture of a candidate for a job or course than can be
provided by a list of examination results, thus helping potential users of the
document to decide how the candidate could be best employed and for which
jobs, training schemes or courses the candidate is likely to be suitable
To record student performance, teachers often look for support from computers.
Computer-assisted recording has a number of advantages. In addition to using
computers to help with recording test results, teachers can use computers to
create student learning profiles. A database can be created by electronic
spreadsheet. The information in the database can include students demographic
data, academic information, and their other achievements inside and outside the
school. Information stored in the computer can be updated from time to time and
can be passed on from one teacher to another when the students have moved
on to a higher grade. Information stored in the computer is easily retrieval.
Teachers can readily keep track of student learning progress and provide timely
support if deemed necessary. Students needing specific support can be noted in
the record. When needed, the information can be printed out and made available
to the parties concerned. There are increasing numbers of computer programs
on the educational market designed to assist teachers with record keeping.
Computers can aid in the process of grading (electronic grading). Teachers can
set up their own grading system for recording, combining and reporting grades.
Some programs allow students to get access to their grades and feedback in the
electronic environment. This enables immediate feedback and direct dialogue
among students and between the teacher and the students (e.g. student-student
and/or teacher - student conferencing ). Figure 8.6a (p. 154) shows an example
of how students profiles can be created in a Microsoft Excel environment. Figure
8.6b (p. 155) gives an example of how marks and grades can be recorded on the
spreadsheets.
In brief, records should be valid, reliable and useful for different kinds of
planning, and support learning. Tanner, Jones, and Davies (2002) suggest that
the records should be valid, in that they assess children against appropriate
learning objectives. They should be reliable. The record gives the teacher a
means of assembling a body of evidence from multiple sources collected over
time upon which to base her judgements. They should be useful for
communication with parents about student progress.
OConnor (1995) points out that effective recording should display the following
characteristics:
It is manageable and continuous.
It is meaningful to all users of the records.
It provides a range of information, including information about knowledge,
skills and understanding, participation and attendance.
It enables students to be involved in recording information about themselves.
It allows both unanticipated and planned outcomes to be recorded.
It provides comprehensive information about student achievement.
Interpreting Results
The example presented in Figure 8.7 is linked with a set of rubrics to detail what
each level entails. Rubrics allow the teacher to assess the quality of a students
work against relevant criteria and express the quality of the work using
standards that are usually obtained in written descriptions of what each level of
quality looks like for each criterion. A rubric is a scoring tool that lists the criteria
for a piece of work. The criteria are those elements that must be represented in
the work sample being assessed, whereas the standards, or levels, represent the
degree of proficiency associated with each criterion. A rubric articulates
gradations of quality for each criterion, from low to high performances and what
these performances mean. A good rubric can be used to accurately determine
the level of quality of the assessment focuses. Rubrics can be used as a basis for
giving feedback to students. Alternative assessment often involves the use of
non-quantitative techniques for data collection and analysis. The following points
offer some guidelines for writing good rubrics.
Most rubrics will take one of two forms, holistic or analytic. Holistic rubrics
address everything included in a product, performance, or process as a whole
(Rogers and Graham, 1997). Holistic rubrics make assigning marks faster, but are
more susceptible to error and do not provide the learner with very much useful
feedback. Analytic rubrics address the component parts or characteristics of a
product, performance, or process separately. They inform different aspects of
learning which can be used as the basis for giving feedback. Analytic rubrics
require more time but produce more detailed feedback and tend to be more
reliable. To get a clear picture of student learning, it is common to use both
(Solomon, 1998). Figures 8.8 (p. 158) and 8.9 (p. 159) are examples of two kinds
of rubrics. Figure 8.8 shows a set of holistic rubrics, and Figure 8.9 illustrates
rubrics which have both holistic and analytic characteristics.
Focus on Learning
Summary
Review Questions
1. How are recording and AfL related? What kinds of contribution can recording
make to student learning?
2. What are the methods commonly used to record student learning in school?
How do they support recording? What are the selection criteria?
3. How should the data that is displayed in the records be interpreted?
4. What are the next things for teachers to do when the recording is finished?
2. Group work:
Develop a set of rubrics for assessing an activity. Students form groups, decide
on a learning activity for students and then develop a set of rubrics to assess
performance. Post the rubrics in the e-learn for student-student, student-teacher
conferencing.