READER RESPONSE #11
Domain I, Competency 003
Subcompetencies 2, 3
Reading Response #11
Kathy Hainey
Chapter 11 of Jacobsen’s text addresses assessing student learning. I felt this chapter really glossed over the topic, so I hope it is covered more thoroughly in another course. Assessment is the last part of the goals we learned to write earlier in the semester. Assessment is how we measure "whether or not the students reach the goals we specified during the planning phase (pg. 305).
"Measurement and evaluation" are the two main concepts we use to assess (pg. 306). Measurement is all the information we obtain during the assessment process and evaluation is what we decide to do based on the measurements (pg. 306). There are both formal and informal measurements. Informal measurements can include a student’s involvement in the class discussion as compared to how they are usually involved, noticing if the student is focusing during seatwork, or even their moods over time. Formal measurements are the ones that usually end up with a grade, like the work we have done in this class, quizzes, or tests. Both are very important, because knowing your students is a major part of being able to meet their educational needs. Some things are more measurable than others because some are objectively scored and others are subjectively scored.
Accurate measurements were discussed next, beginning with multiple choice questions. These were always my least favorite because the questions were often unclear and more than one answer could be correct depending on the question writer’s intent. I see this in the progress tests I have to give my GED students. The questions are aimed at comprehension, analysis, synthesis, etc., but the student doesn’t know the writer’s intent and some questions are too vague to narrow down the correct answer. This is frustrating for my students, and for me, because I am trying to teach them how to take a multiple choice test as well as apply their knowledge. I think there is way too much reliance on multiple-choice, standardized tests. Test taking skills end up being what is measured more than knowledge or application thereof. Our text does mention using a variety of testing formats in our classrooms, but the final test for my GED students and other school students is a standardized test. I think production questions are a step up from multiple choice questions.
Testing the application of generalizations to other situations seems to be the most in-line form of assessment with our goal of relating the concepts we are teaching to be relevant in the students’ lives. Measuring inquiry skills would fall into this category of practical application of knowledge to situations one may encounter in life. This leads up to authentic assessments which measure a student’s "performance through ‘real life’ tasks (Pg. 317). One of the small group assignments I give my students is the Road Trip assignment. After we have discussed the difference between Interstate Highways, US Highways, State Roads, County Roads, FM Roads, North, South, East, and West, I assign each pair of students a destination. They are given a road atlas. They must tell me what route they are taking, what type of road it is, which direction they are going, how many miles on each road in each state they travel, and when they leave one state to enter another. Their destinations are anywhere in the United States or Canada. This is an authentic assessment of map reading skills. All the students groan, loudly, when they hear the assignment, but they sure do have fun with it! Some students have even gone out and bought their first road atlas to keep in their cars for when they have to go to Dallas.
When one of my students feels like they have made no progress at all, I bring out their portfolio of work. I don’t save everything; there isn’t room. I do save all essays, quizzes and tests. It is easy to look back and compare their first essay with their most recent one, and show them their improvement over time. The same is true with times tables tests. (It is surprising to me how many adults cannot multiply single digit numbers.) After reviewing a portfolio, the student ALWAYS is proud of what they have done in the class and are ready (if not eager) to continue the learning process. Portfolios can be great!
I am still not a fan of rubrics. They seem redundant if the assignment has been clearly written and the expectations of the teacher made unambiguous. I know they are here to stay (until something new and more wonderful comes along), and I am getting used to them and their use.
For me, the most important part of assessment is the feedback from the instructor to the student. It needs to be as immediate as possible. In both my GED class and the college courses I taught, one week was the MAXIMUM time between receiving an assignment and returning the grade and giving feedback. Tests and quizzes are always returned by the next class, with essays or written papers taking a week at the most. Students cannot adjust their work or correct errors before the next assignment is due if they have not yet received feedback on their last assignment.
I found the discussion of inappropriate use of grades interesting. EVERY college course I took on campus made attendance part of the grade, with loss of a letter grade for each absence over three. I was always at class, but that wasn’t the point. Grades should be dependent upon how well the student knows the material and performs on the assignments and tests.
In the GED program I have students under the age of 18. Many times the parents want to know if the student is coming to class, how they are behaving, and if they are progressing academically. The parents who are interested in these things are kept informed even though this is not part of "Adult Education". Parents know they can call me or come see me before or after class. It is great for the students to have this additional support at home, even if the students don’t always see this as a positive!
We all need assessment because we all want to know if we are doing well in our work. Assessment should never be cruel or denigrating to the student; it should always be put in the positive light of what the student can do to improve. Always show faith in your students and then they will be more likely to have faith in themselves.