Assessment & Evaluation

Book Review: A Fresh Look at Grading & Reporting 

in High Schools

by Sandra Herbst & Anne Davies

Four areas are considered in Chapter 1: Preparing for Quality Classroom Assessment:

• Determining learning destination;
• Researching expected quality levels;
• Planning to collect reliable & valid evidence of learning; and,
• Collecting baseline evidence of learning.

Given the multitude of standards or learning outcomes for any given high school subject, the authors recommend that teachers group standards and describe them in student-friendly language in order to provide clarity on learning destinations.  Researching expected quality levels involves three steps: determining student samples or exemplars, establishing success criteria, and designing rubrics.  The authors emphasize that a collaborative process with a clear protocol should be followed for all of these steps.

Clear reading, writing, and math standards in student-friendly language

In collecting evidence of learning, teachers should triangulate the evidence by taking into consideration the 3 sources of evidence available in the classroom: “observations of learning; the products that students create; and conversations between teachers and students.” (17)  To ensure reliability and validity in professional judgment, teachers should collect, over an extended time period and from a variety of sources, several pieces of evidence of a learning outcome.

The benefit of gathering baseline evidence is that it “gives teachers a simple way to say ‘You used to … and now you …’ or for students to say themselves ‘I used to … and now I …”. (23)

From Growing Success, a diagram showing Triangulation of Data 

In Chapter 2, Activating and Engaging Learners Through Quality Assessment, the authors explore 4 assessment functions teachers can use to engage and activate students:

• Describing the learning destination and expected quality;
• Involving students and providing time and support for them to learn;
• Teaching to student needs based on assessment evidence; and,
• Collecting reliable and valid evidence of learning.

With respect to the first assessment function, Herbst and Davies emphasize that once students are clear on learning outcomes and engage in the co-construction of success criteria they learn the language of assessment and are better equipped to self-monitor their progress and make adjustments for better achievement.   They do caution though that “Students used to receiving evaluative feedback – right, wrong, 65%, or 92% - may need time to come to appreciate their role in the assessment process and learn how to self-monitor, self-assess, and regulate their own actions.” (34)

For students inexperienced in self-assessment,
a good starting point is overall ratings such as this 

Important aspects of giving students the necessary time to learn are having them analyze samples of student work, engaging them in self and peer assessment, and having them communicate their evidence of learning to others.

There are 3 steps to using assessment evidence to teach to specific student needs: determine what students know, compare this to what they need to know, and plan ways to close the gap.

Validity and reliability are ensured not only by the triangulation of evidence but as well by the teacher allowing the student to also be involved in the process of evidence collecting.

Chapter 3 outlines 4 tasks in the process of evaluating and reporting to others after the learning is complete:

·        Finalize the collection of evidence of learning;

·        Making informed professional judgments;

·        Reporting using required format; and,

·        Involving students in the reporting process.

In the first task, students select their best evidence in relation to the learning goals and present it to their teachers along with explanations about why they think it is proof of their learning.  Herbst and Davies provide a useful definition of informed professional judgment: “The professional determination after a review of evidence of learning present (not absent), of what has been learned and achieved.” (57)  With respect to the 3^rd task, the authors stress that reporting is a process, not just a one-time event.  It involves the pre-learning planning by teachers, the learning time, and the aftermath.   

You can visit the author's blog at http://blog.annedavies.com/