Читать книгу Giving Students a Say - Myron Dueck - Страница 10

A more learner-centered model of assessment has ample support. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international governmental forum whose purpose is to "promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world" (www.OECD.org). This Paris-based forum, to which Australia, Canada, Italy, the United States, and more than 30 other countries contribute, has taken a decade-long approach to helping governments respond to new developments and concerns around education in an information economy. In The OECD Handbook for Innovative Learning Environments (OECD, 2017), this multinational think tank presents seven principles for designing learning environments. Thankfully, the OECD states that it's "unrealistic for a school or district to start working on all seven principles with equal priority" (p. 22). Although all seven are worthy of further study, for our purposes we will summarize three that support the student being the primary agent in assessment:

 The learning environment recognizes the learners as its core participants.

 The learning environment is acutely sensitive to the individual differences among learners.

 The learning environment operates with clarity of expectations and deploys assessment strategies consistent with these expectations. (OECD, 2017)

In his groundbreaking synthesis of research on factors affecting student achievement, Visible Learning for Teachers, John Hattie (2012) presents a ranked list of 150 items. The highest-ranked factor is "student self-reported grades." To be clear, by Hattie's own admission, he would rather have phrased this as "student expectations," meaning that students are incredibly accurate in predicting their own level of understanding and achievement. Hattie states it bluntly: "Students are the best people to report on themselves" (personal interview, 2018).

Let's pause for a moment to consider the ramifications. How is it possible that many of our traditional assessment models largely ignore the voice of the student when reporting learning, while research suggests that the student is the most important agent in the conversation?

In Embedded Formative Assessment, Wiliam (2018) makes a strong case for teaching to be adaptive to the needs of the student, an approach that is impossible if we're not involving the student in assessment. In establishing five key elements upon which we would base our assessment system, Wiliam includes three that directly and overtly involve the student:

 Clarifying, sharing, and understanding learning intentions and success criteria.

 Activating learners as instructional resources for one another.

 Activating learners as owners of their own thinking. (p. 52)

Involving students in assessment has powerful side effects. In his book Rigorous PBL by Design, Michael McDowell (2017) underscores how a student growth mindset is supported by students having the ability to monitor their own progress and take actions to improve their achievement. In a vein similar to the OECD principles and Wiliam's elements, McDowell goes on to encourage the supporting of "assessment-capable learners" who can monitor their own progress by being able to answer these questions:

 Where am I going in my learning?

 Where am I now in my learning?

 What's the next thing I need to improve in my learning?

 How do I improve my learning and that of others?

Inviting students into the realm of assessment is linked to increased motivation, confidence, self-regulation, and performance. Moss and Brookhart (2012) make a compelling argument as to why students must be at the center of the assessment conversation:

Students who take ownership of their learning attribute what they do well to decisions they make and control. These factors not only increase students' ability to assess and regulate their own learning, but also boost their motivation to learn as they progressively see themselves as more confident and competent learners. (p. 11)

As we dig even deeper into the research, involving the student goes beyond boosting motivation and confidence. Not only should students understand the elements of assessment as McDowell, Wiliam, and Moss and Brookhart propose, but also their understanding of its very purpose relates directly to their performance (Brown & Hattie, 2012). There is a positive relationship between assessment and performance when students believe that assessment (1) legitimately helps determine their grades, (2) helps regulate their own learning, and (3) is used by teachers to modify or improve instruction (Brown, Peterson, & Irving, 2009). Conversely, if students perceive that assessment is irrelevant, is given for fun, reflects external factors beyond their control, or is related to overall school quality, they perform worse (Brown, 2011).