October: Assessment

What does a grade in your class reflect? (mastery, following procedures, responsibility, completion...). How well do grades in your classroom reflect student learning?

What does a grade in your class reflect? (mastery, following procedures, responsibility, completion...). How well do grades in your classroom reflect student learning?

After reviewing the lessons this month and having several conversations with colleagues it has been very helpful in furthering my thinking about assessments. I have always believed that formative assessment needs to happen often for students to grow and it truly gives a chance to check what information needs to be retaught. Unfortunately because of time most assessment ends up being summative as was noted in one of the readings. This is not helpful because there was not check for understanding along the way.

This year I have truly taken the time to check student learning often before a summative assessment is given. I have even stopped my lessons and moved tests back a bit to be sure students understand. In times past when I did not do this I would find myself often disappointed in student progress after reviewing test scores. I honestly think that if we had more time and we could check often and check early and this would help tremendously in giving authentic assessments.

I really liked how the article about misunderstandings about grading also talked about the fact that most assessments are for a grade. What's behind a grade truly varies from assignment to assignment. In teaching grading is often an area where I feel torn. Some assignments are merely to check to make sure students can complete work in a timely manner then we review them together later to further understanding. Other grades are truly to determine how much a student has learned from a unit of study. Should both be of equal value on the grading scale? I do not know. This is something that has conflicted me for a long time.  I truly do believe that grades should reflect a combination of student knowledge, effort, and responsibility.

I am glad that we are having these conversations about grades. After reading over the blog submissions, having these discussions, and reviewing the sources I can see that there is a lot of inconsistencies among educators about what is truly within a grade. I think that the more we learn, the more we will learn and become of like minds on this issue.