Final Personal Assessment Philosophy

My Final Personal Philosophy

At the beginning of this course, I was strongly opposed to standardized testing. As we finish the fifth week of this course, my views have shifted significantly. Before this course, I was under the impression that standardized testing was only bubble tests that gave a score to rank schools and students; basically, the only type of test were the ACT and SAT style tests. However, I have now seen the usefulness and diversity of standardized assessments.

First, I was unaware that the word “assessment” covers tests other than a bubble assessment. I have been using self-assessments and rubrics since my first quarter of teaching without knowing that they were a form of standardized assessment. I also did not know of the usefulness of assessments in quality control and achieving teaching goals in a classroom. Using tools such as self-assessments can boost morale, effectiveness and enthusiasm in the classroom, and I now have good ideas on how to implement them more effectively (Andrade 2008). For example, it is useful to give multiple self-assessments throughout the year, so that students and their teachers can see their progress as they progress through course.

Second, I was not aware of the help that assessments could bring to evaluating a teacher’s own assessment. There is always a nagging voice in the back of my head when a student gets a poor grade on a test or project that says “maybe I did not teach this correctly to this student”. Using different types of assessments and questions can help to nip that voice in the bud and ensure that 1) students are being assessed fairly and 2) that I have taught the subject adequately to the students.

As with all things, I strongly believe that there is no silver bullet to standardized testing. As I have mentioned before, I feel that the basic bubble test only tests rote memorization. Using authentic methods has shown that students are more likely to be able to use their academic strengths to express their classroom knowledge (Sternberg 2008). However, I have experienced first-hand the disadvantages of the authentic testing grading system. Being an IB school, our standardized tests are all essay and short answer tests coupled with a separate evaluation of a written lab report. These assessments are collected and sent to an assigned grader somewhere in the world. Each year, our school is frustrated in at least a few subjects by the inconsistencies provided by the graders. One year a grader may focus in minute detail on a certain grading criteria while in the next it could be something totally different from another. IB grading is sent back with comments both on the student’s work and on the thoroughness of the teacher’s assignments, but each of those are taken with a grain of salt in the science department because of the lack of quality assurance of the graders. While the teachers are frustrated, the students are the ones who suffer, because some continue to college without an IB Diploma. This is rare, but it does happen, and then there is a repeal process for the grades and the papers and more time is used.

I am left in a middle ground. I despise the industrial-esque utilization and impracticality of the multiple choice test, but the human error in grading of assessments can also be frustrating. I am not the only one who has seen this. In his paper: Crossed Random-Effect Modeling: Examining the Effects of Teacher Experience and Rubric Use in Performance Assessments, Adnan Kan notes that “One of the shortcomings of performance assessments is the subjectivity and inconsistency of raters in scoring” (2014). He goes on to explain that a possible solution to this shortcoming is a much more detailed rubric for grading that can allow for a wide range of responses to be graded into each category. I am in agreement. I think that it is entirely possible that students now are able to express themselves in a way that promote their strengths. One could argue that this is how we tackle life. Humans are naturally drawn towards what their strengths are and are most interested in a expressing ourselves in that manner. If we are preparing students for life, shouldn’t we allow them to do the same in school?

Authentic testing has been displayed in many test classrooms in the last few years and recently it has taken a rise in STEM classrooms across the country. In a recent study in North Carolina, Jeremy Ernst and Elizabeth Glennie analyzed the results of a pilot program for a performance-based assessment. The data showed that there were improvements overall from 48% of the students, but the overall results cannot yet be confirmed due to small sample size. This is a new field of study, and will continue to provide results as the years go on.

Bridging from previous classes, I am now very interested in creating assessments that cater to 21st-century skill sets. I have progressed through this course with a overhanging theme of “How can the students learn this material in a way that can help them outside of the academic world?” One of our books from an earlier class, 21st Century Skills: Rethinking How Students Learn, helps shed light on that question (Bellanca and Brandt 2010). First, 21st century skills are defined as the skills that will help students in today’s modern society. They include innovation, life and career skills, and working with information, media and technology (Kay 2010). The idea behind these skills are to prepare a student to be effective in the working world, dealing with everyday problems, and teamwork. Dr. Douglas Reeves writes in his chapter, titled A Framework for Assessing 21st Century Skills, develops a framework that allows for assessment of students while they are able to gain life skills in the process (2010). Reeves states that a good 21st-century assessment should maintain 5 parts: Learning, Understanding, Exploration, Sharing and Creativity. Learning entails the basis of any assessment, to display a student’s knowledge of the content in focus. Understanding is the critical thinking aspect of assessments, an ability to bring that knowledge to abstract contexts, rather than simply reciting a definition. Exploration asks students to delve deeper into the knowledge, asking them to back up their knowledge with research and examples from reliable sources. And finally, creativity and sharing ask students to understand the material to a point where they are able to express their knowledge in a way they are comfortable with (Reeves 2010).

I will be taking this material into account when I create my final exam this year. Rather than give a written exam, I will be asking students to create a portfolio on an endangered animal of their choice. They will be analyzing the threats to the species, designing a conservation plan, and looking at the possible impacts of the ecosystems and the local populations. This portfolio “action plan” will enable students to research, develop, and present a formal action plan much like one would present a business proposal, while asking the students to demonstrate a deeper knowledge of the material they have learned over my course.

Overall, I am surprised at how my opinions have reversed over this course. I have most certainly let my guard down when it comes to the term “standardized” and now realize the importance of assessments, both for teachers and students.  

References

Andrade, H. (2007/2008, December/January). Self assessment through rubrics. Educational Leadership, 65(4), 60-62.

Ernst, J. V., & Glennie, E. J. (2015). Redesigned High Schools for Transformed STEM Learning: Performance Assessment Pilot Outcome. Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research, 16(4), 27-35. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?q=performance assessments&pr=on&id=EJ1086343

Kan, A., & Bulut, O. (2014). Crossed Random-Effect Modeling: Examining the Effects of Teacher Experience and Rubric Use in Performance Assessments.Eurasian Journal of Educational Research EJER, 14(57), 1-28. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?q=performance assessments&pr=on&id=EJ1056261

Kay K. (2010). Foreword: 21st century skills: Why they matter, what they are, and how we get there. In J. A. Bellanca & R. S. Brandt (Eds.), 21st century skills: Rethinking how students learn. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. 

 Reeves, D. (2010). A framework for assessing 21st century skills. In J. A. Bellanca & R. S. Brandt (Eds.), 21st century skills: Rethinking how students learn. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. 

Sternberg, R. J. (2007/2008, December/January). Assessing what matters. Educational Leadership, 65(4), 20-26.