100% Not always what we want

Just recently I gave a formal exam to one of my classes, and some students scored 100%.  Normally, I would not critique this mark, but what I heard from my students caused me to reflect. 

At the start of one of my classes some students were discussing their marks and I overheard one student, who achieved a 100% on the exam, say “I can’t believe I got a 100%, I had to guess on some answers. Lucky me!”

Is this the reaction we want from our students after an exam, regardless of the mark they receive? 

I believe it is more important we know WHY a student feels as they were successful or failed then the actual mark they received on an assessment.  This particular student believes it was luck that actually caused his achievement to increase not talent, ability or knowledge. 

When students inform me that they have “studied hard” for an exam, my first question is why?  I, always, try to see any action from the student’s point of view and then determine whether or not real learning is occurring and will it keep occurring.  If a student is studying hard because he/she is completely lost in the course, he/she is most likely cramming and no real learning is occurring.

I now ask, why do students spend countless hours cramming information, which is usually not into their long term memory, into their mind?

Years ago, I blamed myself for these actions.  I promoted this mind-set in my class by constantly using the words, “Performance, Results, Achievement, Failure, and Success!”  In my class I was more concerned about the answers to my problems than in the procedure to solve the problems. 

Students were leaving my class happy they got an A, while I wanted them to be excited they now understood how to think critically in a mathematical world.  The irony of it all was when my final results of my courses came in.  Paradoxically, I was ending up with results which were lower than my colleagues.  This priority of achieving high results, ultimately was my demise in both achievement and, more importantly, learning. 

Lastly, we need to be aware of the plethora of research around achievement and grades which is showing that if we put a large emphasis on these it will

1) Undermine the idea of true intrinsic motivation in the material we are teaching.

2) Causes some students to feel as success is an idea which is unachievable.

3) Will force students to “take the easy route” instead of working on a more challenging problem.

4) Reduces the quality of learning.

5) Creates an environment where students will create a self-image of themselves based on how smart they are, instead on how hard they are trying.

Exams Part 3

Why do we give exams Part 3?

After asking many teachers the top three answers that have been given are:

1)      “To assess, and find out actually what the students know” Rebuttal to this

2)      “If we don’t test it, the students won’t want to learn it” Rebuttal to this

3)      “Hold teachers accountable for their teaching`

Rebuttal to 3:

This reason does not even make sense to me.  If I want to make sure my doctor is being professional, would I book more appointments with him?  Should men and women see the doctor more than once a year to ensure the doctor is keeping informed with medicinal breakthroughs?

We need to start trusting our teachers as professionals, and not as people who don’t care about their career.  Are there teachers who aren’t professional? Absolutely, just as there are doctors who are not professional, or managers, or gas attendants, or dentists, etc.  In any job, career, or field of study, there are people who “fly under the radar”, but I guarantee it is not an overwhelming percentage.

One solution; “Raise the bar” by administering common exams or create benchmarks that are common for the same course throughout a school.  Your high to middle performing teachers will rise to this new level; however the same teachers who weren’t at the level before, will still remain not functioning at the expected level.  

I have heard many teachers say “Fire those lazy teachers!”.  This also is not the solution!

From Washington post: and this blog

Talking about the systematic firings, he notes, “In the long run, it would probably be superior…to develop systems that upgrade the overall effectiveness of teachers.” He points out, however, that these efforts have not been successful in the past. But have we really tried?

Instead of trying to fire our way to the high performance of Finland or anywhere else, why not try to emulate the policies that these nations actually employ? It seems very strange to shoot for the achievement levels of these nations by doing the exact opposite of what they do.

We are playing with students’ marks and confidence levels by worrying about whether or not a teacher is doing his/her job.  This needs to stop.  Trust the professionals, and you will see teachers starting to create new and innovative ways of assessment. 

I truly believe we will then witness ground-breaking and truly inventive ways of differentiated assessment.  We need to stop the idea of “Every student can learn differently, but all have to demonstrate their learning the same and on the same day”.

I have addressed the top three reasons of why teachers give an exam, but I ask this, if you are administering exams in your school, why do YOU give exams?

Exams last part 2

Why do we give exams?

After asking many teachers the top three answers that have been given are:

1)      “To assess, and find out actually what the students know” Rebuttal to this
2)      “If we don’t test it, the students won’t want to learn it”
3)      “Hold teachers accountable for their teaching`

Rebuttal to 2:

First, we need to understand that there is difference between learning and achievement.  For more click here. 

Second, if a student asks you, “Why do I have to learn this?” and your first or only response is “for the test”, then you are actually destroying any possible engagement.  People need to understand that learners don’t ask for the application to challenge the teacher, but actually want to understand the meaning behind the concept. 

If there truly is NO real life application then I would first advise you to contact those in charge of your mandated outcomes and ask them why you need to teach the specific outcome.  In the defense of the government, if they don’t know there is a problem, how can we expect them to find a solution?

Assuming that the outcome does have real life application, we should be focusing on the relevance and not the mindless repetition of the outcome.  Contrary to some popular belief, students do crave knowledge, but they need to be shown the “why” just as often as the “how”. 

For some outcomes this is an easy task, while for others I understand this can be quite difficult.  I, however, do believe that no matter how challenging it might be to show the “why”, the learning that will occur because of it, will make the journey worth taking. 

An exam should not be the reason anything is taught in a class.  “Teaching to the test” should be the equivalent of swearing in a classroom; something that should NEVER be done or even entertained.    I read the following, and became sick to my stomach!

Everything that has to do with the test has been given such a high priority, that there is no priority any more but that … The bottom line question comes down to, "Well, what’s going to help them do better on the test?" And if it’s not going to help them do better on the test, well, we don’t have time for that right now (Wright, 2002, p.10).

I would hope, that most agree, that the above statement is not one that teachers should be making.  If you believe, however, that a test is the only way students will learn, you are on your way to making the statement above.  I strongly encourage educators to allow students to find significance in given tasks, and you will start to see that your test no longer becomes the reason students want to learn.

AMP first, marks second.

Why do we give exams?

After asking many teachers the top three answers that have been given are:

1)      “To assess, and find out actually what the students know”

2)      “If we don’t test it, the students won’t want to learn it”

3)      “Hold teachers accountable for their teaching”

After many hours of thought, I have decided to post my rebuttal to these three reasons, over the next three blogs:

1)      To argue this I would like to start by quoting Einstein “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts”.  I believe that discrete statistical data, derived from tests, actually devalue the professional judgement of a teacher.  Teachers should be able to rely on the personal interaction with their students that they have on a day-to-day basis and not the mark received on an exam. 

To further illustrate this, before a student even writes an exam, he/she could explain to the teacher what his/her mark will be on the evaluation.  Furthermore, I would even go as far saying that most teachers know what mark the student will receive on the exam as well.  If both the teacher and the student know what mark is going to be achieved, why waste valuable class time giving an examination?

Tests are also discouraging to any student achieving a mark that is not sufficient.  A student, in this category, will walk into your class KNOWING they will not achieve an adequate mark, and then write the exam.  When you hand back the exam, marked, their knowledge will be confirmed with the poor mark.  We are beating their confidence down with their own knowledge.

Alfie Kohn, would say:

“Most assessment systems are based on an out-dated behaviourist model that assumes nearly everything can -- and should -- be quantified.  But the more educators allow themselves to be turned into accountants, the more trivial their teaching becomes and the more their assessments miss.”

Some would then argue; give more exams.  The more chances a student has to demonstrate their learning, the better the picture the teacher has of what the student knows.  Psychologists Martin Maehr and Carol Midgly would say “an overemphasis on assessment can actually undermine the pursuit of excellence”. 

It has been shown, many times, that the more a student is told to focus on their marks, the less engaged they become about the learning.  Classrooms should have less of an emphasis on achievement and marks, and more emphasis on autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Learning first, marks second

"what mark do I need on the final so I end up with an XX%?" This was a common question in my classes over the past week. As finals come closer and closer students become more and more concerned with their final marks. This saddens me greatly. 

Educators need to stop the perpetuation of marks being the gate keepers of a course. Students should not be concerned with their marks but actually their learning.  As we change the focus from marks to learning I hope the question will turn into "what learning should occur so I am successful in this course?". 

To illustrate my point greater inform your students that the failing mark in your class is 0. I guarantee, most students will cheer. Now if you informed your students they will learn nothing this year, most will be confused. 

Students crave knowledge but teachers give marks. There is a great disconnect. Next year, i am trying to test drive a new "no-mark" system in my high school math course. This should demonstrate that learning outcomes are the priority and not the mark or grade you receive in a course. 

Actual learning first, class average second

Recently I have had a conversation about class averages on a standardized exam.  The conversation made me remember a story I once read:

John was interviewed for job at a factory were the management consisted of Dave, his brother, and 6 relatives. The workforce consisted of 5 foremen, and 10 workers. Dave informed John that the pay was well here, with an average salary of $600 per week. After one week of work, John was upset as he only was paid $200. John stormed into Daves office, and accused Dave of lying. Dave, the magical mathematician, explained "Every week I get $4800, my brother gets $2000, my six relatives make $500, each foreman gets $400, and the ten workers get $200. Averaging to a salary of $600 per week."

Unless, we talk about mean, median, and mode, the AVERAGE, can be meaningless.

Also, what should be more important, the learning in the class or the class average?  When we start worrying about the marks students receive on an exam or diploma we lose sight of our actual goal.  Teaching to the test, inflating grades, or manipulating assessment practices is what teachers start to do, while changing pedagogy should be the answer.  The bottom line, however, class average should not be a concern to a teacher, where actual learning should be the first priority. 

Learning first, achievement second, homework still dead last.

I have received many responses to my "no homework" policy, so I decided to blog more about it.  In my classes, I do not assign daily required work.  I have, however, given my students assignments to complete out of class time, but these are not the traditional math assignments.

The myth about daily repetitive work is that this actually increases student mastery of a concept.  Many people believe the saying “Practice makes perfect”.  This saying, recently, has evolved to “perfect practice makes perfect”.  I would agree to the second statement when referring to a physical skill, such as shooting a basketball.  To master a physical skill, our body needs to mimic the correct actions multiple times.  The question that homework in a classroom does not address is “How does one practice understanding?”

Psychologist, Nate Kornell, completed a study that showed that intensive immersion is not the best way to master a particular concept.  Nate found that college students and adults of retirement age were better able to distinguish the painting styles of 12 unfamiliar artists after viewing mixed collections (assortments, including works from all 12) than after viewing a dozen works from one artist, all together, then moving on to the next painter.  Nate then deduced:

“What seems to be happening in this case is that the brain is picking up deeper patterns when seeing assortments of paintings; it’s picking up what’s similar and what’s different about them,”

Unfortunately, most classes immerse students into one concept; assign them multiple questions of the same concept, then move on to the next concept.  The research states that this is not the most effective way if we want students to retain mastery.

According to Cooper, homework increases student achievement (Even a formula has been created, 10 min per grad level)  This is a self-fulfilling prophecy.  First, educators need to realize that student achievement and student learning are not the same idea.  When looking at Cooper'sstudies, he shows that test scores increase due to the homework assigned.  Unfortunately, assigning repetitive work for students, or giving them loads of questions before an exam is the equivalent of cramming for an exam.

Cognitive scientists do not deny that cramming will lead to a better grade on an exam (thus increase student achievement), however this knowledge is quickly forgotten (student learning has decreased).  We, as educators, need to realize we are here to increase student learning first and student achievement second.