Problems with Traditional Exams

Below is a critique of traditional exams written by Ray (@rayboudreau) a current Grade 12 student.  He offers insight on exams and diplomas from the view point of the largest stakeholders of all, the persons writing them.

Exams are “said” to represent one’s knowledge of course material, this statement is both true and false.

Exams do test what we know but misses the main idea of why the answer is so. In most of today’s classes a student can pay attention in class, do their homework and study hard and they should obtain a decent mark but does this mark really display what they know? Exams force us students to memorize what material will be on that exam and to ignore the concepts that won’t be on it. Throughout my schooling there have been countless times when I have asked a teacher “Do we need to know this for the exam? “And they have replied with “No” so my fellow classmates and I don’t worry about it.

 I have noticed that the kids who take interest in the subject want to know WHY and it’s these students that seem to obtain the most success and useful knowledge from that class.  Most courses you can memorize all the material and know what it is but not understand why it is so and how you can use it in your life. Exams limit one’s potential and quite frankly not to many students like them.

For example the dreaded diploma examinations that are worth 50% of our mark. We put in many hours into each subject in school over 6 hours a week and then 50% of our mark is based on a 3 hour exam? This time limit puts even more stress and pressure on us students, then we are told to manage our time for this exam we have never seen and aren’t sure what to expect. Personally when going in to write my math 30 diploma I was told I’d have lots of time so I took my time on each question. The pressure got to me, as I would second guess myself on each question. Before I knew it I was way behind, panicking as I knew I was in trouble.  I ended up having to guess on 7 questions as I had run out of time, me a kid who is quite familiar with managing time.

What I’m getting at is that the exam couldn’t accurately represent my knowledge as it had a set of rules with it and could only cover so many concepts.  I was successful all year understanding each concept feeling confident with my learning then ONE exam dictates half of my mark. It dropped my mark a sizable amount and I felt ripped off. This exam did not represent my knowledge but more so the mark I got after some unfortunate questions that got the best of me.

 Exams limit our potential. In the real world we will have access to technology, others input and potentially more time which can help us great amounts. We will have real life situations where the “why” will be more important because the “how” can easily and quickly be taught to us due to the fact we understand the concepts present.

Value of feedback assessments?

Contrary to exam focused classes, assessments provide us with the “why”, “how” and even gives us experience and ways to use it in our life. To create our own examples we need to know why something occurs and then how this works or occurs. When we go out and create our projects we make our own examples that relate to us and stuff we are interested in which is another aspect missed by exam focused courses.  The importance of feedback in school to me seems quite important and valuable. 

We learn from our mistakes and that’s the honest truth. We shouldn’t be punished for mistakes rather taught and encouraged how to not make them again. In exam situations we sometimes get to go over the questions and see how to do it correctly, with the diplomas and final exams no such luxury is granted. You do what you can and you get a mark, no feedback or an idea of what questions and concepts you struggled with, no learning!

“If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” -Ignacio Estrada

An example of corruption around test scores

Some say corruption does not exist around test scores, below is an example from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2123748/Teachers-bend-rules-boost-exam-scores-Survey-finds-test-marks-fiddled-pupils-bribed.html that clearly shows it does.

Teachers are bribing pupils with pizza nights and fiddling test results to help their schools secure exam success, a survey has found.

Almost 40 per cent admitted the ‘overwhelming pressure’ to ensure that pupils achieve good grades ‘could compromise their professionalism’.

The poll, by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, reveals the lengths that schools are prepared to go to in order to climb league tables.

A quarter of respondents said they gave pupils ‘rewards and incentives’ to work harder. One teacher cited organising ‘pizza nights’.

In addition, 28 per cent said they felt obliged to attend controversial exam board seminars.

The admission follows an undercover newspaper investigation that found some teachers paid up to £230 a day to attend seminars with chief examiners, during which they were advised on exam questions and even the wording pupils should use to get higher marks.

One state secondary school teacher told ATL: ‘I know of an exam meeting where it was strongly hinted which topics would come up in the exam. I was glad my school was there but I felt sorry for those that were not.’

Another said: ‘We don’t go to many exam seminars because we can’t afford it. We probably lose out to those who can.’

The union surveyed 512 teachers, lecturers and headteachers working in state-funded and independent primary and secondary schools, academies and colleges in England ahead of its annual conference, which begins in Manchester today.

Some admitted fiddling exam scores. A primary school teacher said: ‘I have been forced to manipulate results so that levels of progress stay up.’


A secondary school teacher added: ‘The school I work at definitely pushes the boundaries of exam integrity. Maintaining their “gold-plated” status takes precedence over developing the abilities of the pupils.

‘Controlled assessments and aspects of coursework are problem areas for cheating, with senior leadership driving the agenda.’

A grammar school teacher said: ‘In some cases I end up virtually re-writing my students’ homework to match the marking criteria, rather than teach them my subject, French. I do this because there is simply not time to do both.’

Eighty-eight per cent of those polled said the pressure to get pupils through exams prevented the teaching of a broad and balanced curriculum, while 73 per cent claimed it had a detrimental effect on the quality of teaching. Seventy-one per cent said it affected the standard of learning.


In addition, one teacher warned that pupils are ‘close to breakdown’ with the demands being put on them during out-of-school hours and the Easter holidays.

Dr Mary Bousted, ATL’s general secretary, said: ‘With the Government’s persistent focus on tests, exam results and league tables, many teachers and lecturers also feel under enormous pressure – often to the detriment of high-quality teaching, learning and development of pupils.

‘School league tables, school banding and Ofsted inspections undermine the curriculum and do nothing to support pupils and their hard-working teachers, lecturers and leaders.’

Improving the test of provincial exams!

The Alberta Government is about to do something that is going to improve learning in schools.

It is about time the Frasier institute can no longer compare schools, or allow the results of schools to be public.  Finally, Lukaszuk is about to show that there is more to learning than statistics, numbers, test scores, and rankings.  Peter Cowley, from the Frasier institute, says “Teaching teams can directly use the PAT results to the benefit of their students”, and then follows with “It is hard to see how improving teaching effectiveness can be considered a misuse of the PAT data”.  These two statements are begging the question that PATS improve learning, which they do not.

I ask you, have you ever written a test or an exam and became smarter because of it?  In Alberta, I have yet to see a farmer weigh his/her animals more to increase their weight.  Just as weighing an animal won’t increase its weight, testing students won’t increase learning.  Our education has always been test score driven but I wonder if this belief is actually justified?  Has this norm been created out of research and studies?  Is this actually authenticated by pedagogical practice?  Does testing create lifelong learners?  Lastly, does it improve education?  I believe the answer to all of these questions is NO!

I understand that many people outside education, such as Peter Cowley, believe that only a standardized provincial exam can reveal that truth about what is actually occurring in Albertan schools, and is fighting for the idea that three years of education can be reduced to a single number on a multiple choice exam.  However, this idea is completely absurd.  If you find yourself disagreeing, then I strongly urge you to learn more about a standardized exam.    

 Just for starters, before a standardized test is given there are psychometricians who know how many students will pass and how many students will fail, and this occurs before the students ever write the exam.  Why would we support the sharing of grades on an exam that has a pre-determined failure rate?  Next, Peter will have us believe that these tests are an effective way of measuring education in our province, but he fails to realize these tests have a pre-selected material which is unknown to the teacher.  In terms of reliability, most educators resent the idea of a confined focus of testing as it measures only a portion of the domain and ultimately distorts the depth, complexity and dedication of a student’s ability.

 Lastly, Peter will try to convince people that it is these tests scores that will improve education. He fails to understand that it is not the test scores which need to increase to enhance education, but instead the trust that a teacher is a professional, dedicated to providing the best education possible, and the idea that learning cannot be reduced to a mark on a single exam.   

Discussion with a first year teacher around marks

Recently, I had a discussion with a first year teacher after 4 months of teaching in her first year, here is how it went:

Her: I’m scared I not going to have enough summative assessments at the end of this year.

Me: How many is enough?

Her: I went around to other teachers and discussed and the general consensus is around 25-30 if I averaged it out.  Some teachers had even given 50.

Me: Do these other teachers teach the same exact students you do?

Her: No, they teach different courses and different subject

Me:  How do the students of other classes and teachers of different subjects have anything to do with your students?

Her: Then who should I be asking?

Me: your students, ask them how important is having 30 assessments, would you prefer less assessment of higher quality or more of lower quality?  We must understand that the more grades we give students, the more we lower the value of everything we have graded to far.

her: Dave, don’t we give more summative assessments to allow for students to have more chances in achieving the best grade possible.

Me: So it sounds as if this strategy has nothing to do with learning.  It sounds as if we are giving more assessments to allow students to get the best score in the “Game” of school.

We then engaged in a discussion around the meaning of assessment and marks.  She started from a belief that there is an actual number of summative assessments which she is required to have for each student.  I hope I showed how wrong this belief was!  Teachers never should have a goal of the number of summative assessments to give students, and in fact we should be aspiring to have zero summative assessments throughout the course and start moving to entirely formative assessments.  The only summative assessment which should occur is at the end of the course, only under the assumption that no more learning can occur.

More on Differentiated Assessment

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching a dad teach his son how to ride a bike.  The son had a helmet on, elbow pads, and training wheels on the bike.  As the dad put his son on the bike, he walked behind his son as the son rode the bike in circles in the parking lot.

Just recently, I witnessed the same father and son in the school’s parking lot and this time the training wheels were off.  The dad continued to walk behind the son and the son completed the same circles.  At one point the son fell over and the dad quickly picked him up and put him back on the bike immediately.  After about 10 minutes, where the son did not fall once, the dad stopped walking behind the child and the child started to do more complex paths on his bike.

This is how assessment should be!

It would be ridiculous to mandate that all fathers must spend exactly 10 minutes of time with their child until they stop walking behind them; as each child will require a different amount of time to learn the skill. 

It would be ludicrous to allow a son to write a multiple choice test where, if he scored over 50% (even though he wrote it is ok to play in traffic on a bicycle), the father would let him ride alone as the son “passed the test”, since the son doesn’t understand all the safety issues of riding a bike.

It would be unfortunate if all fathers were required to purchase the same bicycle since not every child is the same height, or has the lower body lengths.

Yet all of these ideas are allowed in schools, why is that?

I wonder what school would look like if instead of holding teachers accountable with mandated common assessment we instead allowed teachers to teach students “how to ride a bike”?

I believe, students would learn the skills at a deeper level before moving on, they could learn at their own pace, and each “test” would be different for each student.

Still not convinced?  Reflect on this picture as it represents the traditional testing model of students.

Students are talking about assessment are we listening?

I recently went to a grade 12 math class where multiple choice, numerical and written response exams were abolished and replaced with open ended projects.  These projects were handed in and given back with written feedback only. Then students were allowed to make changes and re-hand in the project.  This could occur as many times as the student needs.  The teacher noticed an increase in both student achievement and, more importantly, student learning.  I am a full believer that students should have a voice in how they will be assessed.  Consequently, I gave these students a quick survey on their assessment in the class.  Below are the questions I asked, accompanied with the students’ answers. 

First off, a very scary statistic…I asked:

In your past schooling experience, how is your knowledge demonstrated in your classes?

Every single student in the class reported: “Multiple Choice, Numerical Response, Written Response Exams”

I am saddened by the truth that after 12 years of schooling, students are shown that the ONLY way to demonstrate knowledge is on a MC, NR and WR exam!

Now, if you believe that testing is a choice that STUDENTS would prefer, I strongly ask you to read the answers below. 

Comparing between open ended projects and traditional exams (multiple choice, and numerical response), which do you feel as you LEARN more as you complete the assessment?

88% Answered Projects, while 12.5% Answered Exams.

Explain why you don't feel as you learn as much from projects/exams (depending on your answer from the previous question). Start your sentence with: I don't learn as much from _____ because...

I don't learn as much from traditional exams because they don't allow you, as projects do, to use your creativity (which in my opinion should be much more important in school than it is now yet always takes a backseat to logic) or to be able to apply the information you've learned in a flexible way as opposed to the cookie-cutter approach of tests. Also, I feel that test marks are based partially on luck, as some tests might just happen to have easier questions than others, or people can make lucky guesses. Projects, on the other hand, offer a more general way to demonstrate knowledge of a subject.

I dont learn as much from exams because i cram the day before to learn everything just for the test and I get anxiety because of it anyways which then leads me to stress and worry about my mark way too much. Also, if i fail the exam because i simply dont care then i accept it and just move on. These assignments dont cause this because it gives me time to actually work on it and if i get something wrong it doesnt just end there. I can fix my mistakes and actually learn from them. Also if a exam is on a specific day and i am very busy and cannot study for it then that leaves me as being screwwed where as these assignments give you time to get them done and they also work around your life.

I don't learn as much from Exams because you write them and you finish regardless of how much you actually know. With the projects you finish them like an exam but instead of just getting the mark you would have gotten on an exam the project gives you questions of things that you need to know and gives you time to learnt them and complete them. If you didn't get 100 the first time around you get extra chances to learn the concepts until you are comfortable with the course.

I don't learn as much from traditional exams because I am less inclined to look at the questions I got wrong since it doesn't benefit my mark.

I dont learn as much from traditional exams because they assess what you remember... the projects allow me to look back at my notes are relearn things that I may have forgotten and having XXXXX checking it over and giving it back allows me a second chance to fix and understand what I did wrong

i feel that i dont learn as much from exams because i only look at what i do wrong and sometimes i just leave it because i cant get that mark back. compared to open ended projects, i can redo it and earn marks.

I don't learn as much from exams because if I don't understand something I can't ask. When I do open ended projects I can ask right then and learn right then and apply my knowledge right then.

I don't learn as much from exams because I don't get a chance to askk questions or work through any questions I don't understand. I get stressed out and hate having to prepare for them.

i dont learn as much from exams because i dont take the time to go over them. i just get upset over the mark and discouraged in my ability to understand the material. with XXXX projects, he gives us in the moment feedback to iron out any kinks and make sure we fully grasp the concepts before moving on. students that fail tests normally dont go back and look over them, so they never end up understanding the concepts.

I don't learn as much from exams because it is just memorization and when doing the projects I have to actually know how to do things and the steps involved.

I dont learn as much from multiple choice tests because they dont allow us to apply our knowledge and all it basically does is make us memorize how to answer questions instead of understanding how it works.

I don't learn as much from exams because I cant ask much questions and with the projects feel like i know the content and can be more confident more in my answers. With exama I find that they are good to an extent because we are thrown random questions that we need to know the basis of the question to asnwer. I find that both of the assessments, projects and tests are a way to assess our knowledge however I find that we need a balance of tests and projects..

i don't think i learn as much from exams because it gets marked and we don't really go over it and learn from our mistake because the teacher only goes through the question that most people did wrong

exams test my ability to regurgitate information and projects force me to get creative

I dont learn as much from exams cause they test you not teach you. But they do require you put more effort to prepare for them.

i dont learn as much the standard test because i usually dont usually get the chance to go over it and fix what i know

This is just because i get stressed out for tests and study for them so i get more practice but i still prefer the projects because they relieve the stress that tests cause and it still evaluates the extent of knowledge well.

I don't learn as much from the projects because I feel like on an exam I am being tested in a variety of ways on a certain concept instead of one or two ways in a project.

I dont learn as much fromExams because i do it then i dont really get to see what mistakes and how to fix it

I don't get to see a variety of different types of questions.

Exams are just answers and questions. If I get it wrong, I sometimes don't know time and the class moves on so its hard to ask.

I don't learn as much from exams because once I get a question wrong and I get the test back, I look over the answers but dont really care about why I got it wrong. With the projects, I am "forced" to learn the content, and I get to keep trying until I get it right. I love it.

exams because when i make a mistake on a exam i just get it back and then we move onto a different concept without me understand completely the previous one

tests, I do not get the corrections I need

Possible solution to DA of Applications of Derivatives

Instead of a multiple choice, numerical response and a written response exam on "Applications of Derivatives", I gave my students an open-ended assessment.

Here is one of my student's work. As you can see, students still can demonstrate knowledge and understanding without shading in "c" on a scantron sheet.

What a DA clasroom looks like

I have written about how I am changing the definition of test to allow for differentiated assessment in my class.  Some questions arose so here are the answers.

My current class sizes are in the low 30s, some classes I have done this with in previous years were in the low 40s while others in the 20s. With the right amount of planning, I believe this could be implemented with any class which has a reasonable amount of students. As for prep time, out of 8 courses throughout the entire year I teach 7 classes. 

How does it look?

First, if you walked into my classroom you would see some students working in groups, others alone, and others receiving one-on-one assistance from me.  Some students would be working on a laptop, some on paper and pen, and others researching on an I-Pad.  I encourage students to assist each other, collaborate on problems and research how the math we are using relates to their own life. 

I give students the whole “exam” at once and don’t set a deadline, nor do I ask students to work on it alone.  The directions are to work on the “exam” during class time, create your own problems and solutions, work on it in any order you would like, and to hand in the parts as you complete them.

Students are then given 1 or 2 classes (depending on the exam) to work on it.  As students complete a question, not the entire exam, I can start assessing it.  If I am not helping a student I will assess the question with the student explaining their reasoning and solution. This keeps my time spent on assessment low as not all students are handing in the entire exam on the exact same day.  This allows me to spend more time critically analyzing each student’s work.

Now here is the key:

I don’t grade it!

I either give them verbal feedback, or if I am assessing it outside of school, I will provide them with written feedback and comments.  Students then have the option of correcting their mistakes and re-handing it in.  This process continues to either the question is completed at 100% or the student chooses to take the mark I would assign as a regular exam.  This is how I have turned my assessments of learning to assessments of, as, and for learning.  I also have redefined the idea of 100% in my class.

What if a student does not like the project?

Easy answer, a traditional exam consisting of multiple choice, numerical response and written response is always an option.  However, only a rare few of students choose this option.  Keep in mind this is not a threat or a way to motivate students to complete the project but just another choice a student has as to how they are assessed.

What if a student does not complete the project in the time set?

I do not give them a zero, give them late marks, or use any kind of grading consequence but require them to start coming in during lunch, or anytime outside of class to complete it.  The first meeting starts with a simple question, “Why isn’t it done?” 

Some reasons are heavy workloads in other courses or outside school responsibilities and then I give the student as long as it takes to complete the project, with him/her still coming in during lunch.

Another reason I often hear is that they do not understand the material.  This solution has me re-teaching the material and still requiring them to complete an assessment on the outcome.

All other reasons are dealt case by case.

I realized, with a traditional test, if students do not understand the material we give them a failing grade and move on.  In the past, I have tried to have students complete their mistakes, but once I have shown them their mark all motivation to learn the intended outcome has vanished.  This is the reasoning behind the no grade on their product until it is complete. 

Students are enjoying this way of assessment as it gives them choice, autonomy in the way they can demonstrate their learning, and allows for authentic learning to occur.  If I have not answered a specific question, or you still have concerns, please let me know.

Proof that DA works

As my last post with "Problems with Common Assessment" there is another side of the coin; "Differentiated Assessment"

Some are skeptical that there is a benefit in having DA in your classroom, but Bayview Glen School from Ontario shows there truly is.

Bayview Glen school is a K – 12 school that wanted to answer the question “How, as leaders, can we facilitate a successful shift towards differentiated assessment throughout all grade levels?”  The focus was to encourage teachers with the knowledge to expand their assessment policies beyond traditional tasks such as tests and quizzes. 

This school completed an action research plan by providing the entire staff, in June 2009, with an assessment workshop.  During this workshop, each teacher was educated on various Differentiated Assessment Tasks (DAT) which they would implement in the 2009 – 2010 academic year.  Then given a simple task:

create one differentiated summative assessment for their course and present this task to the staff, reporting on the assessment and providing insight into how it impacted student learning.

Immediately, the staff demonstrated a strong commitment and their assessments which were presented were creative, engaging, challenging and incorporated reflective elements of a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. 

After each teacher implemented their assessment in their own classes, they were to report their experiences with the rest of the staff.  What was noticed?

“The results of these assessments lead to greater student learning experiences allowing for meaningful connections to the real world.  We also realized that is wasn’t just about the culminating differentiated assessment task, rather we needed to emphasize the importance of formative assessment, digging deeper into our curriculum while placing students at the center of their learning.”

Some teachers reported:

“I am definitely trying to move away from the traditional way of instructing and assessing.  By being introduced to DAT, and by taking the first two terms to incorporate the ideas into my classroom, I have realized the possibilities and I am excited to continue to develop the use in my daily teaching practices”

One student even reported.

“The assignment for Glass Menagerie helped me to realize the relevance of this books’ message and how the themes applied to my own life, allowing me to provide a better analysis, while demonstrating my inquiry skills.”

In the school there was a shift towards student-centered learning, with an emphasis on making real world connections.  Inquiry-based learning activities allowed for a sense of wonder and curiosity amongst learners.

Before completing this action research all teachers completed a survey (named Survey 1) and after they completed the same survey (named Survey 2).  Here is how this one task changed their ideologies:

You can notice that teachers were changing the “bulk of their summative” assessment strategies after a single DAT.

Similar data is becoming more and more prevalent and should not be ignored.  Peter W. Cookson Jr stated:

“We are at a threshold of a worldwide revolution in learning.  Just as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the wall of conventional schooling is collapsing before our eyes.”

Problems with common assessment

I would like to challenge the idea of common assessment.  Not just common throughout a department but common even in a single classroom.  From this time further I will refer to these assessments as their true name “Standardized Assessments”.  The definition of a standardized assessment is:

a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent.

 
I have asked why do teachers give common assessment?  I will provide the two top reasons I heard, and then my counter-argument.

1) Standardized assessment allows for fair and equal assessment practices between the same courses throughout the school.

Counter: What is fair is not always equal and what is equal isn’t always fair.  If we truly want equal assessment, then should we not require all students to write with the same hand, take off their glasses, set the temperature in all the rooms to be the same, and have all students write with the same type of pencil?  I know this sounds absurd, but where does the fair and equal practice stop?  Each and every student, in my class, has a different set of needs and abilities yet these exams will force each student to be put through the same hole.  Alberta Education recently, wrote

Differentiated assessment means selecting tools and strategies to provide each student with the best opportunity to demonstrate his or her learning. As you get to know your students, and as student differences emerge, assessment naturally becomes more differentiated, because its purpose is to meet students where they are and to coach them to the next step. In this way, assessment and instruction continue to support and inform each other.

By making these decisions before ever “knowing my students” how is one to decide which would be the “best opportunity for each student to demonstrate his or her learning”?  I do not see standardized assessment as a fair and equal practice at all.

2) Standardized assessment allows for fair and equal instructional practices between courses throughout the school.

Counter: This seems like the standardized assessment is more assessing the teacher than the student now.  Even if two students, in two different classes, receive the same mark this does not guarantee the same instruction has been given.  One teacher could be “teaching to the test” and involving daily test prep activities while the other is implementing quality instruction and critical thinking.

Now, the problems I see with common assessment:

First and foremost: It is the duty and responsibility of the classroom teacher to determine how and when to assess each student.  I am confused and distraught when people, outside the class, control the assessment strategies, without even knowing the individual students they are impacting.  

Alberta Education’s ideas are:

Differentiating assessment involves rethinking the standard practice of having all students do the same assessment tasks at the same time, regardless of their individual learning needs or the learning they have already demonstrated. Rather, in this new paradigm, teachers customize the selection and use of assessment information to reflect each student’s highest level of achievement.

Also, I refer to these as standardized assessments as they are designed in such a way the class average should fall in a “reasonable” zone.  This zone may differ from teacher to teacher and from class to class but this underlying bell curve does exist.  I have heard of meetings where discussions such as “The average was low, so the test should be made easier” or “The average was too high, so we need to increase the difficulty” have been had.  This saddens me as we are requiring students to fail such that others can feel success.

Since by the definition and the manner these assessments are designed, usually, they must fall on a specific day, common to all teachers of the same course, and also consist of some mixture of the following:

·         MC 5-10 questions
·         NR 3-5 questions
·         WR 2-5 questions with bullets

Usually the test days, and requirements are decided before the first day of school

By having standardized exams, we are going against the research and knowledge of our government.  Also, it should be the freedom of the teacher to decide, and indeed, the freedom of each student to decide how and when they will be assessed on their knowledge.  Of course we all know that some people employed as teachers are of different quality, but by forcing everyone to assess, and ultimately, teach the same way it may not improve teachers of a lower quality but actually hobble the good ones.

Assessment from Esme

I am very pleased and honoured to have Esme Comfort, whose blog can be found here, to share her ideas on Assessment with me.  Below is a guest post from a Public school Trustee in Bow Valley.

"Said the Source" by Micah Lexier, Library Installation, Hamilton, ON Photo: Wendy Bush, with permission

Pleased and proud that the teacher, @d_martin 05 (as he is known on Twitter), has asked me to do a guest post on his blog. He is a highly committed educator who is always honing his skills.

The topic? “What is the best way to gauge a student’s progress in learning?” Or [drum roll] ASSESSMENT

You may as well ask, like Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” because there is no one definitive answer. Rather it is a complex blend of sometimes competing interests that are served by student assessment; hence the choice of the photo above.

So what could this little old lady trustee have to offer to shine some light on the subject? First a disclaimer: I have no pedagogical credentials, just the experience of having been a student and having children who were/are students. Let’s start with some definitions and descriptions, per The Wikipedia of Esmé, i.e. my own best understanding, as a layperson.

•                    Formative assessment is an approach to teaching and learning with feedback as its mainstay, in a supportive classroom context. Assessment is ongoing and student-centred. Differentiated instruction, the teacher as a lifelong learner and professional learning communities – and more – will factor into this process. Parents trying to wrap their heads around this idea will often exhibit these first responses: “What d’ya mean ‘no homework’? No report cards – what the...?”

•                    Summative assessment is a measurement, at a specific point in time, of student learning relative to curriculum or course content. This is generally done by different sorts of tests, quizzes, set assignments with tight rubrics and so on. The Provincial Aptitude Tests and Diploma Exams are full-on examples. We are all very familiar with this “old school” methodology. Numerical marks or letter grades are usually awarded.

In my ideal world, summative assessment would only be used to inform formative assessment; PAT scores would not be published or shared, except between educators to use to inform their practice and diagnose trouble spots. Teaching and learning succeeds best, IMHO, when the teacher and the student are given respect and autonomy.

However, this is tricky stuff. Public schools are accountable to the children and parents, but also to the provincial government and the taxpayer. An easy way to determine if outcomes have been met is indeed the use of hard numbers and straightforward comparators. But what are the outcomes?

Should every student move to post-secondary education immediately after graduation? Well, all of life after high school graduation is post-secondary education, isn’t it? Hold it. Every student should graduate high school, right? At the same age and stage of life? We need to think which skills and attributes will best serve our students, will best prepare them for their individual futures. I believe those are much more difficult to – ahem – sum up. And much, much more difficult to teach.

For those of us who sat quietly at our desks, soaking up the wisdom dispersed by the pedant at the front of the room, the transformation of education will be hard to comprehend. Effective formative assessment means collaboration between teacher and pupil to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening. That was not my experience of school! That is why school district administrators and governors must involve the parents closely on this journey; it’s crucial to providing the support teachers need. Parents need to try to understand the process and work with the teachers to benefit the children.

When my first parent-teacher interview rolled around, some 20 years ago, I thought long and hard about how to use that precious 10 minutes. What did I want to know? At the time my two questions were:

•                    How is my child doing, relative to the teacher’s perception of his capacity?

•                    How is my child doing, relative to the progress of the other students in the class?

Now, it seems to me, I was really asking: “How well do you know my child?” That relationship is worth more to my child’s lifelong learning curve than the ability of the teacher to stuff facts/data into his head. Formative assessment means student and teacher are learning together, and the subject matter is always: the student. It demands more commitment, more rigour from both sides than a straight “drill and kill” testing regimen ever did. Successful students and successful teachers are “curious and curiouser” as a matter of course; the thirst for learning never is slaked.

The product or the mark?

Over the weekend I tweeted “A great exam makes a teacher proud while a good project makes a student proud” and received some unpleasant responses.  Knowing this would take more than 140 characters, I wanted to elaborate on what I meant.

I am not denying that some students are proud when they receive a great mark on an exam, but I believe these students represent the minority of the group.  When I look around my classroom, I have posters, Parachutes, Enlargements, graphs, and other math projects which have all been created by students.   After looking through mine, and my colleagues’ classrooms, I have yet to find a unit exam posted on the wall.

Remembering back in my own schooling, I recall creating gumball machines, paper mache figures, and even a sundial I gave to my mother for Christmas, but yet I vaguely remember the 90+% mark I received on my  math 30 diploma.  Going through my scrapbook, I don’t have a single test or quiz among all the projects I kept.  Also, for most of these projects I don’t even have a clue as to the mark I received on them.

What does this mean?

I believe that most students are more proud of the product they create than the mark they receive on something the teacher created.  Last year, I had students wanting to show their parents their creations BEFORE I had even assessed it!   Has a student ever asked to show their parents their exam before you give them their mark?  

School should be giving each and every student a chance to feel success and accomplishment.  For some, I do believe this can be in the form of an exam, but for most this will require a different form of assessment.  Open-ended projects move beyond traditional assessments and, if made properly, require students to communicate their thinking in a deeper manner. 

I am not saying that high marks on exams should be discredited, or don’t represent that learning has taken place, but just suggesting that open-ended projects will allow for success for other students in the class.  Remember, differentiation should start with instruction but continue onto assessment.

Differentiated Assessment

I have had a great enlightening summer and would like to start things off with a bang!  Differentiated Instruction (DI) and Differentiated Assessment (DA).

Most teachers speak of DI as a common practice in their class and truly teach to the needs of EVERY student.  However, some teachers require these same students to jump through a common hoop of assessment.  This assessment can take forms of unit exam, a worksheet, a quiz, or any assignment which is the same for ALL. 

If we speak of DI so commonly, where is DA?

Rick Wormelli in Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessing and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom states that "Assessment informs practice, and we take action".

DI MUST lead to DA in a classroom!  In a truly differentiated class, students can work towards learning outcomes at different paces, using different strategies, and mastering outcomes in different order.  As a result, teachers will need to assess these strategies differently and accommodate the assortment of learning styles while still measuring the learning outcomes.  Assessment and instruction does not have to be different but can occur simultaneously and appear different for each individual student. 

Alberta Education states, "The goal is not to have an individualized assessment plan for each student, but to have a manageable class assessment plan that is flexible enough to accommodate a range of student needs."

Some say assessment OF learning has to be common (or standardized).  Here are some examples of how we can have DA in assessment OF learning. (From Alberta Education)

Assessment of learning (sometimes called summative assessment) is the process of collecting and interpreting information to judge student achievement against predetermined criteria for the purposes of grading and reporting. Assessment of learning occurs at benchmark points in learning, such as the end of a unit or chunk

of learning. Consider the following examples of differentiating assessment of learning.

• Some students in a class choose to demonstrate their learning by writing a report, while others choose to create a poster, and still others choose an oral presentation.

• A teacher provides text-to-speech software and a digital version of the test to a student who has significant difficulty reading the questions in a social studies test.

• A teacher discards some marks collected early in the semester for a student

It can be done, and some our already doing it.  Assessment should not be a democratic process but an individual process.  Nor should assessment be done TO students, but actually WITH students.  Always remember you are not teaching statistics, data points, trends, or even groups, but actually living students with heartbeats, emotions, interests, and passions.

Using Video Games as Assessment Tools

Here is an article from Jennifer Kotler, and the link to her blog here.


In January, I attended a workshop dedicated to games, assessment and learning hosted by the MacArthur and Gates Foundations and the USC Game Innovation Lab. The workshop brought together game designers, educators, and researchers to work together on designing games around various curricula topics that would be engaging, educational, and contain features to allow for the collection and feedback about how players were faring when engaged in the game. The conversation went beyond what players could learn from games: We also focused on the valuable information we can gather from patterns of game play, such as where players might make errors and the kind of errors players might be making so that either the game or another knowledgeable player can help provide the necessary support to improve game play and therefore, learning.

This kind of thinking always reminds me of math class tests where we were asked to "show our work" so that the teachers could see how we went about solving a particular problem. A wrong answer to a division problem that had more to do with a simple subtraction error is very different from getting the wrong answer because of a fundamental lack of understanding of how to approach the problem. Patterns of responses can provide much more specific information than whether children get the answer right or wrong (as many standardized assessments generally report). Game play data may indeed provide another valuable way to assess patterns of children's understanding in a less threatening way than common testing conditions.

Not only might such games be useful in formal learning situations for assessment, but they might also encourage parents to become more engaged in children's learning. As part of some recent research around Prankster Planet on The Electric Company website that Mindy Brooks wrote about in last month's blog post, we asked parents (about 40 of them) to fill out a survey. The survey included questions about parents' interest in receiving feedback about how well their children were doing on the math and literacy activities within Prankster Planet.

I assumed that perhaps only a third of parents would be interested in receiving information on how well children were doing on the game. Surprisingly, the vast majority of parents (over 70%) said would be very likely to use information about how well their children were doing on the games. Furthermore, even more said they wanted specific feedback as to how to support the activities that the children were doing in the games even more so than general suggestions how to work on math and reading skills with their children. Parents said they would be most receptive to receiving this information through an email (rather than a text message or in a password protected site). This might be a particularly interesting opportunity to engage more parents and provide very specific information about how to extend children's learning based on children's individual game play patterns.

Before we rally for more widespread use of games as assessment tools, we likely need more investigation as to whether scores, errors, and successes in games are indeed highly correlated with the very same things that success on standardized or classroom tests are supposed to predict. Clearly, this assumes that standardized measures or classroom tests are the "gold standard" for information about what children "know" and that, of course, is the topic of much debate. Still, at this point in time, children are often classified or assigned to particular learning interventions based upon standardized assessments.

Games might provide a less "frightening" testing environment. Perhaps games might indeed reduce what Dr. Claude Steele termed "stereotype vulnerability." Girls and children of minority status might do better under conditions that don't seem test-like because they have been unfortunately conditioned to believe that children like them do not do as well as others on academic tests. Games might provide a neutral playing ground as well as reduce test anxiety.

On the other hand, perhaps children take more risks in games that they would not do if they were being tested, which may in fact be what educators encourage, but might interfere with their scores. Furthermore, I have seen situations where some children may actually choose wrong answers every so often just because the wrong answer feedback was funny, or perhaps they were just interested in seeing what would happen with a wrong answer choice.

Nevertheless, games provide a very efficient and engaging way to collect valuable information about performance. To be most useful as an assessment tool, however, game designers should work with educators and experts in assessment to ensure that information is captured in meaningful ways. Using the data in ways to support further learning is critical. Providing additional opportunities to practice skills and expand learning through additional gaming or materials for parents can only help make gaming experiences richer for children.

Open ended project on Integration

In the past, in my Pre-Calc Class, I have used traditional exams to assess the knowledge of integration techniques.  This year I plan on using the following open ended project.

Integration Project

1.      Create an equation for the velocity of a particle at any time t, stating the initial position, which cannot equal 0.  The equation must include all of:

·         A polynomial function

·         Rational function –Chain rule must be applied

·         Trigonometric function

a.       Determine what must be true about a function so that it is able to be integrated.

b.      Determine the distance of the particle at any time t. – must use u substitution for the rational term.

c.       Create a velocity-time graph, as well as a distance-time graph on the same grid. 

d.      Determine, using appropriate sums of rectangles, an over and under estimation of the displacement of the particle in the first 10 seconds.

                                                              i.      Explain how this estimation could be made more exact.

e.       Determine the exact displacement of the particle for the first 10 seconds, and then determine the exact location of the particle after 10 seconds.

f.       Determine the average acceleration of the particle from 0.  Illustrate how your answer could have been determined by the graphs.

2.      Create two functions, one representing the revenue of a company while the second will represent the costs of a company over a 12 month period.  The curves must intersect and cross each other.  Determine the area between the two curves, for the 12 months and interpret your answer.

3.      Knowing the gravitational pull on Earth is 9.81m/s², create a video an object in free-fall.  You must throw your object, and calculate the velocity of the object when it left your hand.  Appropriate measurements must be included.

Other ideas can be found here:

At http://courses.ncssm.edu/math/POW/POWindex.htm

2010-11 Problem 7 The Lanczos derivative (which is defined as an improper integral)

Problem 8 What is the average value of all possible averages?

2009-10 Problem 7 Non-Fundamental functions (just a curiosity)

2008-09 Problem 10 Introduction to Fourier series

2007-08 Problem 8 Chebychev polynomials

A MISSION POSSIBLE…

Your mission, should you choose to accept it …actually you don’t have much choice…will consist of mathematically explaining everything you know about an irregularly shaped symmetrical object such as a bottle or a vase. Include detailed drawings and calculations.

Thank you to the Calculus Discussion Board for the ideas!