Grades and Assessment are NOT the Same Thing

I recently read some teachers interchangeably using these two phrases: “how I grade” and “how I assess." These phrases were in response to a question regarding authentic assessment, so I was confused as this was not a discussion that had anything to do with grades.  My guess is that there is a misunderstanding of the two.  

The overemphasis on test scores and school grades, coupled with our own learning experiences probably contribute the most to this confusion. They make us hungry for grades—a one-time evaluative shot—as opposed to assessment, which is far more long-reaching and entails a greater degree of effort on the part of both the assessor and the assessed.

It’s actually the goal of each concept that makes the difference.  Carnegie Mellon’s (n.d.) Eberly Center site for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation, asserts that “the goal of grading is to evaluate individual students’ learning and performance…the goal of assessment is to improve student learning.”

So, why the confusion?  Particularly when our ultimate goal is to improve student learning?

It seems to boil down to a habit or possibly a culture of grading. I don’t think that teachers want grades to be the driving force in their classrooms, not at all. However, the shift in mindset from grading to assessing is definitely not so easy to make. Students rebel. Parents rebel.  Districts require this or that many (arbitrary) grades. 

Further, it’s difficult to get used to NOT putting a grade on a student paper or homework submission and, instead, determine where that student needs to move forward in his/her learning.  Further, students are used to seeing grades as a way of understanding their performance. 

Once we understand the difference, we'll accomplish so much more!

Many of my English teacher peers can relate to the attempt to distinguish between assessing and grades as they would painstakingly work through a student paper, noting where the student needed to revise. However, far from using those notes as a tool to aid in learning, the student would find the nearest trash can to throw that work in.  Probably an hour or so of teacher work, pitched with LeBron-esque precision into an institutional bin. 

whoosh. 

Helping students understand the difference between grading and assessment will make a huge difference in their motivation to use the advice and suggestions we offer. They can then actually USE what we do if we make assessment the goal, not the grade. 

My AP Lang students used to go bonkers with their paper revisions because I wouldn’t grade them until they’d mastered the concept we were working on.  These are the kids who thrived on grades, so you can imagine the backlash.  Their parents were none too happy at first, either. I did have to do some explaining, but once I assured them that (eventually) their children would receive a grade and probably one that actually reflected something, they were pleased.  The end result was that the students’ writing expanded into something far more in-depth and meaningful. 

Understanding the difference between grades and assessment is a crucial first step into helping students become lifelong learners. 

Hold your ground.

Reference

Carnegie Mellon University. (n.d.) What is the difference between assessment and grading? Retrieved May 23, 2014 from http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/grading-assessment.html

 
Buy our book! In it, Mindy and some of her former students outline best practices for developing a positive learning environment. 

Transparent Teaching of Adolescents: Creating the Ideal Class for Students and Teachers

Help Students Learn How to Self-Assess

In a discussion of the use of self-assessment in the classroom, a colleague pointed out that, potentially, not enough time is spent on emphasizing the importance of being self-critical. In her class, she used a set of self-assessment questions at the end of a research project, but she noted that “students spend the least amount of time on this, usually answering, ‘Yes, I did it well,’ or ‘No, there is no room for improvement.’”

Her question was how to get students to engage in the practice of self-assessment as well as how to get them to understand how important it really was.

The student responses above are the kinds of answers I would get from my classes when I first began asking them to evaluate their own essays. Although with teenagers, I’d get something more like, “It’s good enough. Whatever…” (with an accompanying eye-roll for emphasis). 

But we have to consider that the ability to self-assess is one of the most difficult of the self-skills. It's not really a fun thing to do, self-evaluation.  It’s also a “thinking” skill that teenagers seriously lack. Their self-perspectives are often distorted. Thus, having them practice this skill with their writing, in particular, may help them not only improve their essays but improve their ability to self-perceive. 

It’s not something that we can throw out there to a group of students, though, as “Let’s self-assess our writing, today.” It’s crucial that we personally have a strong grip on it before we launch the idea.We have to ask ourselves:

•  How well am I able to self-assess my own writing?   

• How well am I able to determine what my strengths and weaknesses are?

These questions might lead us to:

•  Have I written something or done something that I can self-assess?   

I think we sometimes underestimate the need for and impact of role-modeling, particularly as it applies to any sort of self-criticism. Finding the time can be an obstacle, but I'm wondering if it's more so that we don't' realize the importance of modeling this particular skill-set.

       We have to be comfortable criticizing ourselves and our own work, if we expect students to do 

        the same.  

In the Language Arts curriculum, writing alongside students can be the first step in guiding them to stronger self-assessment skills. 

For example, if you have a timed writing prompt, write the essay along with the class—same topic, same time parameters.  I would use this approach for a few reasons: (1) to ensure that I had a better grasp of the question, (2) to model the writing process (warts and all), and (3) to have an authentic point of reference when reviewing their work and in any discussions we’d have about the rubric. 

Then, we’d evaluate.  I’d share my writing with them in some way (sometimes, I’d just read it aloud), and then, I’d identify what I found to be a strong element (basing it back on the principles from a rubric), and what I thought needed work. I would also explain why something was strong or weak, in my opinion and based on the rubric.

That why is crucial. All too often students stumble onto a turn of phrase or idea, and they think it’s a one-time thing that they’ve done well. It’s NOT. Whatever they’ve done well can be repeated because it will reflect a principle of writing. The key lies in identifying the principle. 

Having the teacher tear her own work apart released their apprehensions in doing so themselves. Much like a counseling group, everyone would open up, once they felt safe. This approach served as a model of intellectual humility, and it also aided in cultivating a classroom culture of continuous improvement. Not just for the students, but for the teacher, too.  

If we want students to self-assess, then we'll need to show them how. How willing are we to model self assessment?

Mindy and some of her former students wrote Transparent Teaching of Adolescents: Creating the Ideal Class for Students and Teachers--a philosophy, method, and timely application of strategies that span the school year. A collaborative effort from all over the globe, the dialogue between this teacher and her former students presents both the wholeness of teaching and a model of how to build rapport, engage high school students in their experience, and enrich learning at the secondary level of education.

What is the sound of a student learning?

                                                              Class

What is the sound of a student learning?


Is it the teacher talking?

Is it the No.2 scratch of compliant pencil on paper?

Is it the silent regard of sagacious lectures?

Or is it a soft, murmured discussion with another learner, even in disregard to the "don't talk when teacher is talking" rule?

Or is it the face of surprise, concentration, and reflection?

Maybe it's a loud, impulsive burst of information that seems disconnected to everyone and everything else.

Or maybe, it's a question.





For strategies that work with secondary students, take a look at Transparent Teaching of Adolescents: Creating the Ideal Class for Students and Teachers.

High School Students and Teacher Evaluation: One Success Story

Last week, I had the joy of meeting up with students I hadn't seen in over ten years. It was a powerfully emotional moment for me as I remembered just how much I loved and liked these people. They are just...wonderful.

Because our book, Transparent Teaching of Adolescents, just came out, we took some time to meet and catch up on our lives and celebrate what we had created together: our classroom experiences in English courses and Theatre courses.

From a classroom management perspective, the class functioned as a dialogue, a constant flow of What are we learning? How are we learning it? and, more to the point, How well is the teacher teaching it to me? It was constant evaluation.

Talking with students who themselves had become teachers was very cool (one is teaching in China). But what was exceptionally intriguing was seeing that our classroom dialogue had never really ended; it had just seamlessly morphed into a book.

This text is our conversation of what I did as a high school educator that worked well or epically failed.  It models our approach to projects and assignments and the dialogue.


Not everyone approves of this method, though. Stanley Fish,  professor of humanities and law at Florida International University in Miami, and dean emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, former instructor at the University of California at Berkeley, Johns Hopkins and Duke University and author of 11 books--in other words, much more of an expert than me--asserts that there is danger in relying on student evaluations.

In his article, "Student Evaluations, Part Two", he assures us that college students have no business evaluating their instructors because the students really don't have the necessary skills or appropriate motivation to do so for any effective purpose.  Thus, it doesn't take a huge leap of logic to figure that he would say the same (and more vehemently, no doubt!) of high-school students.

I guess it wasn't so much that I catered to my students' feedback; rather, I listened to it. I took what was pedagogically sound and kept it. Fluffy stuff, such as "We don't want any homework" was dismissed. However, as Aristotle gently reminds us: "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without [necessarily] accepting it." Isn't that what evaluation is all about, anyway?


Much like our classroom experiences together, without student input, this book wouldn’t have happened. Through Facebook, Skype, and Skydrive, we were able to collaborate virtually from across the US and internationally. We have a beautifully eclectic group in this discussion, including students who dealt with me as student-teacher, first-year teacher, and veteran teacher.  Thus, the overview readers receive spans several phases of a teacher-in-the-making.

By the time they reach high school, teenagers know the teaching business.  They know what works and what doesn’t, how to get under a teacher's skin and how to avoid doing anything. Seriously capitalizing on their input is at the heart of our conversation.

By creating a transparent atmosphere that encourages student feedback, teachers not only tap into the students’ critical thinking skills, they also strengthen rapport—a crucial component of an effective high-school classroom management plan.

Transparent Teaching of Adolescents takes the reader on a journey and time-line from before the school year begins until it ends. With so many new teachers leaving the profession in less than three years, one of our goals is to re-ignite the passion of those who find the task of teaching high-schoolers increasingly overwhelming.  Our other objective is to provide new secondary teachers with a sense of the whole of teaching before they take on class loads.

So, it's not a book about just me, the teacher, chirping out strategies for you to consider, and it's not just the good stuff. Students also examine my mistakes as both a new and veteran teacher. After all, we learn more from our mistakes, don't we?

We invite you to join our conversation and let us know what you think!