Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Cycle #2: The Plan

The next steps in building engagement in assessment.

In my first action research section, I focused on something that I would consider a traditional task.  There were straightforward questions from the curriculum that students were expected to respond to.  That is not on its own innovative or revolutionary, however, I want to continue to find ways to increase student engagement in their own progression of learning.  The goal would be to establish the confidence of students to understand where they are in the learning process in relation to the goals or expectations they have for themselves. 

The more novel strategy I want to consider in relation to engagement in assessment goes beyond how students assess their performance on class questions or tests.  The next steps in building engagement in assessment relates to how students monitor their in projects and long-term or real-life applications. The intention behind this next progression is to find a balance in achieving learning outcomes and developing skills.  

If students can be successfully engaged in in their assessment of traditional assessment practices, they also have the potential to be successful monitoring their own skills and competencies.  Students have the potential to use their background, experiences, and understandings establish criteria and expectations of what they feel success looks like in multiple applications.  

The main question for this cycle of research will be:

How can students assess their execution of competencies that would be required to accomplish learning outcomes? 

Image result for skills and competencies alberta

Friday, October 19, 2018

Cycle #1: Reflection

How do I as a teacher feel about the co-construction of criteria for assessments?  (Is student learning enhanced by this process?)

This first cycle of reflection related to engaging students in the assessment process.  The intention of this engagement was to give students an opportunity to better understand their learning goals.  Therefore, the process of sharing outcomes and co-constructing criteria would ensure that students understand expectations and are not surprised in the assessment process.  

In this process, students have increased responsibility not only in their assessment of their learning, but they also demonstrated an increased effort in the learning process.  Is any assessment there are criteria that students are measured against.  However, in this process, students were measured by the criteria that they created, which contributed positively to a commitment to learning the necessary outcomes.  This demonstrates that using assessment as a collaborative effort not only has the potential to increase engagement, but also have a positive impact on individual initiative in the learning process. 

This assessment process represents the final stages of assessment at the end of the topic or unit.  If this process can be effective based on largely traditional teaching practices, how much more of an impact with students are participating in challenging, realistic, and thought provoking learning experiences?  The learning goals and questions can be established and learning experiences can be designed to match those goals to provide students a better opportunity to build their understandings about a particular topic or issue.  

Moving forward, it will be interesting to investigate the effectiveness of this engagement in assessment process.  An innovative assessment idea is to reflect on the accuracy of this engagement and if student have the ability to accurately assess their own learning throughout the process.  As well, in what ways can students be encouraged to make the most out of their engagement with assessment practices?

Saturday, October 13, 2018

Cycle #1: Data Collection

The Accuracy of Student Self-Assessment

Does increased engagement of criteria building contribute to accurate self-assessment of curricular outcomes?

There are a few reasons why there may be hesitations in regards to self-assessment.  These reservations include inaccurate measures of ones ability (high or low), neglect aspects of what is supposed to be assessed, as well as being in an environment that is not conducive to honest assessment practices.

The data does seem to be mixed.  There are sources which determine that self-assessment date is inaccurate and should not be used.  On the other hand, promoting the skill of self-assessment has a positive effect on student learning.  A priority of engaging students in assessment practices is to enhance student learning.   

In regards to responding to social studies open ended written response questions, students are given the task of building and communicating knowledge to a certain level.  In the process of engagement I have taken in this first cycle of investigation, students would be creating their own criteria, building their knowledge to match that criteria, and determine a way to communicate that information effectively.  In these three stages, control is in the hands of the students.  

To go one step further in this process, students may also be in a position to now self-assess their final product in relation to their uniquely created criteria.  If they are confident in communicating their understandings to a certain level, they would be in a position to assess their product.  

In order to reflect on this process, it will be important to determine how engaged students were in the process of building their understandings to meet the criteria.  It will also be important to determine if this increased responsibility in the assessment process had a positive or meaningful impact on student achievement.  Image result for Self Assessment cartoon





Brown, G., Andrade, H., & Chen, F. (2005). Accuracy in Student Self-Assessment : Directions and Cautions for Research. Assessment in Education Principles Policy and Practice, 22(4). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271270642_Accuracy_in_student_self-assessment_Directions_and_cautions_for_research.

(2007). Student Self-Assessment. The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat CAPACITY BUILDING SERIES, (4). Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/studentselfassessment.pdf



Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Cycle #1: The Action

Building meaningful student engagement in assessment

Key Question: Will co-constructing criteria contribute to increased engagement in assessment?

After providing student friendly outcomes, the next step would be to establish criteria to measure the degree of understanding.  Assessment in Social Studies classes can be formative or summative, it can be based on written response assignment or multiple choice tests.  Most of these assignments are designed to elements of curricular outcomes where students are usually presented with a task or question they are to respond to.  Asking these questions in "student friendly" language is not radically different that the traditional approaches to assessment, I hope to see if there is a better way to engage students in the process. 

Our schools assessment plan incorporates the indicators of A/Exemplary, B/Proficient, C/Adequate, and D/Limited.  As a teacher it is part of our job to define and recognize those indicators to assess student understanding of learning outcomes.  However, are student perceptions of quality the same as a teacher?  What is the difference between a students perception of what exemplary/proficient/adequate compared to a teacher?

With these perceptions in mind, a colleague and I worked to create exemplars of adequate, proficient, and exemplary answers of curricular questions using our experience from previous classes.  We then distributed those exemplars to allow small groups of students to sort them into the three categories.  Once organized, groups created criteria that they felt contributed to a particular response.  Below are some examples of student created criteria.  

One way for students to contribute to their own assessment is to build their own criteria for assessment.  If students understand what they are expected to accomplish they are more likely to meet their own expectations.  To take it a step further, if students are engaged in developing their own expectations they may be more likely to exceed their own expectations.  

Monday, October 1, 2018

Cycle #1: The Plan

The First Step to Building Engagement in Assessment

One of the first steps in building engagement in assessment would be to authentically share what students are expected to know from the curriculum.  However, these curricular documents are designed for teacher to implement in their classrooms rather than for students to implement in their learning.  Therefore, the first plan will be to find a way to make curricular outcomes student-friendly and approachable.  


For example, the first unit in social studies 9 in the Alberta Program of Studies is related to Canada's federal political System.  Below are the general and specific outcomes. 


9.1.4 - examine the structure of Canada's federal political system by exploring and reflecting upon the following questions and issues:  
  • How are laws passed in the federal political system? 
  • What is the relationship between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of Canada's federal political system? 
  • What processes are used to determine Members of Parliament (MPs) and Senators?  
  • To whom are Members of Parliament and Senators accountable?  
  • What is the role of political parties within Canada's federal political system?  
  • What is the role of the media in relation to political issues?  
  • How do lobby groups impact government decision making?  
  • To what extent do political and legislative processes meet the needs of all Canadians? 
My goal would be to create a student friendly version of these outcomes and structure it in a way where students understand precisely what is expected of them to be successful.  In order to have students be involved in the process, they can take the first step in analyzing what they think is important.  I would plan to show students these outcomes and provide them with the opportunity to discuss what achievement of the outcome would mean to them.  
Using the document A Framework for Developing and Using Student-Friendly Program Learning Outcomes classes would be able to co-construct their version of the outcomes and elaborate on what success in that particular outcome means to them.  Ideally, this framework would allow students to understand their learning goals and have them directly involved in their learning path.  


KEY QUESTION: Will co-constructiong curricular outcomes in student friendly language contribute to increased engagement in assessment?




Program of Studies Social Studies K - Grade 12. (2005). http://www.learnalberta.ca/ProgramOfStudy.aspx?lang=en&ProgramId=564423#

Rogers, G. (2018, September 5). Program of Studies Social Studies K - Grade 12. (2005).  https://www.pacific.edu/Documents/provost/acrobat/x119370 Student Friendly Program Learning Outcomes Handout.pdf






Cycle #2: Reflection

Is there potential for students to engage in assessment of their own competencies? To answer the question simple, yes .  If students are ...