Week 13

Essential question: How can I use both formative and summative assessment to enhance (or at least not interfere with) intrinsic motivation?

         Let me start out by saying I’m not a fan of assessments. I think it’s important to understand where your student is and if they understand what you are teaching to them. However, the assessments that we are required to give to our students are ridiculous. This is a personal opinion and I don’t intend to offend anyone from this statement. My apologies in advance; we have literally spent almost the whole month of April giving students the new SBA, which is now called AMP. When the students are taking this test, no one else can use the computer lab in lower grades 2-K.  The SBA’s used to be paper-based, multiple choice and have students write essays. This year is the new Amp and the students are required to use the computer. I think it’s about time we have a test that uses the technology we have in our lifetime, but this test needs work. The students who took this test this year started at 9:00 a.m. and didn’t finish until 3:00. They had recess and lunch breaks, but that was it. Looking at a computer screen for that long and reading is extremely hard on the students’ eyes. None of the teachers or administrators I have discussed the AMP with are pleased with the new system. I know all new things will take time to get used to and to change to best suite the students.

            The AMP is all multiple choice questions. Students do not write essays or have problems to solve (show work). Throughout the years it will change, but I’m wondering how are the other students doing with taking this test? Writing turns into typing? Our school had the Amp on specific Air books, and had no access to an Internet. We talk about how students can cheat when given an assessment, so what are other schools/states doing for the AMP to make sure students don’t look up on the Internet their answer. Teachers are monitoring and the test is not timed (as of now) so how is cheating being prevented?

            Speaking about cheating I have only seen a few times where students in my classroom try to cheat. The reason is they care about the “grade” (Kohn).  They don’t know the problem or how to solve the problem so instead they decide to cheat (plagiarize) to get a good remark. I always tell my students, it doesn’t matter what the grade is. All that matters is if you have learned it and understand it. Still a few will try to look on other’s papers. Howard Seeman lists many tips to help prevent students from cheating. One of the tips #2 reminds me of my teacher in high school science class. My teacher would always give out two sets of tests. Each test would have the questions in a different order. Seeman mentions how to have the answers backwards from each other and use the paper to grade the two together. Also to use different colored paper. If the “learning is genuinely engaging and meaningful to students cheating is very rare” (Kohn).

            If students are “led to focus on how well they’re doing more than on what they’re doing, they may do whatever they think is necessary to make it look as though they’re succeeding” (Kohn).

            One thing that I have noticed throughout the years is that assessments and the results from them has become the creator of our education system. Every school that I have taught in has a block system. “Valuable activities such as play, project-based learning, the arts, and even science and social studies are being crowded out for more test preparation, often focusing only on reading and mathematics” (Wheatley).  Throughout my week I only have 30 minutes two times per week to teach science or social studies. I had to find a way to integrate the subjects into the reading block.

            I have found I use more a norm-referenced assessment in my classrooms. This helps me “select students for different ability level reading or mathematics instructional groups” (Bond). I think the best way to use formative and summative assessments is to have the students be driven and want to see the results. Let students set goals and have them work to achieve those goals.

            In my unit, the website and program I am using has assessments created in the program. After the students are done reading their leveled book they take a quiz. Immediately the students are given a percentage score on how well they answered the questions. They are then allowed to look back at the questions and notice which ones were answered incorrectly and what the correct answer was. I have noticed that my students can’t wait to take a quiz. They are excited to complete the quiz and watch their flower grow from the points they acquire after successfully taking the quiz. I think if students have goals to set they will be motivated to achieve them and do well on any kind of assessments.

            When I taught at a charter school in Fairbanks, the school didn’t have grades/report cards after each quarter for the students. Instead they had a portfolio with all of the evidence showing how the student mastered the standard. Inside the portfolio was a letter from the teacher and a letter from the parents explaining what they noticed the students strengths were and areas they could improve on. This type of assessment would let students create goals to work towards. It would help students step away from getting the “correct” answer on a test and work towards understanding what their learning rather than memorizing. Portfolio assessments provide an insight into the student’s work and views. I think it’s important to have an assessment that still shows students can “learn how to read, write, and do math capably before they graduate” (Mathews). Portfolios will give students something to work towards and teachers will have an assessment to give that checks student understanding towards the standards being taught.

            Personally giving a timed one-minute assessment on reading fluency does not properly assess the student’s ability. Depending on when the test was given, the student could have been having an on or off day and the score is affected. Showing evidence and growth from a certain time, that is a proper assessment on the student’s ability.

Resources:

Bond, L. A. (1996). Norm-and Criterion-Referenced Testing. ERIC/AE Digest. Retrieved from: http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-1/norm.htm

Kohn, A. (2008). Who’s Cheating Whom? Phi Delta Kappan. Retrieved from: http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/whos-cheating/ 13 April 2015.

Wheatley, K. F. (2015). Factors that Perpetuate Test-Driven, Factory-Style Schooling: Implications for Policy and Practice. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 10(2). Retrieved from:http://ijlter.org/index.php/ijlter/article/viewFile/261/pdf

Seeman, H. (2004, December 6). Cheating in the Classroom: How to Prevent It (and How to Handle It If It Happens). Retrieved April 15, 2015, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev045.shtml

Mathews, J. (2009, November 19). Portfolio Assessment - Education Next. Retrieved April 15, 2015, from http://educationnext.org/portfolio-assessment/