Using Student-Involved Classroom Assessment to Close Achievement Gaps

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Using Student-Involved Classroom Assessment to
Close Achievement Gaps

• Rick Stiggens Jan Chappuis (2004). Theory Into
  Practice. Winter 2005, PP 11-18.

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Two Challenges

1. Prevent young students from giving up by
   fostering confidence in their ability to succeed
   in school.
2. Help students who have abandoned all hope for
   success overcome their feelings of defeat.

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Self-efficacy vs Self-confidence

• Self-efficacy and Self-confidence are not the
  same thing.
• Self-efficacy is the belief one holds in his or
  her ability to be successful.
• A student can have a high level of
  self-confidence and still not believe he or she
  can be successful academically.

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Academic Self-efficacy Often Matures in Small
Increments

• Small, incremental successes can often lead to
  incremental increases in a students confidence.
• Increases in confidence can lead to greater
  effort.
• Greater effort will often lead to additional
  success.
• Success, as perceived by the student must be
  genuine.

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Three Classroom Assessment Tools

• Three uses of classroom assessment that (if done
  right) can encourage student self-efficacy thus
  leading to achievement successes
• Student involvement in record-keeping.
• Student involvement in the assessment process.
• Student involvement in communicating about their
  progress.

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Involving students in record-keeping.

• If students have a clear understanding of the
  instructional intentions (i.e., learning targets)
  they can (with guidance) be taught to monitor
  their own progress.
• Involve the students themselves in identifying
  the criteria for success.
• Show the students how to keep records and chart
  their progress toward the learning targets.

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Student Self-Assessment

• Over time, and with help and guidance, students
  can learn to validly evaluate their own work.
• This requires clear evaluation criteria.
• Portfolios can play an important role here.
• Evaluating their own performance gives students a
  sense of control.

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Student Communication About Their Performance

• Innovations such as student-led conferencing adds
  further to a students sense of control over his
  or her learning and success.
• Showing a parent where he or she is in the
  progression toward the learning targets helps the
  student assume responsibility for learning.

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The Positive Impact of Formative Classroom
Assessment (Assessment FOR Learning) has been
Supported by Research

• Blooms early research that showed a large
  advantage in achievement for students exposed to
  classroom assessment practices that supported
  learning.
• Black and Wiliams review of research literature
  that showed large positive advantages with
  formative classroom assessment.

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Four Important Conditions for Effective Classroom
Assessment FOR Learning

1. Clearly articulated learning targets.
2. Well-defined criteria, including standards, for
   success.
3. Accurate assessment and continuous access to
   valid feedback.
4. Student involvement in communicating assessment
   results.

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Clearly Articulated Learning Targets.

• Students need to have a clear understanding of
• where they are supposed to go,
• where they are presently in relation to that
  journey, and
• how they can get there.

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Well-defined Criteria, Including Standards, for
Success.

• Students need to know what is expected of them
  and what evidence will be used to gauge whether
  or not they meet that expectation.
• This means that teachers, themselves, must be
  clear about their instructional intentions.

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Accurate Assessment Results and Continuous Access
to Valid Feedback.

• Assessments of learning must match the learning
  targets.
• The assessment tasks need to be representative of
  the content domain.
• Scores on assessments must lead to valid
  inferences about the students progress toward
  the learning targets.

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Student Involvement in the Communicating
Assessment Results.

• Continuous communication about assessment results
  is a critical component of assessment FOR
  learning.
• Teachers need to know where students are on the
  learning continuum.
• Students need to know where they are on the
  learning continuum.
• Parents need to know where their children are on
  the learning continuum.

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In Conclusion

• Carefully planned and crafted classroom
  assessments can play a major role in supporting
  and reinforcing learning by helping students
• Realize incremental success.
• Understand what it is they are supposed to
  accomplish and how that accomplishment will be
  measured.
• Involving students in their own assessment and
  learning.