I had a wonderful dinner with the first few principals involved in this conversation and two of our assistant superintendents as well as Ruth Sutton. The dinner time conversation? Moving away from letter grades. Everything we have read, seen, experienced and heard tells us this is the right path to follow. Ruth had spent the day with around 100 elementary and middle school teachers talking about assessment and was generous enough to spend time with us afterwards giving us her experience, thoughts and ideas as to the steps needed to make this work.
One thing she said that really stood out is that we need to get the kids to focus on personal bests and not on their rankings. The image that she painted was one of running a marathon and focussing on our time. Every time we run we want to get better. If we always finish first, second or third but our times are getting worse we are not improving we are regressing, but rankings would not show that. I loved that analogy, encouraging the students to focus on their progress and not on their rankings. She said that research shows that to keep students engaged that up until grade 12 they should not be ranked and sorted. The longer we have them focus on improving, the more successful the students will be. She also suggested that we bring in people from universities and big companies to talk to parents and students about what they want to see in their respective recruits.
The universities need to talk about the skills that the students need to STAY in university and not just to get in. Many of us can think of students that we went to in university that bombed out of 1st year university because they did not know how to self-assess, critically examine their work, peer edit and so on. It is almost a wasted group. What skills were they lacking that allowed for them to flunk out of university? What is it that most employers are looking for? Self-motivated, eager to learn, adaptable and goal setting individuals.
Every time we talked about what we needed to do, it came down to the assessment practices. If we are telling parents that this is good for the kids then the proof has to be in the pudding. The parents need to see the rich information that comes from formative assessment and standards-based assessment. It will not work if we take away what they know, tell them this is good and then not have the assessment practices to back it up.
Lastly we talked a little about reporting, what should the new report card look like and what should it contain. One of the ideas that I really liked was changing comment boxes to "Succeses and Next Steps". This would have what the child is able to do and what the child needs to focus on next. This speaks to planning, it speaks to record keeping, it speaks to solid assessment practices. The other part that I really liked was including the child's own writing of his or her report card. Have the student write "What I am good at?" , "what do I know?" and "what do I need to get better at?" as well as maybe "What are my next steps as a learner?" and have them present their own evidence to back it up. If this is done properly the child's own self-evaluation should pretty much be bang-on.
After EdCampVancouver and this dinner, I am very excited about where education is headed.
Showing posts with label assessment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assessment. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Ed Camp Vancouver
Today was a most interesting day of most amazing professional development. The day was presented as an unconference, no key note speaker, nothing lavish, just a bunch of dedicated people who are passionate about education. It was representative of most stakeholders: parents, teachers, principals and some students. It is hard to describe the day in a way which accurately would reflect the conversations that were held today.
The beauty of the day was the respect for the knowledge of the group that was there, the fact that everyone had something to offer, something to share, something to reflect on, a question to pose and a desire to learn. These were not sessions that were being offered by someone looking to pad a resume, someone who had not been in a school in years and was preaching nor was it someone who had already done the same presentation 25 times in the year and did not adapt it to the group present. These sessions were lead by questions from people within the room. I was looking at the board of potential topics with people putting sticky notes on them to show which ones were of interest.
As we were looking at the board of topics there were other conversations that started and new topics were posted. As new topics were posted some stickies migrated, others added their stickies to the new topics and 16 topics were chosen for the day. 4 sessions per time slot, 4 different time slots. There were conversations around assessment for learning, bringing English LA into the 21st century, Social Media 101, moving away from letter grades, engaging all partner groups, moving away from awards ceremonies, creating online communities as well as many other great subjects. We were there from 9 am to 4 pm, and then some of us went to a pub to continue the conversation afterwards, those who had the long commute home had their continuing conversations in the car, the #edcampvan hashtag continued to be used long after the day was over. It is now 10 pm and that hashtag is still showing up and being used! Talk about powerful pro-d!
I took in 4 amazing sessions, each one passed quickly, with conversations continuing long after the session was over. The discussion were so rich, provocative and reflective. The varying points of view from different districts, levels, stakeholders and experience was so enriching. I honestly feel that I would have happily attended each session for a day instead of just the 45 minutes sessions (which often continued well after the time elapsed unlike other sessions where people were packing up their bags before presentations were over). It just felt as though we were just warming up. To have that many people together is powerful pro-d. There was so much to listen to, so much to share, so much to think about and so much to bring back to schools. As I was driving home I started to wonder how we could make our pro-d days much more like this. Good solid conversations, professional dialogue and getting to the meat and potatoes. Let's get it all out on the table.
I would have loved to have school boards and Ministry of Education representatives there. They need to hear our thoughts without the bureaucratic red tape that can exist when meeting with govenment representatives. Open honest conversations without politics so that they can hear what it is that we are trying to do, hear what our barriers are, understand how it would be better for students and we could hear what their vision is without a podium and a rehearsed speech, what their concerns are, what their barriers are. If we can truly have all stakeholders represented then we can really begin to make magic happen.
There is much to bring home to our schools and a lot to think about how the day was shaped and how we can use this format. Is this the future of pro-d?
The beauty of the day was the respect for the knowledge of the group that was there, the fact that everyone had something to offer, something to share, something to reflect on, a question to pose and a desire to learn. These were not sessions that were being offered by someone looking to pad a resume, someone who had not been in a school in years and was preaching nor was it someone who had already done the same presentation 25 times in the year and did not adapt it to the group present. These sessions were lead by questions from people within the room. I was looking at the board of potential topics with people putting sticky notes on them to show which ones were of interest.
As we were looking at the board of topics there were other conversations that started and new topics were posted. As new topics were posted some stickies migrated, others added their stickies to the new topics and 16 topics were chosen for the day. 4 sessions per time slot, 4 different time slots. There were conversations around assessment for learning, bringing English LA into the 21st century, Social Media 101, moving away from letter grades, engaging all partner groups, moving away from awards ceremonies, creating online communities as well as many other great subjects. We were there from 9 am to 4 pm, and then some of us went to a pub to continue the conversation afterwards, those who had the long commute home had their continuing conversations in the car, the #edcampvan hashtag continued to be used long after the day was over. It is now 10 pm and that hashtag is still showing up and being used! Talk about powerful pro-d!
I took in 4 amazing sessions, each one passed quickly, with conversations continuing long after the session was over. The discussion were so rich, provocative and reflective. The varying points of view from different districts, levels, stakeholders and experience was so enriching. I honestly feel that I would have happily attended each session for a day instead of just the 45 minutes sessions (which often continued well after the time elapsed unlike other sessions where people were packing up their bags before presentations were over). It just felt as though we were just warming up. To have that many people together is powerful pro-d. There was so much to listen to, so much to share, so much to think about and so much to bring back to schools. As I was driving home I started to wonder how we could make our pro-d days much more like this. Good solid conversations, professional dialogue and getting to the meat and potatoes. Let's get it all out on the table.
I would have loved to have school boards and Ministry of Education representatives there. They need to hear our thoughts without the bureaucratic red tape that can exist when meeting with govenment representatives. Open honest conversations without politics so that they can hear what it is that we are trying to do, hear what our barriers are, understand how it would be better for students and we could hear what their vision is without a podium and a rehearsed speech, what their concerns are, what their barriers are. If we can truly have all stakeholders represented then we can really begin to make magic happen.
There is much to bring home to our schools and a lot to think about how the day was shaped and how we can use this format. Is this the future of pro-d?
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Changing the Face of Reporting Through Assessment Practices
A little while ago I wrote about how a number of schools in my district were looking at changing our reporting practices, moving away from letter grades to standards based reporting. Based on the recommendations of @tomschimmer and @birklearns when it came to re-examining our assessment and reporting practices, I picked up two books by Ken O'Connor: How to Grade for Learning and A Repair Kit for Grading; 15 Fixes for Broken Grades. I have just started reading A Repair Kit and already in the first chapter there is a great list which would be a very good conversation starter for any staff. The discussions on these points alone could take a while.
15 fixes for Broken Grades
Grades are broken when they -
• include ingredients that distort achievement
• arise from low quality or poorly organized evidence
• are derived from inappropriate number crunching, and when they
• do not support the learning process
Fixes for ingredients that distort achievement
15 fixes for Broken Grades
Grades are broken when they -
• include ingredients that distort achievement
• arise from low quality or poorly organized evidence
• are derived from inappropriate number crunching, and when they
• do not support the learning process
1. Don’t include student behaviors (effort, participation, adherence to class rules, etc) in grades; include only achievement.
2. Don’t reduce marks on “work” submitted late; provide support for the learner.
3. Don’t give points for extra credit or use bonus points; seek only evidence that more work has resulted in a higher level of achievement.
4. Don’t punish academic dishonesty with reduced grades; apply other consequences and reassess to determine actual level of achievement.
5. Don’t consider attendance in grade determination; report absences separately.
6. Don’t include group scores in grades; use only individual achievement evidence
Fixes for low quality or poorly organized evidence
7. Don’t organize information in grading records by assessment methods or simply summarize into a single grade; organize and report evidence by standards/learning goals.
8. Don’t assign grades using inappropriate or unclear performance standards; provide clear descriptions of achievement expectations.
9. Don’t assign grades based on student’s achievement compared to other students; compare each student’s performance to preset standards.
10. Don’t rely on evidence from assessments that fail to meet standards of quality; rely only on quality assessments.
Fixes for inappropriate number crunching
11. Don’t rely only on the mean; consider other measures of central tendency and use professional judgment.
12. Don’t include zeros in grade determination when evidence is missing or as punishment; use alternatives, such as reassessing to determine real achievement or use “I” for Incomplete or Insufficient Evidence.
Fixes to support the learning process
13. Don’t use information from formative assessments and practice to determine grades; use only summative evidence.
14. Don’t summarize evidence accumulated over time when learning is developmental and will grow with time and repeated opportunities; in those instances, emphasize more recent achievement.
15. Don’t leave students out of the grading process. Involve students; they can - and should - play key roles in assessment and grading that promote achievement.
The first chapter resonated with many of the thoughts that I have had, namely around the punishment/rewards aspects around letter grades and what they represent. O'Connor writes that grades have served a variety of purposes including: to communicate student achievement to students, parents, school administrators, post-secondary institutions and employers as well as sorting and selecting, motivation and punishment. These purposes are in conflict with communicating their successes and ranking and sorting. The first chapter is a lot to chew on.
Which ones are the most important? which ones resonate the most with you?
Which ones are the most important? which ones resonate the most with you?
Saturday, February 12, 2011
My struggles with the FSAs
Earlier this week I was sitting in the computer lab watching the students complete the grade 4 numeracy portion of the FSA (Foundation Skills Assessment - British Columbia's standardized tests for grade 4 and 7). There were many thoughts going through my head during this time. I had looked at the rankings that the Fraser Institute published and saw that my school had jumped significantly in the standings. I knew that we would be moving up from where we were last year, our focus has been on writing for the past few years. We have enjoyed some rich professional development, had great discussions, found different ways to emphasize and promote writing in the school and continued to work with different writing programs. These have all lead to improvements. I do believe that the students have improved in writing because of these changes, but that does not tell the whole story.
Our results are directly impacted by the number of eligible students who write the different tests and the number of students who have been excused from writing it for a variety of reasons including parental request that their child not write the tests. If a number of very strong students are excused from writing the test, our results will drop, conversely if the number of students excused from writing are struggling learners our results will rise. If there is not a flu bug running through the school around that time then the results go up, if there are a few kids who families all go on vacation at that time our results could drop. There are so many external factors that impact the results of the test beyond the teaching that if they fall in your favour as they mostly did last year, the result is a rise in the rankings, if they do not, as was the case two years ago and this year, they will drop.
To give you some insight as to how it works I will include a brief description. We received the package a few weeks earlier and I decided to wait to start. Over the past few years the system has had problems where students will be kicked out of the electronic portion and have to log back in. For some students this would happen 3-4 times over the course of the time they were working on one portion of the test. This caused a lot of stress and caused some to panic and become very anxious, worried that they would have to start again. (I cannot even begin to imagine what would be going through a high school student's mind when writing a provincial test and this happens!). I hoped that by waiting there would be fewer students using it at the same time, thereby reducing the possibilities of crashes.
During the couple of weeks leading up to us starting I had some conversations with other schools, people on my soccer team and elsewhere discussing the FSAs. A couple of friends with students at schools outside of our district were telling me that the kids had been practicing the tests for a couple of weeks and were a bundle of nerves because they were told how important these tests are and that they had to do well to represent the school. One of my colleagues was telling me that she had 3 different parents come to her and ask whether or not their child should be writing the test because they were worried that their kids would not be successful because of their IEPs (individual education plans) and would therefore bring the school results down. She told the parents that it was their choice, but that they should not be excluding their children for that reason. Would all principals have said the same thing? At our school all students write the test unless we are concerned about the impact that this could have on the student, and we do not spend any time practicing.
I had a few parents come to me a little before we were going to start wondering why we had not started our tests when when some of the neighbouring schools had. I explained my rationale and they felt that it made sense. One then asked me if we all received the tests at the same time and I let her know that I believed that to be the case. The next questions caught me off guard as it was not something that had entered my mind. If you held onto the tests for a couple of weeks, is there anything stopping schools from practicing with the actual tests before starting? Could they all do a rough draft and then copy the good draft into the booklet? If they were not all doing the electronic portion at the same time, would it be possible for a class to begin the reading portion and then copy the stories, print them and be able to go over them with the other students to prepare them for the questions? When I answered that hypothetically speaking this was possible she was stunned. How was this standardized? In order for it to be standardized should all the kids in the province be doing the tests at the same time, or at the very least, all of the kids in the same school at the same time?
There are other factors that concern me as to how the data is used. Two years ago our school received additional staffing partly due to the fact that we had a larger number of students with learning challenges than we normally had. That year, when the students were writing the FSAs, the flu went through the school and some got sick, 1 missed a lot of time from school so I decided to not have that student finish the FSA. Result, not meeting expectations in all areas. 2 students went on vacation part way through the test, result, 2 students not meeting expectations. 2 students broke down in tears because they were frustrated so we took the tests away, result, 2 students not meeting expectations. I believe that 4 of those 5 students would have fully met expectations. I had two students who would not be writing the tests for a couple of reasons and I used their identifications to show the students to log on. Result- 2 more students not meeting expectations because I had logged them in and answered 1 question but did not click on submit thinking the results would not show, this was a boneheaded moment which I did not repeat. When you have a cohort group of about 50 kids and 7 are not meeting expectations for reasons other than the results of the test itself is one thing that a school can address and explain to its community, when an outside agency is ignorant of what happens in the schools and publishes results is another.
Four years ago we had the exact same number of identified gifted students as student with learning challenges two years ago. The school went from double digit number of students who were gifted to double digits with learning difficulties. The cohort was completely different and something outside the control of the school. The result was a huge drop in the number of students not meeting expectations. I go over the results with the parents, give them the numbers as well as some background information. I am able to explain why we have gone up or down. Our community is aware of our context, an outside agency examining and working with the data is not. When a school has their test data compromised because their electronic results have gone into an Internet abyss and suddenly 10 students results are automatically not meeting expectations and those results are published, the public perception of the school can be compromised.
From my vantage point, the FSAs can provide useful information for a staff to look at and plan our school goals. We can use it as a measuring stick to chart our progress, knowing our context. This is not shirking responsibility. I still stand in front of our parents and share the data and listen to concerns that they may have. My concern is that when a non-informed group that ignores or does not care about the contextual situations that can arise in schools, and publishes results that are challenged statistically it impacts the perception of the school. Why are schools punished because H1N1 hit their schools hard one year? Why are schools punished for not practicing for the tests for weeks and choosing to focus on the curriculum and using the FSAs as a snapshot as they were intended to? Why are schools punished because the cohorts each year can be significantly different from year to year and give a false increase or decrease in the students' perceived success? The number of students writing is also compromised, based on parent willingness to have their children write the tests. There are some schools where only 30% of the eligible kids are actually writing the test.
If everybody is not writing the test at the same time, in the same way, under the same conditions, with the same number of kids in a room writing it together, with the same preparation, with ALL students writing the test regardless of abilities, with one large group of independent markers marking all of the tests in the same way and removing the possibilities of possible manipulation of the testing situations, intentionally or accidentally, the test is no longer standardized even if all of the questions are the same. There are just too many outside factors possible to make this testing equitable. Let schools use the information for the way that it was intended and not let outside agencies compromise the validity of a non-standardized standardized test.
Our results are directly impacted by the number of eligible students who write the different tests and the number of students who have been excused from writing it for a variety of reasons including parental request that their child not write the tests. If a number of very strong students are excused from writing the test, our results will drop, conversely if the number of students excused from writing are struggling learners our results will rise. If there is not a flu bug running through the school around that time then the results go up, if there are a few kids who families all go on vacation at that time our results could drop. There are so many external factors that impact the results of the test beyond the teaching that if they fall in your favour as they mostly did last year, the result is a rise in the rankings, if they do not, as was the case two years ago and this year, they will drop.
To give you some insight as to how it works I will include a brief description. We received the package a few weeks earlier and I decided to wait to start. Over the past few years the system has had problems where students will be kicked out of the electronic portion and have to log back in. For some students this would happen 3-4 times over the course of the time they were working on one portion of the test. This caused a lot of stress and caused some to panic and become very anxious, worried that they would have to start again. (I cannot even begin to imagine what would be going through a high school student's mind when writing a provincial test and this happens!). I hoped that by waiting there would be fewer students using it at the same time, thereby reducing the possibilities of crashes.
During the couple of weeks leading up to us starting I had some conversations with other schools, people on my soccer team and elsewhere discussing the FSAs. A couple of friends with students at schools outside of our district were telling me that the kids had been practicing the tests for a couple of weeks and were a bundle of nerves because they were told how important these tests are and that they had to do well to represent the school. One of my colleagues was telling me that she had 3 different parents come to her and ask whether or not their child should be writing the test because they were worried that their kids would not be successful because of their IEPs (individual education plans) and would therefore bring the school results down. She told the parents that it was their choice, but that they should not be excluding their children for that reason. Would all principals have said the same thing? At our school all students write the test unless we are concerned about the impact that this could have on the student, and we do not spend any time practicing.
I had a few parents come to me a little before we were going to start wondering why we had not started our tests when when some of the neighbouring schools had. I explained my rationale and they felt that it made sense. One then asked me if we all received the tests at the same time and I let her know that I believed that to be the case. The next questions caught me off guard as it was not something that had entered my mind. If you held onto the tests for a couple of weeks, is there anything stopping schools from practicing with the actual tests before starting? Could they all do a rough draft and then copy the good draft into the booklet? If they were not all doing the electronic portion at the same time, would it be possible for a class to begin the reading portion and then copy the stories, print them and be able to go over them with the other students to prepare them for the questions? When I answered that hypothetically speaking this was possible she was stunned. How was this standardized? In order for it to be standardized should all the kids in the province be doing the tests at the same time, or at the very least, all of the kids in the same school at the same time?
There are other factors that concern me as to how the data is used. Two years ago our school received additional staffing partly due to the fact that we had a larger number of students with learning challenges than we normally had. That year, when the students were writing the FSAs, the flu went through the school and some got sick, 1 missed a lot of time from school so I decided to not have that student finish the FSA. Result, not meeting expectations in all areas. 2 students went on vacation part way through the test, result, 2 students not meeting expectations. 2 students broke down in tears because they were frustrated so we took the tests away, result, 2 students not meeting expectations. I believe that 4 of those 5 students would have fully met expectations. I had two students who would not be writing the tests for a couple of reasons and I used their identifications to show the students to log on. Result- 2 more students not meeting expectations because I had logged them in and answered 1 question but did not click on submit thinking the results would not show, this was a boneheaded moment which I did not repeat. When you have a cohort group of about 50 kids and 7 are not meeting expectations for reasons other than the results of the test itself is one thing that a school can address and explain to its community, when an outside agency is ignorant of what happens in the schools and publishes results is another.
Four years ago we had the exact same number of identified gifted students as student with learning challenges two years ago. The school went from double digit number of students who were gifted to double digits with learning difficulties. The cohort was completely different and something outside the control of the school. The result was a huge drop in the number of students not meeting expectations. I go over the results with the parents, give them the numbers as well as some background information. I am able to explain why we have gone up or down. Our community is aware of our context, an outside agency examining and working with the data is not. When a school has their test data compromised because their electronic results have gone into an Internet abyss and suddenly 10 students results are automatically not meeting expectations and those results are published, the public perception of the school can be compromised.
From my vantage point, the FSAs can provide useful information for a staff to look at and plan our school goals. We can use it as a measuring stick to chart our progress, knowing our context. This is not shirking responsibility. I still stand in front of our parents and share the data and listen to concerns that they may have. My concern is that when a non-informed group that ignores or does not care about the contextual situations that can arise in schools, and publishes results that are challenged statistically it impacts the perception of the school. Why are schools punished because H1N1 hit their schools hard one year? Why are schools punished for not practicing for the tests for weeks and choosing to focus on the curriculum and using the FSAs as a snapshot as they were intended to? Why are schools punished because the cohorts each year can be significantly different from year to year and give a false increase or decrease in the students' perceived success? The number of students writing is also compromised, based on parent willingness to have their children write the tests. There are some schools where only 30% of the eligible kids are actually writing the test.
If everybody is not writing the test at the same time, in the same way, under the same conditions, with the same number of kids in a room writing it together, with the same preparation, with ALL students writing the test regardless of abilities, with one large group of independent markers marking all of the tests in the same way and removing the possibilities of possible manipulation of the testing situations, intentionally or accidentally, the test is no longer standardized even if all of the questions are the same. There are just too many outside factors possible to make this testing equitable. Let schools use the information for the way that it was intended and not let outside agencies compromise the validity of a non-standardized standardized test.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Public Ed vs Real World
As the conversation around the elimination of awards and letter grades continues, there are many people who decry the changes because we are not preparing the students for the "Real World". Most of the comments were along the lines of "In the "Real World" there are winners and losers so why are we sheltering them from that "reality"?". The callers on the talk radio seem to feel that young adults think that because they put in the effort that their work should automatically be appreciated in the "Real World". Based on the arguments offered, apparently you don't get the praise and recognition from your employers unless you are the best of the best in the "Real World". The one sidedness of the comments was surprising, but it got me thinking.
Are there winners and losers in some aspects of life? Absolutely. There are people who are going to be offered jobs and those who get the thanks for applying letters. There are people who are going to get promoted and then those who will be fired. Top sales reps will get awards, top actors will get awards, top athletes will get awards.and so on. There are people who will see those people getting the awards and the cash bonuses and will push themselves. To deny this is foolish, but for how many more does this have little or no impact, or even worse, the complete opposite effect.
So what will happen in schools, if honour roll and awards ceremonies are removed? How will this impact the students? I feel that it would not have a significant impact nor be detrimental to the students' learning. Many secondary schools now do awards on separate nights, so often the general student population are not present to see the awards being handed out. There are many students who aren't motivated by the awards. If they are motivated about their learning intrinsically, they will put in the time regardless of whether or not their name goes on a plaque.
If it is crucial to celebrate the best of the best, why is a "B" average celebrated? Does this not water it down? How was a "B" average deemed the cut-off point? If we are to truly recognize the top students, let's eliminate all those who do not have straight "A"s in every course they take. No "B"s allowed. Period. Why is this not done? Because we want all students to be encouraged to give us their best. The top students will be rewarded with scholarships, university entrance letters and choices of post-secondary institutions. Those whose grades are not as high have a limited choice of post-secondary institutions. If the students are unsure as to what they want to do when they graduate and were only motivated by letter grades, what are they going to do once they graduate? What becomes their motivation? I doubt that their employer is going to return a document that they have worked on with a letter grade attached.
Another question to deliberate is how many of those students have tutors? How many of those students have parents who have the ability and the confidence to help them with homework? How many other students could achieve that level of academic achievement if their home circumstances were different? What if they did not have to go and pick up their younger siblings, feed them, help them with their homework and then go and work a part-time job to help the family put food on the table? For some students, a C+ represents an amazing achievement. For others, it is an incredible achievement that they even made it to school. I have seen students who in grade 6 are waking themselves up, making their own breakfast, walking for 30 minutes and getting to school on time while watching some of their peers getting dropped off in 500 series Mercedes Convertibles. I am blown away every time I see those kids in my class and in my school being an active participant and I am going to find every possible way to recognize that.
Whenever I am out with friends and we talk about our various work environments, recognition and praise seem to be a big part of the satisfaction of the job. Those who do not enjoy their work tend to comment on how they are working hard and not being recognized for it, their boss takes credit for their work, does not even know who they are or only talks to them when there is a problem. Those who enjoy their work usually comment on how much they appreciate the fact that their boss acknowledges their work and effort, that they take a personal interest in their lives and that they are approachable. Why would kids be any different? People, as a general rule, like to be acknowledged for what they are doing, adults and kids alike. The praise must be authentic and not contrived.
Self-assessment has also been questioned. Why do we let students assess themselves? Because it is a crucial life skill to have. Learning how to critically look at your own work and be able to identify areas that need improvement and strengths are essential in many jobs. Learning how to look at someone else's work and identify areas that need improvement and strengths are also essential in many jobs. This is not the teacher passing the buck, there is a lot of interaction, teaching, modeling and dialogue that has to be in place for this to be effective.
The last point that I wanted to address was late work, as that was another point that seemed to come up a lot. Yes, it is true that many teachers accept late work. Yes it is true that fewer teachers are penalizing students who hand in the work late by reducing the mark. Students receive 2 marks on a report card, one that is supposed to represent their knowledge and understanding of the material covered and another that represents the work habits. The letter grades are supposed to be a reflection of how well a student understands the material being covered, not a due date. When there are issues with work that is continuously late there are meetings scheduled, plans set up and regular updates given to try and change it around. We meet with parents to try and determine if there is a root cause for the work not being done. Are there issues that we are not aware of at home or at school? More often than not, penalizing a student for late work does not motivate them, in their eyes it often justifies why they don't bother. Many students who are struggling with their homework or assignment completion are kept in at lunch or after school. Sometimes it is arranged that they will be dropped off early on some days in order to get additional support. There are consequences given when the work is late, but it should not be reflected in the marks. The key is support and working with all partners to have them improve their work completion. If they have poor work habits then they receive an "N" for their work habit mark.
I guess it comes down to a philosophical perspective on the role and purpose of school. Are we to be a sorting system where we continuously rank kids and in one form or another and tell them what their place is in the school? Most people would agree that seating kids according to their marks is very damaging, I saw it firsthand when I went to school in France. Why do it on a grand stage? We are there for every student from the most gifted to the most challenged. Our goal is to find that inner spark, that inner passion that will move that child to give us everything he/she has. Our responsibility is by the time they leave the school system we have given them every opportunity to be the brightest, shining light they can be, that they have developed as deep an understanding of all of the curricular content as possible and are the best citizens possible. For every child this is going to be different.
The students are already ranked and sorted in every competition out there whether it be track or debating, writing contests or basketball, Verbathon or other academic challenges. Those that strive off of competition have many opportunities to do so at school and outside of school. We see it every lunch hour, but we also see students who are reading quietly, skipping with friends, taking care of the school garden or picking up litter to keep the school grounds clean. Knowledge, understanding, respect and support are a school's responsibility. If society determines that there is a need to rank and sort once they are outside the school system, then that is society's choice. When students leave school hopefully they are confident, independent young adults with the ability to think critically and are self-motivated. To me these are essential skills for the "Real World". If gold stars, A's and awards are the only things motivating them then we are in trouble.
Are there winners and losers in some aspects of life? Absolutely. There are people who are going to be offered jobs and those who get the thanks for applying letters. There are people who are going to get promoted and then those who will be fired. Top sales reps will get awards, top actors will get awards, top athletes will get awards.and so on. There are people who will see those people getting the awards and the cash bonuses and will push themselves. To deny this is foolish, but for how many more does this have little or no impact, or even worse, the complete opposite effect.
So what will happen in schools, if honour roll and awards ceremonies are removed? How will this impact the students? I feel that it would not have a significant impact nor be detrimental to the students' learning. Many secondary schools now do awards on separate nights, so often the general student population are not present to see the awards being handed out. There are many students who aren't motivated by the awards. If they are motivated about their learning intrinsically, they will put in the time regardless of whether or not their name goes on a plaque.
If it is crucial to celebrate the best of the best, why is a "B" average celebrated? Does this not water it down? How was a "B" average deemed the cut-off point? If we are to truly recognize the top students, let's eliminate all those who do not have straight "A"s in every course they take. No "B"s allowed. Period. Why is this not done? Because we want all students to be encouraged to give us their best. The top students will be rewarded with scholarships, university entrance letters and choices of post-secondary institutions. Those whose grades are not as high have a limited choice of post-secondary institutions. If the students are unsure as to what they want to do when they graduate and were only motivated by letter grades, what are they going to do once they graduate? What becomes their motivation? I doubt that their employer is going to return a document that they have worked on with a letter grade attached.
Another question to deliberate is how many of those students have tutors? How many of those students have parents who have the ability and the confidence to help them with homework? How many other students could achieve that level of academic achievement if their home circumstances were different? What if they did not have to go and pick up their younger siblings, feed them, help them with their homework and then go and work a part-time job to help the family put food on the table? For some students, a C+ represents an amazing achievement. For others, it is an incredible achievement that they even made it to school. I have seen students who in grade 6 are waking themselves up, making their own breakfast, walking for 30 minutes and getting to school on time while watching some of their peers getting dropped off in 500 series Mercedes Convertibles. I am blown away every time I see those kids in my class and in my school being an active participant and I am going to find every possible way to recognize that.
Whenever I am out with friends and we talk about our various work environments, recognition and praise seem to be a big part of the satisfaction of the job. Those who do not enjoy their work tend to comment on how they are working hard and not being recognized for it, their boss takes credit for their work, does not even know who they are or only talks to them when there is a problem. Those who enjoy their work usually comment on how much they appreciate the fact that their boss acknowledges their work and effort, that they take a personal interest in their lives and that they are approachable. Why would kids be any different? People, as a general rule, like to be acknowledged for what they are doing, adults and kids alike. The praise must be authentic and not contrived.
Self-assessment has also been questioned. Why do we let students assess themselves? Because it is a crucial life skill to have. Learning how to critically look at your own work and be able to identify areas that need improvement and strengths are essential in many jobs. Learning how to look at someone else's work and identify areas that need improvement and strengths are also essential in many jobs. This is not the teacher passing the buck, there is a lot of interaction, teaching, modeling and dialogue that has to be in place for this to be effective.
The last point that I wanted to address was late work, as that was another point that seemed to come up a lot. Yes, it is true that many teachers accept late work. Yes it is true that fewer teachers are penalizing students who hand in the work late by reducing the mark. Students receive 2 marks on a report card, one that is supposed to represent their knowledge and understanding of the material covered and another that represents the work habits. The letter grades are supposed to be a reflection of how well a student understands the material being covered, not a due date. When there are issues with work that is continuously late there are meetings scheduled, plans set up and regular updates given to try and change it around. We meet with parents to try and determine if there is a root cause for the work not being done. Are there issues that we are not aware of at home or at school? More often than not, penalizing a student for late work does not motivate them, in their eyes it often justifies why they don't bother. Many students who are struggling with their homework or assignment completion are kept in at lunch or after school. Sometimes it is arranged that they will be dropped off early on some days in order to get additional support. There are consequences given when the work is late, but it should not be reflected in the marks. The key is support and working with all partners to have them improve their work completion. If they have poor work habits then they receive an "N" for their work habit mark.
I guess it comes down to a philosophical perspective on the role and purpose of school. Are we to be a sorting system where we continuously rank kids and in one form or another and tell them what their place is in the school? Most people would agree that seating kids according to their marks is very damaging, I saw it firsthand when I went to school in France. Why do it on a grand stage? We are there for every student from the most gifted to the most challenged. Our goal is to find that inner spark, that inner passion that will move that child to give us everything he/she has. Our responsibility is by the time they leave the school system we have given them every opportunity to be the brightest, shining light they can be, that they have developed as deep an understanding of all of the curricular content as possible and are the best citizens possible. For every child this is going to be different.
The students are already ranked and sorted in every competition out there whether it be track or debating, writing contests or basketball, Verbathon or other academic challenges. Those that strive off of competition have many opportunities to do so at school and outside of school. We see it every lunch hour, but we also see students who are reading quietly, skipping with friends, taking care of the school garden or picking up litter to keep the school grounds clean. Knowledge, understanding, respect and support are a school's responsibility. If society determines that there is a need to rank and sort once they are outside the school system, then that is society's choice. When students leave school hopefully they are confident, independent young adults with the ability to think critically and are self-motivated. To me these are essential skills for the "Real World". If gold stars, A's and awards are the only things motivating them then we are in trouble.
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