Games Without Frontiers

As usual, Starr Sackstein is ahead of the curve with her succinct and pertinent article on the value of student self-assessment. Bruce (2001) offers teachers similar advice and a framework for incorporating student self-assessment into the practice of teaching and leaning. Research also seems to support Sacktein’s passionate and thoughtful argument for including student self-assessment into our classroom practice. The meta analysis conducted by Kincel, Crede, and Thomas (2005) find that amongst certain subjects, academic levels, and student demographics, student self-reported grades do not vary significantly from actual  performance-based grades. Interestingly, self-reported grades in my own discipline, social sciences, have a higher degree of correspondence in this study than in other subject areas. Chang, Liang, and Chen (2013) find a high level of consistency between student-assessment and teacher-based assessment of web-based portfolios amongst high school students, lending support to the notion that student-self assessment is an accurate way to gauge student achievement. In addition, the practice of self-assessment itself may have tangible manifest to students. McDonald (2012) concludes that students trained in self-assessmnet practices score better on external assessments than their untrained colleagues across a range of subjects. Nielsen (2014) contends that student self-assessment offers a valid way to enhance student achievement in writing in middle and high school aged students. In short, there is research evidence to suggest that teaching students to reflect on their learning, empowering them to assess their own work is not only a reliable indicator of achievement but also a vehicle to enhance student learning and accomplishments.

Today, I’m facilitating my regular Midterm Check In with my students. This survey, conducted at the 6 week mark of each trimester has evolved over the past few years, is based on the notion that students should and do have agency in how they are assessed. I facilitate this survey in parallel with my own midterm comments (100-200 words) on each of the students. Both student and their parents receive copies of my own and the student assessment of their work at Parent-Teacher Conferences; scheduled for a week from Thursday. This year’s form consists of three parts. The first component of the survey is a Start-Stop-Continue. In this section, I ask my students to reflect on their behaviors and approaches to the course.

The second section is a more substantive review of our course’s standards and benchmarks. In each section, I ask students to consider the ways in which they can evaluate their learning in light of the prescribed assessment objectives for the course. For those of us who teach International Baccalaureate courses (and I assume the same would hold true for those folks teaching Common Core or Advanced Placement) this section of the survey is a great way for students to further internalize the different learning targets for the course. For students, this reflection is not about the content per se. Rather it serves as both an opportunity for reflection as well as a way for both the student and myself to consider the ways in which they use evidence to support their claims.

Finally, and channeling portions of Barnes (2012) ROLE Reversal, I ask the students to select a grade for me to enter into the grade book. I also ask students one of my favorite questions, what makes you say that? In essence, I am asking students to make a holistic evaluation of their experience so far in this course. I’m happy to say that I almost never find that a student’s holistic self-assessment deviates too far from my own. When this happens, I simply schedule some time to meet with the student-and if necessary the parent-in order to further explore our perspectives. Without giving away too much of the data so far, only 14% of the student responses to the survey so far have given themselves the highest grades. In all of the cases (22) that I’ve read so far, students have honest, insightful, and detailed in their reflection of their learning. I know this is all anecdotal evidence at this point, but this year’s trends tend to line up with my previous years’ data in that there is both tremendous accuracy in and value with giving students the agency to assess their own learning in my classroom.

I’ll post some a brief qualitative analysis of these results when I return from the Netherlands next week. (The Netherlands, you ask?) I’ll be spending 4 days in The Hague working with my colleagues  from the International Baccalaureate as well as my curriculum and workshop partner as we train the next round of pilot teachers for Global Politics. You can read more about Global Politics on pg. 4 of the latest IB World Magazine

Hattie and Timperly (2007) propose a model for understanding the critical importance of feedback at various levels in the learning process. Brookhart (2008) provides a holistic review of the power and influence that different types of feedback can have towards fostering student achievement. While there are many approaches to and systems of deploying feedback in classroom settings, I tend to rely on two when I assess a student’s written work. Recently, I’ve been experimenting with the think-puzzle-explore Visible Thinking routine in commenting on my second year students’ reflections in our study of violence against women and girls. However, the core of my feedback toolkit lies in Mark Barnes’ SE2R framework. Summarizing, explaining, and redirecting student learning, as well as soliciting them to resubmit their work, has become an essential part of my classroom practice. Providing students with narrative feedback has replaced percentage and letter based grades in my classroom; replacing the outdated an inaccurate scheme of grading with a more student centric and authentic system of assessment. Both systems not only frame my commentary on student learning in an accessible and comprehensive fashion, they also allow opportunities for action research on several fronts.

I’m genuinely interested in the ways in which students perceive the value of the pedagogical practices I employ in our classroom. Student-centerered, progressive learning is incomplete if student agency is not included in classroom practice. von Mizener and Williams (2009) meta analysis finds that student choice generally enhances student academic performance. For me, student choice is more than choice about assignment. Choice involves the opportunity for students to express their interests and values about learning writ large. In the same way that educators would bristle at being told “what’s best for us” in terms of our yearly goals and performance objectives by administrators, or to receive specific mandates as to curriculum and pedagogical practice, so too do learners in our charge have the right and obligation to participate in the way that they learn with us in our classrooms.

My interest in student perception of feedback is not only reflective of my pedagogical philosophy. Indeed, if I am to improve as an educator, I need feedback from the very population I am working with day in and day out to ensure that my approach is beneficial to them. Just as our students benefit greatly from our professional feedback, so too do I benefit from the thoughtful considerations that students make about the way I am assessing their learning. If I am unclear in my evaluation of their work, if I am not understanding the essence of their arguments and ideas, I am not only falling short in my professional practice, I am also creating obstacles to student learning in our classroom. Authentic leadership in any social setting-in politics, schools, business, home, and elsewhere-is built on the capacity to receive, reflect upon, and execute in light of feedback from those who they lead. Failing to do so, in my mind, is a failure of leadership and an acquiescence to authoritarianism; something that has no place in progressive education.

Every 6 weeks, I survey my students on their perceptions of the feedback that I give them. Over the past two weeks, I’ve opened up my Reflection on Feedback survey to all 74 of my students. While all did not reply to this survey, I did have a 74% (N=54) response rate. This survey is centered on three broad lines of inquiry. First, I’m interested in how student perceive the quality of the feedback I give them. My assumption is that the feedback I’m providing is perceived as neither “good” (agree, strongly agree) nor “bad” (disagree, strongly disagree) by the students. Secondly, I’m interested in how students perceive my use of feedback instead of grades to assess their work. Again, my assumption is students see the practice of feedback over grades as neither “good” (agree, strongly agree) or “bad” (disagree, strongly disagree). Finally, I’m interested in reading student perceptions of how they felt and thought about the feedback I provided the, as well as their ideas about how they can improve their learning on subsequent assignments in light of my commentary on their work. The findings from each survey question are published below.

QUALITY OF FEEDBACK

The feedback I received summarized my written work

The feedback I received explained what I had written

I received feedback that offered me ways to improve my work

I received useful feedback on my most recent assignment

FEEDBACK AND GRADES

I prefer receiving feedback over grades on my work

Feedback provides me with more information about my work than a letter or percentage grade

STUDENT COMMENTARY

What do I feel about the feedback I’ve received?

What do I think about the feedback I’ve received?

Based on the feedback I’ve received so far, what actions could I take to improve my work for another assignment?

So what? What can this data tell me about my use of feedback on student work, as well as how the students see the value of feedback over grades in our assessment practice? First, the quantitative and qualitative data from this survey indicates that students value the approach I’m taking to give them feedback; in this case, Barnes’ SE2R model. Secondly, students clearly see feedback as a more meaningful way of having their work and ideas assessed over that of grades. These results certainly give me cause to pursue this line of inquiry as a research project for this school year and beyond.

Additionally, this survey data allows me to dig deep into individual students’ perceptions of learning in our classes. Rather than focusing on the student responses that see feedback as valuable, I’m equally, if not more interested, in those students who indicated that I did not summarize, explain, or redirect their work. The questions I should be asking then is, did I not give these students the same treatment as I did other students? What was it about the feedback that I gave that they did not understand? How can I better improve my practice so that the feedback and assessment I give reaches all learners in my classroom? It is this sort of reflection-this humility, as I often encounter educators who fail to critically appraise their own approach to teaching and student achievement-that is a core component of our professional practice.

As the data presented here is an exploratory in nature, I’m more than happy to share data and discuss particulars of this research program. Conference workshops and papers, as well as articles and books all seem possible from this line of inquiry. Of course, your feedback on my overall approach and ideas is always welcome.