Okay, so this post might get me in trouble, but it's something I've been thinking a lot about, particularly as I get ready to begin completing my Math Specialist in the next few weeks, and as I consider re-vamping my program before I head back to class after my maternity leave.
I think a great deal about assessment--particularly in mathematics. One of the things I struggled with the most when I moved from the high school panel to the elementary panel was a change in the way assessment and evaluation was done. I no longer had my "Mark Book" program to use, complete with weights and percentages. And worse...everyone I spoke to had a different approach. Some people calculated percentages. Some people recorded levels. Some people did both. Some people marked every single piece of homework. (Something, I admit freely, that I think is fundamentally wrong). There was no consensus. Things have changed since then as new documentation and guidelines have come out. That being said, I know that the way I determine my grades is different than my colleagues. I spend a great deal of time contemplating this.
One day, my principal asked me a seemingly loaded question. He asked me if I thought I student could get 100% as an overall grade in a course. I thought for a moment, wondering what was behind his question and then I answered honestly. I said, "No."
"What about in Math? Can a student get 100% in math?"
"No. I don't think so." I went on to discuss how I thought that 100% indicated that a student had nowhere to grow, nowhere to improve. And that there was a lot more to math than calculations. He agreed with me, and then stated, "Then do you think it is fair that we hold our students to a standard that they can't achieve?" An interesting thought--one which I will come back to later.
One of the things I say to my students is this. "Just because you got all the answers correct, doesn't mean that you are a Level 4 student." Getting all the answers correct on a quiz where each of the questions are about the basic curriculum standards means that you have met the standard--75%. We seem to understand this concept more so in Language class than Math class. If my student writes a 'perfect' reader's response that meets all of the "Level 3" criteria, I don't give that student 100%. I give them 75%. If I give my students a quiz to determine how well they understand the basic concepts and they get each question correct, that doesn't mean that they should get 100% (and it doesn't even mean that I should record that 'grade' in my mark book). This is one of the reasons why every 'test' or assessement/evaluation tool I use in my math class has a rubric attached. There is so much more to demonstrating what you know that just getting the correct answer. THIS is one of the main reasons why I insist on effective problem solving and written communication in my class. It's one of the reasons why I insist that my students can explain why they have done what they did, or why I did the question the way I did.
There are so many layers to consider when it comes to assessment. I wish we spent more time talking about assessment and evaluation in practical terms. Do we hold our students to an unfair standard that they can't achieve? Why do students seem to be able to get 100% in math, but not in Literacy? Should they? Is there a fundamental difference to the curriculum in these subjects? More for another day.
