Over on an open document educators have been recording their thoughts about the challenges of formative assessment in schools. It is a crucial part of learning and there have been some interesting reactions, so I thought I would draw out some comments and explore them more deeply. Here is the first:
Pupils themselves often find the transition to formative assessment extremely difficult: the urge to ask “What grade did I get though?” is so strong and deeply set in their minds!
This comment really struck me because of what it implies. When schools implement systems and policies for assessment we are intervening in the process of learning in some fashion. The comment above implies that we are also forming long lasting habits, which is perfectly understandable – if consistently applied we are shaping what learning is for many students.
What a shame it would be if students really do only think of what it will lead to, an outcome, a grade – and to lose sight of the process of learning, which formative assessment can contribute to.
If a student group finds anything about formative assessment difficult we have done them a dis-service. If they rely too heavily on the “grade”, the importance of their learning habits and sheer joy of learning have surely been left far behind.
Well said
Unfortunately xBox’s and the like are pretty regularly used by parents to ‘encourage’ good behaviour/grades at secondary school. I had one student who told me he would be bought a quad bike if he achieved a certain number of ‘merits’ during year 7 (needless to say he never received another from me!), others who are rewarded/paid at the end of the year based on the number of ‘good’s in their report or GCSE grades, and one whose mother actually brought his xBox into school for the head of year to hold until his behaviour improved (again year 7).
I’m a trainee teacher, but I’ve had a long break from formal education. A few years back I got bored with my job and started a part time psych degree for amusement. I requested an exemption from a stats course on the basis of prior learning but was denied. The rationale? Without having done stats this lecturer’s way, I would be disadvantaged compared to other students in the subsequent course. I was absolutely stunned. I was learning for myself, and didn’t give two hoots what I got compared to anyone else. And now I’m studying full time and am fighting being drawn right back into the grade vortex – most assessment comes back with a grade and maybe one or two sentences of feedback only.
Grades can be a hard habit to break, but given how much more I enjoyed my short stint of learning for my own edification than previous or current study, it’s something I’ll be selling to my students. I’m just as likely to compare my gaming scores with my friends as the next punter, but I think good, meaningful feedback can be just as addictive a drug. I certainly know I miss it when it’s not there.
It seems true to say that most primary age children’s first experience of exam pressure comes from KS2 SATs. Sadly for some it is even younger. Would be interesting to see how you might judge your year 7s when they start. Do you think that this focus on grades gets more intense as they get older?
It will be great to hear how this goes and what sort of conversations spring up between you and your students, thanks for engaging with these ideas.
Agreed. I think you’ve captured in a just a couple of sentences what I took four paragraphs to say below. Effective AfL/formative assessment is about process not outcome.
Well said Oliver. I think that too often, particularly at secondary level rewards are given to students for things that they are expected to do. I try to stick to verbal/written praise, reserving rewards for one offs/moments where a student exhibits the sort of engagement/effort that is out of the ordinary.
I do give numerical scores / grades to work but only in final drafts of Controlled Assessment/Coursework. As students work towards completing a piece of work I offer verbal/written feedback (even more now, having completed two MA modules that have been AfL related). The problem is (as has been noted by Tom and others) is that we are working within a system (and culture) that is number driven. Until that changes, I think it will be hard for teachers to get away from assessment of learning all together… if that’s desirable? However, I don’t believe that excuses of time and an over-crammed curriculum are valid. There is plenty of opportunity where students work can be formatively assessed. You simply have to choose to do it.
In schools where formative assessment (is viewed as) remains ‘at a premium’ I believe that the answer is training… until you fully understand the pedagogical approaches/benefits I think that it remains an add on, something additional. The biggest learning for educators with AfL comes when they grasp that AfL is about a lot more than feedback… it’s about connecting many (usually already existent) good practices.
– Sharing learning intentions effectively so students know what and why they are learning something
– Making it clear to them how they will get there (or even better, letting them decide)
– Giving effective, meaningful feedback on how they are progressing
– Teaching them how to effectively support each other in their learning through peer-assessment
– And finally, helping them to become effective self-assessors of their own learning.
The above is a paraphrasing of Dylan Wiliam’s key strategies for effective AfL and while I don’t believe it is definitive… there are other important skills and also questions to be asked, I believe that it’s a good place to start. If implemented in the right way, it can create an approach to learning in your classroom where learning is its own reward.
Very interesting. I will start using qualitative assessment instead of grades with my university students this term (of course, we need a grade at the end of the semester, but no “numbers” till then). I want them to think about what they do, to fix and improve their work and they knowledge. They will probably start asking “What grade did I get though?” very soon. I’ll let you know how it goes…
I find that by year 8 students find it almost impossible to look beyond the grade for something. I’m unusual in only providing formative feedback for pretty much all work at KS3 (there’s one compulsory and fairly unhelpful test in year 7 that has number marks), but the students still regularly ask me “what level am I?”. More worrying though is that already in year 8 I have students telling me that there’s no point in working at my subject (geography) because they’re going to drop it for GCSE anyway. And after all, if they’ve got SatNav when they’re older and don’t care about the rest of the world anyway then what’s the point…
Thankfully those views are extreme and the other students in the class do a much better job of letting them know how ridiculous such an attitude is much more effectively than I probably could, but it is really worrying. I’ll have to pay more attention at the start of year 7 to see if the desire to know grades is something they arrive with or learn once they’re with us…
I find that by year 8 students find it almost impossible to look beyond the grade for something. I’m unusual in only providing formative feedback for pretty much all work at KS3 (there’s one compulsory and fairly unhelpful test in year 7 that has number marks), but the students still regularly ask me “what level am I?”. More worrying though is that already in year 8 I have students telling me that there’s no point in working at my subject (geography) because they’re going to drop it for GCSE anyway. And after all, if they’ve got SatNav when they’re older and don’t care about the rest of the world anyway then what’s the point…
Thankfully those views are extreme and the other students in the class do a much better job of letting them know how ridiculous such an attitude is much more effectively than I probably could, but it is really worrying. I’ll have to pay more attention at the start of year 7 to see if the desire to know grades is something they arrive with or learn once they’re with us…
I haven’t read it, Doug, and tried to access the link but it doesn’t work. Thanks for the tip (I will google it)!
I think our society is slowly but definitely moving away from the competition model towards collaboration.
In John Hagel’s words, we shift from a patriarchal framework (pyramid of power and consequent competitive structures) towards the “feminine” model – where collaboration and communication are critical in developing networks (social, professional etc). Even in the business industry this seems to emerge.
In what regards competition – I do not agree. Do you think a student who learned by collaborating is less knowledgeable or less skilled as opposed to one whose learning environment was based on competition? I doubt that. Example: my students still get the best results in school on their international language exams (YLE CAmbridge) and that happens year after year (as second-language learners, we have to take these exams). When some had to relocate to other countries they received an overwhelmingly positive feedback on their knowledge and skills.
These examples are not mentioned to “brag” about my students – they are just proof that the system works. And that collaboration does not diminish the power of leaning and the students will be equipped to “face the world”.
@surreallyno
Would you say that our desire for a concise “grade” or distilled version of what is taking place, is an indication of a sound-bite culture? The deeper understanding for how a child is progressing comes about through a much longer process. An ongoing developing, deepening conversation. Will our culture ever have time for that?
I have heard many criticisms of the “youth today” and their lack of attention span, maybe this overly focused gaze on summative assessment implies another generation’s own short attention span.
Absolutely! I’d recommend Postman & Weingartner’s ‘Teaching As a Subversive Activity’ if you haven’t already (http://t.co/5h4HuOF). It’s great on some of the stuff you mention here – focusing on the bigger picture of what educators are actually doing when creating learning experiences. 🙂
You sum it up well Cristina – thanks for the comment. I agree that teachers have a key role to play in how this is framed and approached in school – would you agree that it is mostly about the language we use to describe learning and assessment?
On another point do you think that competition in general has a negative effect on our understanding of learning? Do you think that learning and competition should be invariably kept separate? Is competition just not part of life…
The importance of an outcome, in this case a grade, is so ingrained in our culture it is difficult for even the most progressive educators to overcome. Ask any primary/elementary school that has moved to reporting to parents the level of mastery rather than a grade. The outcry is deafening! The answer is found in a proper balance between assigning grades to give students goals to work for, especially as they progress in grade level, with regular and valid formative data that gives them and their parents a true picture of their learning.
Educators themselves must model a love for learning and the sense that the real goal in any classroom is not the grade, but the wonder of what we have learned. That means being enthusiastic about learning, providing project-based and exploratory activities, and cultivating a culture of higher-order thinking. Let’s be honest, though. That sort of teaching takes work. It’s much easier to provide seatwork, monitor behavior, and assign letter grades. We must be committed to the teaching activities that produce the greatest amount of learning.
Thanks for your comment Annabelle and for outlining your project. I do not think this is an example of formative assessment in it’s clearest sense. Saying “I have 50 words” is summative. Saying “I have 1 word” is still summative.
Where it would be assessment for learning or formative, would be if in the mastery of applying a particular word in conversation the pupil was provided with support and guidance (or could access this themselves) as a result of their early attempts. Or helping them to use spelling strategies whilst practicing the words.
It is much more about the process that children go through, in this case to learn each word – as opposed to an outcome, score out of 400 or grade.
Thanks for your comment Annabelle and for outlining your project. I do not think this is an example of formative assessment in it’s clearest sense. Saying “I have 50 words” is summative. Saying “I have 1 word” is still summative.
Where it would be assessment for learning or formative, would be if in the mastery of applying a particular word in conversation the pupil was provided with support and guidance (or could access this themselves) as a result of their early attempts. Or helping them to use spelling strategies whilst practicing the words.
It is much more about the process that children go through, in this case to learn each word – as opposed to an outcome, score out of 400 or grade.
In as much as grading is still used in schools (a formal coercion for me, as a teacher) I still think it also depends on how TEACHERS themselves model this attitude toward grading. Blaming the abstract omnipotent system is just part of the critique – because the system IS made of people. Of teachers.
I use formative assessment 90% of the time and my students are not grade-driven at all (and they are 2nd graders- when you would assume that external motivation prevails). We even had mini lessons on what grades are and what learning is for us, and they understood – by discussing and sharing opinions – that they are not equivalent, let alone that grades “drive” the learning. (one kid even told others, “Do you think Einstein studied for grades? No way!”)
I don’t use “incentives” either – happy faces, charts, scores or whatever other silly methods can be employed in this behavior-based attempt to teach, nor do I encourage competition through games. Because even in the most “fun” games there are “winners” and “losers”, and slowly the focus is shifted from the learning itself to the invisible “trophy” that awaits them (that is, the pride of having won).
As a conclusion: even if we still deal with grades, teachers can undermine their power and create a learning environment where learning is the focus and not the grade. Be a subversive teacher in this regard.
@surreallyno on Twitter
In as much as grading is still used in schools (a formal coercion for me, as a teacher) I still think it also depends on how TEACHERS themselves model this attitude toward grading. Blaming the abstract omnipotent system is just part of the critique – because the system IS made of people. Of teachers.
I use formative assessment 90% of the time and my students are not grade-driven at all (and they are 2nd graders- when you would assume that external motivation prevails). We even had mini lessons on what grades are and what learning is for us, and they understood – by discussing and sharing opinions – that they are not equivalent, let alone that grades “drive” the learning. (one kid even told others, “Do you think Einstein studied for grades? No way!”)
I don’t use “incentives” either – happy faces, charts, scores or whatever other silly methods can be employed in this behavior-based attempt to teach, nor do I encourage competition through games. Because even in the most “fun” games there are “winners” and “losers”, and slowly the focus is shifted from the learning itself to the invisible “trophy” that awaits them (that is, the pride of having won).
As a conclusion: even if we still deal with grades, teachers can undermine their power and create a learning environment where learning is the focus and not the grade. Be a subversive teacher in this regard.
@surreallyno on Twitter
Personally, I have a huge problem with short term rewards for behaviour like this for several reasons. In a basic sense, if children are trained to ‘behave’ for the external reward of things like stickers- what happens when their expectations for tangible rewards inevitably inflate as they get older. Do we end up having to bribe teenagers with X Boxes just to encourage them to exhibit appropriate behaviour in school?
This is obviously totally unsustainable. I believe that by training children to only respond to extrinsic rewards rather than working on developing intrinsic motivations, primary teachers are making a rod for the backs of secondary teachers, and selling the children short.
The reality is obviously more complicated than this, and sometimes tangible rewards can be utilised well and in a meaningful way. Also sometimes in the context of a classroom teacher you need some leverage with children who have already been trained in this way by the system. However, I think it is worth bearing in mind always whether we are rewarding children or just bribing them.That is just behaviour, let alone the potential implications for motivation and dispositions to learning that happen if children are trained to only value tangible and quantifiable outcomes like rewards and grades. Dylan William’s work has shown the impact that losing rewards and grades can have for intrinsic motivation, and focusing attention on learning rather than just the outcomes. However, it is a big shift, and takes time and perseverance for teachers and students to make that shift. We do have the research to show how beneficial it is, so well worth making that effort I think!
Personally, I have a huge problem with short term rewards for behaviour like this for several reasons. In a basic sense, if children are trained to ‘behave’ for the external reward of things like stickers- what happens when their expectations for tangible rewards inevitably inflate as they get older. Do we end up having to bribe teenagers with X Boxes just to encourage them to exhibit appropriate behaviour in school?
This is obviously totally unsustainable. I believe that by training children to only respond to extrinsic rewards rather than working on developing intrinsic motivations, primary teachers are making a rod for the backs of secondary teachers, and selling the children short.
The reality is obviously more complicated than this, and sometimes tangible rewards can be utilised well and in a meaningful way. Also sometimes in the context of a classroom teacher you need some leverage with children who have already been trained in this way by the system. However, I think it is worth bearing in mind always whether we are rewarding children or just bribing them.That is just behaviour, let alone the potential implications for motivation and dispositions to learning that happen if children are trained to only value tangible and quantifiable outcomes like rewards and grades. Dylan William’s work has shown the impact that losing rewards and grades can have for intrinsic motivation, and focusing attention on learning rather than just the outcomes. However, it is a big shift, and takes time and perseverance for teachers and students to make that shift. We do have the research to show how beneficial it is, so well worth making that effort I think!
People like the feeling of success. To be successful, it helps to have a goal. Giving kids the goal up front–as concretely as possible–sort of “gamifies” the process of learning. The atmosphere of a game makes an outcome of success seem possible. I’m putting this into practice with vocabulary development. Research suggests that college-ready 12th graders have learned about 400 words a year since 2nd grade: 400 academic words. So, I’ve created a system that teaches 400 academic words through short movies and instructional quizzes. Kids like checking their scores and measuring themselves against their friends. “How many words have you got?” “I’ve got 60 words already!” This is what I expect our players to say to each other. The teacher can simply see the number of words each child has and which areas of the curriculum they cover. The suggested plan is to read 2 passages a month (from a multi-cultural, cross-curricular selection of passages) and play with 40 new words a month for 10 months. This is student-centered and student-driven. The movies and quizzes might be used on a SmartBoard as a whole-class activity, or not. Students have to do the learning themselves and own their performances. Students, parents, and teachers have access to the data generated. Does this fit the profile of formative assessment?
Great – thanks Tom (and for the subsequent links you tagged #purposedassess!)
Would you say then there is no place for short term rewards for behaviour? Do these just erode by proxy the more deeper understanding of how learning is meaningful?
I have reposted on G+ and tagged on Twitter too – thanks for the link.
We might consider that as the age of the child increases the focus on grades etc becomes more fervent? Do you think this is true?
Interesting to see that perhaps how children perceive achievement is influenced by everything in life that references is. Even when we shop we get “reward points”. Maybe it is no wonder it is hard for them to distinguish learning from it all.
I was working with University undergraduates recently, a number were obsessed with the question”But what do I need to know to get a first/2:1?” We kept telling them that if they were asking that they were unlikely to get a first, they needed to be engaged and curious about the work – not a popular answer! One also told me, when I was encouraging them to reflect in groups on what they felt worked and what didn’t about a piece they had done, “it is your job to tell me what is right here, how can I know.” The change in understanding of learning vs grades is deeply embedded now. I see many primary schools struggling against the pressures to teach for SATs but far fewer secondaries who feel they can risk taking the focus off teaching to exams, despite knowing that a wider commitment to learning has the potential to achieve the same if not better attainment. It is a complex issue, I’m valuing this discussion of formative assessment – thanks
I agree with the comments on formative assessment and wonder if the need for a ‘grade’ comes from outside influences as well as school. My class discuss their latest CoD games by comparing points and levels, children compare their number of friends on facebook.
I wonder if not ‘needing’ a grade is a larger mindset than education itself, is it linked also to self-esteem?
Either way, we need to do what we can in school to overcome this ‘grade mindset’.
Good stuff, Tom – could you add this post to http://bit.ly/purposedassess? 🙂
There’s a few studies saying how mixing formative and summative assessment means that learners ignore the former and only pay attention to the latter. I bemoaned our society’s undue attention on summative testing in a recent post: http://dougbelshaw.com/blog/2011/07/23/what-would-a-post-test-era-look-like-for-our-schools/
It makes such a difference to how they see the learning they are doing in school. Unfortunalty points scoring and rewards are in the short term ‘easy’ ways for teachers to motivate pupils to do what the are told. Look at the number of ‘team points’ and ‘star charts’ that exist in primary schools. This may get the to behave in the required way, but it teaches pupils that only things that are worth doing are things tha get them a number score.
I wonder how many teachers try to use some aspects of formative assessment whilst still running quantitive and competitive behaviour management systems. When the environment is set up in this way is it an surprise they as the question about grades?
Invariably it is about the language we use to frame what happens in school – I know from experience that this can and does have a direct impact on how children define or appreciate learning. We also have to struggle with agendas that are thrust upon us by government and higher authorities. There is a real tension.
Unfortunately, students have been taught how to “do school”. Some of the most meaningful experiences have occurred when I told students I was not going to grade what we were doing. It is absolutely amazing what our students can do when they are on fire about learning not about the grade. @eolsonteacher:twitter