The Final Mark

The culmination of learning activities in a unit of study or a course happens when the teacher gives his/her final judgment to his/her students. Since it may entail positive or negative repercussions or both, the final mark given by the educator needs to be fair, appropriate, and truly represents the level of understanding and skills exhibited by the learner throughout the curriculum. Dunn & others point out that educators cannot change his/her final judgment of students once it is submitted to the school officials. It is with this limitation of summative assessment that teachers must be careful in measuring the performance and skills of learners.

Reminiscing

During my elementary days way back in the middle of the 1960s, I did not care much about the grades given by my teachers. From Grade 1 to 3, there was no report card given after the so called grading periods. The final mark was given only towards the end of the school year when honor rolls were selected based on that single grade.  I was fortunate to be included in the top 5 of my class during those days.

I was awarded second honor when I finished Grade 1. I can still remember how honor pupils were selected back then. Five of us who were in the top of the class were given a 20-item test. In that examination, the first honor got 15 points while I managed to answer 14. We could have been “tie” if I did not misspell “dilaw” as “diliw”, as one of the colors of the Philippine flag. I could still remember one question which I did not get – the one who leads the city. The answer was the mayor. Nobody got that right because we never studied anything about our city officials. The bulk of the curriculum was to read and write in the national language and to learn addition and subtraction of three-digit number. Aside from the “Ang Abakada”, the only book we had was “Doon Po Sa Amin.” So it was unfair that our teacher gave that question about city officials. It was a case of poorly aligned assessment, as I know now.

 

I was in Section 1 during my Grade 2 and 3. At the end of the school term, I got the honor of third and fourth, respectively. Up to this day, I did not know how our teachers evaluated our performance and how they selected the honor rolls. I was a little bit upset because some of my classmates were ahead of me in the honor list when I knew I performed more than them in the examinations and recitations. They were only ahead of me in projects because they could buy more beautiful materials. Nonetheless, most of their projects were done by their parents.

The true performance evaluation came during Grade 4 until Grade 6. In those grade levels, favoritism was out of the picture. We were judged based on our performance on the learning goals of the teachers, school and district officials. It was then that I realized my true worth when I was chosen as first honor in those three consecutive levels of schooling. In those 3 years, formative assessments as the basis for summative evaluation were introduced. Report card was given to students and parents every quarter with teacher’s comment on the performance of the students. Before the cards were distributed to parents, our teacher conferred with each parent about the performance of their child.

 

I was a bit disappointed, though, during our elementary graduation because in that year no valedictorian was officially selected. The school officials, following the recommendation of higher officials from the Ministry of Education, changed how the students were assessed. Instead of numerical grades, letters were provided as grades – “O” for outstanding; “VS” for very satisfactory, “S” for satisfactory, “NI” for need improvement; and “F” for fail. Any student who got “O” in a subject from any section was given a certificate of recognition. Although I got  “Os” in all my subjects and received all the certificates, I was not officially recognized as the valedictorian. Another student from a different section also got the same number of “Os” as mine. Nonetheless, I was recognized as the top student during that time by my classmates.

Back to Reality

Now, as I plan to create an example of assessment of learning for a certain topic, I realized that it was not as easy as I thought it was. Although I did not have a clear idea about how my teachers from grade school to college judged my performance and skills, it was then very challenging for them if they practiced the best appraisal for their students.

In generating assessment of learning, the most challenging part was to formulate the reasons why my partner (Regina) and I were doing the assessment. Without this critical step, we could not advance to the next or other stages of planning. It was only when we articulated our reasons for evaluation that we were able to go ahead with the process. However, we were somewhat in a loss when we were ensuring the quality of our assessment. In this sequence, each of us gave our inputs on how to come out with quality assessment and consolidate them. We were confident that our collaboration was deemed satisfactory if not very satisfactory. (See our effort here....)

 

Based on my observations, our teachers in elementary and even in high schools were not really practicing in-depth assessment of their students. In high schools, only few of my teachers were really interested on our achievements as students.  Some of them did not care if we really understood the subject matters as long as the bright students got high scores during quizzes and periodical tests. I can still remember our English teacher during my senior year who was often absent in the entire school year. I could not even remember the subject matter he was teaching. He did not give back our periodical test papers. I did not even know how he gave me an 85 as the final grade.

More often than not, most teachers moved up to the next lesson even though many students were still could not understand the previous ones. The goal of teaching, then, was to finish the curriculum no matter what. Having said this, since I did not have any idea then of the nature and purposes of assessment, I did care less if my classmates understand our lessons or not. My focus then was only for my own learning. I had to study and to get good grades because I was on scholarship.

 

I think practicing teachers do their assessment tools, such as checklist, journal, observations, assignments, examinations, etc., based on the reasons why they are doing the assessment. However, I also observed that teachers often do assessment procedures as requirements for the fulfillment of their duties to the school officials and not for the education of the children. I said this because I have observed in our barangay’s elementary school that teachers asked their students to make home reading reports only as requirement and not to teach them how to summarize good stories or anecdotes. Mostly, the parents were doing the reports or they were done by somebody else for a fee. Children’s “work” were seldom checked and/or graded.

Because assessments consume most of the time of the teachers especially when they are teaching 50 to 80 students, it was also a practice to give the same assessment the year before or follow what the other teachers are doing. It is always the case that these proofs and evidences of performance of the students (and/or their parents) are often not given the right attentions that they deserve. They are just lying there in the classroom cabinets, teacher’s desk or teacher’s home.

Because of my experience, I can say that these practices of some of our teachers and school officials undermine the very purpose of assessment of learning. As in my elementary and high school days, students will not have any idea on how they got their grades, especially when assessment criteria were not mentioned and discussed in the first place (which is usually the case). If the learners did their works and were not graded, it can create negative signals to the concern. They might not perform or loss enthusiasm the next time around. And if parents did the job and their child got high marks, those who did their own work will get frustrated and might follow the trend in the next unit or school year. In the end, it is the students who shall suffer because they did not get the good education that they aspire. The teachers shall be affected too because they did not become instruments of learning but only tools for marking bewildered and disgruntled students and learners.

Images from

1) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Qm3-3uZ6NMtFwmN5yyPE0zBaJ23ti_kw5A5gfCNFA3jqM1OMKwdbcAdIe4EPD2t660Zz33GHSHRnF-q_G7_aRBPNJycsnC5mh85aMeH-ych_Ctmg0hT6u86JKRXqPYB_J9lYpncXqgU/s1600/Castellanos+Elementary+School+Openng+Oct+14-10+013.jpg

2) http://certificates.phillipmartin.info/school_cert_honor_roll_boy1.gif

3) http://media.salemwebnetwork.com/YWJ/CMS/ImageGallery/Resources/Lessons/2011/06/DisappointedGraduate_lg.250w.tn.jpg

4) http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5283/5380287379_ae5abdfb3b.jpg

5) http://pvcs.flbsd.mb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/GermanSchoolProjects_004.jpg

Reference

Morgan, Dunn, Parry, & O'Reilly. The Student Assessment Handbook: New Directions in Traditional and Online Assessment, Chapters 1-2. NY: RoutledgeFalmer

Assessment FOR, AS and OF LEARNING

Dr. Lorna Earl and Dr. Steven Katz in their book "Rethinking Classroom Assessment with Purpose in Mind" stress the different approach in planning Assessment for, as, and of Learning as the 3 main purposes of assessment. These differences are outlined in the table below:

Process	Assessment FOR Learning	Assessment AS Learning	Assessment OF Learning
Why Assess?	to enable teachers to determine next steps in advancing student learning	to guide and provide opportunities for each student to monitor and critically reflect on his or her learning, and identify next steps	to certify or inform parents or others of student’s proficiency in relation to curriculum learning outcomes
Assess What?	each student’s progress and learning needs in relation to the curricular outcomes	each student’s thinking about his or her learning, what strategies he or she uses to support or challenge that learning, and the mechanisms he or she uses to adjust and advance his or her learning	the extent to which students can apply the key concepts, knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to the curricular outcomes
What Methods?	a range of methods in different modes that make students’ skills and understanding visible	a range of methods in different modes that elicit students’ learning and metacognitive processes	a range of methods in different modes that assess both product and process
Ensuring Quality	• accuracy and consistency of observations and interpretations of student learning • clear, detailed learning expectations • accurate, detailed notes for descriptive feedback to each student	• accuracy and consistency of student’s self-reflection, self-monitoring, and self-adjustment • engagement of the student in considering and challenging his or her thinking • students record their own learning	• accuracy, consistency, and fairness of judgments based on high-quality information • clear, detailed learning expectations • fair and accurate summative reporting
Using the Information	• provide each student with accurate descriptive feedback to further his or her learning • differentiate instruction by continually checking where each student is in relation to the curricular outcomes • provide parents or guardians with descriptive feedback about student learning and ideas for support	• provide each student with accurate descriptive feedback that will help him or her develop independent learning habits • have each student focus on the task and his or her learning (not on getting the right answer) • provide each student with ideas for adjusting, rethinking, and articulating his or her learning • provide the conditions for the teacher and student to discuss alternatives • students report about their learning	• indicate each student’s level of learning • provide the foundation for discussions on placement or promotion • report fair, accurate, and detailed information that can be used to decide the next steps in a student’s learn

For the complete material, please click http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/assess/wncp/rethinking_assess_mb.pdf