Classroom
Assessment that Supports Learning: Professional Development Considerations
by Anne Davies, Margaret Arbuckle, Doris Bonneau
Effective
professional development involves teachers both as learners and as teachers and
allows them to struggle with the uncertainties that accompany each role….
Professional development of this kind… creates new images of what, when, and
how teachers learn, and these new images require a corresponding shift from
policies that seek to control or direct the work of teachers to strategies
intended to develop schools’ and teachers’ capacity to be responsible for
student learning. Capacity-building
policies view knowledge as constructed by and with practitioners for use in
their own contexts, rather than as something conveyed by policy makers as a
single solution for top-down implementation.
Darling-Hammond
& Milbrey McLaughlin, 1995
*******************
Because
classroom assessment is so integrally linked to instruction, curriculum and
student motivation it has the power to transform both learning and teaching.
The increased attention being paid to standards and their assessment has
created a new opportunity to support learning and improve classroom
practices. This opportunity will be
realized, however, only with professional development designed to engage
educators in rethinking old practices and learning new assessment practices
that inspire student learning. We know
the one-size fits all professional development doesn't work. To result in new
learning and changes in classroom practices, a long-term differentiated,
flexible approach to professional development, is essential for all members of
the school community. Significant
change occurs over time as people have experiences with different aspects of
classroom assessment, as they learn formally and informally about what is
similar and what is different from former practices, and as systems themselves
change to reflect a new understanding of “what counts.”
Learning
is by nature complex. The kind of learning opportunities that individuals need
depends on their unique understandings of classroom assessment that supports
learning. Prior to designing any learning opportunities, educators need to
revisit, reconsider, and reflect upon learners and learning, classroom assessment,
leadership, and the creation of a climate in which learning is possible and
optimum.
Reconsidering Learning
There
are two key ideas that have changed the way we think about how people learn.
The first is that learning is more than passive intake for later regurgitation.
Learners need to be actively involved in constructing their learning. Secondly,
rather than individuals being born with a single, unchangeable intelligence,
intelligence is now known to be multifaceted and to change with experience (Caine
and Caine, 1990; Bruner, 19??; Gardner, 1983; Jensen, 1998; Langer, 1996;
Shepard, 2000).
Adult
learners are not different from young children in their acquisition of new
concepts. As people involved in designing adult learning opportunities, we undermine
our work when we begin to think that efficiencies can be gained by doing the
same thing, at the same time, in the same way. For example, when we ignore the
individual needs of learners as we design learning opportunities, we risk
deluding ourselves. Learning cannot be mandated; learning needs to be
supported. Practice and research support the following beliefs about learning
and learners that underlie our work: all people can learn, people learn in
different ways and at different times, learning is both an individual and a
social process, and assessment is a ongoing, continuous process.[1]
In order for
professional development focused on classroom assessment to be successful, it
needs to:
·
Have a clear purpose
·
Engage educators so
they want to learn more about classroom assessment and organized around
significant ideas or concepts that are worth learning about,
·
Involve educators in
sharing responsibility for learning and teaching - sharing of knowledge and
collective solving of specific problems of practice
·
Provide needed
resources
·
Teach and model ways
educators can monitor their own learning
·
Provide opportunities
for self assessment in relationship to personal learning goals
·
Be on-going,
sustained and connected to other aspects of change in the school community
Professional
development that supports and develops life long, independent, self-directed
learners highlights educators’ strengths, communicates self worth and
capability, and views participants’ individual differences as a value-added
benefit to the group. Professional development that leads to taking action has
a clear purpose. Professional development that leads to significant change
engages learners in practical ways to apply powerful ideas and practices, to
reflect upon the experience, and to revisit and reapply ideas making learning
for the educator the on-going process expected for students (Collay et al,
1998; Darling-Hammond & Mclaughlin, 1995; Hall and Luchs, 1978; Stiggins,
19??).
Professional
development designed to meet the needs of all learners is differentiated. A
health expert (name, date) describes the different levels of making a fitness
lifestyle change as precontemplation (thinking about thinking about it),
contemplation (thinking about it), initiation (decided to do something), action
(doing it), habit (doing it consistently). These descriptions also fit our work
in education although we would add three more levels – buddy time (doing it
with someone else in order to sustain energy and learning), and personal
trainer (mentoring others to do it), and leader (helping many others learn to
do it).
Reconsidering Classroom
Assessment
Classroom
assessment is a new challenge with a familiar name. Thinking about learning
differently means changing the way we assess learning. In the past, norm-referenced
assessment involved comparing students to students. The knowledge, skills, and
attitudes being compared varied from teacher to teacher and school to school.
Currently, standards-based education (sometimes referred to as
criterion-referenced education) requires that classroom assessment information
respond to the question, “Given that students need to be self-directed,
independent, life long learners with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed
for success, has this student learned needs to be learned? To what degree of
quality?” This assessment task is a new challenge and it requires different
kinds of evidence of learning.
Classroom
assessment, to be valid and reliable, requires that evidence of learning be
triangulated. Three different sources – conversations, products, observations –
are considered over time, with the educator looking for trends and patterns.
Provincial and state large-scale evaluations are designed for different
purposes than classroom assessment and use different techniques. Neither the
techniques nor the individual student-level information is transferable to the
classroom setting. Large-scale evaluations are not designed to provide valid
individual student-level data. They do not collect enough specific data to report
about individual students. For individual student assessment, teachers need to
use different classroom assessment techniques.
Classroom assessment
that supports learning has increasingly become the focus of research (Black
& William, 1998; 2000; Crooks, 1987; Davies, 2000; Sutton, 19??; Stiggins,
2001). There are five characteristics of classroom assessment that support
student learning and increase student success:
·
students are
involved,
·
students receive
specific, descriptive feedback about the learning during the learning,
·
students communicate
evidence of their learning to others,
·
teachers adjust
instruction in response to ongoing assessment information, and
·
a safe learning
environment invites further risk taking, mistake making, and learning.
While
the ideas behind classroom assessment that support learning are simple, the
classroom application is not. It takes time to learn to assess in different
ways. Educators, students, and parents need different kinds of support
depending on their experiences, the demands of their positions, and their roles
in using the classroom assessment data.
Meeting Educators Professional Development Needs
Leadership and
professional development is being redefined. Educators’ learning needs are
unique to them so the learning opportunities need to be differentiated.
Continuing to use the traditional professional development designs - everyone
learning the same thing, at the same time, in the same way - isn’t working (see
for example classic study reported by Hall and Luchs, 1978). Mandating learning
and change - pronouncing that everyone must know this or do that by a given
point in time - is tempting, but like hamsters running in their exercise
wheels, professional development that repeats the same old actions consume energy
and hope without significant change. What will make a difference? Consider
these learners and the learning opportunities they need.
Ms.
A. wonders, “Classroom Assessment? What is there to think about?” Educators
like Abby are not yet actively looking for ways to improve classroom
assessment. They are busy learning lots of things but haven’t yet focused on
classroom assessment. The challenge is to get them interested and give them
information without causing them to downshift by implementing mandates that
constrain the ways they can support learners. We need to create opportunities
to acknowledge what they know already and get them interested in assessment as
a tool for supporting learning.
Mr.
B’s point of view is characterized by, “Yes classroom assessment is important
and I’ll think about it when I’m not so busy teaching.” The challenge is to
help educators like Bob understand that quality classroom assessment can make
teaching and learning easier, and give them classroom assessment ideas that are
simple and effective.
Ms.
C. is a colleague who says, “Yes classroom assessment is important and I think
there are some changes I would like to make, but there isn’t any time.”
Educators like Connie need help to see classroom assessment not as an add on
but as an essential part of the process of learning. Time is a very real
problem. Busy educators can add no more to their already over-scheduled work
lives. The challenge is to invite Connie and like-minded colleagues to think
about what they can stop doing in order to make room for something new. If
classroom assessment is to be implemented, educators need to make room for
learning by prioritizing activities. The challenge for educators like Connie is
to keep the classroom assessment change plan alive in the midst of the chaos
that is teaching.
Mr.
D. has committed to taking action. He says, “Yes, I want to learn more. I have
already begun by….” The challenge for those seeking to support the David’s in
our schools is to provide individualized support and recognition for all the
risks they are taking. Learning while on the job is challenging and educators
need to be able to learn when the timing is appropriate for them. They need
easy access to practical ideas that work. They need to be encouraged to proceed
slowly, to try just one new thing. They need to hear that others understand
this is a long term undertaking.
Ms.
E. has been trying lots of ideas and needs opportunities to share her learning
with others. This allows her experiences and the experiences of her colleagues
to deepen her knowledge and expertise. If supported now soon Edie and
colleagues like her will begin to search for ways to extend their learning and
influence beyond the classroom. Systems need to be ready to support their
efforts to influence..
[Insert
Figure 1 about here]
Mr.
F. is a school principal. He acknowledges he needs to learn more about
assessment himself in order to know how best to support teachers and parents.
Along with other members of the district’s leadership team, he is committed to
changing classroom assessment practices in order to support student learning.
He is asking himself:
·
How to find out what
quality classroom assessment looks like? How do I find time to be a learner
when I am supposed to be a leader?
·
How to help teachers
and support staff learn more about quality classroom assessment knowing that he
has staff members at many different points along the “knowing and doing”
continuum?
·
How to influence
district staff development so that it supports learning rather than merely
mandates it?
·
How to help narrow
the focus of the professional learning of staff members to a clear focus on one
achievable goal at a time?
Then there are all the other issues
that arise as school principals look beyond their schools, “What to do about
all the large scale assessment information and requirements? How to help
parents learn about quality classroom assessment without creating unrealistic
expectations for staff members? How to help students understand the changes?
How to shift the value to the learning?
On
a personal level learning seems to come when needed, or sometimes because of a
conscious decision to learn more. Or, more typically, the need emerges and it
is addressed rather than avoided. Accepting the invitation to learn is an
important step, only one of many decisions learners make for themselves.
Systems also learn (Arbuckle, 2000; Conley, 199?; Evans, 199?; Fullan &
Hargreaves, 1996; Senge, 1990, 199?). Change occurs when people 1) experience
new ways of thinking about and practicing classroom assessment, 2) see the
impact on student learning, and 3) share knowledge with others. School leaders play a critical role in
stewarding both a new vision of assessment that supports learning and the support
and professional development needed to achieve it. Significant school change
results from schools and districts having defined priorities/goals.
Summarizing the Leadership
Challenges
While
you may be appointed to a leadership position, whether you are in fact a leader
depends on what you do, what you don’t do, how you do (or don’t) do it and who
is paying attention. In addition to positional leaders, individuals appoint
their own leaders. Your experiences, unique to you, provide your personal
mindset and framework for leadership activities. Educators take the lead from
students, children, parents, siblings, spouses, colleagues, friends, people
they have heard about, research they have done or have read about, and authors
of books they have read. Courses, conversations, workshops, institutes, and
mandatory district professional development days also provide leads to improved
teaching and learning. In the new world of quality classroom assessment, we are
all learners with different needs and all leaders learning. There are
challenges in any thoughtful, professional development learning plan. Some
examples are:
Meeting the Challenges
The
challenge is to build a culture of collective but not homogenized learning.
Will the old stand-by’s such as district-wide conferences or in-school
workshops disappear? No, they will simply become one option rather than the
only option. Learning that is on-going and unique will be seen to be the backbone
of any professional’s personal development and that is why professional
learning increasingly has the following characteristics:
·
Supported by
collaborative learning structures such as learning circles or learning teams
·
Based on personal
assessment of needs in a research-informed environment
·
Directed by personal
goal setting process which is related to (but not necessarily determined by)
school and district directions
·
Personal lessons
learned are shared in collaboration with colleagues using a range of evidence
to show learning so they inform the learning of self and others
·
Learning goals are
reset based on evidence of student learning and reflection
The
research-based classroom assessment ideas educators are seeking to innovate are
complex, multi-faceted and not easily implemented. Setting and announcing
timelines for other people’s learning is unrealistic and simply advertises the
fallacy that public relations is more important than people. Every aspect of
learning, teaching, and assessing is connected and like a spider’s web, one
part cannot be reconstructed without all of the web being affected.
We can all learn, but reconstructing
our understandings - learning - is an individual and a social process that will
occur in different ways and at different times for each of us. It is time to
revisit and reconstruct our understandings regarding classroom assessment and
professional learning being mindful of the need to keep learning in sharp focus
at the center of all that we do. Taking time to incorporate changes in ways
that strengthen and support current initiatives makes sense. Beginning quietly
but in inspirational ways is often the best way to build a climate for
sustained efforts that supports change.
Arbuckle,
2000
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Figure
1
Assessment Professional
Development Planning Guide
|
Questions |
Possible Needs |
|
“Classroom Assessment? What is there to
think about?” |
inspiration and
information need to know why
and be shown what quality classroom assessment looks like |
|
“Yes classroom
assessment is important and I’ll think about it when I’m not so busy
teaching.” |
Learners need to
know classroom assessment supports learning and is not an add-on but rather a
more effective way to help students learn. |
|
“Yes, I know what I
want to try. I’m planning on trying something... next week.” |
Learners need
classroom tested ideas that are both practical and inspirational as well as
time to integrate assessment ideas into current classroom practices |
|
“Yes, I want to
learn more. I have decided to try.... today.” |
Learners need
support to keep going... even over the bumps and around the barriers. |
|
“I
need support and involvement from colleagues to keep myself
learning and sustain this work.” |
In order to sustain
individuals and allow for building of a critical mass, learners need to learn
alongside others and be supported by them |
|
“I think everyone
needs to do this kind of assessment.” |
Learners need
network of supportive colleagues who are taking similar risks to learn new
assessment strategies, access to policy makers as they identify policies and
procedures which limit their ability to use classroom assessment strategies
that support learning. |
|
“I’ve made some
important adaptations and I want to share them with others.” |
Learners need
support and encouragement to write articles, mentor others, give workshops,
get involved in assessment fairs, share knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm
with others. |