Finding the Special through Assessment

Thank you for a great class on Friday! I am pleased with the level of engagement and collegiality in our class!!

As I have told some of you, I have an interest in European education. I taught for several years in Hungary and I have done research in French classrooms. As we talked about assessment and students with IEPs, it recalled for me some of the things I observed in those classrooms.

We are very used to think about mastery as 90% in the US. Indeed, for us, there is hardly another way to think about what “mastery”--or what an “A”--represents.

It might therefore interest you to know that in France, 14/20 is a very high--even an exceptional--grade (everything is always worth 20 points in France--don’t ask me why). 

I have heard stories about US teachers who spend time teaching in France and are shocked to receive parental complaints about them being “too easy graders.” Americans, it seems, are all too willing to give out unheard of scores, such as 18’s, to their students.

My point? Grading is often a somewhat subjective enterprise.

Now, there are test writers who use very sophisticated procedures as they work. Think about the IQ test. Most of the population will score 100. That is going to be the most common score. It represents “average intelligence.” Scores will naturally cluster around that number, with increasingly fewer scores as you move further away (up or down) away from 100. This is the idea of the normally-distributed bell curve.

In such a test, 100 means something fairly objective. 

But in most assessments that we as teachers write, there is nowhere near this level of certainty. I can write an assessment on which the most able student will receive 50/100. Does that mean this student failed? Does it mean the test was too hard? Or does it mean that that 50/100 represents “mastery” for that content on that particular exam?

When I think about assessment, I think about it as an opportunity for students to show me what they can do. My goal as a teacher is to find assessments that best allow me to see what each student can do. To accommodate my tests to their unique skills, interest, and knowledge.

Literally, as a teacher, I want to “catch” students acting smart. That’s how I think about my job.

It’s a different mindset, but one I would ask you to consider. 

Is our job to rank and sort our students, or is it to empower them to do increasingly well on a range of diverse, real-world tasks?

I put a lot of stock on informal, diagnostic assessment. It’s a way of thinking about universal screening. That I am constantly documenting the circumstances under which different students can excel. That I use that knowledge to not only structure up my curricular and instructional decisions, but that I also use it to make decisions about assessment and grading.

I love being that teacher who can uncover hidden potential in my students. That teacher who can legitimately point to outstanding work from a student who may be doing poorly in other classes. Please think about this perspective as you undertake your case studies.

You will be sending me your Case Study Proposals this weekend and I will be responding to them as quickly as possible. By next Friday, January 30, you will need to have done some work toward the next step of the project, the Analysis and Interpretation stage. 

For class next week, I know it says you should bring a paper copy of your Analysis and Interpretation. That is not necessary. Rather, in whatever form--paper, notes on your computer, jottings on the back of a napkin--I would you to bring the ideas you have started to form about your case. Read at least one article that helps illuminate something about your student (use the course library, prior MSU readings, or materials you find on an Internet search), analyze all assessment data you have about this student, and reflect on the functional meaning of the student’s behavior in your class (what is gained by acting this way?). 

These are the next things I want you to send, via email, by Saturday evening, January 31. 

Have a great week!