What We’re Going To Do: Explore the teacher perspective on assessment

2. What We’re Going To Do: • Explore the teacher perspective on assessment • Use design thinking to understand how students experience assessment • Use our insight into student experience as a way to examine assessment practices • Share some best practices from schools around the country • Think through how to take it back

4. Tell someone about a time that student assessment has been painful or difficult for you as a teacher. • Time – meaningful assessments take a lot of time • Putting forth effort to give meaningful feedback when students haven’t done a lot of work themselves • Students don’t look at feedback • Final assessment doesn’t reflect effort • Students sharing grades

5. The Assessment Process “Assessment”

6. What’s the problem (from a teacher perspective?)

7. “Design Thinking” Empathize Define Ideate Prototype Test

12. Things to remember about ethnographic research. It’s not a survey. Seek to understand motivations, values, perspectives. Gather student experiences as they see them. Ask questions neutrally. Never ask yes or no questions.

13. Be specific. “Tell me about… …a time that you learned something really well. …the last time you got a report card. …a time that a teacher helped you learn.” And, always, ask “why.” Spend ten minutes generating possible questions as a team.

15. Based on your interviews, what do students need from assessment? • Teachers to see the work the way they do • Immediate reinforcement to fix mistakes • Be taught to self-assess • Check-in points along the way so they know they’re ready • Grades to help students strive for best • More detailed feedback so they have better understanding • Be challenged to know what it feels like and not slack • Assessments to be fair • Choices so that students can match themselves to the teacher • Efforts to be reflected in grade

16. The Assessment Process

22. The Gradebook: Grades organized by assignment category – not skill or knowledge. Numerical grades average performances over the arc of a term. Communicates achievement and growth in quantitative terms.

26. Carol Dweck// Growth mindsets lead to greater academic honesty, persistence in the face of failure, and long-term improvement. .

30. How can teachers influence their students’ theories of intelligence? Well, what do they say to them?

32. A lot of comments feel good… …but nevertheless dampen intrinsic motivation, grit, and future performance.

34. Carol Dweck// Feedback that focuses on choices, strategies, and process encourages a growth mindset. .

36. What is a student supposed to do with feedback once the term or project is over?

37. The Overlake School // Delay grades until after students have processed feedbackand identified strategies for improvement.

38. Urban School // Urban gives a five-week update without any expression of grades, that “maintains the language and style” of the rubric that will be used at the end of the semester when grades are given.

39. Wildwood School // Give narrative feedback consistently, but translate into letter grades beginning sophomore year.

41. San Francisco Friends School // Students develop goals in October, based on their own experience and teacher feedback at conferences.

42. Science Leadership Academy // Students test and retest their growth relative to standards for each course – on their own schedule.

45. Draw an x-y graph of your growth and explain it. Tell the story of your growth in a comic strip. Present a PowerPoint deck to make the case for what you’ve learned and what you’re working on. Use examples.

47. Based on your interviews, what do students need from assessment? • Teachers to see the work the way they do • Immediate reinforcement to fix mistakes • Be taught to self-assess • Check-in points along the way so they know they’re ready • Grades to help students strive for best • More detailed feedback so they have better understanding • Be challenged to know what it feels like and not slack • Assessments to be fair • Choices so that students can match themselves to the teacher • Efforts to be reflected in grade

48. Which of these assessment practices would meet a student need we identified earlier?

49. How might you bring that practice back to your school? What would it look like in your classroom?