Assessment and Grading

1. Assessment and Grading Grades are often misused. We have much better ways to give students feedback, to motivate students, and to access how well students are learning

2. Formative v. Summative Assessment

3. Assessment and the Chili Cook-off To distinguish between formative and summative assessment, think of the chili cook-off. Formative A cook-off contestant tastes her own chili to see how to improve it. Summative The cook-off judge rates the chili.

4. Dimensions of Good Assessment • Formative • Authentic • Representative • Multi-dimensional

5. Authentic Assessment Standardized tests measure how well students test. Assessments too often target factual knowledge, recall, and recognition level thinking . Often they fail to capture higher levels of thinking including application and synthesis. Traditional assessments don’t measure what is important to measure, and therefore students don’t learn what’s important to learn. Knowledge that cannot be applied has no practical value.

6. Assessment of students in cooperative learning is completely contextual. It mirrors real-world situations with open and varied intercourse where students’ full range of skills and knowledge are on display.

7. Representative Assessment • When teachers use cooperative learning structures they get a very representative sample of the class because as the students are engaged in the structures, the teacher walks around, listening in to the high achievers as well as the low achievers. A representative sample of the class is sampled.

8. Multi-Dimensional Assessment The world beyond the classroom values more than linguistic and logical skills and products. Therefore, learning tasks need to be varied to engage and develop the various senses, intelligences, and learning and thinking styles. Good assessments seek to understand students along these multiple dimensions.

9. Multi Dimensional • Cooperative Assessment Tools • Audio or Video Recoding • Artwork • Charts/Graphs • Debates • Group Processing Forms • Interviews • Investigations and Experiments • Journals • Models • Open-Ended Questions • Presentations • Papers and Reports

10. Cooperative learning adds a number of valuable assessment approaches to a teacher’s repertoire....... • The Walkabout • Simultaneous Sharing Structures • Physical Response Structures

12. Tips for Cooperative Learning Assessment • Random Sampling: Avoid calling on the same students who repeatedly volunteer. Use a student selector to pick one student on the team or name selector to randomly pick one student by name. • Think Time: After asking a question give students 3-5 seconds of silent think time before answering. • Write Time: Give students a little time to each write their response before calling on a student to respond • Space to Walk: Make sure there is free and open access to every team from every angle.

13. Tips Continued……… • Establish a Sense of Security: • When to correct: Do I correct the whole class or one team? • Teachable Moments: • Simultaneous Assessment • Differentiated Instructions and Multiple Intelligences.

14. Cooperative Learning and Grading….

15. No Group Grades…. • Group Grades Are not Good for Cooperative Assessment. • Group Grades Undermine Motivation and are not fair. • Group Grades Are Not Good for Certifying Students. • Group Grades are Not Good Feedback • Group Grades are a Poor Method of Communication.

16. Group Grades Convey the Wrong Message. • Group Grades Violate Individual Accountability. • Group Grades Create Resistance to Cooperative Learning. • Groups Grades Could be Challenged in Court. Group grades are untenable, impractical, and ineffective. The acceptable alternative is assigning individual grades based on individual learning and performance.

17. Learning Together, Testing Alone All Cooperative learning structures are designed to promote learning not grading. Use Team Test-Taking to review for a test. Each team has a role that is rotated with each problem. • Leader leads team to share answers • Checker checks to see if everyone got the same answer. • Coach, coaches who needs help. • Cheerleader celebrates correct answers.

18. Without Individual Accountability we have group work.

19. If we use cooperative learning correctly and structure for individual accountability, there are plenty of opportunities for individual evaluations.