Assessment: Making Feedback Meaningful

“Wow!  You won’t believe how much I made on my report card this time!”  “I know.  My folks give me $5 for every ‘4’ I earn on my report card!  Awesome!”  This is an example of a conversation I might hear between a pair of 5th graders after report card time.  Paying kids for grades – one of my pet peeves. Actually, it is more than a pet peeve. It goes against all I believe as an educator.  The focus of grades and reporting should be on growth and intrinsic-motivating success, not how much loot a kid can stuff in a piggy bank.  I also feel it demeans all the work and effort we as educators put into assessing and evaluating children.  And it is work!

I remember when I first started teaching in 1990, I evaluated students and reported to families by “gut feeling.”  I often had little to no hard evidence as to why a student received the grade I gave them.  The focus on gathering evidence and working through criteria and standards was not the emphasis.

Today, assessment takes a front seat when providing education to youngsters. I feel the need and desire to provide accurate, evidence-based, timely, and insightful feedback to my students and their families.  It is not easy to do when you are serving 300-700 or more students at any level, K-12.  But all students deserve to know how they are doing, how they can improve, and what else they can do, if they already understand the content.

I look forward to the discussions that will take place in the next month about assessment via this blog. During this first week, I will introduce the topic of assessment.  Week 2 will focus on formative assessment.  Summative assessment will be the topic for week 3.  Discussions about Professional Learning Communities will take place week 4.  And on the short week 5, topic focus will be reporting to parents.  Please share your thoughts and ideas.

-Bob Reeker