IHR-R - Student Learning Assessment

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SECTION I: INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM

File IH-R

STUDENT LEARNING ASSESSMENT

RATIONALE

Assessment of student performance is vital to guide the teaching-learning process. Student engagement, and both the quality and level of academic achievement, can be increased through formative assessment. Gains in student achievement have been demonstrated in classrooms where there are frequent, interactive assessments of student progress, and understanding to identify learning needs and adjust teaching appropriately.

This assessment for learning done by the teacher fosters an internal assessment as learning on the part of the student. Teachers need to involve students in the learning process, as students gradually become independent learners. The Teacher must explain the learning outcomes in terms that students understand, and have them participate in:

	setting criteria that define success;
	determining, giving and receiving feedback;
	planning the next steps to reach the learning outcomes.

Students are taught how to carefully review and refine their work. Students gradually learn to assess themselves and their peers fairly and realistically in using self-assessment. They are guided to make necessary adjustments to their work, by also using feedback from their peers and the teacher.

There is also a need to summarize information on the achievement of students (summative assessment or assessment of learning) at certain points in time to inform students, teachers, parents/guardians, and the broader educational community. This type of information can be used to adjust the teaching-learning process, and support the ongoing dialogue with parents.

B. PURPOSES OF ASSESSMENT

Assessment is an integral part of the educational process. It comprises four distinct, yet related purposes.

Assessment for learning

It is the ongoing analysis of the student’s learning, designed to give teachers information to plan, modify, and differentiate teaching and learning activities to meet curricular outcomes. They use the information to determine not only what students know, but also to gain insights into how, when, and whether students apply what they know, individually and as a class. This is both diagnostic and formative, occurs during the instructional process, and is primarily intended to inform teacher instruction.

Assessment as learning

It is the process of developing metacognition for students – supporting students as they

think and learn about their own thinking and learning. This process is intentionally planned and nurtured in the classroom environment. The purpose is for students to be engaged learners who set their own goals and monitor their own progress. The teacher’s role is to gradually release responsibility to students as they become independent, self-directed learners.

Assessment of learning

It is the periodic summary of student progress, based on evidence indicating to what degree the student meets stated outcomes. Assessment of learning is used to communicate progress towards standards, to the student, to the parents/guardians, and to other educators. At the school, Division, or system level, it is used in a variety of ways to support student learning by providing evidence of achievement, and to determine to what extent instructional goals have been achieved.

Assessment for the identification and programming for students with special needs (Specialized Assessment):

The purpose of specialized assessment is to provide detailed information and analysis for programming to meet the special needs of some children. Students will not be denied an educational programming pending the completion of a specialized assessment and every effort will be made to complete specialized assessments, follow-ups, meetings, and reporting in a timely manner. Written parental consent shall be attainted prior to the completion of any specialized assessment.

ASSESSMENT AND PRINCIPLES OF MEASUREMENT

Assessment is subject to the principles of measurement. In order to make the right decisions about students, it is necessary that teachers adhere to four basic principles or quality issues that are important in classroom assessment:

Reliability

Inferences about a student’s learning should be similar when they are made by different teachers, when the learning is measured using various methods, or when students demonstrate their learning at different times.

Reference Points

In classroom assessment, there are three reference points teachers use when considering a student’s performance. How is the student performing:

1) In relation to some pre-determined criteria, learning outcome, or

expectation (criteria or outcome-referenced);

2) In relation to the performance of other students in the defined group (norm-referenced);

3) In relation to his/her performance at a prior time (self-referenced).

Validity

Validity in classroom assessment is about the accuracy of the interpretation and the use of assessment information. Validity of classroom assessment depends on ensuring that the assessment adequately covers the targeted learning outcomes, including content, thinking processes, skills, and attitudes. Students should also be provided with opportunities to show their knowledge of concepts in different ways (using a range of assessment approaches) and with multiple measures, to establish a composite picture of student learning.

Record-keeping

High quality record-keeping is critical for ensuring quality in classroom assessment. The records that teachers and students keep are the evidence that support the decisions that are made about the students’ learning. The records should include detailed and descriptive information about the nature of the expected learning, as well as evidence of students’ learning, and should be collected from a range of assessments.

D. ASSESSMENT PRACTICES

Current research in assessment and student learning, as well as Manitoba Education guidelines, strongly recommend the following assessment practices:

Begin with the end in mind (Backward Mapping).

(a) Identify the desired results, the ends, the goals and outcomes to be achieved. At the beginning of an instructional cycle, communicate to students and parents/guardians information about what constitutes essential learning in a given subject and grade level. Identify desired results, using language that students and parents will understand. Explain what the targets/outcomes are, and what students need to do to reach them.

(b) Determine acceptable evidence.

Written work or test results are, by themselves, insufficient evidence of learning. Use a wide range of evidence. Use samples or exemplars to develop criteria with students, and to give descriptive feedback to students on their work. These sources of assessment evidence may be used: observations of learning, products students create, and conversations – discussing learning with students (triangulation) – students must understand what products and performances they are accountable for producing as evidence of learning.

(c) Plan learning experiences and instruction.

Use ongoing classroom assessment to become aware of the knowledge, skills, and beliefs that students bring to a learning task. Use this knowledge as a starting point for new instruction and monitor students’ changing perceptions as instruction proceeds. When learning is the goal, teachers and students collaborate and use assessment and pertinent feedback to move learning forward.

Plan for assessment FOR learning

Assessment for learning includes the collecting of specific descriptive feedback that will inform the teacher’s next teaching steps and the student’s next learning steps towards the learning outcomes. When students are acquiring new skills, knowledge, and understanding, they need a chance to practice. This is the learning process. Assessment FOR learning involves:

Checking to see what has been learned and what needs to be learned next, and adjusting instruction accordingly

Accessing specific and descriptive feedback in relation to criteria that is focused on improvement

Participation by the student – the person most able to improve the learning

Plan for assessment AS learning

When students are involved in the classroom assessment process, they become more engaged in learning. As they self-monitor, they are developing and practicing

the skills needed to be lifelong, independent learners. Teachers need to teach students to be metacognitive learners – learners who think and learn about their thinking and learning. They need to teach students self assessment and peer assessment, increasing the amount of descriptive feedback.

Plan for assessment OF learning

The purpose of assessment of learning is to measure, certify, and report the level of students’ learning. It requires the collection and interpretation of information about the students’ accomplishments in important curricular areas. Assessments of

learning tasks need to enable students to show the complexity of their understanding, to be able to apply key concepts, knowledge, and skills. Assessment of learning is based not only on tests and examinations, but also on a rich variety of products and demonstrations of learning – portfolios, exhibitions, performances, presentations, simulations, multimedia projects, and other written, oral, or visual methods.

E. GRADING

Guidelines

These guidelines, outlined in Communicating Student Learning (Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth, 2007) form the basis for grading practices and policies that are accurate, meaningful, consistent, and supportive of learning.

Relate grading procedures to the intended learning goals.

Use learning goals (not assessment methods) as the basis to record evidence and determine goals.

Use quality assessment(s) and properly record evidence of achievement.

First and foremost, assessment must meet standards for quality.

Clear targets.

Clear purpose.

Appropriate target-method match.

Appropriate sampling.

Avoidance of bias and distortion.

The second aspect of this guideline is that evidence of achievement and behaviour must be carefully recorded and maintained.

Use criterion-referenced performance standards as reference points to determine grade.

The meaning of grades (letters or numbers) should come from clear descriptions of performance standards.

"If they hit the goal they get the grade!" (i.e. No bell curves).

Limit the valued attributes included in grade to individual achievement.

The first point to emphasize in this guideline is that grades should be based on achievement (i.e., demonstration of the knowledge and skill components of the curriculum). Effort, attitude, and other behaviours will be reported separately. Another implication of this guideline is that grades should not be inflated by the use of bonuses or deflated by the use of penalties.

The second point to emphasize in this guideline is that grades should be based on the achievement individual students are able to demonstrate and not on group dates.

Sample student performance – don’t include all scores in grades.

Use formative assessment to provide descriptive feedback.

Use a variety of summative assessments to determine grades.

Grade in pencil – keep records so they can be updated easily.

Use the most consistent level of achievement with special consideration for the most recent evidence of achievement.

Provide several and various assessment opportunities.

Crunch numbers carefully if at all.

Avoid using "mean"; consider using the median or mode.

Think "body of evidence" and professional judgment; determine grades based on evidence, don’t just calculate them.

Discuss with, and involve students in assessment throughout the teaching and learning process.

Intervention Plan

Schools should implement an Intervention Plan outlining a procedure for addressing and documenting late and incomplete essential assignments which may include, but would not be limited to, points such as the following:

	contact with the parent(s) regarding the late and incomplete essential assignments;
	a meeting between the student and teacher which will identify whether or not the student requires additional assistance in understanding the material or the assignment;
	goal setting by the student with the Teacher indicating a reasonable date when the assignment will be completed and given to the Teacher;
	the understanding that if the assignment isn’t completed and handed in according to the student-teacher plan, the student may receive a zero on the assignment and/or an incomplete on the course which would lead to a loss of the credit.

F. Grades and Report Cards

Grades and Report Cards remain an important part of the communication system. They must be accurate, meaningful, consistent, supportive of learning, and developed under recognized guidelines for Grading and Report Cards.

Grading and Reporting - Provincial Requirements

The schools will follow provincial reporting requirements as indicated below. From Kindergarten to Grade 12, report cards must reflect diverse learning experiences and a variety of assessment and evaluation methods.

Kindergarten to Grade 8

The form of reporting student progress and achievement can be determined locally. Schools will send progress reports to provide information appropriate to the stages of the yearly reporting cycle. Summative indicators will report progress and achievement related to learning goals and outcomes.

G. Cheating and Plagiarism

Students are expected to adhere to the highest standards of personal honesty in their work, and understand that cheating and plagiarism are serious forms of academic dishonesty that are unacceptable.

Cheating is an act of academic dishonesty and comes in many forms such as, but not limited to, copying from others, submitting assignments written by others, and using unauthorized notes, aids, or electronic equipment during an assessment.

Plagiarism, a form of cheating, is defined as the act of claiming another’s words, ideas, or work as one’s own, such as, but not limited to, copying and pasting text from electronic sources without citing and identifying it as a quotation, quoting a source without proper referencing, and paraphrasing but not citing the source.

Manitoba Education’s document, Provincial Assessment Policy Kindergarten to Grade 12: Academic Responsibility, Honesty, and Promotion/Retention (2010) provides examples of consequences and considerations in dealing with cheating and plagiarism. Consequences for students might include:

	contacting parents;
	documenting the incident in the student’s file or on the report card;
	losing privileges or other disciplinary measures such as detention;
	rewriting the assignment;
	deducting marks for an assignment (zero for an assignment might be considered).

Consequences will vary and reflect a continuum of behavioral and academic responses based on factors such as:

	the grade level of the student;
	the maturity of the student;
	the number and type of incidents;
	the individual circumstances of the student;
	the potential impact of the consequence on later learning and motivation.

Teachers are responsible for providing students in advance with specific information about the types of materials, tools, or assistance that are permitted for a given assignment or evaluation. In addition, descriptions of the possible consequences of cheating and plagiarism will be explained to students using a variety of methods which may include newsletters, school websites, course outlines, or student handbooks and planners.