1.+Assessment+of+Learning

**Defining Assessment //of// Learning**
“Assessment //of// learning refers to strategies designed to confirm what students know, demonstrate whether or not they have met curriculum outcomes of the goals of their individualized programs, or to certify proficiency and make decisions about students’ future programs or placements. It is designed to provide evidence of achievement to parents, other educators, the students themselves, and sometimes to outside groups” (Western and Northern Canadian Protocol for Collaboration in Education, 2006, p.55). Essentially, assessment of learning is different than assessment for learning and assessment as learning in that its purpose is to show and/or measure how well students are learning at the end of a specified learning objective thus making it summative in nature. Assessment of learning can take shape in a variety of ways in the classroom. Classroom teachers design and implement assessment of student learning regularly in their long range planning. With such assessments, teachers then report their findings on student progress reports several times throughout the year.

Damian Cooper states that “assessment of learning includes all summative assessment; it occurs when a teacher deems it necessary to determine the extent of a student’s achievement in relation to an established standard” (Cooper, 2010, p. 10-11). Furthermore, “Assessment of Learning is ﻿· designed to provide information to parents, school and board level administration, as well as students · presented in a periodic report · summarizes information with numbers or letter grades · compares student achievement with established standards” (Cooper, 2010, p.11).

Assessment of learning looks at what students have learned in relation to the curriculum. Learning outcomes identified by the Ministry of Education/Learning (creators of the curriculum) in each province are what such assessments are measured against. Assessments, in whatever form they are presented in, are looking at how each student is able to apply his/her learning in relation to curricular goals and outcomes. Student learning is then reported in some form so various audiences are able to see and/or analyze the extent to which students are reaching curricular objectives.

Standardized testing is one form of summative assessment that has both gained support and become widely criticized by educators, the public, students and politicians. Each province within Canada currently utilizes some form of standardized testing during the school year. Testing can take shape in many forms and the results of testing can be viewed and used by various audiences from local and provincial to national and even international organizations. Schools and school divisions use test results from standardized tests in a variety of different ways. There are adamant arguments both for and against such testing measures.




 * What does Assessment of Learning look like?**

Assessment of learning is summative in nature, meaning that assessments are designed with the purpose to determine whether or not students have met curricular objectives outlined in the curriculum. Unit exams at the conclusion of a unit of study, are one example of assessment of learning. Although a formal test is the most common form of reporting student learning, projects, oral reports, reflective journals, etc. are also examples of summative assessments provided they are measuring student understanding of curricular goals. Standardized testing is another form of assessment ﻿of learning﻿﻿.

Much criticism has been made of assessment of learning because of the attachment to standardized testing. However, standardized testing is only one form of assessment of learning. Because of its comparative nature, assessment of learning is often attached to such criticism. The measurement or comparison of student’s achievement in relation to an established standard lends itself to the ranking issues that we often find associated with testing (standardized testing particularly). It is important to keep in mind that summative assessment does not need to take the form of the typical standardized, multiple choice exams. Summative assessment may include the opportunity for students to demonstrate their learning and mastery of learning objectives and outcomes orally or through writing or visual representation as well.


 * Why does Assessment of Learning happen?**

1. Student and teacher accountability. Ultimately, teachers are responsible for reporting student learning in one form or another. At the class and school level, summative reporting is most commonly done through progress reports that are issued several times throughout the school year to report student progress to parents according to learning objectives set forth in the curriculum. At the district level, assessment of learning can be used to look at how individuals and/or schools compare to others within the school district. Results can be used to look at what schools can work on to help improve student achievement as it relates to identified or targeted curricular objectives.

2. Comparative data. Student achievement results from summative assessments can be used to compare different regions in Canada and world wide on student performance and on specific learning objectives/tasks. Some examples of world wide comparative analysis are the [|PISA] (Programme for International Student Assessment), [|PIRLS] (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), and [|TIMSS] (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) assessments. National tests include the [|CAT3] and the [|PCAP] (Pan-Canadian Assessment Program). Provincially and locally there are numerous tests depending on the province.

3. To set learning goals for the future and identify Professional Development opportunities. If, through assessments, it is determined that a school or district is struggling in a particular area, the results can be used to help focus teacher development and focus for students in future years so student achievement results may improve as a result of a targeted approach. This provides the opportunity for teachers to participate in valuable professional learning opportunities.

4. Teacher evaluation. Although this is one of the controversial topics against assessments such as standardized tests, school divisions may choose to use assessment of learning results to monitor and evaluate teaching practices. It may be that a teacher is not teaching an important concept as outlined by the curriculum and as a result student test results may reflect this.




 * The Pro's and Con's of Assessment of Learning**

While the debate on assessment of learning and standardized testing is a complex one, below is a summary of of the common arguments both for and against such assessments.

__Positives of Assessment of Learning__ · Assessment of learning can provide valuable information for teachers on whether or not students understand key learning objectives outlined by curriculum guides. · Comparative results (at all levels) can offer insight into future planning and identify areas of focus so students are better able to meet learning outcomes. · Data may provide motivation and focus for schools to improve learning objectives. · May provide renewed focus in identifying areas that have not been in the past a focus for schools/teachers but may need to become areas of focus for the future. · Assessment of learning helps hold teachers and administrators accountable for teaching provincially mandated content as identified by curricula. · Best practices can be identified and shared among those who have strong scoring in assessments. · “Teachers, and in many instances students, collect evidence of student’s learning and use this information to guide curricular decisions. In this way, the curriculum is responsive to the assessment process, and the assessments we choose are responsive to the experiences we provide children” (Nezavdal, 2003).

__Challenges of Assessment of Learning__ · Information assessed only provides a snap shot of student learning and does not provide a true picture of what a student is and/or is able to achieve. · Many assessments that are comparative in nature lose their value and focus as only a few learning objectives are targeted. · Teachers begin to teach to the test in order to improve statistical results. · With improved standardized test results, many school districts report a lower high school completion rate and higher drop out rates (Volante, 2007, p. 54). · With summative assessments, students are not assessed on critical and creative thinking skills and inquiry skills but instead on memorization. · Because of the emphasis put on results from Assessment of learning poor results can be blamed on teachers which results in increased stress levels of teachers, which may result in teachers teaching to the test (Nezavdal, 2003). · Curricula has become more centralized to accommodate more formal student testing. · A shift from student centered instruction and individualized learning plans to more of a business approach to schools where “anxiety, enthusiasm, politics, values, truths, half-truths and misconceptions” all play a role in large-scale assessment (Earl, 1999, p. 5). · Creates a “ranking” of schools through provinces and creates a competitive atmosphere where schools work against one another. Such pressure discourages fostering a community of sharing and working together using best practices. · There is no way to go back and improve results with summative assessment. Any feedback given from summative assessment does nothing to further improve student learning.

One test does not fit all video media type="youtube" key="tSIgmSKH8vc" height="510" width="853"


 * Standardized testing**

The debate surrounding standardized testing is one that is enough for a research project in its own. That being said, standardized testing is perhaps the most common and well known forum for assessment of learning. Arguments can be made both supporting and opposing standardized testing in schools. As you’ll see in the video’s below, the range of opinions is quite wide. Policy makers, administration, teachers, parents and students all weigh in on the debate of whether or not there is value and validity in the wide variety of standardized testing that schools participate in.

As Campbell and Levin state in their article, assessment data can prove to be very useful regardless of the type of assessment put into practice. However, in order for the data to be useful, school districts must develop "a systematic approach to assessment, context and program data" (Campbell, 2008, p. 57) in other words, plans must be put in place to use the data to improve teaching practices so student learning is improved. Literacy and Numeracy are the 2 areas of focus that the Ontario government are using results from the [|EQAQ] (Education Quality and Accountability Office) to drive student learning for future instruction. Other provinces and school divisions are using data in a similar fashion.

Why is standardized testing so controversial? video. media type="youtube" key="woQ1w9TcmXw" height="510" width="640"


 * Personal experiences with Assessment of Learning**

Darryl's Connections: As a classroom teacher, my students had participated in a variety of assessment of learning activities. While teaching middle years, the [|CAT3] (Canadian Achievement Test) was the one that really stood out for me. This was an assessment that personally I had struggled with in that it was not used as a tool to further student learning instead it was an snap-shot of their learning at a particular moment in time. Part of the challenge was that students took the test and did not receive results back until months later. When they did receive individual test results (which were simply included in their report cards), all that was looked at was the percentile that their score was in comparison to other students throughout Canada who took the same test. As a result, I did not see value in this assessment and did not feel as though it was an effective use of time as it did not provide any insight into how to improve student learning. Information beyond this was never shared with me as a classroom teacher so I was unable to offer any additional information to students or parents on the test.

Jes' Connections: I tend to use unit tests, final exams and sometimes projects as examples of assessment for learning in my social studies and English (language arts) classes. However, in the English department, there seems to be a move away from these, with the exception of mandatory standardized testing. In British Columbia, all students are required to write a provincial exam when they are in grade 10 and grade 12 English. The grade 10 exam constitutes 20% of students' overall mark for the year, and the grade 12 exam is 40% of the final mark. Both of these exams are skills based exams, as opposed to content based, so I do believe that they serve a purpose in determining where students are at; however, as we all know, sometimes students are not always able to demonstrate their best learning on any given day, so the exam could be seen as an unfair assessment tool. Not only that, but I personally view the 40% weighting of the English 12 exam to be too high of a percentage for a 2 - 3 hour exam, considering that the entire semester's work with me is only weighted at 60% of the final mark.

These provincial exams are also mandatory in grade 10 science and math courses, as well as grade 11 social studies. Some students still elect to write the grade 12 provincial exams in other subject areas, but recently the universities announced that they will no longer consider provincial exam marks for entrance requirements, so students choose to write the in-class exams designed by their teachers.

Val's Connections: As a Gr. 3/4 teacher I don't use a lot of tests to complete a unit. Most summative assessment comes in the form of projects, oral or web 2.0 presentations, inquiry-learning and reflection on learning. I have used tests for the past two science units as I wanted to give students an opportunity to experience test writting in a safe, non-threatening environment. In BC, students write the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) test in Gr. 4 and 7. Like Darryl's experience, mine has been somewhat negative. The test itself is a solid, curriclum based test but it is given in February and intended to cover the entire grades curriculum at the 1/2 way point in the year. Part of the test is done on computers. Grade 4's have not experienced a lot of test writting and most have never written a test on a computer. It can cause anxiety among students. Another concern I have with FSA's is their lack of meaning and validity. Similar to CAT3, students don't receive results back until several months later and they are sent in a sealed envelope directly to the parent. A percentage and comparison are given. Parents are given little information on how to interpret the results and how to improve their child's learning based on the results. Teachers are not given the results. My definition of assessment is feedback to progress the learner forward. I don't see the FSA's doing that.