School has been in session for over month and many of my classes had a unit assessment last week. The district adopted math program has 10-12 unit checkpoints (depending on the grade level) for the school year and each assessment covers specified math strands. These assessments are designed to assess understanding and include an open response that emphasizes students’ conceptual understanding and math communication skills. The entire unit assessment takes about 50+ minutes to complete.
I usually try to administer and grade all the tests on the same day. This doesn’t always happen. Before passing the tests back to the students the class generally has a discussion about certain problems that were missed more than others.
We also have celebrations as a class. During the class discussion we don’t blame, but reflect on what the numbers might mean. This idea has taken time to cement and required a bit of modeling. Based on the results I might even teach a brief mini lesson to help address and reduce misconceptions. This is also an opportunity for students to analyze their own test and look for correlations. Afterwards, students are given a sheet to reflect on their own analysis. Students are asked to review their assessment and give feedback on their own performance.
After the students fill out the above sheet they visit the teacher for a brief conference. These last a quick 2-3 minutes and include a time to check-in with the student. We have a conversation about the student’s reflection and look for opportunities to improve in the future. This is also a time to set some possible goals. The sheet is glued into the student’s math journal and can be a document that the student will look back on as the year progresses.
I feel like the process of analyzing, reflecting and setting goals is important. I believe it reinforces a growth mindset mentality, but it also has me wondering about the role of different assessments in the learning process. I’d say about 95% of what is used at the elementary level is formative. I could see how that changes as students progress through middle and high school. Feedback and the possibility to make positive strides towards improvement can often be utilized with most assessments, regardless if you label it formative or summative. If a school truly embraces a growth mindset model, what role do summative assessments play? I believe that summative assessments have a role. I’m just thinking that they may be perceived a bit differently if a school emphasizes a growth mindset model.
image credit: Woodley Wonderworks
Educational Aspirations 