Another significant piece of the puzzle is ensuring that assessments have “clear criteria that define quality” (Davies p. 52). Clear criteria enable students to self-assess and improve their own work over time, and enable teachers to evaluate the evidence objectively. I thought that the four-step process (Gregory et al. [2011] ctd. in Davies pp. 35, 56) would be an excellent and simple way to ensure that students understand quality, take ownership of assessment, especially by being able to revise the criteria based on further experience. The continual revision/improvement process also enables me to be responsive in highlighting both common errors to prevent recurrence and additional qualities that make an exceptional product to guide students for further growth. I would not rely on this alone, however. I would prefer to prepare my own criteria ahead of time in collaboration with other teachers and, where it makes sense, experts from the community, and then use this as a basis to guide and refine what the students brainstorm. I feel that this would be more accurate and helpful.
I loved the idea of ongoing portfolio development to foster student metacognition, accountability, and sense of progress and achievement, and to manage evidence of learning. I recall putting so much time and effort into my assignments and always feeling disappointed a) that only my teacher saw it, and b) that the product had no life after being graded. Portfolios are a great way to enable students to share their work with a broader audience, to improve products after feedback from anyone, and to reflect on what they’ve learned and how they’ve improved. It makes each assignment more meaningful and valuable. I prefer and am used to managing information using digital online systems. I decided to ask Paul Bohnert for his ideas on what’s out there, as I have seen only Moodle, Blackboard, and D2L, and am not confident that these are the best solutions. At minimum, I would like to empower my students to store their evidence in digital format (video, audio, photo, and convert hard copy or physically awkward projects into photo images) so that it is accessible to both them and me anywhere (secured, cloud solution). I’d like them to be able to track version history on items (for edits, comments, etc.), file items in a way that makes sense to them (e.g., date, subject), and then tag items for different portfolios. Similarly, the system should allow me to provide feedback and to link student evidence with assessments in lesson plan and with learning outcomes (this also fulfills fix #7 from A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades).
I found “The Case Against Grades” thought-provoking and well-argued. Kohn highlights that grades are another form of extrinsic motivation that erodes intrinsic motivation (p. 30). I’m learning in educational psychology, however, that, while it’s desirable that student are intrinsically motivated, extrinsic motivation may not entirely destroy intrinsic motivation, often exists alongside it, and could be a stepping stone toward building it. Similarly, if a grade is based on a well-designed rubric, it’s possible that working for a grade simultaneously involves meaningful learning. On the other hand, grades seem to best (only?) serve students who are already high-achievers. I like the idea of not grading, but am not yet sure how I would go about answering to people who require numbers to measure.