Assessing Student Learning -- Reflection Journal #6

In this chapter, there was really good information about different types of assessments and how to create them. The part that stood out to me, however, was the discussion on learning objectives. I'm not sure how well we use learning objectives at my school, honestly (we write common plans and assessments, which is why I am framing this as a "we" rather than an "I"). We look at the standards and talk about what the students need to know, but it is very informal. The most formal learning objectives we have are the "I can" statements that we post in the classroom -- and that very few of us do anything with. The "I can" statements are not quite the same thing as a learning objective, as a learning objective is meant to be a planning guide for teachers and the "I can" statements are a learning guide for students. The learning objective comes first, as a foundation to planning and I feel like the "I can" statements are created after the planning is done as a tool for the students. Practically, they may be similar, but there are differences. I think we use "I can" statements more than learning objectives when we are planning together. 

Reflecting on this chapter, I also don't think we connect the learning objectives or the "I can" statements with the assessments. Again, we use the standards when creating assessments, but not in a formal "learning objective" kind of way. I feel like the two are very separate things when we are planning for instruction. This separation makes for some chaotic moments, because sometimes we end up scrambling to make sure we have taught what we needed to teach and that we are assessing what we need to assess.  

I'm also not sure how effective we are with our assessments. We create them, administer them, and use the data for instructional planning and decision making, but sometimes it seems as though we are creating and giving assessments simply to check a box. Some of our assessments are mandated and we cannot do anything about those assessments, whether they are useful for data and grades or not, but I think that even some of the assessments we create are not as good or useful as they could be. The quality of our assessments suffer because we do not connect them to learning objectives well, we do not always have the time to do so appropriately and effectively, and even sometimes because we lack the proper practical training in examining learning objectives and connecting them to assessments so that the assessments are sensible for students and valid, reliable, and effective for data and measuring student learning. 

Actually taking the time to create learning objectives for the standards, to look at the needed skills and subskills, and to create assessments for the standards based on these learning objectives first, before planning the rest of the unit, instruction, or even the "I can" statements, would greatly improve my teaching practices. While it would take a lot of time to go through this process with each standard in each subject, it would be worth it. My students' learning would increase and eventually, the upfront time would even out because teaching would be more organized and structured, which would leave time for other important things. 

Later in the chapter the authors discuss why evaluation of students is important. They state that "some sociologists see the sorting of students into societal roles as a primary purpose of schools: if schools do not actually determine who will be a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker, they do substantially influence who will be a laborer, a skilled worker, a white-collar worker, or a professional. This sorting function takes place gradually over years of schooling" (p. 359). They mention reading groups as an example of this sorting, and how it evolves into advanced, basic, or remedial levels of particular subjects in middle and high school. I am quite sure that this is true, because I see that schools do function this way, but goodness, reading it in such direct terms made me uneasy. I don't want anyone to gloss over the truth of the ways our school systems may fail our students; it's important to know those failures so that we can improve. However, it has made me begin rethinking how students are sorted into groups and how I can make sure I am not contributing to a societal sorting system that may not be beneficial to our students (and possibly not to our society). I'm not sure what I will do with this information, or how it will impact my teaching or grouping of students, but this topic is something I need to process and think through the implications of so I can decide if anything needs to change in my classroom and how it will change.