Classroom Assessment Policy and Practice in Georgia Black Sea Third International Conference September 12-13, 2014 Natia Andguladze and Nino Revishvili Co-authors: Ketevan Narimanishvili and Mikheil Giorgadze

Classroom Assessment Reform:  Shift towards a new paradigm of classroom assessment:  Multiple assessment strategies  Holistic approach  Focus on learning outcomes and nurturing intrinsic motivation  Introducing formative assessment

Classroom Assessment Reform: “For successful implementation of classroom assessment it is not sufficient to merely assess students based on tests and quizzes. Teachers should assess students using observation data, students’ portfolios, presentations, self-assessment, group projects and other activities… In classroom assessment, teachers should take into account student’s engagement (the quality of homework, classroom participation, creativity etc.). It is essential that students are informed beforehand about the assessment criteria” National Curriculum, 2006

Classroom Assessment in 1984

Classroom Assessment in 2014

Research methodology  Case studies:  two schools in Tbilisi, a school in a small city, and a village  Focus groups and interviews  Teachers: science and mathematics teachers (grades 7-12), reputation as a variation criterion  Their Students: various achievement levels  The school principals, deputy principals, heads of departments  Secondary data:  Trends in International Mathematics and Sciences Study 2007 and 2011, grade 8  Teaching and Learning International Study, 2013 addition  Teacher certification exams

Classroom assessment practices  Teachers pay increasing attention to grading  Grading occupies a lot of teachers’ time squeezing out the rest of the classroom assessment objectives “For a formative assessment, it is not enough to tell a student s/he has done a good job. A teacher needs to be specific and if a student gets a low grade, the teacher should explain the reasons to the student, tell him what he/she has done wrong”

Classroom assessment practices  The application of some assessment strategies, principles, and approaches is superficial or misguided  Test=close ended questions only  Explaining expectations=telling a student how many scores he/she will get for answering a question correctly  Formative assessment?

Classroom assessment practices: feedback How often do you do the following?

Formative assessment: feedback Feedback examples from interviews and focus groups with students:  “Good job! But I expect more from you”  “Pay attention to the material we have covered”  “If you keep this way, you’ll achieve a lot”  “You could have done it better”  “You were not prepared well”

Formative assessment: feedback Teachers’ comments on how to use feedback for formative assessment “When a student is standing at the blackboard, and you are telling the student – this is a minor mistake and it won’t affect your grade, but you were not supposed to make the other mistake.. When you make a comment like this, there are no questions asked” “Even if a student does everything right and gets 10, I still give her/him a comment so that others can hear” “I tell the student, this was good and I liked it. If he doesn’t do it well, I tell a student, you have time till the end of the class and if you don’t correct it, your grade won’t improve”

The share of certified teachers (%)

Classroom assessment reform: teacher competencies “In some schools, teacher community is hostile towards the teachers who put extra effort in doing things anew because this puts pressure on other teachers in the school to change. The other teachers start to ridicule the teacher and the teacher becomes alienated from her colleagues. If school principals is not supportive of her, she will eventually stop trying” A school principal in Tbilisi

Classroom Assessment Reform: Conflicting policies  Two new programs initiated by the MoES in 2008  Medals for school graduates  Computers for high achieving students in the 9 th grade  Rationale  “Such activities significantly raise the resepct towards achievement in and outside school”  Eligibility  Golden medal: GPA 10 during the last three years of schooling  Silver medal: 9.8 – 9.9 GPA  Computers:  : Grade 10 and 111 with GPA 9.7 in the previous academic year  2010-present: Grade 10 with GPA 10 during previous 3 years

Medal Award Statistics from 2008 through 2014

Classroom Assessment Reform: 2010  New grading regulations, amendment in the National Curriculum in 2010: “A student’s semester grade is calculated from the following: 1.Homework assignment 2.Classroom assignment 3.Summative assessment Each of the components have equal weights in the semester grade” “The number of summative assessments for each subject is defined by the National Curriculum hour plan”

Changes in assessment from 2007 to 2011 (TIMSS) How often do you use homework assignment for grading?

Changes in assessment from 2007 to 2011 (TIMSS) How often do you have students correct their own work?

Conclusions  System approach: harmonized, mutually reinforcing policies  Interventions tailored to the development stage: what teachers can and cannot do  Sustainability mechanisms: TPD model that translates into the change in classroom practices, ensures that teachers use new knowledge in practice, evaluate it and reflect on it.

Medal Award Ceremonies

References  Darling-Hammond, L. & Bransford, J. (2006). Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  McKinsey & Company (2010) How the World’s Most Improved School Systems Keep Getting Better  Sikula, J. (1996). Handbook of research on teacher education. New York: Simon & Schuster.