St. George’s Curriculum and Evaluation practices November 15 th, 2011

Your main questions What kind of curriculum does St. George’s deliver ? How do our assessment and evaluation practices support student learning? Why is teacher judgment a better evaluation approach to grading work than using percentage grades?

Some recurring technical words Curriculum : A planned series of experiences designed by teachers to ensure that students learn a particular segment of content. Formative Assessment: The documentation of student’s progress used to aid their learning; usually not graded. Evaluation: A summative assessment done at the end of a unit or a project; usually graded.

Models of education Two prevailing views of education currently exist in North America

The first one is a legacy of the industrial revolution

This educational model was conceived to produce a large number of skilled people to handle the exploding industrial growth. Under this form of schooling, students are taught what they needed to know (memorize), but do not learn how to think critically. The teacher is considered as the holder / expert of the knowledge that all students must acquire to graduate. The textbook and accompanying exercise books are often the main material constituting the curriculum.

Evaluation under this model of education Tests and exams that measure the amount of information retained are the main evaluation tools. Every student production is graded. At the end of each term, grades are added and averaged to indicate the student’s acquisition of knowledge.

This model still prevails in many schools today!

The second model evolved from Dewey’s work on understanding learning in the 1920’s. It is in part derived from elements inherent in a one room school house

Characteristics of the one room school house The teacher knows the students well and adapts the teaching and learning activities to the level of development of each student. There are no preset norms of achievement based on age but rather each child develops at his or her own rhythm. Students collaborate and support each other in their learning. The students spend most of their time involved in learning activities with occasional tests to benchmark their levels of achievement.

St.George’s was inspired and founded by this model

Agnes Matthews “ The present development of the school is proof that the group of parents was right in their decision to found a school upon the philosophy of Dewey, the principles of psychology and the modern methods of education. Many years later the school stands firmly established.“ 1948

Education at St. George’s Research results from various fields such as psychology, neuro- psychology, neurolinguistics, cognitive sciences and pedagogy drive our day to day practices in 2011.

Some core principles inspiring our practices Facebook.com

Research Finding # 1: Each brain is uniquely organized. computersight.com When information is presented in modalities closer to how a brain learns, the learner better processes this information (learning styles and preferences).

karinsteinmann.blogspot.com

Research Finding # 2: In order for students to develop higher order thinking and become effective problem solvers, they need to experience both convergent thinking (much of what the first model of education does) and divergent thinking, in a variety of settings.

Art education, world connections, authentic evaluation situations develop divergent thinking.

3- Research Finding # 3: Positive emotions and growth mindsets are essential to processing information effectively.

baatschools.com

Social and Emotional Learning Outcomes Related to Performance in School Improved math, language arts, and social studies skills Increases in achievement over time (elementary to middle school) Higher achievement test scores and no decreases in scores More progress in phonological awareness Improved learning-to-learn skill Better problem solving and planning Improved nonverbal reasoning From: Social and emotional learning (Zins & Elias, 2001, p. 5)

A student’s connection to learning Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence

Research Finding # 4: Learning is as much a social process as it is a cognitive process. Having a strong sense of self within a group, leads to taking more risks with learning both in school and in life.

Research Finding # 5: The brain is more apt to retain information in long term memory when information is meaningful to the learner.

What is Meaningful Learning? missraman.edublogs.org

Solid curriculum For curriculum to support all learners optimally, it must integrate all five principles revealed by research.

Back to your Questions How are evaluation and assessment connected to these research based practices at St.George’s? How do they support students’ learning?

Definitions and characteristics ( to recap)

How Teachers Plan a Unit

Formative assessment helps the teacher in identifying where to start teaching, gives timely feedback to the students, and allows students to reflect on their learning and set goals.

Characteristics of an effective assessment plan

Evaluation without formative assessment

In a model that uses formative assessment students are constantly showing evidences of learning, however only some of those productions are graded.

Area 543 Questions Appropriately Identifies all of the important information in the situation. Provides an explanation based on knowledge from several points of view. Identifies all of the important information in the situation. Provides a clear explanation. Identifies most of the important information in the situation. Provides a basic explanation Appropriate use of scientific laws, concepts, and theories Lists all of the important scientific ideas, and connects them to the situation in detail. Lists all of the important scientific ideas related to the situation. Lists all of the most obvious scientific ideas related to the situation. Appropriate explanations and solutions Expertly explains the connections between theory and the situation, using additional resources other than those provided. Clearly explains the connections between theory and the situation, using the resources provided. Adequately explains the connections between theory and the situation, using some of the resources provided. Summative and Formative assessment should provide clear teachers feedback on established and measurable criteria

Teacher Judgment Better reflection of the learning processes of a student and allows to count the most important productions of the students ( all students ). Factors life and emotional realities of students in the evaluation of their real competency. Based on the unit’s pre-established goals and measured by criteria based rubrics (eliminates favoritism or random selection of grades)

Why is teacher judgment a better evaluation approach for grading students on their report card than adding percentage grades throughout the term or the year?

% Averages VS Teachers’ Judgment student Work or test #1 Work Or test #2 Work or test # 3 Work or test # 4 Work or test # 5 AverageJudgment / / / / / 98

How do our curriculum and evaluation practices prepare students for post secondary education? Sources of information to track students : – Admission into first choice of program at CEGEP – Feedback from CEGEPs: Deans’ list, anecdotal – Favourable AP data – Favourable National tracking survey results

Comparison of High School Subject Marks to First Year Subject Marks

Our future development: If the medium is the message, then:

As Benjamin Bloom (1985) famously wrote, “After forty years of intensive research on school learning in the United States as well as abroad, my major conclusion is: What any person in the world can learn, almost all persons can learn, if provided with the appropriate prior and current conditions of learning. “(p. 4)