Chapter 10 Evaluating and Reporting Sarah Chrobot, Leigh Tremblay, Jessica Gent, Emma Weighill, Jewel Springer “The process of assessing children’s learning – by looking closely at it and striving to understand it – is the only certain safeguard against children’s failure, the only certain guarantee of children’s progress and development.” -Mary Jane Drummond, p. 103

Evaluating and Reporting- The Last Step in the Assessment Process 1.Teacher develops descriptions of learning 2.Teacher describes what success looks like for students 3.Teacher thinks through the evidence that will be needed 4.Teacher is ready to evaluate and uses professional judgement 5.Teacher reviews their judgement and evidence with students and their parents

Working Together Evaluating and reporting follows 4 issues in regards to professional judgement 1.What does the student know, what is she or he able to do, and what can she or he articulate? 2.What areas require further attention or development? 3.In what ways can the student’s learning be supported? 4.How is the student progressing in relation to the standards or development for students in a similar age range?

Working Together Teachers, parents, and students all play important roles in the evaluating process Students do the learning and create evidence of their understanding Parents participate by listening, watching, asking questions, and making sense of the evidence Teachers are the final evaluators of work. They help students communicate their knowledge to others and make themselves available to discusses their evaluations of the student work

Subjective Process The evaluating and reporting includes 1.Evaluating evidence 2.Involving parents/students in reviewing the evidence 3.Summarizing strengths and areas that need improvement 4.Finalizing report -Material collected should be from a long period of time and be valid and reliable to get the best results for evaluation

Evaluating the Evidence Evaluation: A process of looking at all the evidence, comparing it to the description, and samples of quality. Triangulation of Evidence: Looking at evidence from three different sources. – We must consider the entire range of indicators by examining self-assessments, evidence students may have collected, our observations, criteria based assessments, performance grids, rubrics, and grades.

Reporting This is an on-going process that involves students, parents, and teachers in examining and making sense of a student’s learning. – Anytime a student speaks with a parent, they are reporting. Formal Evaluating and Reporting: Is required by legislation or policy and is a process of looking at the evidence through having conversations and conferences.

Involving Parents and Students Teachers are beginning to see the advantage of showing their students their reports before they go home to show their parents. This increases the validity of the teacher’s evaluation because we add the student’s perspective to our range of information. Students can then explain their reports to their parents.

Involving Parents and Students Involving parents gives them the opportunity to review the evidence, listen to their child discuss their strengths and areas of improvement, take part in goal setting, and develop a plan to support their child’s learning. Parents also have the opportunity to listen to the teacher and have the teacher respond to any questions or concerns. Even after the conference, teachers may send home a follow up survey to invite parents to offer feedback.

Some Assessing/Collecting Evidence Techniques Used by Teachers Observation charts Portfolios Conferences Reflection sheets

Compensating for the Compulsory “make things work better while living within the rules” (p.100) Teachers must use report card symbols that summarize the learning “Traditional grades lead to either less impressive learning, less interest in learning or less desire for more challenging learning” so if you have to give grades, give AS FEW as possible (p.100)

Compensating for the Compulsory Work within government regulations while thinking about student learning Talk with students about what counts in their learning share information about how a grade is determined before the end of the term with students involve students in the conferencing and reporting process

Compensating for the Compulsory Have student-parent-teacher conferences before you write up the report cards – Students are responsible for their own learning – Learning + teaching + assessment all in one – Include parents in the process of evaluating their child

Common Elements of Evaluation and Assessment Work within legal requirements for reporting in the schools and districts Involve students in assessment process Collect samples of growth over time Check with students to ensure they understand teacher evaluations of their work Have discussions with students and parents about strengths, goals and areas that need improvement Finalize reports after conversations have been done with student and parents

Chapter 11 Learning By Ourselves and With Others

Your Learning Circle Some circles may be part of your job while others are created by you. By talking and sharing our ideas, mistakes, and resources, we are constantly learning. These people in our learning circles can give us advice when we feel lost or stuck. Our friends and our colleagues can help us to see what we already know and what we want to learn.

Teachers as Learners and Researchers Learning circles must be respectful in order to work. We must be willing to listen to what others have to say and allow others to choose what and how they are going to learn. If we treat the people in our circles with respect and allow for a variety of experiences to learn from, we create a safe learning environment.

Guidelines to Consider 1.Start Small 2.Get organized together 3.Share responsibility

Start Small Arrange a first meeting, starting with a few people you think might be interested (even one person is a good start!) Discuss experiences that made them interested in improving their classroom assessment Listen, ask questions, find commonalities and shared interests

Get Organized Together Explain the vision for the group, briefly discussing the following: Reasons for starting the group What to accomplish or do Is it more like a book club, a time to share successful ideas, or a bit of both?

Get Organized Together Should you use a book to guide the group? How should each meeting be planning? While discussing these points, allow others to share their ideas and work together to find a way to make the group successful

Share Responsibility Each meeting should have a leader, chosen in advance, to keep things running smoothly. Someone should also act as a facilitator to ensure that everyone gets the chance to contribute

Advice from Learning Circles Be respectful Adapting, rather than adopting, new ideas There is a variety of ways that work Ask meaningful questions Find a structure that works Conversations are private and should not be shared outside of the circle unless given permission Limit the length and amount of meetings