Learning a New Way of Assessment: Stories from the Field

Some of you may remember a question that I shared a few months ago regarding assessment from a teacher named Michelle in Port au Prince, Haiti. Michelle is working with one of our consultants to implement Making Meaning®, Being a Writer™ and Individualized Daily Reading (IDR) in grades K–3. In an email to Developmental Studies Center (DSC) consultant Pat Handly, she stated:

We have a pretty good understanding of how to complete the assessments provided, and they are helpful in determining our students' progress and needs (the whole point of assessment). However, when it comes time to write progress reports and report cards, we do not have many grades to enter. We are wondering if you have any suggestions on how to translate what we as teachers gather from the assessments into something that parents understand/expect to see on a report card.

This question ignited a flurry of conversation amongst our consultants. Many voiced a similar concern; teachers were pleased with the results of the programs but unsure how that translated into their grading system. Robyne Lewis, a Developmental Studies Center (DSC) consultant, shared from her own experience as a principal that she “took the opportunity to provide an explanation to parents how DSC assessments work…Individual notebooks including assessment sheets were provided for parents to view while they waited for conferences. Over time parents learned, firsthand, about their child's progress and also began to articulate how much more they learned than from a single grade. We didn't eradicate grades (a systemic thing), but it was a good start. I truly believe parents expect grades because that is all they know. We have a powerful opportunity to help them learn a new way of assessment.”

While I shared Robyne’s thoughtful answer with the many consultants who’d written in for help on this topic, Michelle’s question eventually circulated to Susie Alldredge, the former Director of Program Development here at DSC and the lead author of the Making Meaning, Being a Writer (BW) and Caring School Community programs. I’d like to take a moment now to share her response:

My response to this question is that while the BW assessments don’t automatically correlate to grades, they yield a lot of information that teachers should share with parents about how their children are growing as writers. Teachers can show scored student writing alongside the rubric and explain and give examples from the writing of how each criterion on the rubric was scored. Because the assessments yield an actual score, the teacher could use the level of growth from fall to winter to spring to help her/him determine the students’ grades (for example, growth of 5 points from fall to winter equals an “A,” while staying within 5 points equals a “B,” etc.). However, it is important to keep in mind that the BW assessments compare students’ current work to their own earlier work, rather than comparing their work to that of other students, so they are unlikely to see a bell-curve in the resulting grades (nor should they, as the program is designed so all students succeed and grow as writers at their own pace).

Hope this helps,

Susie

What have your experiences been with translating Making Meaning and Being a Writer assessments into grades? What have the reactions of parents been when presented with comprehensive assessment tools in addition to letter grades?  Can our programs better support teachers in bridging the gap between assessments and grading?

I look forward to hearing from you!

Best,

Lyndsey

To read about how this series came about, click here.

Lyndsey Williams is the Professional Development Coordinator for Developmental Studies Center.