Stuart Beatch200 275 063ECS 410 (Peta White)April 16, 2012

Response to Making Classroom Assessment Work (Third Edition) – Anne Davies

As our class text for this semester, I was surprised by Dr. Davies’ short volume. My first impression was, of course, “How could you possibly explain classroom assessment in just over 100 pages?” It becomes very clear upon reading the work, however, that Davies is determined in her aim of providing clear solutions and tools in the field of assessment, and she wastes little time in achieving that goal.

Chapters 1-3

In the first chapters, Davies begins by laying the groundwork for her approaches: How do we think about assessment? Our ideologies and personal beliefs in how we assess students have a strong influence on how we incorporate these practices into our classroom, and so we need to think critically. Along the same line, Davies provides a classroom assessment process that works, beginning by reviewing the curriculum and describing the learning that the students are to accomplish. Second, teachers work with students to bring them into the assessment process and engage in activities to deepen their understanding. Finally, teachers evaluate and “sum up the learning.” The next big block to follow in classroom assessment practices is creating a positive learning community. This means ensuring there is a positive environment in the classroom, and that parents are involved in their students’ school lives. Davies here provides some approaches and steps to work with the parents directly and ensure they are participating. The third chapter of Davies’ book outlines the first basic step of assessment: Beginning with the end in mind. Without a clear destination, we cannot possibly know where we want our students to be, and therefore we can’t possibly know how to assess them. Knowing the learning destination gives us as teachers a clear map for the semester, and also gives student a clear depiction of where they are going and what is expected of them, and are better equipped to show us what they know.

In reading these early chapters of Davies’ book, I found an approach to classroom assessment that was clear, concise, and immediately approachable. At times, I found that her writing became a little dry and repetitive, but admittedly, this is due to only having so many ways of saying an approach “works.” On that note – it is interesting to me that her book does not have frequent references. There is a reference section at the end of the book, but many of the claims made in the book – though positive and based partially in research – are not cited. Since I am not a terribly academic person, this doesn’t bother me, and I see no harm in trying an approach out at least once, but it is somewhat disconcerting that most of the suggestions are made with the subtext of “Trust me on this.” However, I’m sure even Davies herself would agree that this book is not the final word in assessment, and that there is always more research and more study to be done, and with new editions, she will likely rethink some of what she has written – a reminder that if something doesn’t work, despite what someone else has said about it, it may need adapting to suit you, or it may never suit you at all.

Chapters 4-5

The following two chapters refer mostly to descriptions of learning. First, how can we describe where the students are to end up? Using samples and exemplars can give students guidance, and allow them to better grasp the criteria presented to them in a particular project or assignment. Second, how can we collect evidence to show students’ learning over time? There are three general types of assessment evidence we can collect: Observations of learning, products students create, and conversations with students about their learning. After (and indeed, during) the collection process, the next step is to create a plan. We can accomplish this by comparing our original learning destination to the evidence we have collected and ask if there are any gaps or overlaps, and if evidence has been collected from multiple sources – and if we have a triumvirate of sources as outlined before, this is not a problem.

Moving into the meat of the subject, some real useful approaches to assessment, I find myself quite amazed at the simplicity and applicability of what Davies has to say and suggests. It seems almost as if everything would work so clearly and cleanly and everything just “makes sense.” I have begun to appreciate also the small quotes back to research studies showing the correlation between assessment styles and student success – not only does it provide some grounding for Davies’ suggestions (despite the lack of references as mentioned previously), it also gives some support for why we assess as we do. If we so desire to adopt the styles and approaches suggested in this text and are questioned in its usefulness either by administration, parents, or students, we can give some of these studies as reasoning and advocacy in this direction.

Chapters 6-8

Moving further into Davies’ approach, she begins to delve into involving students in their classroom assessment, making the connections between assessment and learning, and involving students in collecting their evidence of learning. To involve students in assessment, Davies posits that we as teachers should involve students in setting criteria, engage them through self-assessment, increase the sources of specific, descriptive feedback, and assist students in setting goals. Along this line, daily involvement in these assessment practices builds a strong foundation for learning. To help students in collecting evidence to show their learning, there are four steps suggested by Davies: Keep the process simple, involve students, help students and parents value the evidence, and reconsider evidence collections.

The information presented in this segment of Davies’ book relates very clearly to the portfolio presentation done in our class back in February. I am not sure yet if I am prepared to introduce this method of assessment into my classroom immediately, but I am very clear as to the positive aspects of this approach and think that there is definitely a reason Davies has chosen to involve this as a major component of her book. Indeed, it appears that portfolio assessment and collecting evidence of learning forms an integral part of her methodology, but I feel that other aspects can still be used without this segment being introduced.

Chapters 9-10

As we approach the end of the book, Davies now talks to the subject that surprisingly has been somewhat absent up until this point: Evaluation. First, she posits that students should be able to communicate about their learning and demonstrate it, and if this is done in a public setting, the audience should be given a chance to offer feedback. Secondly, evaluation in its formal sense stands as the last step in a classroom assessment strategy, where we involve the students and parents in reviewing the evidence collected about the student’s learning and compare it to what we wanted students to learn.

I found that this section of the book was perhaps the most interesting to me, as one of the most burning questions I have as a young educator is how to incorporate this concept of Assessment For Learning into a practical world of grades and standards. As Davies addresses “compensating for the compulsory,” I appreciate the ideologies she shares in reporting grades and working around the structures in place. We need to accomplish what the school board and Ministry of Education asks of us, and learning more about how to do this but still maintain a positive classroom assessment method with our students is invaluable. My only regret is that Davies did not speak more about this; I will definitely have to look into it further.

Chapter 11

The final chapter of Davies’ book talks of building an assessment community with your fellow educators and working to use her suggestions as a team, creating opportunities for synergistic growth.

This was my least favourite chapter of the book, by far. While I appreciated Davies mentioning the positive aspects of teamwork in the teacher community and sharing of ideas and assessment resources, and indeed it should have offered a satisfying coda to the book’s wealth of information, it instead creates an image of “selling out” and marketing the book and its sister resources for use in the school. Had she not mentioned the book quite as often, and instead given the idea of using it as a professional development tool in an afterword, it may not have come off quite as obvious, but instead, the deeper positive message is lost in the marketing, and I was sorely frustrated by that fact.

Despite the flaws in the last chapter, and the lack of academic “proof,” Davies’ book is most certainly an easy read and an excellent quick reference. She suggests countless approaches and ideologies that create one possible avenue to a positive assessment process. While I am certain that there are infinitely many such processes that may work just as well or better than what Davies suggests, her methods and ideas are clear and will certainly be useful in my future teaching. If supplemented with research into other methods and approaches to assessment, I can use this text to find my own personal method for classroom assessment that works.