Feedback and Assessment: Educative Assessment
(Version: Oct 99)
One of the most distasteful tasks involved in teaching for
most people is that of grading. Teachers often lament: "If
I could only teach and not have to grade, it would be so much
more fun." Similarly students often feel the same way on
their end of the relationship. "Taking a course isn't so
bad, but gearing up for those exams is a real pain." What
is the reason for this? Can anything be done about it? And what
does this have to do with instructional design? There are several
reasons for the onerous-ness of taking and grading exams, but
one of the primary factors is that teachers have had a very
limited view of the nature of feedback and assessment. Much
like teachers need to expand their view of teaching/learning
activities to include more "active learning," they
also need to expand their view of feedback and assessment to
include more "educative assessment." (Note: Much of
what follows is similar to the general message of two recent
publications that have much to offer on this topic: Effective
Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment by Walvoord
and Anderson, 1998; Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments
to Inform and Improve Student Performance by Wiggins, 1998.
I have made my own interpretation of their ideas, but their
ideas and mine are all aimed at the same goal: finding ways
to conduct grading and assessment that support learning,
rather than hinder it.)
"Audit-ive Vs Educative Assessment
The third key element of instructional design is "Feedback
and Assessment." Like the other two elements (Goals and
Teaching/Learning Activities), Feedback and Assessment needs
to be re-conceptualized in order to provide the support necessary
to implement Higher Level Learning.
In order to recognize the need for such a re-conceptualization,
let us take a close look at an imaginary but familiar form of
Feedback and Assessment. In this stereotypical course, students
are given lots of information via lectures and reading assignments
(the "Teaching/Learning Activities") and then assessed
via two midterms and a final. When asked about his "Goals"
for the course, the teacher indicates he has two primary goals.
He wants students to (a) master the content and (b) learn how
to "think" like a ____ (member of his discipline).
This all too common situation creates a major dilemma when it
comes time to engage in assessment. The course has a goal focused
on "thinking", but the teaching/learning activities
only support an "understand and remember" level of
learning, i.e., there is a disconnect between the goals and
the teaching/learning activities. The assessment problem is
this: Should the three tests includes questions on "thinking",
or not? If they do (in which case they are properly connected
to the course goals), students are not likely to do well because
they were not really prepared to "think" effectively
about the subject. This is when students are likely to say:
"I thought I was 'getting it' but I guess I wasn't. Apparently
I really don't understand what the teacher wants us to get out
of the course." Or conversely, if the three tests focuses
only on "understand and remember" type questions and
do not include thinking questions, the tests are properly connected
to the teaching/learning activities but not to the course goals.
In these circumstances, the students are likely to say: "I
may be learning this stuff, but what on earth am I going to
do with it in the future?"
What are the problems with this kind of "Feedback and Assessment?"
There are several problems. First, the feedback and assessment
process is not fully integrated into the teacher's own course
design; that is, it is not fully connected to the teacher's
goals and/or to the teaching/learning activities. Second, the
assessment is totally focused on what has happened during the
course, without reference to a clear sense of what this course
is trying to prepare students to "do" in the future,
after the course is over. The widespread thought in the minds
of teachers when they prepare a test, is: "Well, we covered
this in the course; therefore I should be able to ask a question
about _____." Third, the pattern of "two midterms
and a final" focuses exclusively on generating assessment
but does not attempt to provide the dialogue necessary for "feedback."
Fourth, the whole assessment process is teacher-dominated. There
is essentially no opportunity or support for self-assessment
by the student. With this many problems, it is clear that this
all-too-familiar pattern of assessment will never support the
kind of significant learning envisioned in the first part of
this book and which is being sought by society and thoughtful
teachers.
What kind of alternative exists? Even as the concept of "Higher
Level Learning" offers some ideas for imagining more worthwhile
educational goals, and the concept of "Active Learning"
offers ideas for selecting better teaching/learning activities,
I propose that the concept of "Connected Feedback and
Assessment" offers a more powerful form of assessment,
and that a more powerful form is needed to support and achieve
truly significant learning.
So, what is "Connected Feedback and Assessment"? Good
feedback and assessment is "connected" is three ways:
1. The Feedback and Assessment is connected to both (a) the goals of the course
and (b) the teaching/learning activities, as called for in
the model of instructional design presented earlier in this
book.
2. The Feedback and Assessment connects (a) what is happening
in the course now to (b) what we expect the student to be
doing in the future.
3. In "Connected Feedback and Assessment," the student
is connected and involved in the whole feedback and assessment
process.
The need for the first kind of connection has already been
illustrated in the concept of an integrated course design model,
in which "Feedback and Assessment" is one of the three
key elements in the design process, each of which need to reflect
each other. The other two kinds of connection are shown in Figure
6 on the following page. In this figure, the top box represents
what could and should happen during a course; the bottom
box represents what could and should happen in the future,
i.e., after the course or after a particular learning sequence
in a course.
Figure 6
During the course, the learner is learning to "do"
something, e.g., interpret a novel, design a bridge, or analyze
social problems. Throughout the learning process, the teacher
needs to provide the learner with FEEDBACK. One distinctive
feature of feedback is that it needs to be done in dialogue.
The learner needs to participate in this process in order to
understand how she/he is doing but also to fully understand
the criteria for high quality performance or "doing."
(Note: More will be said later on the need for dialogue in the
feedback process.) At various times during the course, the teacher
also performs ASSESSMENT. Unlike feedback assessment
often occurs in the form of an "announcement," rather
than in dialogue. Assessment, as defined here, refers to "determining
the readiness of the student to engage in some kind of future
'doing.'" The "future doing" might be future
employment, future roles in society, future leisure activities,
a licensing exam, subsequent courses in a curriculum, or even
subsequent portions of the same course. The question to be answered
in the assessment activity is, in essence: Is the learner ready
to engage in this future "doing," whatever it is?"
In this scheme, GRADING is a byproduct of assessment.
Once a course is over, the teacher communicates to others (e.g.,
future teachers, graduate schools, and potential employers)
the degree to which the learner is ready to do certain things.
The grade may be in the form of a letter (A,B,C, etc.), a number
on a scale, or a set of narrative comments in a letter that
elaborates more fully what a particular learner is and is not
ready to do as a result of a given course or curriculum experience.
The fourth key component is SELF-ASSESSMENT by the learner.
During the course the learner needs to learn how to engage in
self-assessment. Engaging in feedback dialogue with the teacher
plays a critical role in the development of this capacity. During
that process, the student learns what to observe in their own
performance and the criteria by which she/he can assess the
quality of her/his own performance and then work on improving
it. When the capacity for self-assessment is properly developed,
the student then finishes the course and is able to continue
to assess his/her own performance and activity in the future,
as illustrated in the bottom box in Figure 6. Sometimes there
is an external assessor (e.g., a job supervisor) in these future
situations, sometimes not.
The Importance of Empathic Dialogue in Feedback
When the teacher tries to provide helpful feedback to the learner,
there are certain principles that seem to be important to follow.
1. Whereas assessment (as reflected in grading) is "announced,"
feedback needs to be done in the form of "dialogue."
Only then can the learner begin the process of incorporating
the criteria and standards of others into their own self-assessment
activities.
2. Feedback dialogue must be done with a balance of trust
and forcefulness that is sufficient to reach the learner's
self-concept.
3. All the people who are dialoguing in feedback must both
be cognizant of and respectful of the needs and vulnerabilities
of the others.
The importance of dialogue needs to be explained. One way of
looking at the act of learning is to think of it as consisting
of four levels in a pyramid:
This diagram implies that all students have certain kinds of
skills, make certain kinds of decisions, have a philosophy,
and have certain attitudes that affect their learning, for better
or worse. When we engage in dialogue with students to provide
feedback, our dialogue must contain enough empathy in order
for the learner to move down past more superficial discussions
of note-taking, test-taking skills, etc., and move through the
layers of Decisions and Philosophy, to reach the layer of Attitudes
about Self and consider changing their self-concept. Only
then can self-generated learning and self-assessment begin to
take place.
This is where part of the "art of teaching" lies.
Teachers must learn how to "read" different students
and determine how to reach their inner Self. Some learners have
to be handled very gently; others need to be "stirred up"
before their inner Self starts to take charge. One teacher reported
that, after several semesters of engaging in "gentle"
dialogue with a given student about how to perform better--without
success, he (the teacher) decided to give the student a "C"
for the semester, rather than a "B". At first, the
student was a bit upset. But then, after reflecting on the situation,
the student decided that he was not a "C" student
and that he apparently really needed to change his performance.
Only then could he get a better grade, one more congruent with
his chosen self-image. In a very short time following this incident,
the student's performance improved dramatically. In this particular
case, a forceful dialogue was needed to reach the deep level
of Attitude. With another student, such a forceful procedure
would be devastating rather than energizing. Again, this is
where the ability of the teacher to read individual students
plays a major role in providing effective feedback.
The Importance of Criteria and Standards
Surprising though it may seem, it is necessary to point out
that there can be no evaluation, whether in the form of feedback
or of assessment, without some kind of criteria and standards.
This needs to be mentioned because it seems many college teachers
are unclear about their own criteria and hence cannot provide
clear feedback and assessment.
One valuable source of advice about creating clear criteria
and standards is in Effective Grading Effective Grading by Walvoord
and Anderson (1998) . They offer a procedure which they call
"Primary Trait Analysis" (in Chapter 5) that is very
effective, both for pressing the instructor to clarify for him/herself
what the criteria and standards really are and then for communicating
that information to the students.
The Four "F's" of Feedback and Assessment
In order to help teachers move past the point where they view
all evaluation as synonymous with grading, I would offer the
following observation. Feedback and Assessment can be: FOR different
people, FROM different people, come in different FORMS, and
fulfill different FUNCTIONS.
1. FOR: Who is the Feedback and Assessment FOR?
It may be for:
- The Learner: Am I learning properly?
- The Teacher: Are my teaching strategies working effectively?
- Others outside the immediate teaching/learning situation:
Is this person ready for…..?
2. FROM: From whom does the Feedback and Assessment come?
The feedback and assessment information may come from:
- The learner him/herself
- Fellow learners (peers)
- Slightly advanced learners (e.g., graduate students with
undergraduates)
- Very advanced learners (e.g., the teacher)
- Practitioners
- Standardized test scores
3. FORM: In what form is the Feedback and Assessment done?
The F&A information may be done in the form of:
- Narrative comments (delivered orally or in writing)
- Check lists
- Symbols (e.g., letter grades)
- Numerical scores (e.g., absolute numbers, percentiles,
Z scores)
4. FUNCTION: What are the several educational functions or
purposes of Feedback and Assessment?
For the learner, F&A has several important functions:
- To improve the learner's ability to do something, to perform
well
- To enhance their motivation, i.e., their desire to perform
well
- To help the learner incorporate criteria and standards
into their own thinking, and thereby become a self-assessing
performer in future learning and performing situations.
For the teacher, F&A also has several important functions:
- How are my teaching strategies working?
- How well are the students, individually and collectively,
doing, in terms of my course goals?
- What information can I obtain about the characteristics
of the students?
- What do the students think about my teaching, etc.?
NOTE: The Classroom Assessment Techniques developed
by Angelo and Cross (1993) are extremely helpful in providing
ways for teachers to collect information that answers these
various questions.
Summary of Suggestions for "Connected Feedback and
Assessment
If a teacher wants to use "Connected Feedback and Assessment,"
what should they do? Below are some initial suggestions for
specific actions to take as a teach to start created this kind
of feedback and assessment.
1. Remember that Grading, Assessment, Feedback, and Self-Assessment
(by students) are all important, but each one involves different
procedures.
2. Make sure that all aspects of "Feedback and Assessment"
reflect both the Goals and the Teaching/Learning Activities
of the course.
3. Feedback: Create forms of dialogue with students from which
they can receive helpful information on how improve their
learning and the quality of their performance.
4. Self-Assessment: Find ways to help students learn how to
assess their own work.
5. Assessment: Assessment, as used here, means "evaluating
students' readiness to engage in relevant future activities,"
e.g., future courses, graduate school, experiencing the arts,
or future employment.
6. Decide what future activities you are preparing students
for.
7. Clarify the criteria that are important for assessing student
performance.
8. Create assessment procedures that validly indicate students'
readiness for those future activities.
9. Grading: Develop a grading system that clearly and fairly
communicates to others the readiness of students for relevant
future activities.
References
Angelo, T.A. and Cross, K. P. 1993. Classroom Assessment
Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. 2nd ed. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Walvoord, Barbara E. & Anderson, Virginia Johnson. 1998.
Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
