Day 2 - Assessment Summit - ATL

Today I saw both Doug Reeves and Thomas Guskey speak regarding assessment, both of whom are phenomenal presenters. I'm ready to make changes in the way to give and use assessment in my classroom tomorrow!

Doug Reeves presented some powerful data about the cost effects of keeping the status quo. It costs tax payers $15.4 billion annually from high school dropouts alone. This comes from social programs, health care, and safety concerns. In the state of Georgia alone, 1 year of high school dropouts cost the state $746 million. By lowering the drop out rate in Georgia by 5% the state would realize a savings of $276 million per year (original reference pending).

He noted that change needs to occur at a systemic level immediately - not within a 5 year time span because our students don't have 5 years. He also impressed upon us that we don't need proof of the effectiveness of change, we only need proof that what we are doing is not working. The entire premise of change needs to rest on one factor: student achievement. If we are not doing something that directly effects student achievement, then it should not be done. Of course, he also noted that we may not realize that something is effective right away - some of the gains take time to actualize. This is the whole notion of making a change and actually giving it fair chance to demonstrate it's benefit.

With all of that said, his focus is on the feedback presented from assessment. Feedback needs to be accurate, timely, and effective. Students need correct information quickly to make changes to their behaviors and learning and they need to be able to see results. He presented a great change tracking tool to allow students to see their own gain over time.

Of course, many of his ideas throw out the whole currently accepted notion of grading on a 100 point scale. He piggy backed off of Marzano's presentation using a 0-4 scale with 3 being the benchmark that we expect all students to achieve.

Guskey also presented information on change over time in the methods and use of assessment. He urged everyone to consider granting additional opportunities for demonstrating mastery by using an analogy: getting a drivers license. If you do not successfully pass the test, you are told exactly what you need to work on and are allowed to re-test until you are successful, with no regard to the number of times it took to be successful, only the notion of success. This presents a culture of success and it's importance, as opposed to mastery being contained in a discrete time frame fabricated at the whim of the instructor.

As simple as this notion is, it throws everything out the window from "the way it was done". This means that EVERY student can be an "A" student when they demonstrate "A" mastery/performance. It does not, however, mean that students must master the content by the date of the end of the unit. What a powerful motivator to students who traditionally struggle. This gives students an opportunity to fail, remediate, and demonstrate mastery, earning the same marks as anyone else who masters. This could be the life changing experiences as students would know that they had the opportunity to be an "A" student, as the arbitrary letter only represents mastery of the content not all of the other factors which do not encompass mastery, such as time frame, participation, interaction, etc.\

More information regarding Doug Reeves and his research can be located at www.leadandlearn.com.