Embracing Student Self-Assessment in Middle School

 

I have spent a lot of time over the past few years thinking about assessment. What does it mean? What does it look like in Middle School? How can teachers do it well? What's the "best" way to assess student growth and learning?

Assessment has become a passion of mine, and I am ever-evolving on my quest to do it well. Here, I'll share some ideas and observations I've noticed over the past few years in my own classroom and those around me. 

What is assessment?

Assessment is the process of gathering information and data in order to gain an understanding of the strengths and struggles of our students and their learning. It is meant to help measure the progress of learning and to inform where to go next.

Assessment can take many forms. Teachers (and students and parents) tend to think of testing as assessment. While testing is one way to gather assessment data, it is not the only form of assessment that should be used in a middle school classroom. 

I believe that the most important form of assessment is student self-assessment. If students have a good understanding of how they are doing and where they are on their learning journey, they can better set realistic short- and long-term goals for themselves. 

My personal goal each year is for my students to stop asking me "How am I doing in this class?" and instead have a great answer for me when I ask them "How are you doing in this class?" I never want students to be surprised when a Point of Progress (report card) is sent home. Ideally, they are writing that Point of Progress with me and will be able to talk about their progress with their parents when they get home. 

It takes a lot of time and practice to get to that stage, but I truly believe that the most important skill I can teach to my middle schoolers is how to effectively and accurately assess their own learning. 

So, how do you teach self-assessment skills to middle schoolers?

1. Be prepared to put in the time

It starts with an attitude and understanding that this will be a continual process from the first day of school until the last. Teachers need to be willing to put in the time to devote to self-assessment.  Luckily, I work in a middle school with self-contained classes, meaning I am a generalist teacher and I have my class all day for all subjects except P.E. and ADST (Applied Design, Skills, and Technology - foods, art, woodshop, coding, etc.). We also do not have prescribed minutes/percentages of our schedule that must be devoted to specific subject areas, so teachers have a lot of flexibility and control over their day-to-day schedules. 

In a typical week, I set aside 1-3 blocks for students to work on self-assessment. I have had teachers come to me concerned about the time that it takes to teach these self-assessment skills "eating away" at their curricular time for subjects, but I remind them that the Career Education curriculum in B.C. includes self-assessment skills. This work is curricular and is not wasted time.

2. Students need to understand the curriculum

If students are to accurately assess their learning based on the curriculum, they need to know the curriculum. I start off the year by giving the curriculum documents to my students (one subject at a time) and we go through what curricular competencies (skills) we are planning to develop in the year. 

Students work in groups to put the curricular competencies into friendlier language so that they can understand what those skills actually mean. I've found that it is really helpful to re-write the competencies into "I can" statements, as it gives the student language right away to begin to assess their own learning.

Here are some examples from the BC Grade 6 English Language Arts curriculum:

3. Students need to understand the evaluation scale

In order to evaluate where they are on the marking scale, students need to fully understand what each of the descriptors means. Whether you use traditional letter grades or another evaluation scale, this is key. 

I am supremely happy that my district has decided to move away from letter grades, and teachers do not need to use them to evaluate student progress anymore. Instead, my district has adopted the BC Provincial Proficiency Scale. I like that this scale is a strength-based form of assessment and not a deficit-based model like letter grades and percentages. 

This scale has 4 descriptors: Emerging, Developing, Proficient, and Extending. The language in the scale is not perfect - for example, what is the difference between complete understanding and sophisticated understanding? 

To help break down the scale, a team of teachers in my school created a document for students as a guide so that they can place themselves more easily on the scale. 

Here are some of the details of each descriptor:

I know I’m working at the Emerging level because:

• I need an adult to help me start my assignments

• I need an adult close by to help me along the way to finish my work

• I have some understanding or knowledge about what we’re learning

• I may not be able to finish all my work on my own

I know I’m working at the Developing level because:

• I sometimes need reminders to begin or complete tasks

• I can follow examples to create something new

• I need feedback from the teacher to know if I’m on track

• I have a lot of questions, but I might not ask them

• When I’m comfortable, I can show what I know

 

I know I’m working at the Proficient level because:

• I can begin and complete my work when I understand the criteria

• I can create something new without a lot of direction from the teacher

• I check my work against criteria and rubrics

• I feel confident about what we’re learning 

• I can show what I know, even if I’m not totally comfortable

I know I’m working at the Extending level because:

• I can begin and complete my work independently

• I can create something new and look for ways to exceed the criteria

• I can make connections between what we’re learning and what I’ve learned in the past

• I ask questions to extend my learning

• I can show what I know in an interesting, unique, or new way

Once students are familiar with the language of the descriptors, have students practice discussing and assessing exemplars and previous student work (with names removed). Make sure to show examples at a range of levels and abilities, not just those which are "proficient." This allows them to get used to the language in a safe way before they have to look inward at their own abilities.

 

4. Decide on your format

Once students understand the curriculum and the evaluation scale, you need to decide how they will communicate their learning with you and with their families. There are a variety of formats you and your students could use: journals, portfolios, videos, conversations/conferences, points of progress, etc.

Here are a few formats I've used with students. Note, these are all formats that are useful for summative reporting/communicating with families at the end of a project/reporting period.

• Point of Progress (Report Card)

This format is helpful for parents because it looks like a report card, so it is more familiar as a way to communicate student learning than, for example, a portfolio entry. If students and parents are new to student self-assessment, it can be challenging to get them to "buy in." It includes a few curricular competencies, and students assess their proficiency levels on each competency. I had students ask if they could shade a section between two categories (between proficient and developing, for example), which I thought was a great idea. The most important part of this document is their justification of how they know they are working at the level they chose.

• Portfolios

I used a few different formats for portfolios this year, but this version was my favourite. For these portfolios, I asked students to choose one of the curricular competencies/skills and reflect on that skill. They needed to include a proficiency scale reflection and evidence as to why they rated themselves the way they did. This student also included a photo of their finished poem (which is unfortunately too blurry to read).

For these portfolios, I assessed the competency/skill that the student assessed. I like that this gives student agency and choice over which standards/skills are being reported on to send home. If they feel like they are doing well on one particular skill, they can reflect on that one, and can wait until later in the year to reflect on skills where they may still be emerging or developing. I sent these home in place of a report card for some of the reporting periods last year.

• Competency Reflections

This was an idea I borrowed from a colleague. For these reflections, students choose 2-4 competencies per subject area that they wish to reflect on and explain why they have rated themselves the way they have. With a teacher comment added in, these could be sent home instead of report cards. I am planning to modify this slightly for next year as shown below:

I plan to make a Google Document for each student with the competencies for each subject, a section for student notes, and a section for teacher notes. I will have access, as will the student (and maybe even the parent). As we work on different competencies, the students and I can add notes to the document. If parents have access, too, they can check into their child's progress whenever they choose to, and won't have to wait for specific reporting periods for an update. That way, it will become more formative, and not just summative assessment.

Let me know in the comments which of these formats you'd like to try or if you have other great self-assessment ideas to share!

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