Self-Assessment and Rubrics: Empowering Students to Improve Academic Skills, Study notes of Mathematics

Download Self-Assessment and Rubrics: Empowering Students to Improve Academic Skills and more Study notes Mathematics in PDF only on Docsity! E d u c a t o r ’ s V o i c e n V o l u m e V n P a g e 4 2 Beyond “I Give Myself an A” Research has shown that feedback tends to promote learn- ing and achievement (Bangert-Drowns et al., 1991; Butler & Winne, 1995; Crooks, 1988; Hattie & Timperley, 2007), yet most students get little informative feedback on their work (Black & Wiliam, 1998). The scarcity of feedback in most classrooms is due, in large part, to the fact that few teach- ers have the time to respond as often as they would like to each student’s work. Fortunately, research also shows that students themselves can be useful sources of feedback via self-assessment (Andrade, Du & Mycek, 2010; Andrade, Du, & Wang, 2008; Ross, Rolheiser, & Hogaboam-Gray, 1999).  Self-assessment is a process of forma- tive assessment during which students reflect on the quality of their work, judge the degree to which it meets explicitly stated goals or criteria, and revise accordingly. The emphasis here is on the word formative. Self-assessment is done on drafts of works in progress in order to inform revision and improvement; it is not a matter of having students determining their own grades. Given what we know about human nature, as well as find- ings from research regarding students’ tendency to inflate self-evaluations when they will count toward formal grades (Boud & Falchikov, 1989), we subscribe to a purely formative type of student self-assessment.  Self-assessment meets the criteria of high-quality formative assessment practice outlined by Wiliam (2007):   1) clarifying, sharing, and understand- ing learning intentions and criteria for success by discussing model assignments and co-creating rubrics; 2) engineering effective classroom dis- cussions, questions, and tasks that elicit evidence of learning;   Heidi L. Andrade is an associate professor and the associate dean of academic affairs at the University at Albany, SUNY. Zachary B. Warner is a research assistant and an advanced doctoral student in educational psychology at the University at Albany, SUNY. SUMMARY Students take responsibil- ity for improving their academic skills by analyz- ing models, developing criteria for success and using rubrics to create, assess and revise their work — whether it be a persuasive essay or a mathematics challenge. In this way, students learn how to recognize and define excellence and use tools to achieve it. 3) providing feedback that moves learners forward, in this case self- generated feedback;   4) activating students as instructional resources for themselves; and 5) activating students as the owners of their own learning by empowering them to think about the quality of their own learning and work and how to make improvements to both.    Features of Self-Assessment Using Rubrics and Checklists   Thoughtful self-assessment is often scaffolded by a rubric. Rubrics have become popular with teachers as a means of communicating expectations for an assignment, providing focused feedback on works in progress, and grading final products (Andrade, 2000; Jonsson & Svingby, 2007; Moskal, 2003; Popham, 1997). Although educators tend to define the word “rubric” in slightly different ways, a commonly accepted definition is a document that articulates the expectations for an assignment by list- ing the criteria, or what counts, and describing levels of quality from excel- lent to poor (Andrade, 2000).   Rubrics are often used to grade stu- dent work, but many authors argue that they can serve another, more important role as well: Rubrics can teach as well as evaluate (Arter & McTighe, 2001; Quinlan, 2006; Spandel, 2006; Stiggins, 2001). Rubrics become a teaching tool when students use them to understand the goals of and standards for an assign- ment, compare their work-in-progress to those goals and standards, and determine how to fill in any gaps. Rubric-referenced self-assessment is a process of formative assessment in which students use a rubric (or check- list) to guide their judgments about the quality of their own work. The self- assessment process typically involves the following steps: n Students are presented with one or more models of the activity/ assignment. n Teachers and students discuss the model’s strengths and weaknesses. n Students co-create the rubric or con- tribute to rubric criteria with teachers. E d u c a t o r ’ s V o i c e n V o l u m e V n P a g e 4 3 continued on following page Heidi L. Andrade, University at Albany, United University Professions Zachary B. Warner, University at Albany, Research Assistant If students produce it, they can assess it; and if they can assess it, they can improve it. E d u c a t o r ’ s V o i c e n V o l u m e V n P a g e 4 6 Beyond “I Give Myself an A” 3. If they could not find evidence of having met the standard, students would write a specific note at the top of their draft related to neces- sary improvements for their final drafts (e.g., “Add opinion” or “Make opinion more clear”). 4. Repeat this process for each criteri- on and sub-criterion on the rubric. 5. Revise their work according to their analysis. The authors are currently developing a similar process of self-assessment in a seventh-grade mathematics class. In the mathematics class, the instructional target was to solve extended response problems requiring the use of the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of the hypotenuse or a leg of a right triangle. This target was drawn from NYS Learning Standards in effect at the time (NYS Mathematics Standard: 7.G.8 Use the Pythagorean Theorem. See New York State P-12 Common Core Learning Standards for Mathematics for new standards).   For this research project, students are given extended response questions and told they will be asked to solve them, to self-assess according to a par- tially co-created checklist, and to revise their work as needed. The self-assess- ment checklist will include both pro- cess and product criteria. The process criteria involve students in: n Checking their understanding of the task n Explaining what is known n Planning an approach n Solving the problem n Explaining their solution n Checking their solution   The product criteria are co-created with students:  n Appropriate formula n Diagram with clear labels n All work shown and connected to final answer n Correct calculations n Final answer clearly identified n Answer labeled with units, if appropriate See checklist at right. E d u c a t o r ’ s V o i c e n V o l u m e V n P a g e 4 7 Mathematics Checklist √ 1 Understand the task I can clearly state what the problem is asking me to find. 2 Explain what is known I can clearly explain the given information (what I know from the problem). I use words, numbers, and diagrams as appropriate. 3 Plan an approach I can clearly describe my chosen strategy, which is efficient and sophisticated (e.g., “I will make a table,” “make an organized list,” “draw a diagram”). 4 Solve the problem I use my plan to solve every part of the problem. If my strategy doesn’t work, I try a new one. I write out all the steps in my solution so the reader doesn’t have to guess at how or why I did what I did. I use words, numbers, and diagrams/charts/graphs, as appropriate. My work is clearly labeled. 5 Explain the solution I clearly explain my solution and why I believe it is correct using precise and correct math terms and notations. I check to make sure my solution is reasonable. I check for possible flaws in my reasoning or my computations. If I can, I solve the problem in a different way and get the same answer. 6 Check the solution I check my solution according to the scoring criteria. Scoring Criteria: ___ Appropriate formula ___ Diagram with clear labels ___ All work shown and connected to final answer ___ Correct calculations ___ Final answer clearly identified ___ Answer labeled with units, if appropriate If my solution is incorrect, I find my mistake, determine a new plan, solve the problem, and justify my new answer. E d u c a t o r ’ s V o i c e n V o l u m e V n P a g e 4 8 Beyond “I Give Myself an A” Formative Self-Assessment Leads to Gains in Student Learning  The steps of self-assessment described here have been associated with improvements in learning. For exam- ple, improvements have been shown in elementary and middle-level stu- dents’ writing (Andrade, Du & Mycek, 2010; Andrade, Du, & Wang, 2008). In these and other studies (Ross, Rolheiser, & Hogaboam-Gray, 1999), students improved not just in terms of mechanics, but also in their ability to handle sophisticated qualities such as content, organization, and voice. The fact that rubric-referenced self-assess- ment was associated with higher scores on important qualities like ideas and content testifies to the potential of such processes to help students master sig- nificant, meaningful aspects of writing — at least when the rubrics emphasize those important qualities and when students are actively involved in using them (Andrade, 2006). The improve- ments in the quality of student writing had practical as well as statistical signif- icance. For instance, when the findings of the 2008 study by Andrade, Du, and Wang were translated into typical classroom grades, the average grade for the group that engaged in rubric- referenced self-assessment was a low B, whereas the average grade for the comparison group was a high C. Similar results have been found in mathematics. After teaching some edu- cators to implement self-assessment in their fifth- and sixth-grade math class- es, Ross, Hogaboam-Gray and Rolheiser (2002) found that students in the group using this approach out- performed students in the comparison group. Self-assessment has also been shown to be associated with student achievement in social studies (Lewbel & Hibbard, 2001), science (White & Frederiksen, 1998), and even on exter- nal national examinations (MacDonald & Boud, 2003). Self-assessment can be useful in any subject. If students produce it, they can assess it; and if they can assess it, they can improve it. Because the purpose of student self- assessment is to engage students in cri- tiquing their work with an eye for possible improvements, the informa- tion collected via self-assessment in both the writing and math projects was used only by the students. It was not collected or used in any way by the teacher. This process avoids the grade inflation phenomenon noted in self- evaluation research (e.g., Falchikov & Boud, 1989), perhaps because stu- dents tend to give themselves higher evaluations when they believe that their response will influence their grade for the assignment.  Students can be honest in their assess- ments of the strengths and weaknesses in their work if the outcome of the assessment is private. However, while no formal report on the self-assess- ments is given to the instructor, it WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY?  Rubric-referenced self-assessment was associated with higher scores on significant, meaningful aspects of writing.