Student-Directed Project: Rethinking Assessments
When people think about advocacy, they often envision sweeping movements of social change. However, meaningful advocacy work need not occur on a grand scale. Students spend a great deal of time in their schools, and undertaking projects designed to those improve school communities is a form of advocacy that I try to encourage and promote on a daily basis. For example, every time one of my homeroom students complains about the quality of the free breakfast that all my scholars receive each morning, I encourage him or her to share those thoughts in writing with our cafeteria staff. Breakfast (and lunch) letters have prompted some very interesting conversations and a marked increase in empathy between my students and the cafeteria servers.
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Thus, when I began working with a group of eighth graders to design a survey as a precursor to our data and statistics unit, it was no surprise that they decided to conduct a poll about school experiences. However, I had predicted that they would choose to focus on very specific aspects of their own daily learning. Instead, they opted to design a survey on people's general feelings about education rather than their feedback on particular classes. Thus, their survey instrument was relevant to the entire school. This was refreshing and showed a great deal of maturity; looking at the bigger picture within a community and then connecting it to one’s own experiences takes more refined reflection that merely assuming that one’s own experiences are of general interest.
Samples of the survey that my scholars created and administered to other students. Their interest in considering issues that affect everyone within our school community was unexpected, but very much appreciated. After all, advocacy ought to be rooted in the desire to help a broad group of people and not just the advocates themselves.
My scholars collected their data using a Google Sheet (for more on this as an access issue, please refer to my section about budgeting for the trip to Atlanta) and then had a series of excellent conversations about the results they had gathered. They were particularly interested to note that almost all of their classmates rated education as extremely important, but that many did not seem to think that it was important for them to enjoy school. According to my students, this was reflective of the pressure that students feel from both teachers and parents to get an education that will improve their career prospects. They noted that testing in particular lowers their enjoyment of school and dramatically increases the pressure that they feel, and they began to question many aspects of our school’s existing diagnostic, formative, and summative assessment systems. Many teachers, including me, are sincerely committed to fostering "student ownership" of learning. Yet, as my scholars were quick to point out, students are virtually never empowered to assess that learning themselves. The fact that testing remains teacher-driven makes many students feel less capable of directing their own learning experiences and renders teachers' statements to the contrary hollow (and potentially self-serving).
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Based on my scholars' analysis of and reactions to their data, I suggested that they try designing the summative assessment for the end of our data and statistics unit. Initially, they were politely incredulous. They simply did not believe that a teacher would be willing to replace a planned assessment with something that they wrote. However, I assured them that if they created a solid assessment, I would do exactly that.
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Together, we looked at examples of traditional tests based on the standards we will be studying in the unit. My students assiduously took note of different types of questions and the standards that they were used to assess. They then began to ask each other questions about how to make the tasks more fun for the entire class. What if the data sets were related to things that students actually enjoyed? What if not all of the answers had to be written down? What if portions of the test allowed for collaboration with a group?
A traditional summative assessment about data and statistics. Although my scholars looked at many templates for problems, they spent the most time analyzing this test because it is directly aligned with our curriculum. In the end, they did an admirable job preserving many aspects of it while still constructing a wholly new type of assessment.
In the end, my scholars crafted a highly innovative three-part exam with very little guidance from me. Scholars will begin the class period by indicating whether they believe Tupac is alive or dead. I will project a spreadsheet showing their answers on the screen at the front of the room, and scholars will work individually to create a series of bivariate tables depicting and analyzing the results of the survey data. While students complete this task in the middle of the room, I will pull pre-selected groups of four to work on a scatterplot creation activity at one of our collaboration stations. I will also meet with each scholar individually at some point during the period to administer a brief oral examination in which they must interpret a set of graphs and data tables.
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My scholars currently have a strong working draft of the test questions and instructions, and they have worked with me to determine which graphs and equations I will use for the oral component of the exam. (They reasoned that it would be unfair if they saw the specific questions associated with that part of the test in advance, so I have written those.) They are still assembling the data set options for the group part of the assessment. One pair of scholars is finding 8 basketball cards from this year so that scholars can compare statistics. Another pair is researching the Nielsen ratings, budgets, critical praise, etc. for 8 popular TV shows. A third is looking up data about Billboard rankings, platinum records, Grammy awards, etc. for 8 popular singers and their songs. My students felt very strongly that scholars should be able to choose a subject that interested them for the scatter plots. Although this creates some extra work for them, they are on pace to be finished well before we administer the test at the end of our unit (in two weeks' time).
Student draft of the summative assessment (left) and my questions for the oral component of the exam (above). Students thought very carefully about how to create a series of tasks that would measure their own learning without feeling like another high-pressure test. They are very excited about what they have created, and I believe that the response from their classmates will be extremely positive. It is possible, in fact, that we will repeat this assessment design process for our final unit of the year.
Clearly, my scholars have written a rigorous exam that effectively assesses critical content. I had initially worried that some would simply want the questions to be easy, but they did an admirable job maintaining high standards for their own learning. Their concern was not creating a test that everyone could pass without effort, but rather one that might be genuinely fun to complete. It was very exciting to see their creativity blossom as they began to feel more and more empowered as test writers.
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In my mind, this is classroom-level advocacy work at its finest. My scholars used a combination of survey data and their own experiences to identify a need within the school community. Then, with my approval, they organized and ran their own effort to address that need. My main role in the project was merely to provide a space for them to work and validate their ideas so that they could truly embrace their role as community problem-solvers.
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This project illustrates the fact that student-led advocacy is often a virtuous cycle. The scholars who wrote the new assessment are much more excited about the data and statistics unit than they otherwise would have been, and their entire class is eagerly anticipating the new exam at the end of it. Furthermore, other students in the class are starting to think about how they might be able to advocate for their needs and preferences in the classroom and redesign other aspects of the learning environment. At times, being a transformational teacher means leading the charge toward some new goal. At others, it means stepping aside and offering encouragement as scholars begin to feel like the true architects of their own learning paths.