Category Archives: Assessment

Real!

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At present, I am sitting at the best kept secret in Atlanta, GA – Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee House. While overlooking the Hooch, I am catching up on my RSS blog feeds. I particularly try to stay current with the Westminster faculty bloggers. Well, I had gotten behind.

Yesterday a tweet caught my attention – a new post from a Westminster JH teacher of 8th grade students who are focused in her class to further develop their writing. The post is titled “A Real Audience,” and it can be found here http://superfluousthought.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/a-real-audience/ (sorry, working on iPad WordPress app). Having seen the tweet, I could not wait to read the actual post this morning.

A mystery solved! On Wednesday, I had received an anonymous email about our dress code in the Junior High. I wondered about somebody creating such an account, but the letter was compelling, so I responded to the request for uniforms. Well, now I am thinking that the anonymous plea and persuasion came from this class of crafty writers looking for a real audience.

I came to the coffee house to sit and think about grading, PBL, and integrated studies. I had no idea my thinking would take such a turn with this blog reading and perceived solution to my recent email mystery. But I am thrilled. If my hypothesis is correct and the email came from writers workshop, then that writing is non-graded. But it was heavily assessed. Isn’t that the best! The student’s letter served a purpose beyond writing for a grade from a teacher. The writing was real, for a real audience. Mine is too. This morning, my learning feels even more real!

A fair comparison

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Yesterday at lunch, I commented to a faculty member how impressed I was with his/her entree into video production of short lesson clips. Who knows what this kind of visual recording and representation could lead to – some great innovation in the future. Not to mention the postive effect it had for some other learners right then and there, in the moment. This person had made a mark to start (see The Dot, by Peter Reynolds). I was genuinely proud of the efforts and outcomes, and I had seen this person’s excitement earlier. After I named a few specifics, the faculty member said something like, “Thank you. But I can’t do it like [so-n-so] can.” Then, we talked about how so-n-so’s been making short video clips and screencasts for over a year. At that point the conversation turned to our children…about a very related issue.

My younger son, JT, thinks he should be able to do everything my older son, PJ, can do. The younger son is 2 1/2 years younger than the older. PJ has had a lot more practice running, scootering, playing video games, drawing, etc. I wish I could think of a convincing, “sticky” way to explain this to JT. If JT wants to make comparisons, which I wish he would’t, then he should compare himself today to PJ 2 1/2 years ago. We could compare (still wish we wouldn’t) PJ frozen in time at 4 years old, so that JT could make an apples-to-apples comparison. Even that, though, would hold its own margin of error and inaccuracies. They are two different people who have practiced different skills.

My lunch colleague has two children, and their family experience has been similar. The youngest wants to “advance artificially” to the level of the oldest. The less experienced makes an unfair comparison to the more experienced. We can understand that children do this, but why do we adults fall prey to such bad comparison practice? [Especially those of us who have read Mindset!]

If we want to use the inequality between the less and more experienced, we could do so just to mark a current reality and a future vision. We could set a goal of what proficiency and mastery look like at various levels of practice and development. Then we would know what a reasonable and fair target would be for a beginner at a new activity, an intermediate at a practiced activity, an advanced at a long-practiced activity. And there wouldn’t have to be a “100,” because the level of proficency and mastery may improve and grow in such a way that a ceiling cannot be artificially set. The ceiling could be broken just like the floor of the 4:00-minute mile was broken by Dr. Roger Bannister. When he did so, a “new possible” emerged, and a number of runners broke the previously sacred barrier in a matter of weeks and short months.

Maybe the most important thing is just to be in motion – to be trying new things and making the mark of current reality – even if one is a brand-new beginner – and setting a goal based on future vision. The gap between current reality and future vision can be frustrating and/or exciting. The distance one travels in the journey is called learning, I think.

We all start as beginners, and we can all can get better through feedback, support, determination, practice, and persistence. Ignore the voices that say we aren’t good enough yet. Pay more attention to the bright spots – what worked that I can do more of to improve. A strong fortress is built one brick at a time. One well-made brick on top of another. One bright spot on another. One successful attempt after thirteen failures and feeling what that success felt like…then reproducing it. It’s not about comparing ourselves to others. It’s about comparing ourselves to standards of future vision so that we can mark our growth and progress, like a child sometimes marks his growth over the years using a door frame and a pencil. But the first step is making a mark on that wall. Then one must grow to see a change in the height of the mark. And only relative to oneself.

It’s not about measuring apples and oranges. It’s about measuring apples to apples. It’s about learning.

What will be your next endeavor? What will you start from scratch? What do you want to get better at? What models of proficiency and mastery will you use? Will you unfairly compare yourself and get frustrated, or will you use another’s example as a future vision of what is possible with effort and practice? Will you maybe even ask them for help and how they got to their current level? Will you make a mark?

Our kids sure could use our good example. So could our colleagues.

Connections! English and Art

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I really don’t have time to be writing a post, just now, at this moment. However, a team of English teachers in the Junior High School  included me on an email distributing a rubric for a current exploration of the god-teacher archetype, and I am blown away! I feel positively compelled to sing their praises.

Why am I blown away?

  • The rubric is designed for facilitating a detailed feedback to student learners.
  • The rubric is designed for providing feedback about the visual attributes of an assessment submission related to some complex understanding of the archetype.
  • The rubric was developed from the 6+1 Writing Traits Rubric, and the connections among the written word and the visual image are astounding – the direct comparison between the two assessment tools is so cool.
  • The developing teachers worked in PLC to advance their response to the critical questions: 1) what should students learn?, and 2) how will we know if they are learning?
  • The developing teachers include English teachers and an art teacher – the paths to developing project-based learning and integrated studies are more and more becoming the visible, rather than hidden, routes to improved instruction and learning. Collaboration is increasingly important to us as we seek to enhance learning at deep levels.
  • The sharing of the instrument was quick and assumed.
  • I understand how intense this type of assessment work can be, so I appreciate the effort that this extended team put into the process.

I could keep writing bullet points all afternoon. I am so appreciative of these teachers – these lead learners – finding ways to innovate, create, repurpose, and design. THANK YOU!

Formative Assessment and Sharing

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Recently, JB sent me this 90-second Dan Meyer video. I have watched it a dozen times, and I have shared it with my entire faculty. Near the end, Dan makes the critical point about sharing what we are learning.

Also recently, I posted about my annual 360º review feedback…particularly about sharing the results. This morning, as I clicked through e-mail, I received some formative assessment better than any grade on an assignment could ever communicate. Someone from Seoul, South Korea – a school person there – wanted to get more information about my 360º review questions and prompts. What a bright-spot form of assessment – someone actually read the post and followed up wanting more information. Thanks to my new colleague in Seoul – one I have never even met. And thanks to Dan for creating such a compelling message about the power of sharing what we are learning.

>>> [N] <[email]@gmail.com> 2/16/2011 1:02 am >>>
Dear Principal Bo Adams,

Hi, my name is [N] and I stumbled across your excellently written post about 360 reviews on https://itsaboutlearning.wordpress.com.  Our school, Saint Paul Preparatory Academy in Seoul, South Korea, is thinking about using a 360 review for our staff members as well.  We are at the development stage and I was wondering if you would share with us the review/survey questions you use.  We, of course, would use this information as reference only.  I completely understand, however, if you would like to keep the exact information private.  Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for your time and energy.

Best,
—
[N]
Saint Paul Preparatory Academy
.
.
.
Dear N,

I am happy to share – that’s what learning is really all about, isn’t it? The two links below should prove helpful for you, if I understand your request correctly. In the first, I have set up a Survey Monkey collector just for you. If you want to scrub the questions/prompts from here, you can. Also, you could enter data if you want to play with this particular interface. The second link will allow you full access to the results that you enter, so you can experiment with question filtering, etc.
 
If you have a Survey Monkey account, I am happy to simply transfer the survey to your account. I would need your user name from Survey Monkey to do so.
 
If I can be of any further help, I am here.
 
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N [fake link so as not to mess up N’s use]
 

Feedback – the entire, transparent loop

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Every year, I engage in a “360° review” as part of my annual evaluation as a principal. As part of the review, I invite hundreds of faculty, parents, students, and administrators to contribute to a survey which solicits feedback about various aspects of my job performance. In short, I want to learn and grow. I think I do good work with considerable effort, but I hope I am not yet the principal that I will learn to be. When we stop growing, we stop. And more mirrors on the bus provide a deeper, richer view of what’s around us.

Collecting feedback is not unique. However, I always share the results of this particular survey. Certainly, this survey data is not the only feedback I get. However, it is the most formalized way that I collect feedback from a large set of constituents and people who deserve to share a collective voice in my learning and growth. Interestingly, sharing out the results seems to be a rather unique practice. For me, it seems natural to complete the loop…to connect the dots…to round out the circle of community.

This week, I sent the following email to all those I invited to participate in my formal feedback collection (the survey):

On Feb 7, 2011, at 1:03 PM, Bo Adams wrote:
Dear All (BC field):
 
On Jan. 6, 2011, I invited you to take part in providing me with formal feedback about my job performance as principal of the Junior High at Westminster. Thank you to the many of you who chose to participate. Of course, I welcome feedback from all of you, at any time; the survey was just one method for feedback.
 
As has been my practice for all eight years of my principalship, I like to share the overall survey results with you. Here is a link to a PDF of all 37 pages – a summary from Dr. Clarkson and 36 pages of the survey monkey results.
[link was here.]
 
Overall, I found the feedback to be very positive and encouraging, and the various voices all give me good things to think about as I continue to learn and grow in my work to serve the Junior High School and Westminster at large.
 
Thanks,
 
Bo
 
Approx. 50% of JH faculty responded [37 of 80]
Approx. 10% of JH parents responded [42 of 400 sampled]
Approx. 25% of Admin responded [7 of 30 sampled]
Approx. 60% of Synergy 8 students sampled responded
Why do I feel so strongly about sharing out the results of my feedback and evaluation?
  1. I believe it helps those who participate to “calibrate” their feedback with the whole…the collective voice.
  2. I believe it shows that I have nothing to hide – I value all the voices who contribute for one reason or another. I am the principal and/or colleague for 100% of the people from whom I solicit feedback…not just the ones with whom I agree.
  3. I think networked (three-way) feedback is stronger than mere two-way feedback.
  4. Sharing solicits more feedback and conversation. Already I have received 12 follow-up emails, 4 phone calls, and 6 drop-by visits. We get to interact with the feedback so WE can continue to understand each other better, each person’s perspectives better, each person’s work better.
  5. I ask my faculty to share their student-course feedback with me. Shouldn’t I model a reciprocal respect by doing the same? Shouldn’t I be cautious – nay, resistant – to doing something to/with others that I would not do to/with myself?
  6. It’s about learning!