Assessment and Evaluation

Purpose

The purposes of assessment and evaluation include the following:

• to facilitate and measure growth and progress in particular courses
• to gauge students’ growth, development, and progress against stated learning objectives
• to inform students and parents/caregivers about the objectives of the program and student progress toward meeting them
• to provide education administrators and others with information regarding the effectiveness of programs.

Definition of Terms

Assessment: Collecting information on the progress of students’ learning using a variety of procedures (e.g., checklists, formal tests, inventories, self-assessment, creative writing portfolios).

Evaluation: Making judgements on the basis of the information collected.

Grading: Assigning a mark based on the information gathered from assessment instruments.

Reporting: Conveying the results to students, parents/caregivers, and administrators.

Principles of Student Evaluation

Given that the most important function of evaluation is the promotion of learning, the following principles should be reflected in the assessment and evaluation of students.

1. Assessment and evaluation reflect the stated learning objectives and are integrated with instruction.

Assessment must be part of the planning process rather than an after-thought. Instruments teachers use must be appropriate and complementary to the instructional strategies used and to the objectives being developed.

2. Assessment and evaluation are continuous and purposeful.

Frequent monitoring of learning allows the program to be responsive to the needs of the students. Assessment and evaluation should be continuous and should not occur only at report card time. Continuous assessment allows teachers to determine individual student needs and to adjust instruction as appropriate.

3. Evaluation expectations should be communicated clearly at the beginning of the course, module, and learning experience.

Students and parents should be informed of the objectives of the program, the means of assessment, and the criteria to be met. Where possible, evaluation expectations should be developed in consultation with students. Teachers also must maintain communication with parents concerning student progress.

4. Assessment and evaluation must be fair and equitable.

Assessment and evaluation must be sensitive to cultural, linguistic, and community situations as well as to individual student needs and learning styles. Where possible, students should be provided with a variety of ways to demonstrate their learning. Students want to know where they stand and yet each responds differently to evaluation. Some students will regard a critical comment as a challenge that spurs them on to better work, while others are discouraged by criticism. As much as possible, these considerations need to be balanced against maintaining common, appropriate standards. Assessment and evaluation should be constructive for each student.

5. Assessment and evaluation should be balanced and comprehensive.

Assessment and evaluation should be varied and balanced. For example, consideration should be given to:

• Teacher/peer/self-evaluation: Teacher-created assignments, tests, and observation criteria provide important evaluation information. In addition, peer evaluation can provide many opportunities for extending learning and for increasing student confidence and involvement in the learning process. Self-monitoring and assessment allow students to become aware of their own learning and to enhance it.

• Content/process/product: Content, process, and product each play a role in assessment and evaluation. Students must know what they are required to learn (i.e., content), how they are expected to learn (i.e., process), and what evidence they will be required to produce as a result of that understanding (i.e., product). It is particularly important in Creative Writing 20 that the final product not be the only means of assessing student progress. Teachers must also observe students' struggles with creative problem solving, their willingness to take risks and try new things, their attitude toward revision, their insights gained from reading and discussion, and their application of critical and reflective thinking.

Diagnostic, Formative, and Summative Evaluation

Diagnostic evaluation should be done informally and continuously. It is used to assess the strengths and needs of students and to make program adaptations. It is used for diagnosis rather than grading.

Formative evaluation should be conducted continuously throughout the course. It is used to improve instruction and learning and to keep both students and teachers aware of the course objectives and the students’ progress in meeting those objectives. The results of formative evaluation are analyzed and used to focus the efforts of the teacher and students.

Summative evaluation occurs at the end of a unit of learning--e.g., the end of a module, chapter, or semester. Results can provide information about the effectiveness of instruction and the effectiveness of a program. The results of summative evaluation should form only a portion of the data used to determine students’ grades. An appropriate balance of formative and summative evaluation should be used.

A Suggested Evaluation Procedure

Teachers may consider the following suggested evaluation procedure.

Step 1: Determine what content, processes, and products will be emphasized in the course and in specific modules. Review the foundational objectives for the course and the specific learning objectives to be developed.

Step 2: Determine what strategies will be used to assess the content, processes, and products. Many assessment strategies can and should be used. Continuous assessment is essential. The following list of strategies is by no means complete:

• checklists
• anecdotal notes
• portfolios
• written assignments
• self-assessments
• peer assessments
• teacher-constructed assessments
• tests
• interviews
• conferences
• reading logs
• response journals
• writing journals or notebooks.

Step 3: Consider how the objectives, expectations, and assessment and evaluation strategies will be shared with students, parents, and administrators.

Step 4: Decide how the various assessments will be translated into a grade. Remember that continuous assessments should be included, and that grades should not be based on a unit- or module-end assessment only.

Basing Evaluation on Various Writing Activities

Although evaluation of creative activity can be a challenge for teachers, there are many concrete indicators of student progress. Teachers can assess the following in order to make evaluative judgements:

• idea notebooks
• response journals (student responses to their own writing, their peers' writing, and literature selections)
• writing folders which contain all notes and drafts of a particular writing project
• portfolios (criteria for what to include to be determined by students and teacher)
• conference records (peer conferences and student-teacher conferences)
• self-evaluation records.

Teachers might come up with a breakdown of what percentage they will assign to each of a variety of activities in order to arrive at an evaluation. Evaluations might vary, depending on how extensive they are intended to be. Two examples follow:

Project Evaluation Writing Folder Final Version Idea Notebook Response Journal Teacher Conference Self-assessment 35% 35% 5% 5% 10% 10% (Note: The writing folder includes all notes, drafts, assessments, etc. related to a writing project.)

Module-end Evaluation Portfolio Idea Notebook Response Journal Peer Assessment Self-assessment 60% 10% 10% 10% 10% (Note: The portfolio is a collection of writing, selected by the student according to criteria.)

Writing Folder Assessment

Writing folders contain all notes and drafts concerning a particular writing project. Writing folders should be considered a significant indicator of student growth, as they contain records of the student's process and problem-solving attempts. The folders contain:

• pre-writing ideas recorded by students (both their own and teacher-introduced ones)
• pre-writing/pre-drafting exercises done by students as they develop ways to plan their pieces
• student free writing entries, through which they explore content possibilities before they begin their first drafts
• first drafts, successive drafts, revisions
• completed pieces, some of which will be selected by the students to go into their portfolios.

Teachers can assess writing folders on a continious basis and at the end of a writing project.

Idea Notebook Assessment

Idea notebooks or journals are notebooks, scrapbooks, or sections in a binder that are kept especially for students to record notes, ideas, and insights for their own writing. Students might also paste such things as photographs, pictures, and newspaper clippings, and include brief explanations of why these things caught their attention. Students can keep track of any ideas that interest them, even if they do not know at the time how they might be used in a writing project. They should record in their notebooks at least three or four times per week. The left-hand page should be left blank so that students can add their own reflections on the entries at a later date, or so they can solicit peer or teacher response to their entries.

Of course, privacy is an issue when students keep any kind of journal. Students should have the option of removing pages they do not wish others to see when it comes time to assess idea notebooks. If a student has several private entries, the teacher might arrange a conference or ask the student to do a self-assessment as an alternative to peer or teacher assessment.

Idea notebooks should be assessed on a regular basis. The teacher could proceed in the following way:

• Week One: Each student chooses two entries to read aloud or explain to another class member. The listener responds orally to the first one and writes out a response to the second one.
• Week Two: The same procedure takes place.
• Week Three: Students hand in their notebooks, having chosen four entries they would like the teacher to read. The teacher skims each notebook for completion of entries, reads each of the identified pieces, and responds to two of them.

To keep track of weekly journal entries and their completion, the teacher might use a chart similar to the one included in the sample assessment forms. Students might be asked to attach such a chart to the inside front covers of their idea notebooks.

Response Journal Assessment

Response journals contain student reflections on reading selections, peer conferences, and discussions about writing in the classroom. A response journal might be a separate notebook, or it might be a separate section in a notebook or binder. The response journal is one way to encourage students to see the important connections between writing and reading, and the importance of discussing other people's ideas about writing. The response journal can be seen as the student's introduction to the field of criticism.

Students can record in their response journals in the following ways:

• on their own time, in response to their personal reading selections
• as a class assignment, after discussion of some aspect of writing
• in response to teacher-assigned reading (e.g., an article on some aspect of writing)
• in response to book talks or literature circle activities
• in response to reviews of books they have read
• in response to peer or teacher conferences about their own writing.

Teachers can assess student response journals in the same ways they assess idea notebooks. They can also be handed in to be assessed by the teacher according to criteria established by the teacher and/or students at the beginning of the course. A sample assessment form for response journals is included in the sample assessment forms on the following pages.

Portfolio Assessment

The portfolio is different from the writing folder in that it is compiled especially for the purposes of assessment and/or discussion with parents or administrators. For example, at the end of a module on poetry writing, the teacher could ask students to put together a portfolio containing the following:

• two notebook entries which could become ideas for poems
• two response journal entries on poems selected by the student
• one first draft of a poem
• one second draft
• one final draft, polished and ready to be published or displayed
• one peer assessment of a first draft poem written by another student.

The following is another example:

• include two entries from your idea journal that best illustrate the kind of insights you have about the world around you
• include a first draft poem that best illustrates the kind of ideas for poems that are most meaningful to you
• include a first draft and revised draft that best show your understanding of revision (i.e., seeing something in a new way)
• include a final draft of a poem that is as good and polished as you can make it.

The teacher can provide cover sheets for each work included in the portfolio. An example follows in the Sample Assessment Forms section. The portfolio might also have a table of contents, listing each item in order, and stating the date each was completed.

The following is an example of how marks for a portfolio might be distributed:

Originality of ideas Control of language Organization and structure to convey meaning Mechanics Attempt at trying something new	10 10 10 10 10
	__
Total	50

Note: Evaluation at the end of the term or semester does not necessarily have to be in the form of numbers, percentages, or letter grades alone. Some schools and teachers may prefer the evaluation to be accompanied by comments concerning the student's growth and progress, especially in an area such as creative writing that is so focused on the individual.

Sample Assessment Forms

The following are several checklists and anecdotal recordkeeping forms. These are samples only and are intended to provide initial ideas for assessment.

Teachers should pay special attention to the form "Sample Checklist or Rating Scale for Assessing Creative Processes". Although process is sometimes difficult to assess, this form provides teachers with criteria they may consider.

Sample Creative Writing Assessment

Student's Name: _______________________________ Date: _______________

Writing Assignment: __________________________________________________

Sample Checklist or Rating Scale for Assessing Creative Processes

This form may be used to assess several students on one date, or one student on different dates.

Names or dates

Comments:

Sample Response Journal Assessment

This form can be used to assess students’ journal responses to their own writing, to others' writing, to discussion about writing, and to literary selections.

Student's Name: ____________________________

Evaluation Period: From _______________ To _______________

Number of Responses: _______________

Scale:

1 = weak
2 = fair
3 = acceptable
4 = good
5 = strong

Responses to reading, writing, and discussion are recorded in journal regularly. Regularly     Often     Sometimes     Rarely     Never Responses are full and complete. 1       2       3       4       5 Responses demonstrate: close careful reading/listening 1       2       3       4       5 personal connections made with written material or discussion content 1       2       3       4       5 reflection on significant issues, themes, or concerns 1       2       3       4       5 willingness to respond to a range of styles and forms of writing 1       2       3       4       5 insightful reading/listening 1       2       3       4       5 What has been learned from responding has been applied to subsequent writing. 1       2       3       4       5 Comments:

Sample Chart for Checking Off Notebook or Journal Entries

Writer’s Name: ______________________________

Daily Journal Entries ______________________________

Sample Student Record of Conferencing

Sample Teacher Record of Conferencing

Sample Self-assessment: Form One

This form is general in nature and could be used any time during the term.

Sample Self-assessment: Form Two

This form can be used to accompany writing folder or portfolio assessment. The questions are designed to relate to a specific writing project.

Sample Anecdotal Recordkeeping Form

Student's Name:

General Comments:

Sample Portfolio Assessment: Form One

Student's Name: ______________________________ Date: __________

Type of Assessment: Continous       End of Project       End of Module       End of Term

Rating Scale: Excellent - 1,      Very Good - 2,      Good - 3,      Fair - 2,      Poor - 1

Other comments:

Sample Portfolio Assessment: Form Two

Note: This form could be attached to each writing selection in a portfolio.