Professional Learning Goals

• Explored professional literature on student self-assessment in mathematics to develop a shared understanding across divisions
• Developed an understanding of the importance of explicit learning goals and success criteria in student self-assessment
• Collaborated to improve our use of student self-assessment in math by co-creating tools and sharing strategies that promote student self-assessment

Activities and Resources

• Completed a before and after gap analysis survey about our current use and understanding of student self-assessment (Capacity Building Series: Student Self-Assessment)
• read and discussed Chapters 1 to 5 in Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom (Moss and Brookhart)
• Applied our knowledge of metacognitive strategies in language to math teaching and learning, to co-construct self-assessment tools with students (anchor charts, exemplars, checklists, exit slips)
• Watched and discussed Learning Goals & Success Criteria from the Assessment for Learning video series to see strategies in action
• Developed a student self-assessment anchor
• Created a list of self-assessment strategies and tools

Unexpected Challenges

Early on, we realized that we were not doing an effective or consistent job of making learning goals and success criteria clear to students. We refocused on this aspect of the assessment process until we all felt that we were becoming more explicit in our use of learning goals and in ensuring that students understood what success looks like in math. We struggled with our expectations of what students should be able to do developmentally when self-assessing, especially since our grades ranged from two to six. We discovered that students would say they used the checklist or “checked their work,” when in reality they didn’t. We continue to look for ways to reinforce the value of metacognitive skills for students so that they become more self-motivated to use success criteria and set their own goals for improvement. Finally, we ran into scheduling difficulties when trying to set up release time due to other school commitments and EQAO.

Enhancing Student Learning and Development

As the project has progressed, we have found that more students are more effectively and accurately self-assessing their achievement in math. They are becoming comfortable with saying “I don’t understand” or “I’m not sure.” They are helping each other through partner and small group work, and they are more willing to take risks and persevere when solving problems. Students are self-identifying when they need more teacher support by voluntarily joining guided math groups. Many have begun to actively refer to displayed success criteria and math journals. We see these anecdotes as evidence of the development of self-confidence: they now have a place to check to make sure they are on track and they know there are things they can do. There are success criteria and exemplars that work can be compared to, and they are beginning to recognize that they need to set their own goals for success. We believe that starting the next school year with a focus on teaching self-assessment strategies early on, along with our improved use of learning goals and success criteria, will continue this momentum forward.

Sharing

Throughout the project, our group members have shared our learning with the rest of our staff at our Grade 1 through 6 school PLC sessions and staff meetings. The tools and lists we created have been shared through Google Drive and made available for others’ use. Our school-based PLC in September will continue to be focused on math and we hope to continue to build on what we have learned.

Project Evaluation

When we met to discuss this report and consolidate what we have learned this year, we all agreed that we have experienced considerable growth in our understanding of formative assessment and the student self-assessment process. At our first meeting, we completed the “Self-Assessment: A Growth Continuum for Teacher Reflection” rubric found in “Student Self-Assessment” (LNS Capacity Building Series, December 2007).  At that time, we felt that we were barely at the “Getting Started” stage in math, although we knew that we were regularly using self-assessment processes in language. When we redid the rubric, all of us had moved and we now understand what the components even mean! We have visible evidence in our classrooms that our teaching practices have changed: anchor charts are visible and being used by students, math journals and exit slips are being used more regularly, and students are using problem-solving bookmarks that they co-created when completing tasks. We now know that successful teaching in math is a process that begins with setting learning goals, developing success criteria with students, giving effective feedback based on the criteria, and students learning to use this criteria to improve their own work. We have come to realize that self-assessment tools do not need to be onerous or time-consuming, and that we were using them more than we thought we were. However, now we are doing it more consciously and deliberately, with the goals in mind. We are excited about using what we have learned at the start of the school year rather than halfway through, and we appreciated having the time to work, think and talk together.