Assessing & Parents

Assessment in school is used to check how much the student is "learning." It seems to be a common misconception that how a student performs on a test or assignment is how much they have learned. Really, a student can be learning about a topic and be very knowledgeable about that topic but they may not find the assignment or test meaningful, and therefore they receive a poor grade because they do not see the purpose of the assignment or test. Also, the opposite can be true. A student might only be memorizing the answers or methods to get a good grade on the assignment or test, and then once it is done with, they cast it aside and do not care about the information. It seems like when we focus on performance for assessment we miss the true purpose of the education system: learning. Teachers, parents, administrators and government officials keep telling us that test scores, GPAs, and assignment performance are the proof of learning. I know personally that this isn't true. I have taken classes that I did not perform well on the homework because the assignments didn't promote learning, or I did not like the style of the assignment and how I was graded. I am not very creative, nor am I gifted at art. When teachers include creativity and artistic style in the rubric for an assignment (i.e. posters, PowerPoint presentations, 3D models, hand drawn pictures) I would score very low and it would throw off my overall score. Yet, when it came time to take the test, I would score above 90 percent. My grade would only average out to around 83 percent because of several assignments that incorporated creativity or artistic talent. All the other scores were generally above 90 percent, but because those projects were weighted heavier, they would drop my grade. If I'm doing well on the tests and bookwork assignments/papers but struggling with creative assignments, wouldn't that suggest that I perform better with bookwork and research papers rather than trying to be the next Rembrandt? Why should I be penalized for not being creative when I have the necessary information and grammar in the assignment to receive an A if it didn't include the creativity and/or artistic talent? When I was assigned more creative assignments I started to just do them so I got it done because I wasn't going to get an A and my grades suffered even more because of it. If teachers would look at the individual student's talents and weaknesses and have other options for them based on their strengths students would be able to choose what fits them and receive the grade they should get based on just the information and grammar without the creativity and/or artistic design aspect.

This, of course, assumes that grades are the reasons for assessment. Assessment in the Rochester School District is based on the performance of students in class.
It happens to be the district that I went to school both for my education for my K-12 education and my cooperative teaching assignment. The school district still holds on tightly to performance on tests and assignments. It even stratifies the different levels of how students are performing. If a student is struggling in school they get put into a lower level class. If students are performing at an acceptable level they get placed in the standard level class. If students are performing exceptionally well they are placed in a higher level class at the high school or at the local community college. I see this as a problem for the students that are struggling because they know if they are in the lower level class because either their friends tell them they are in the lower level class, other students pick on them for being in the lower level class, or the student is told they are being put in a lower level class. When they hear this, they become less motivated to do well because they know they are in the lower level class. I saw this in my classroom because many students in CORE History would not try to do well on their assignments because they either thought that they weren't smart enough or they thought since it was a lower level class that they did not need to try as hard to get a passing grade. When there was a discussion about a topic that they were learning about in class they would say the correct answer or give a response that would be acceptable on a critical thinking question on a test or assignment. But, when asked to write it out in paragraph form or even just write the answer they just said verbatim on a piece of paper, they rarely did it. I worked with some students and I know some have learning, physical and/or mental conditions that reduced their ability, but there were some that just flat out did not do the work. I don't know if it was because they thought since the class was a lower level that they did not need to do the work, or if they were just being lazy, but often it took several days to receive the completed work after multiple reminders to work on and finish the assignment.

What this tells me is that we need more than just a paper or rubric style of assessment of learning. Having a personal conference and asking the student what they know about a topic or answer questions verbally may be another method that would work better, especially in the classroom I was in for CORE History. It might not give the best set of numbers for a teacher, but I don't believe in the numbers as much as "do they know how the topic fits in with and/or affects their daily life?" A worksheet or a paper might help show them what the information is, but what good is information if you can't use it? I'm not going to be put in a situation where I need to know when the Constitution and its amendments were created, but I do need to know how they affect my daily life. Can I pray in a public school, can I publish a story about teen pregnancy, do I have to testify against myself? These are things that people are faced with every day. Not only should assessment be about if you know the answers to these, but do you know why these came to be? It is harder to assess this, but I'd rather assess an individual's opinions and beliefs and their reasoning behind them than see if they memorize some information and bubble an answer on a bubble sheet.

Now, research shows that parent involvement with their student's school and school community is the number one factor in student success. First, do we know the research is accurate, and second, what is the standard measure of success? Well, I'll assume that the research is accurate and there is a standard measure of success. Still, how do we get parents involved in the school community? Aside from requiring parents to be involved, there isn't much that can be done to get the parents involved. Sure, we can send them information by email, school newsletters, and phone calls, but we cannot make them come unless we require it for their child to be enrolled. But, I believe that when we are forced to do something, we tend to do just the bare minimum we need to get by. If all the parent needs to do is show up for a PTA or PTSA (parent teacher [student] association) meeting once a month, then that is all they are going to do: show up. I really don't see how we can get the parents to be involved besides requiring it. Also, some parents just don't have the time between work and getting their family members to where they need to be, plus cooking and shopping time. I suppose we could lie about their student's performance and say we are concerned and have them come in and make a general statement about how their child is performing (without revealing the actual grades) and suggest to them that if they become more involved with school events and organizations that students tend to perform better, but that is deceiving and manipulating the parents. The Rochester School District sends out newsletters, emails, phone calls, and handouts to the students and tries to inform the student's parents about school events and organizations that they can join or help set up. It isn't required that the parents be involved and it is more o a passive effort than an actively sought effort. I believe the school district realized that the parents that want to be involved will get involved when presented the information, and that parents that don't want to be involved won't be involved. I can agree with their view because that is generally how parental involvement in school organizations and events happen (from what I have observed by my and my friends' parents). We can try to have parents involved with the school, but really I see it just as a glittering generality (sounds good but really ends up being empty or unsuccessful) that we have no control over, even if we tell the parents that if they are involved with the school community that their student will perform better. So, even if the research is accurate and success has a standard measurement, we still have little control in parental involvement.