GROWING SUCCESS: ASSESSMENT, EVALUATION AND REPORTING- IMPROVING STUDENT LEARNING

Document Reflection

http://www.ocup.org/resources/documents/EDU_GS_binder_010708_BMv2.pdf

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2008). Growing success: Assessment, evaluation and

reporting-improving school learning. Available at      http://www.ocup.org/resources/documents/EDU_GS_binder_010708_BMv2.pdf

Accessed on 17 June 2011.

For this reflection, I’ve decided to examine the Ontario Ministry of Education document entitled, Growing Success: Assessment, evaluation and reporting-improving school learning.  This ministry document outlines the policies in Ontario for assessment, evaluation, and reporting.  Its intended audience appears to be educators and administrators so that they are aware of ministry policies, but it is primarily targeted toward parents and students.  I’ve chosen to examine the Growing Success document as its role in ensuring accountability with respect to assessment and evaluation is quite clear in the first statement of the introductory remarks: “Parents and students need to know that the marks we give them are fair, and that the process is transparent.” This document is divided into ten main sections, which include the following: The Purpose of Assessment and Evaluation, Eleven Guiding Principles, The Achievement Chart, Grading and Reporting, Assessing Learning Skills, Late and Missed Assignments, Students with Special Needs: Modifications and Accommodations, English Language Learners: Modifications and Accommodations, and Credit Recovery. As apparent in the document’s division, it emphasizes the importance of assessment and evaluation in improving student learning. Furthermore, it recognizes the need for accommodations and modifications throughout the assessment and evaluation process, especially for special education and ESL students. In the ‘Purpose of Assessment and Evaluation’ section, the document states that “research has shown that the most effective type of assessment for improving student learning is formative assessment, or assessment for learning”; the document does make reference to the two other forms of assessment, which are ‘assessment of learning’ and ‘assessment as learning.’

            I am writing about this document because I agree with its assertion that ‘assessment for learning’ is the most effective way to improving student learning. In my view, ‘assessment for learning’ constitutes the best assessment approach to fostering growth and improving performance in students. As I’ve mentioned in class, I utilize this assessment approach in my instruction of the formal literary essay – the most important skill that students can take from my class if they wish to progress onto university.  My assessment of each part of the essay-writing process represents a step toward the final major assessment – the essay itself.  An unfortunate difficulty of assessing such as process that leads to a final product comes from the mark culture which has been ingrained in students; many students do not see any value in completing something despite the feedback if it is not given a mark.  Regardless of this challenge, we, as educators, uphold our professional duty through ‘assessment for learning’ as it informs are practice and allows for differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all students (Drake et al., 2010).  In this respect, ‘assessment for learning’, which is advanced in Growing Success, ensures a form of accountability that is not based on the numerical outcome of a test. I really do hope that the notion of ‘assessment for learning’ can form such a part of the public’s awareness that it accepts a “definition of accountability that values a learning and growth at least as much as a test score” (Drake et al., 2010, p. 17). Hopefully, such a paradigm shift will constitute the new story of accountability.

Works Referenced

Drake, S., Reid J.L., Beckett, D. & Volante L. (2010, January). Assessment Literacy and  

            educators’ perceptions of accountability: Examining the relationship in a

            Canadian context.  Paper presented at the ICSEI Conference, Malaysia.