Unpopular Opinion: I’m doing away with tests in my math classroom.

Yes, you read that correctly. I’m taking the plunge all the way into the deep end. I’ve been grappling with tests as an assessment tool for many years, especially in my math classroom, holding onto ‘quizzes’ most recently as under the guise of renaming them check ins. Last week, I gave an end of cycle test in my classroom. The purpose? To be honest, because everyone else was. And to gather information for myself about where we’re at, even though I mostly have a sense of that without it.

So why the move now? Well, last week I went to a workshop put on by Manitoba Association of Mathematics Teachers, and it’s given me the encouragement I need to move to something different. What is that something different? Using level checks based on a learning progression in class time, with immediate feedback for my learners in real time, with student created documentation of their level check in their class notes. Now is the perfect time for me to implement a change in my classroom, having finished a cycle of learning and embarking on new content this week.

Why? Why do I feel that this is the way to go? I’ve long held the belief that tests are not an accurate reflection of what my students know, and I’ve long held that traditional assessment needs an overhaul. It’s hard to see a learning progression on a test, even when you build different questions at different levels. It’s hard to clearly see where a student is in that learning progression, and there are so many other distracting factors at play. The biggest downfall to tests that I see is that they rarely result in learning — they are but a snapshot in time — and using them effectively as part of a learning journey is nearly impossible as the feedback that comes is after the fact, and quite honestly, after you’ve moved on to some new learning. I maintain that assessment is for learners to know where are in the journey, where they need to go next, and how they will get there. This is why a learning progression is a key tool in this new type of assessment. I wish I could say that I’m a pioneer in this idea, but I’m not. I’ve been thinking about learning progressions and rubrics for a while, and have wanted to move away from the sole reliance on using rubrics as my assessment tools, and incorporating the use of a learning progression. Now to be fair, there is a fair amount of overlap between these tools, and indeed, a learning progression looks like, and almost reads like, a rubric. But the difference is, the learning progression doesn’t come with ‘evaluation’ on it. It is simply a picture of where a learner has shown themselves to be with respect to where they need to go. We can use learning progressions to build rubrics, and indeed, I did just that, having used a learning progression to build an end of cycle rubric to use to see where my students are at at the end of this cycle of learning.

cycle-1-rubricDownload

This rubric is designed to show students where they are right now, with the content that we have covered, not based on the end of the year goals as a learning progression does. I can’t evaluate my learners based on outcomes that I have not yet taught! (Also, I will say that I don’t love the headings on the categories — in fact, for my learners I will probably just take them off, but they are the agreed upon categories the school I work at uses, and I’m new. 🙂 )

So, what will this new assessment system look like? Well, after a set of teaching days, questions will be put up on the board the corresponding to the levels on the learning progression up to what we have covered. This means that there may only be two levels on the board for a given topic — for example, with respect to polynomials, at this time, I’ve only asked them to do Level 1 and Level 2 on the progression, knowing that by the end of the year, they’ll be working on Level 3 and 4. Now it needs to be said that these levels do not correspond to levels of achievement, in a traditional rubric sense, they correspond to levels of complexity or depth of knowledge. Students will complete their questions based on the level they are confident at; they’ll show me them in real time, and if they are successful they transfer them to their living concept attainment/class notes document. If they aren’t, I provide feedback if students choose to use this as a learning opportunity, or if they wish to continue trying to sort out their errors. Again, I am not inventing this system — rather it was developed by a trusted colleague who is well versed in assessment, teaching and learning, and mindset in mathematics.

Next week, we begin, and I anticipate my first ‘learning check’ to be on friday/monday of the next week. I’m looking forward to seeing how this shift works in my classroom, and looking forward to seeing how my learners respond. I know there will be questions. But I hope that at the end of the day, my learners will have a better sense for themselves where they are right now, where they need to go next, and how they will get there. I’ll be sharing the journey along the way.