Survey on Student-Centered Learning Assessment and Feedback Practices - Research Brief

The challenge of assessing student progress and using information gained through assessment to improve teaching and learning is formidable. It can be argued that in student-centered learning (SCL) environments that challenge is even greater than in traditional frontal instruction classrooms. To better understand the assessment and feedback-giving practices of teachers in SCL classrooms, we invited teachers from across the United States to share with us their classroom practices relating to assessment and feedback-giving, the types of feedback they give to students, and their beliefs about the benefits and costs associated with feedback-giving. The goal of this report is to share back our preliminary findings with the participating teachers.

Don't Assess a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree

The heterogeneity of students in today's classrooms present many obstacles when it comes to formatively assessing learning. The formative assessment cycle affords teachers numerous opportunities to measure student progress towards objectives, provide timely feedback, and make necessary adjustments to instruction. Formative assessments also provide considerable value to students, in the form of learning engagement, and tracking their own progress and planning of future steps. Due to the value of formative assessments in making decisions and supporting students, it is necessary that educators plan and utilize equitable assessment practices to eliminate unnecessary barriers students may face. The chapter will therefore discuss the obstacles that variable learners may experience that impede their inclusion in classrooms, the importance of the universal design for learning in ensuring engagement and multiple means of action and expression, and finally, bring awareness to students with disabilities and the importance of accommodations and modifications in their success.

Active learning in emergency remote introductory linguistics: Successes and challenge

This paper describes a set of flipped learning materials that I created for emergency remote teaching of introductory linguistics. My goals were to create a set of asynchronous materials that would scaffold student progress through a syntax unit, require active engagement in the material, and enable students to receive incremental formative feedback. Assessment of formative and summative student progress in the unit demonstrates that these materials were as effective at supporting student learning as face-to-face pedagogical methods. The discussion touches on additional issues related to pedagogy of care that were overlooked.

Reporting student progress: What might it look like?

The Communicating Student Learning Progress review produced by ACER in 2019 set out recommendations for schools and systems to improve the way schools report on student learning, in particular learning progress. Two case study schools from Victoria – a Catholic primary school and government secondary school – discuss changes they’ve made to their student reporting processes, in response to the review’s recommendations. Further research is recommended into how schools are rethinking reporting to engage students and parents in monitoring learning growth.

Systematic Progress Monitoring of Individualized Education Program Goals in Mathematics

The review of Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District case revealed that an individualized education program (IEP) requires inclusion of specific measurable goals to ensure educational benefit. The purpose of this article was to provide a systematic approach to progress monitoring IEP goals in mathematics, which monitors whether a student is benefiting from the mathematics instruction being provided. Using curriculum-based measures (CBM) is discussed as a feasible tool for monitoring the progress of students and creating specific measurable IEP goals. The article includes step-by-step strategies and guidelines for teachers to collect CBM data, create strategic IEP goals, and evaluate student progress.

Ipsative assessment: measuring personal improvement

What is it? Ipsative assessment is an approach to evaluating student progress that covers a wide range of assessment and feedback practices. It has been around since 1944, but its fully-fledged implementation into formal education, including in the field of language teaching and learning, is still in its infancy...

ASPECTS REGARDING THE LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE IN MATHEMATICS

In the present paper addressing the issue of advanced performance in mathematics, we seek to answer to the following study questions: “What are the main factors that lead to the achievement of advanced performance?”; “Which is the profile of the teacher able to train the Olympic students in Mathematics?”; “Why do teachers want for their students to achieve advanced performance in mathematics?”; “Why do the students want to reach a high degree of performance in Mathematics?”; “What difficulties could significantly impede on student progress?”; “What is the connection between enthusiasm and advanced performance in Mathematics?”; “ Why does an Olympic student participate in competitions?”.