Touchstone 4: Measure understanding against high expectations

As stated in my previous post, students must understand the criteria against which they are measured, but must also be held to high procedural and content standards. In my class student grades are measured sole based on their learning and progress towards the courses goals as delineated in chapter learning targets. The only effective way to measure such progress is on a free response question where a student must demonstrate their thinking. In my classroom there is no room for a multiple choice question. In mathematics such questions only encourage guessing and rarely reveal any information about a student’s level of understanding. The College Preparatory Mathematics curriculum I utilize in my classroom suggests assessing students both as a group and individually. My students know that assessments come in two forms. Open ended tasks that require collaboration and thinking beyond the exactitude of the curriculum and tasks that are still rigorous, but can and must be completed individually to assess what each student know specifically. Assessment cannot be the only measure in a classroom, and too many exams exhaust and discourage student learning. That is why I implement a variety of strategies from the CPM curriculum as well as Wees (n.d.). Daily I provided students with the framework to peer edit and to think and then ink their answers, as well as many other small tasks that allow student thinking to become visible. I provide students will small tasks to demonstrate to me and to themselves their growth as mathematicians. Learning can be the only measure of success in the classroom and it is one of the primary tasks of the teacher to make learning public for students on exams and in the day-to-day progress of the classroom.

References:

Dietiker, L., Sallee, T., Kysh, J., & Hoey, B. (2003). College preparatory mathematics: Calculus. Sacramento, CA: CPM Educational Program.

Wees, D. (n.d.). 56 different ways to gather evidence of student achievement. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nzhdnyMQmio5lNT75ITB45rHyLISHEEHZlHTWJRqLmQ/pub?slide=id.p