Assessment Response
Conducting assessments is good, but responding to assessment results is even better. How teachers respond to assessment results goes a long way toward establishing and maintaining a culture of learning in which students, again, see assessment as an opportunity rather than an event. The response should include both differentiation and grading.
Differentiation
Like feedback, differentiation is a mainstay in a culture of learning because it makes both the student and the learning priorities. Being a student-responsive teacher sends a clear signal that learning—not coverage—matters most. Differentiation is, in essence, an instructionally agile model that teachers maximize when their response to assessment evidence meets the needs of each student, whether that need is extension, further instruction, or acute intervention. According to Carol Ann Tomlinson and Tonya R. Moon (2013), differentiating assessment means that “the learning outcomes remain the same … while the format of assessment, time allowance, and scaffolding may vary” (p. 417). A culture of learning grows when teachers use assessment to seek understanding of student background, readiness, interest, and approach to learning.
Readiness gives teachers the potential to be instructionally agile. Knowing what new learning a student is ready for maximizes the efficiency and effectiveness of postassessment maneuvers. Whether through preassessment or ongoing formative assessment, teachers can be more agile in responding to student needs and can accelerate the establishment of a culture of learning. Throughout the remaining chapters, we offer strategies, practices, and processes teachers can use to elicit evidence of student readiness, making instructional agility more possible.
Grading
How teachers grade—how they verify that learning has occurred and report that information to others—will either contribute to or take away from a culture of learning. Common sense dictates that a culture of learning produces grades that reflect that learning—nothing more and nothing less. It may seem obvious that a culture of learning and grades that encompass nonlearning or behavioral factors do not align, but there is still considerable debate about the modernization of grading practices, since the research on standards-based grading is in its infancy (Brookhart, 2013b).
There is not enough space in this book to thoroughly explore the move to learning-centered grades (or grades based on achieving standards), but should you have questions, you can refer to the countless professional resources available for details on how to create a learning-centered grading system (Guskey, 2015; O’Connor, 2011; Reeves, 2016; Schimmer, 2016; Schimmer, Hillman, & Stalets, in press). Visit go.SolutionTree.com/assessment for links to these resources. Despite the pockets of debate, we strongly believe a culture of learning is a culture in which student grades exclusively reflect their levels of achievement.
Strategies and Tools
The focus of this book is about making instructional maneuvers yet teachers cannot maximize those maneuvers without firmly establishing a culture of learning. This section offers a few practical ways in which teachers can begin or maintain a culture that values who they teach more than what they teach.
Strategy 1: Design Assessments
Designing assessments is not just a procedural exercise; there is a human side to assessment that teachers must always be mindful of. Assessments will either add to or take away from the student-teacher relationship. Assessments that are sensitive to student readiness are the ones that help build strong, trusting relationships. As well, paralanguage—elements that accompany spoken words—is critical, since not all learning demonstrations emerge in written form, which means how students communicate their learning provides additional insight. Listening to the tone of a response or watching student body language while solving a difficult problem can be influential on how teachers respond in real time. And finally, knowing why an assessment is occurring and how the teacher intends to use the results gives the necessary transparency that allows students to invest in the assessment experience.
Build Strong Relationships
It may seem odd that building relationships falls under assessment design, but as we have already established, we cannot separate learning from its social context, which means the relationships teachers have with students undoubtedly impact the culture of learning. Teachers can begin by making a personal connection with their students. This doesn’t mean teachers become best friends with every student, but it does mean getting to know each student on a somewhat personal level. They can ask students questions about themselves, their families, hobbies, the way they learn, and the way they do not learn.
Teachers can also reveal a personal side of themselves that humanizes the classroom experience. They may model moments of frustration, perseverance, and success, showing students their own intimate understanding of the learning process. In a culture of learning that maximizes the opportunity for teachers to be instructionally agile (and for students to engage in carrying out the subsequent actions), teachers and students invest in one another and trust that the relationship is strong enough to withstand—even prevent—any potentially aversive situations or circumstances.
Be Mindful of Paralanguage
Certainly, what teachers say goes a long way toward communicating priorities, but of equal influence on a culture of learning is their paralanguage—all the things that accompany words, like body language, pitch, and tone. Whether it’s tone of voice, certain gestures, facial expressions, or other nonverbal forms of communication, teachers who are mindful of aligning language and paralanguage help solidify a culture of learning. The messages to students about the importance of learning ring hollow if nonverbal cues say the opposite. For example, a teacher who offers further opportunities to deepen understanding, but does so with a tone of frustration, may send a mixed message: Is it okay to take longer to learn or isn’t it? Students who struggle or simply take longer to complete their work can be quite sensitive to paralanguage, so just being aware of the alignment between verbal and nonverbal messages increases the likelihood of creating an optimal learning environment.
Stay Focused on the Why
So much of the frustration students experience in school centers on the lack of clarity they have about why they are doing what they do. Too often, we expect students to complete tasks, assignments, and other activities without understanding why they’re doing them and what it will eventually lead to. Teachers who build cultures of learning do so by making the learning intentions and success criteria transparent, as well as continually explaining how today meshes with the overarching goals of tomorrow (the learning progression).
By articulating clear learning intentions, specific targets, and success criteria, teachers keep learning at the forefront. They can also frame any other skill-based or attribute-based learning in terms of why when they, for example, organize students into groups to produce tangible evidence of learning (such as a project) as well as learn how to function within an effective collaborative team. In this case, teachers don’t leave students wondering why they are doing group work to produce evidence of learning; they know that the process of learning effective collaboration is a parallel learning goal.
Strategy 2: Interpret Assessments
Assessment’s power comes from using the results to advance student learning, but for results to be used productively, teachers must communicate results with a learning-centered focus (and the necessary finesse) to ensure students keep learning. After interpreting assessments, teachers can engineer opportunities for students to actively advance their own proficiency. Providing feedback that focuses on what’s next causes thinking and balances both strengths and that which needs strengthening. Teachers can feel more confident that students will see assessment interpretation as simply the next opportunity to expand their skills and understandings.
Emphasize What’s Next
Instructional