As teachers and administrators in OCSU continue to deepen their knowledge of formative assessment, many of us are focusing on having students engage in self-assessment. Why is self-assessment important? The website eduplace.com has this to say:
"When students are collaborators in assessment, they develop the habit of self-reflection. They learn the qualities of good work, how to judge their work against these qualities, how to step back from their work to assess their own efforts and feelings of accomplishment, and how to set personal goals (Reif, 1990; Wolf, 1989). These are qualities of self-directed learners, not passive learners. As teachers model, guide, and provide practice in self-assessment, students learn that assessment is not something apart from learning or something done to them, but a collaboration between teachers and students, and an integral part of how they learn and improve."
(https://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/litass/self.html)
And the site, studentsatthecenterhub.org, has lots of information on self-assessment. I’ve taken some key bits directly from that website:
"Self-assessment is simply a matter of having students identify strengths and weaknesses in their own work and revise accordingly. Effective self-assessment involves students comparing their work to clear standards and generating feedback for themselves about where they need to make improvements. It is a tool that can promote learning if it is used while the learning is taking place. In order for self-assessment to be effective, students must be able to use their self-generated feedback to revise and improve their work before it is due for grading. After students self-assess and revise their work, they can turn it in for teacher feedback.
Effective self-assessment involves at least three steps:
1. CLEAR PERFORMANCE TARGETS
In order for self-assessment to be effective, students must have clear targets to work toward. In other words, students must know what counts! Clear criteria for assignments that will be graded should be made available to students before work on the task begins. The assessment criteria can be created by the teacher or co-created with students. The criteria can be arranged in a simple checklist or in a rubric.
2. CHECKING PROGRESS TOWARD THE TARGETS
This is where the actual self-assessment takes place. Once students know the performance targets (step 1), they create a draft of the assignment, compare the draft to the targets, and identify areas of strength and areas for improvement.
3. REVISION
Using the self-generated feedback from step 2, students revise their draft, trying to close the gaps between their work and the targets. This step is crucial. If students don’t have the chance to revise and improve their work, they are unlikely to take the self-assessment process seriously."
Check out studentsatthecenterhub.org for more information about self-assessment, and leave a comment below to let us know how you are engaging your students in self-assessment.
"When students are collaborators in assessment, they develop the habit of self-reflection. They learn the qualities of good work, how to judge their work against these qualities, how to step back from their work to assess their own efforts and feelings of accomplishment, and how to set personal goals (Reif, 1990; Wolf, 1989). These are qualities of self-directed learners, not passive learners. As teachers model, guide, and provide practice in self-assessment, students learn that assessment is not something apart from learning or something done to them, but a collaboration between teachers and students, and an integral part of how they learn and improve."
(https://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/litass/self.html)
And the site, studentsatthecenterhub.org, has lots of information on self-assessment. I’ve taken some key bits directly from that website:
"Self-assessment is simply a matter of having students identify strengths and weaknesses in their own work and revise accordingly. Effective self-assessment involves students comparing their work to clear standards and generating feedback for themselves about where they need to make improvements. It is a tool that can promote learning if it is used while the learning is taking place. In order for self-assessment to be effective, students must be able to use their self-generated feedback to revise and improve their work before it is due for grading. After students self-assess and revise their work, they can turn it in for teacher feedback.
Effective self-assessment involves at least three steps:
1. CLEAR PERFORMANCE TARGETS
In order for self-assessment to be effective, students must have clear targets to work toward. In other words, students must know what counts! Clear criteria for assignments that will be graded should be made available to students before work on the task begins. The assessment criteria can be created by the teacher or co-created with students. The criteria can be arranged in a simple checklist or in a rubric.
2. CHECKING PROGRESS TOWARD THE TARGETS
This is where the actual self-assessment takes place. Once students know the performance targets (step 1), they create a draft of the assignment, compare the draft to the targets, and identify areas of strength and areas for improvement.
3. REVISION
Using the self-generated feedback from step 2, students revise their draft, trying to close the gaps between their work and the targets. This step is crucial. If students don’t have the chance to revise and improve their work, they are unlikely to take the self-assessment process seriously."
Check out studentsatthecenterhub.org for more information about self-assessment, and leave a comment below to let us know how you are engaging your students in self-assessment.
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