| AAC | COMMUNIQUE |
| Fall 2002 |
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AAC OFFICE
#500, 11010-142 Street IMPORTANT DATES October 24 to 26, 2002
2001 - 2002 Executive
Robert Hogg, Executive Director
AAC MEMBERS AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVE
Alberta Teachers' Association
AAC is a not-for-profit, partnership of basic education organizations. It is dedicated to enhancing student learning through classroom assessment that increases student confidence as learners and enables them to reveal what they know and demonstrate what they can do. AAC is a registered charitable organization with membership consisting of 43 jurisdictions representing approximately 80% of the students in Alberta.
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A Case for Rubrics
Students who begin to self-assess their work begin to recognize what they have learned, what needs to be learned, and what kind of support may be available to them. Anne Davies, 2000
For the past three years I have been involved with assessing student learning differently. It has changed the way I assess, evaluate, create and teach my units and daily program. As an assistant principal at an elementary school in Drayton Valley I am passing on this newfound knowledge and excitement to my staff. We are implementing these assessment tools as part of our evaluation process for our reporting periods. I have also immersed myself so much with assessment that I took it upon myself to investigate the influence of rubric assessment practices on the student's desire to learn as my graduate project. The results of my project have further convinced me that this is a positive new direction for student learning. What I noticed before I started using rubrics regularly were students did not understand how to achieve a mark of 6/10, 8/10, 10/10, etc… They knew enough that the closer they got to the "perfect" mark, the better their percentage. That would reflect on their report card, but they really did not know the expectations to receive a graded score. I soon realized I could not assume students knew what success looked like. I needed to establish work samples, exemplars and a shared language that allowed for student understanding and recognition of success. Using rubrics has involved my students and has established a fixed target of expectations providing them with the greatest opportunity to succeed in our grade 5 classroom. During my graduate project I interviewed students and concluded that those who used rubrics were able to provide responses that indicated awareness of how they were doing even before they handed in the assignment. The impact using a rubric had on their learning and their ability to identify their strengths and areas for improvement was immense. Some sample responses from grade 5 students include: "It helps me learn because I understand what I have to do before I do it so I know what I am doing." "It's like a learning tool because you can find out what you are good at and what you are bad at." "When I hand in my assignment, I already know what mark or grade I am going to get and I feel good about it. Usually we make up a rubric that helps me by following it and it helps me get a better mark. You follow it step by step." My project, readings and research, attending the Alberta Assessment Conference the past three years and simply being immersed into new assessment practices have helped me realize the significance rubrics can have on student's learning. Rubrics are only one available and powerful tool. They allow all students to know what is expected of them in advance and provides them with an expectation of the work to be completed. This supports our district mission to provide the best educational opportunities for all students. With this information teachers are able to identify student learning based on the defined standards. Students are in an excellent position to self-evaluate their work. Rubrics work!
To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you are headed so that you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.
Greg Joslin
Call for Nominations The next AGM will be convened on Thursday, October 24 at 4:00 at the Fantasyland Hotel and Convention Centre. Representatives (or their designates) from each member jurisdiction will nominate and elect two Executive Committee members. Nominations, including self-nominations, will be invited at the meeting. Time commitment as an executive member? - Executive Committee meetings are conducted primarily through teleconference at least 4 times per year.
New Members
2002 Fall Conference - October 24th to 26th - Edmonton Once again this year's conference will feature a diversity of sessions including in-depth workshops. In addition to breakout sessions, delegates can choose to attend one of three half-day workshops on Saturday morning. Here is a preview of several session and workshop topics:
To register use the conference Program Guide (brochure) or go to the AAC web site for on-line registration. Register early to avoid disappointment!
NEW for 2002!A pre-conference Leadership Day focused on "building assessment capacity in schools and districts" for lead teachers, administrators, curriculum and assessment personnel will be held on Thursday, October 24 at the Fantasyland Hotel. Applications to participate are received by AAC through jurisdiction representatives.
Summer Development Workshop 2002Many performance assessment tools developed and revised during the summer have had an initial review and will soon appear on the AAC web site under 'Assessment Material'.A new professional resource titled, Refocus: Looking at Assessment for Learning is moving toward publication. This will be the fifth in a series of practical resources written and developed by AAC for classroom teachers. Assessment materials were developed or revised in the following programs.
Here is a testimonial that reflects feedback from workshop participants (used with permission). Just a brief note to let you know how much I thoroughly enjoyed the recent workshop. Not only did I learn a TREMENDOUS amount about assessment - and the importance of being precise and clear as to what we expect students to do, and the ways and means to assess said "doing" - but the PD afforded from conversation with other teachers was beyond rewarding. I recognize that I have a great deal to learn and to practice in terms of classroom assessment; however, the baby steps are feeling like giant leaps in terms of the way I "thought" about projects before. Designing performance assessments and rubrics for students requires much more than creativity; it involves thinking like an assessor so as to ensure that the "creativity" has merit and, as you said, some "enduring learning" attached to it. I have lots I could add - but suffice to say - I think the assessment bug has bitten me!!
Carol Mayne
New Standard, New LookAAC has established a new standard for developing performance assessments and rubrics. A streamlined assessment design provides teachers with a very user-friendly and effective product to use 'off the shelf' and an easy to use model for routinely developing their own performance assessments and rubrics. ... see http://www.aac.ab.ca/ELA7ReadingComp2.doc to see a sample of the new 'concise and precise' design... see http://www.aac.ab.ca/request.html for details about a unique professional development opportunity for teachers to develop, field test and receive financial recognition for performance assessments they develop based on the new standard. This new initiative is called Request for Performance Assessments (RPA) ... 'er-paw'. See the back page for details. You will soon see significant changes in the web site. We are systematically reviewing the entire AAC collection of assessment materials to identify assessments to revise using the new design standard. All others will be removed from the collection. Numerous new assessments developed or revised during the AAC Summer Development Workshop 2002 will be added. The net immediate effect will be fewer, but more useful and effective performance assessments and rubrics. The longer-term effect will be increased numbers of high quality assessments tools available for teachers strongly aligned with the curriculum.
Students can hit any target they can see and holds still for them.
Request for Performance Assessments (RPA)
The Alberta Assessment Consortium (AAC) invites teachers in member jurisdictions to develop performance assessments and receive feedback. Compensation and recognition is provided for each performance assessment that achieves AAC development standards and/or field test requirements.
Here is how RPA works.
Teachers will receive compensation* for
Members of the AAC Review Team review and make suggestions for improving performance assessments developed by other teachers prior to the field-testing. $125 will be awarded for each complete review that will serve as feedback to the developer.
* Upon approval of work completed and submission of an invoice prepared by AAC for this purpose.
Details are found on the AAC web site www.aac.ab.ca - Request for Performance Assessments (RPA). |