I had a student walk into my 9th grade class five years ago, and after her first writing sample I knew that I was going to struggle.
What she wrote stymied me. It was fluid, articulate, focused, insightful…all of the things I wanted my students' writing to be. If my supervisor had walked in and glanced over her shoulder as she worked in my room, the level of quality he'd see there would be above-and-beyond–and probably make me look darn good at first blush.
Over the next four years, she was a student in my 9th, 10th, and 12th grade classrooms. By the time she graduated, I had shared with her many, many times how she had challenged me as a professional to find ways to push her to that "next level" as a writer and thinker. She had walked in my door from day one a high-achiever in that regard. Many times, I questioned whether I had been able to truly promote progress, but through the teacher-student relationship we developed, she helped me see the very small, subtle ways that I had in fact helped her progress as a writer–not so much in mechanics as in nuanced craft and internal disposition.
When I think about other students who've passed through my room–the ones who were utterly unable to string two ideas together in September and who by June at least could focus five or six sentences on a cogent point alongside those writers who challenge me with their natural skill–finding ways to promote meaningful progress for all students is a tremendous task. That, though, is what makes the job the greatest intellectual challenge I can imagine.
My new challenge as a professional is how I can communicate about and therefore promote meaningful progress to my students, their parents, and my bosses. My gradebook doesn't do it. My gradebook documents a string of achievements. We all have those students who from day one rise to our challenges and earn A's on every task. A string of A's in a gradebook cannot in itself evidence the progress a child may (or may not) have made. Similarly, rising from all F's to all A's is not necessarily evidence of progress either–at least not in the sense of progress toward a learning goal. It is evidence of something–perhaps different content that grew more interesting, stronger parental influence, or renewed work ethic–but progress toward a specific learning goal or skill is not automatically evidenced there.
Considering that the current wording of the law that defines how student learning relates to my performance evaluation prizes growth (progress) rather than scores (achievement), I'm optimistic that a shift toward focusing on progress rather than achievement will be a good thing for our system and my students. I have many kids who don't care about getting A's… for whatever reason they've already decided that this prospect is not part of their identity as a student.
However, those same kids, whether they openly admit it as is so risky in teenage culture, do want to do better. They do want to make progress. This year, as I work on being better at tracking, monitoring, and fostering student reflection about progress rather than achievement, I've seen many of those kids achieve in ways that they and their parents alike are surprised to see. If I were only focusing on their achievement of grades or test scores, not their progress toward a skill, I don't think I'd see the same results.
Achieving high scores and transcripting top grades feels out of reach to far too many. Progress is something accessible to all.
Kristin, I sure hope that bargaining ends up changing Seattle’s stance… MSP and MAP are the antithesis of effective measures of progress. They may show achievement, but they cannot show progress and any effort to manipulate that data to demonstrate progress is grasping at straws…the assesments, even when called “measures of student progress” are simply not about progress. Further: Why in the world would a teacher be evaluated based on test scores that take place months before or after his/her time with students…what if I’m a lame duck but all my kids go next year to Mrs. T. who is a rock star and can undo the stagnation if not outright damage done in my classroom. Her talents then make me shine. That anyone can see logic in that is astounding. And does this mean that PE and art are off the hook–or worded more positively, that they are shut out from showing how they, too, promote student growth and progress in their own disciplines?
This is a classic case where decisions are being made because of “ease of administration” rather than logic or best practice.
Mark, in Seattle the only measurement tool is testing – the spring MAP and MSP with the next year’s spring MAP and MSP – “two points in time,” and “district and state assessments.”
What my district fails to do is all the other things. Hopefully, that will be more clear and accurate with the upcoming bargaining.
There are many ways to show evidence of a student’s progress, and classroom teachers can gather that evidence better than some entity far removed from the classroom.
The part of the evaluation law that I’m clinging to is RCW 28A.405.100 2(f): “Student growth data that is relevant to the teacher and subject matter must be a factor in the evaluation process and must be based on multiple measures that can include classroom-based, school-based, district-based, and state-based tools. Student growth data elements may include the teacher’s performance as a member of a grade-level, subject matter, or other instructional team within a school when the use of this data is relevant and appropriate. Student growth data elements may also include the teacher’s performance as a member of the overall instructional team of a school when use of this data is relevant and appropriate. As used in this subsection, ‘student growth’ means the change in student achievement between two points in time.”
To me, this gives me the power to use meaningful classroom-based, student-centered assessments that can help measure progress, not just achievement. I do worry that in some districts, there will be a mandate that a certain “test” will be used to gauge progress, which may not necessarily be an accurate, authentic, or reliable measure of progress, even if the test shows “achievement.”
Linda, you are absolutely right that WE need to ensure that this definition stays!
Mark, excellent points. I think we need to ensure that the progress of our students will not be defined by our evaluations as necessarily growth in points on standardized tests, across the board, the same for all students. Some of the proposed bills right now seem to be going in that direction. They say “growth”, but they may or may not leave it up to the teacher to define how that growth is shown.