Self Assessment

Here is a short little thought about self-assessment.

Transparency. That is a virtue in communications.

It is something I have come to value more as I began to establish complex relationships in my adulthood. In the recent experience, however, its magnitude of power has become only more evident in my life through my teaching journey.

Let us discuss on the matter of assessment. I dare say there cannot be a fair assessment without establishing a transparent assessment. Perhaps this may tell us a little bit of why co-construction is so crucial when creating an assessment piece. It gives our students a chance to thoroughly examine the assessment rubric and contribute their values, goals, concerns and above all, their agreement to have comprehended what is expected of them. Such involvement not only gives them voice and power in their own learning, but also gives them the fair opportunity to take on a challenge and succeed accordingly. Transparency of terms is the key of co-construction of criteria. By clearly establishing boundaries and limit, we are giving the students the freedom to generate creativity and dare to try novel things.

Transparent assessment can be used by both students and educators. In Chapter 8, a concept of 'co-regulation' is introduced. In essence, 'co-regulation' speaks of the value of accountability in a classroom setting, where students can assess on their own learning progress and come up with strategies to improve. This moves away from teachers as the only one having power to examine student competency, but rather shifts students to also have autonomy to validate their own strengths and weaknesses. This can be seen more effective for student learning because such assessment, by the nature of being a self-assessment, allows students to internalize the reality of their learning progress and set goals to further develop their competencies.

So then, my thought process consolidates into two key points. First, I believe that assessments must be made transparent with the students (whether through co-construction, preview of the assessment piece). The second point is this: assessment must be made accessible for students to use them as self-assessment throughout the learning progress. These two points ultimately help students to come to know their positional in relation to their goals, and be able to create action plans to further their learning.

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Butler, D. L., Schnellert, L., & Perry, N. E. (2016). Developing Self-Regulating Learners. Don Mills, ON: Pearson. [Chapter 8]