Assessment in Multiage Classrooms

Assessment

Two philosophical beliefs provide foundation to how assessment should be carried out and utilized in multiage educational programs.

• Assessment is a part of a fully integrated whole to the school program.
• Assessment best supports students when it is used to inform instruction rather than to simply evaluate students.

Multiage educators believe that students follow their own individual pace of learning and that each student’s pace is not always constant.  Children can at times learn quickly while at other times they will learn more slowly, similar to the physical growth spurts that occur during a student’s childhood.  This varied pace can also fluctuate between subject areas as well as with passions for various subjects or areas of learning.  While a student may be rapidly progressing in an area such as math during the first part of a school year, they may equally as likely show a relatively stagnate pace in reading comprehension during that same period of time, only to reverse this during a latter part of the year or during a subsequent year.  This is one of the reasons many progressive schools use a multiage structure* throughout their program, it more easily supports students as they go through these natural fluctuations in learning pace and passions.  Multiage educators further believe that the best way to support children, to best meet the students’ needs as they each follow their own academic growth spurts, is for assessment to be student- small group- and class-specific.  To do this schools must treat teachers as professionals and rely on them create and use meaningful assessment strategies and materials – all guided by comprehensive curriculum maps, benchmarks, and of course the students themselves.

Multiage educators also understand that the healthy progress of children is stronger when learning is based on success, as opposed to emphasizing shortcomings as in a deficiency model.  The later points out what is “wrong” while the former builds strength and a positive image that better supports overall forward progress.  This doesn’t mean that multiage educators don’t look at challenges and what the next academic hurtle will be, it just means that learning is celebrated as forward progress rather than over focussing on what is missing.  This is what communication with individual students is based on in a multiage program, assessment that celebrates personal progress and the next learning steps to be taken along their academic continuum.

When multiage teachers share with parents and guardians the individual progress of their children, they communicate that assessment is based on the criteria of the assignments given and the individual student’s own personal progress for each area.  This is often reflected through the shorthand of grades on progress reports which are augmented through conversation during parent/teacher conferences as well as during individual conversations throughout each school year.  Realizing that this doesn’t always meet the concerns of parents in regards to their child’s standing in relation to their age peers, multiage educators often include two or more age- or grade-specific measurements used specifically to inform parents of academic standing relative to standardized age norms; reading level and mathematics benchmarks are often the most appropriate. Each student’s reading level can be based on reliable metrics such as the Woods and Moe Analytical Reading Inventory or the leveled assessment materials from Fountas and Pinnell (http://www.fountasandpinnellleveledbooks.com).  To inform parents of mathematical progress, achievement can be communicated via math benchmarks.  These benchmarks are standardized through foundational resources such as Washington State Mathematics Learning Standards or other state standards, and The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).  Both of these age-specific measurements should be communicated strictly to parents and guardians, not to the students themselves.

Preschool progress in a multiage program should be based on the same overall philosophy, but the manner of assessment should be more appropriately focussed on observational strategies as well as personal, social, and physical skill development.

Unfortunately the large standardized tests that are common in the U.S. compare students against standards created for specific ages. They are not supportive of multiage educational programs. These tests tend to be evaluative, high stakes in nature, are designed to be age-specific, are typically administered yearly, and the results often don’t get back to the teacher in time for instruction to be modified for individual students. In the long run they tend to inadvertently cause educators to “teach to the test,” just the opposite of teaching children based on their individual learning needs or style.

Assessment needs to support the partnership of students, teachers, and parents as they find ways to best support the growth of each child.

* An elementary multiage classroom purposefully combines students of multiple ages together, ensuring a range of ability and achievement that reflects a natural community, as opposed to the more contrived single-grade structure found at many schools.

3-Three-3, Differentiating an Old Fashioned Math Worksheet

Math Girls

A great way to differentiate math when you are stuck with an old-fashioned math computation worksheet is to not require its completion.  Instead ask the students to simply choose the three easiest problems and the three most difficult problems from the worksheet to solve.  Be sure to ask them to explain why they found the first three to be the easiest and why the second three are the hardest for them.  It is also important to ask students to make up three additional problems that would fit with what is on the worksheet, but that are not included – and of course ask them to explain why they think they would fit.  This approach gives you a lot of information about each student’s mathematical thinking, their ability to solve the type of computations being focused on, and their understanding of the concepts surrounding the problems.

I found that having these questions and available workspace on a separate piece of paper was beneficial in keeping the students focused on what I was asking of them (some students still wanted to complete all of the computation problems and that was okay with me, as long as they completed the assignment first).  To do this I created the 3-Three-3 worksheet and found that I could use it in a great number of situations across the math strands that I was teaching.  If you would like to give it a try, I have included a link to a full-size copy of the worksheet in a pdf format.  Use the comment section to let me know how it works for you.

Independent Learning Projects

A collaborative independent learning project in the form of a puppet play being presented to the class.

 

In my intermediate multiage classroom when students finished their work in a couple of self-paced areas, they were eligible to do an independent learning project. Students loved doing these projects perhaps because they had so much choice in their creation. They decided on the topic they wished to learn about, the product they would produce, and the means of sharing what they’d learned. I did not grade any of these projects but I did support and encourage the students.

Below is a copy of my Independent Learning Contract. When students were ready and had an idea of something they would like to learn, they had a brief conference with me to discuss it. During that conference I helped them refine their idea and begin filling out the contract. They then took it home to discuss the project with their parents, bringing it back to me signed and with any changes. I would add my signature and give any assistance they needed in gathering materials and in getting started. After that they worked on their project independently at appropriate times during the day, both at home and at school. I checked on progress from time to time and when the project was complete we would set up a time for it to be shared with the rest of the class.

 

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Independent Learning Contract

name: __________________ 
date: _______________

Before you begin working on your independent project, you will need to create a plan of what you want to learn about and how you want to show what you’ve learned. You will also need to share this plan with your parents and your teacher. This contract is a part of your project. In addition, it will help guide you in making your plan. Please use a pencil as you may wish to change some of your plan when you share it with your parents or teacher.

1. Questions related to a topic that you wish to learn more about. 
______________________________________________________________

 
______________________________________________________________ 

______________________________________________________________

 

2. Possible resources you will need (may include places to visit, people to interview, 
books, computer databases, etc.). 
______________________________________________________________

 
______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

 

3. How will you show what you’ve learned? 
______________________________________________________________

 
______________________________________________________________

 
______________________________________________________________

 

When will your work begin? __________

When do you think it will end?__________

When do you wish to present your finished project to the class? _________________ 

______________________________________________________________

 

_________________ 
student signature

_________________ _________________ 
parent signature(s)

_________________ 
teacher signature

 

Creativity in the Multiage Classroom

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
– Albert Einstein , On Science

Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
– Walter Lippmann

Creativity killers:
– Surveillance
– Evaluation
– Rewards (if overused, deprive intrinsic pleasure of creative activity)
– Competition (win-lose situations)
– Over-control
– Restricting choices
– Pressure

The human body has two ends on it: one to create with and one to sit on. Sometimes people get their ends reversed. When this happens they need a kick in the seat of the pants.
– Roger von Oech

(note: the above quotations come from the Quotes, Illustrations, Analogies & Profundities in the area of Personal, Teamwork & Leadership Developmentwebsite edited by Grant M. Bright, citation below.)

In his book, Creative Teachers, Creative Students, John Baer defines creativity as follows.

Creativity refers to anything someone does in a way that is original to the creator and that is appropriate to the purpose or goal of the creator (p. 4).

Although it has been argued that creativity cannot be taught, there are ways to help students become better creative thinkers and to help them refine their creativity. This post is designed to briefly introduce you to some of these techniques and the ideas behind them, and to help you provide your students with a classroom environment that supports creativity.

Creativity and Tasks

Creativity is task specific. In other words it is not something that one has or doesn’t have for all tasks. Translated to the classroom this means that a student may show extraordinary creativity while solving a math problem using manipulatives but solve a similar problem rather mundanely when simply using paper and pencil. This also fits well with Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory in which people show greater talent in some areas then others. This is an important concept because it allows for educators to view all of their students as creative thinkers, helping us to realize that we need to provide opportunities for students in many different areas and with a large variety of tasks.

Divergent Thinking

Convergent thinking is what we do when we look for a single correct answer. This contrasts with divergent thinking which “…produces interesting, imaginative, and potentially creative ideas.” (Baer, p. 21) Divergent thinking has four components as described by John Baer.

Fluency has to do with the number of different ideas a person can produce.
Flexibility refers to the variety among the ideas produced.
Originality refers to the uniqueness of the ideas that are produced.
Elaboration refers to the depth and the richness of detail in the ideas.

Some techniques used to help students become more creative thinkers focus more on some of these components than others. It is important to include all of these components in order to have a more balanced approach to engendering a creative classroom atmosphere.

Brainstorming is a commonly used technique that supports creative thinking while focusing on fluency. Basically, a group of people list all of the ideas they can come up with as solutions to a problem. To insure its success there are a number of ground rules that must be followed. These include:

• Positive and negative judgmental statements must be deferred until after the brainstorm is finished. The idea is to get as many different ideas as possible. This is enhanced only when judgmental statements are absent from the initial listing of ideas.
• “Piggybacking” or “hitch-hiking” on others’ ideas is encouraged. Building on others’ ideas allows for furthering a creative line of thought.
  Unusual or wild ideas should be encouraged. Even though an idea may sound a bit crazy in the context of the problem to be solved, it may lead to a line of thought through piggybacking that may become the most workable solution.
• Avoid ownership of the ideas that are listed. As leader of a brainstorm don’t refer to “Johny’s idea” when discussing them. When it comes time to critique the list and perhaps modify the solutions, Johnny may become defensive and thus slow or even stop the creative group process.

When finished with the idea generation phase, the list can be looked at more critically as to what ideas contain possible solutions. Modification should be encouraged at this point.

Forced Associations is a technique that can help students get out of a “mental rut.” It can help students exercise their mental originality muscle. It is similar to brainstorming and the same rules should be followed. The difference lies in the fact that every idea for solving the problem must have a particular noun attached to it. John Baer uses the example of elephant as a noun when trying to solve a problem about a student not completing her homework (p. 54). Appropriate ideas might include having the elephant spray water on the student every time homework is not completed or using the elephant to give the student a ride to school as a reward for completing homework. This “silliness” offers students the chance to have fun with brainstorming in addition to possibly coming up with some very unique solutions.

Plus-Minus-Interesting is a technique that can be used after several possible solutions have been identified. This strategy helps with the elaboration component of divergent thinking and focuses on coming up with ideas in order to evaluate other ideas. To do this create 3 columns on a piece of chart paper labeled Plus, Minus, and Interesting. do this for each idea. Follow the general rules of brainstorming placing each new idea in one column or the other based on where they are best categorized. The ideas that are listed in the interesting column tend to be the ones most often piggybacked on, that is where elaboration really comes into play.

Motivation

Motivation plays a key role in creativity. Through research it has been found that the type of motivation, either extrinsic or intrinsic, directly affects creativity. Extrinsic motivation, that is motivation to compete a task coming from outside of oneself, can severely decrease creativity. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation, motivation for task involvement coming from within oneself, increases creativity. As educators we have learned a “gazillion” techniques for getting students to do what we want, most of them through either rewards or other consequences, including evaluation and grading. Realizing that all of these control tactics affect a child’s motivation which in turn can affect the creative energy given to a task, should give us all pause to question if those techniques are truly useful to what we want to accomplish in the classroom. If the goal is to have the child learn the multiplication facts from 1 through 12 and they have little desire to do so, external motivation can make sense. However, if students enjoy creative writing or responding to literature through art, adding external controls will dampen the creativity employed. (It will also likely lessen the child’s interest in doing that activity again in the future. See Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn for a more thorough discussion on this.)

Find Out More

There are many more techniques you can use and many more ways to structure your learning environment that will help your students employ creativity in their learning activities. To find out more, I suggest reading John Baer’s book cited directly below. It is an excellent introductory resource on engendering creativity in your classroom. If you wish to look deeper into the motivation issue, I recommend reading Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn. There are also quite a few web sites dealing with creativity, a number of which focus on creativity in the workplace. I have listed several of the most appropriate ones for educators below.

Resources:

Baer, John (1997). Creative Teachers, Creative Students. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Bright, Grant M. (1999) Quotes, Illustrations, Analogies & Profundities in the area of Personal, Teamwork & Leadership Development (online). Available: http://pw1.netcom.com/~spritex/quotes.html (2-10-00).

Kohn, Alfie (1993). Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Other Resources Online:

Cave, Charles (1999). Creativity Web (online). Available: http://members.optusnet.com.au/charles57/Creative/index2.html (12-3-13).

Cramond, Bonnie (1995). The Coincidence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Creativity (online). Available:http://borntoexplore.org/adhd.htm (2-8-00).

Edwards, Carolyn Pope, and Springate, Kay Wright (1995). Encouraging Creativity in Early Childhood Classrooms (online). Available: http://ecap.crc.illinois.edu/eecearchive/digests/1995/edward95.html (12-3-13).

Infinite Innovations Ltd. (2000). Brainstorming.co.uk (online). Available: http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/index.html (2-8-00).

Read, J. L. (1996). The Attributes of a Creative Mind – Enchanted Mind (online). Available: http://enchantedmind.com/html/creativity/attributes.html (12-3-13).