EDU
6160 bPortfolio Post 6 Ian
Lewis November
14, 2016
Discuss the use of
student grades as a factor in evaluating teachers, and use of state test
results to evaluate a school district.
Conference
week (November 7-10) just ended, and while it was very long and exhausting, it
was something I was looking forward to for awhile. While grades were an
important aspect of the student led conferences, they were just a small part of
the whole process of allowing the student to guide their parents through their
own learning to date, while using data (e.g. test scores, assignment grades,
student reflection in writing folders) to help guide reflection, feedback, and
goal-setting for the next quarter. For some of the students, reading the
scripted, “I am leading this conference because I am responsible for my own
learning” was given, but for some students it was the first time this idea
really sunk in despite attempts to continually reinforce this idea in class. At
the start of the school year, achievement goals were established based on pre
assessment of student learning and these are tracked throughout the year. Conferences
at the quarter end offer a way to assess data and progress toward goals, which
inevitably factor in evaluating teachers.
After
discussing their greatest accomplishment and biggest worry, students then guide
their parents through the pre assessment that has guided their goal setting and
reflection in various subject areas, before finishing with class highlights and
work examples. Multiple pre assessments, for example, assist with student
setting of Accelerated Reader (AR) goals: the STAR test provides a quicker
feedback to a usually reliable indicator of student reading level, and the
Gates MacGinitie Reading Test offers scores based on percentile rank and extended
scaled score of progress across grades two to 12 in areas of vocabulary and
comprehension. Both test score ranks provide corresponding AR reading levels
and point goal ranges to aid in student goal setting, which is discussed
regarding the context of success in completing the goal and setting another for
next quarter. Additionally, these reading test scores are presented with last
year’s SBAC scores for reading and writing (scaled score 1-4) in order to
facilitate conversation with regard to progress for the remainder of the
present year and what it will take to raise, keep, and/or (but hopefully not) drop
said scores at the end of the year. Traditionally, the University Place School
District maintains higher test scores than surrounding districts, and this is
also discussed, not just with parents and students at conferences, but as the
topic of multiple staff meetings. Because of this standard, high test scores
are used as part of the evaluative process of teachers, and while I do not
believe low scores would be grounds for discipline, it would suggest a greater need
for emphasis on teacher reflection and attention to best practice.
I
was excited for the conferences because as an anthropologist, and now teacher,
which I would argue share remarkable resemblance, I was able to share what I
had observed for the past two months. These observations, as well as those of
my mentor, and students and parents alike, all then contributed to a discussion
of student progress. As stated before, grades were an important part of this
discussion, but not its entirety. Reflecting on grades and goal-setting with
regard to growth, however, were just as important. Student grades inevitably
factor into teacher evaluation, as do test scores, in teacher and district
evaluation, but as the conferences show, the grades and scores are just one
piece of the student’s academic puzzle.
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