Earning or Learning?

Just over a week ago, we distributed first term report cards to students. In the days that led up to this, many of the comments I overheard students say reminded me of the question, "Is the focus on earning or learning?"

Here are a few examples of students comments:

"I have to get the assignment done. I need the marks so I pass the term!"

"I'm already getting an ok mark in that class. I need to spend time studying for the test in the (other) class so I can raise my mark for the report card."

"It's marks cut-off time. I have to finish it before the cut-off otherwise it'll be too late and won't be counted towards my report card mark."

"Whatever...I totally don't know what I'm doing in that class. I'm failing anyways. What's the point in doing the assignment?"

"Seriously, why does every teacher have to give us a test right before marks cut-off? Couldn't some of them wait until next week? I need to keep my grades up and this is stressing me out!"


When I hear comments such as these, a number of things come to mind about these kids.

Their motivation to do the work and study for tests is marks and grades.

Not even the threat of a low mark/grade is enough to motivate some students.

Our obsession with marks and inflexibility about due dates is causing stress for some students.

Sadly, these kids seem more interested and concerned about earning marks than learning.
Is their focus on marks something they have arrived at independently or have we, as educators placed such a high value on marks that we have coached them into this thinking this way?

I think back to the beginning of my career, full of energy but very inexperienced. I remember wanting my students to believe that every class period is important. So, I attached marks to almost everything my students did. This would teach them to come to class and hand in all their work...so I thought! By the end of a term/year my marks book was bursting with entries. Of course, I figured the mark I would assign each student would have to be valid. I'd have so many entries as evidence to back it up.

But what I started to notice is that my students were asking lots of questions about their marks, how to gain more and how much an assignment/test would be worth. Fewer and fewer of my students'  questions related to their learning. Rather than motivating my struggling learners, many were getting overwhelmed and turned off by a lack of success. They were disengaging, withdrawing and some were avoiding class. The impact on the higher achieving students was no better. They were becoming so consumed with point gathering that they were afraid to make mistakes and they were no longer asking deep questions. The constant pressure of meeting deadlines and having their work judged was contributing to leading to anxiety and in some cases caused them to cheat!

As I look back, I realize I was really missing the point.

I should have placed much greater emphasis on formative assessment.

I should have provided greater opportunity for students to make mistakes without punishing them in the gradebook.

I should have provided much more descriptive feedback that would point out to students what and how to improve.

I should have been more flexible with my arbitrarily decided due dates.

When determining grades, I should have exercised my professional judgment when looking at the data I had collected on each student. Data should be nothing more than a guide.



So now think about the students in your class..."Is their focus on earning or learning?"

Assessment Confessions & Apologies

Let me begin by making some confessions. When I started my teaching career 16 years ago as a Science teacher, I wanted students to believe that every class was important. So what I did on most days was assign work that counted for marks. I marked a lot of assignments, I entered a lot of numbers into spreadsheets and I frequently updated students with their marks. I sometimes assigned zeros when students failed to submit work and I sometimes assigned late penalties when students submitted work late.  This system seemed to work for a good majority of my students. My most motivated students appeared diligent about completing high-level work and most others seemed to comply to and complete a reasonable amount and level of work. Unfortunately, at least one group of students for whom this approach didn't seem to work for was my struggling learners...those who often appeared to lag behind. The other question that I now realize I should have asked is 'what was motivating my students to learn?'

Fast forward to just over a week ago and I had the opportunity to participate in an online panel discussion using Google+ and share my perspective on the 'no zeros' policy that has recently caught the attention of educators and the general public. While I don't consider myself to be an 'expert' on this topic, the chance to join the panel of Tom Schimmer (@tomschimmer), Tom Hierck (@UMAKADIFF), Joe Bower (@joebower) and Lorelie Lenaour (@LLeanaour) and respond to questions from a PLC organized by Rose Pillay (@rosepillay1) proved to be an excellent learning experience for me. I'd like to thank Rose for inviting me to participate and for challenging me to further clarify my thoughts and ideas on this high profile subject.

In the days following our discussion I have had the opportunity to reflect on my previous assessment and grading practices. I now feel I owe many of my former students some apologies.

I apologize if...

I assigned you a 'zero' when you failed to submit work.
A 'zero' signifies that you knew 'nothing' about the topic in question. If it really was the case that you knew 'nothing' about a given topic after I worked with you, then the person who should have received the 'zero' is me. After all, it was my job to help you learn. Each time you failed to fully complete work on time, I should have asked you 'why?' instead of assuming you didn't care, couldn't be bothered or forgot.

I discouraged you from learning or provided you an excuse not to learn.

If you had truly tried, struggled to understand a concept and consequently failed to submit work, receiving a zero would have been very discouraging. Instead of incenting you to continue trying, I likely demotivated you by signalling to you that you were unable to learn 'on time'. And at some point, when your discouragement contributed to your disengagement, I provided you the ultimate excuse not to continue learning. You probably told your friends and parents that there was no point in completing the work because I had already assigned you a '0'. I should have provided more flexible timelines and more opportunities for you to demonstrate that you could meet the learning outcomes.

If I didn't make learning mandatory for all of you, all the time.

When I witnessed you failing to complete work, I shouldn't have allowed you to walk away without insisting that you learn. Whether it meant spent additional time during class or outside of class, I should have sat with you, supported you and demanded that you learn.

I emphasized point-gathering rather than learning.
So many of the tasks I assigned you had marks attached to them. Each time I told you how many marks each assignment was out of and explained how to achieve those marks, I shifted the emphasis to point-gathering, not learning. In doing so, I used grades as a motivational tool to encourage you to complete work and not to communicate your progress towards learning outcomes as I should have. In some cases I may have extinguished your genuine passion and inspiration for learning and turned you into a desperate and competitive point accumulator. Instead of spending so much time marking your work with numbers, I should have spent the time providing descriptive feedback so that you would have known what and how to improve. This would have shifted our conversations towards 'learning'.

I assigned you an inaccurate grade.

Each 'zero' I assigned for work you didn't submit, was invalid, inaccurate and contributed to a distorted representation of what you actually knew. The zeros may have said more about your work habits and less about your ability to meet some of the learning outcomes. Needless to say, the grade I assigned you was likely a confusing combination that reflected your work habits and your ability to meet the learning outcomes. 

I made you feel like you were being judged and ranked.
Far too often and far too quickly I assigned numbers to your work. I know you compared numbers with your classmates and determined where your mark ranked within the class. For some of you, achieving a  high rank in the class became your motivation (which it shouldn't have) and for others, knowing you consistently ranked towards the lower portion of the class must have been extremely discouraging. Simply put, school should not be about surviving punitive grading practices. It should be about LEARNING!

Why don't students read my comments?

Let's be honest, we've all been there! Out of frustration, we've all asked, "Why don't students bother to read the comments we take so much time to write on the assignments we've just marked? 

There are a range of factors that may impact whether students read all of the comments made about their work, but I believe three factors play a big role.

1. Student view the mark as more important.
2. The feedback isn't timely.
3. Students see no opportunity to demonstrate improvement.

I'll go back in time to when I was in high school and learning how to drive. As a student driver I was offered lots of feedback on how I was progressing and what I could do to improve. Much like any teenager, I was highly motivated to learn and knew that it was important to do so in order to pass my road test.  The feedback was descriptive, specific, immediate and all along remained very supportive. Not once was I graded while I was learning and in no way was the feedback provided in a way that seemed judgmental. I always knew the feedback was designed to help me improve and I also knew I had opportunities to demonstrate my improvements. Because the feedback was so immediate, I did everything I could to apply the feedback and make the necessary improvements.

Eventually, the day of my road test came up on the calendar. To the best of my ability, I followed all of the evaluator's instructions and executed what was asked of me. When I finished my road test, I anxiously awaited the decision of the evaluator. When he told me the result (and yes, I did pass!) I remember feeling ecstatic yet relieved. I know the evaluator offered a number of comments about my driving, however, as much as I am ashamed to admit it, at that moment I didn't really listen too closely to his comments. Why not? For starters, my focus on the result overshadowed all of his comments. Second, because the evaluator's comments came at the conclusion of my road test, they weren't as helpful as they could have been if he provided them throughout the test. Third, I knew that my road test was complete and I wouldn't have to, nor would I be afforded the opportunity to demonstrate improvements based on his suggestions.

So, let's bring this back to our students who seemingly can't be bothered to read our comments. The problem probably doesn't lie in our comments themselves. In fact, on their own our comments would probably be very helpful and offer great suggestions for improvement. The problem likely lies in the fact that the work was 'marked'! The mark signifies that a judgment was made about their work and overshadows the importance of the feedback. How can we blame students for focussing on the 'mark' rather than the comments when we have made a judgment about their work? 

Assigning a mark also indicates a certain degree of finality. If students believe they no longer have an opportunity to demonstrate improvement, what incentive and motivation do they have to read the comments?   Our students viewed all the valuable comments we've taken the time to write as little more than a justification for the mark we assigned.  Why do we too often wait until the end of an assignment to provide the suggestions that students could use to improve their work?

So, what is the purpose of feedback?
Feedback should tell students what and how they can improve in their learning. It must be formative. The types of feedback offered by a teacher will differ based on the subject and learning task it pertains to. It might consist of suggestions on how to improve a draft of a written submission, point out how to correct a mathematical process, how to place one's fingers in order to play a note more clearly, etc.

And what can we do to increase the effectiveness of our feedback?
In order for students to act on our feedback, it must be timely. Feedback, being formative in nature, must be consistently provided during the process of learning so that students can incorporate the suggestions into their work and into their ongoing practice. Regardless of the type of feedback, what's crucial is that students be provided the opportunity to apply the feedback to their work.  This means that a mark should not accompany feedback. Feedback must precede the mark. This tells students that the feedback is designed to help them improve their work before a judgment is made. Students should not be penalized in the gradebook for errors they make while learning. We must provide opportunities for practice without penalty!

What's missing in a mark...

Imagine one of your students sees a mark at the top of an assignment you've returned to him/her. The student may gain a general idea of his/her performance. The student may react with a comment such as "I did ok. I guess it wasn't too hard.", "That was sooooo hard. I didn't have a clue what I was doing!" or  "It was easy!"

While the mark may be an overall indicator of the student's performance, the mark will not...

• identify WHAT the student can improve upon.
• indicate HOW the student can improve.

In order for a student to know what to improve on and how to improve his/her work, descriptive feedback is necessary. Descriptive feedback, either verbal or written, supports the learning process because it is formative in nature. It enables a student to apply his/her efforts into improving specific skills and knowledge before proceeding with subsequent learning.

• increase the student's intrinsic motivation towards learning.

Unfortunately, marks are too often used to extrinsically motivate students to comply with the teacher's directions. Most students will complete satisfactory work but many of them appear to lack passion for their learning. Years of completing work has stolen the joy out of learning. A small number of students complete exceptional work, but even for some of these students the goal is to achieve the highest mark possible rather than to satisfy their curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

Our goal should be to foster curiosity and a love of learning that leads to deep knowledge and understanding. To support this, we should be helping students identify what and how they can improve their learning.

So before the next time you choose to assign a mark to student work, I urge you to ask yourself the question, "How will this mark support student learning?"

If at first you don't succeed...

"If at first you don't succeed..." I think all of you know how this phrase continues. At some point in time as children, we all heard our parents tell us to "try, try again." At school, we often find ourselves  saying, 'Just give it another shot', 'Keep trying and you'll improve', 'Just stick with it and you'll make it happen' and 'Even if it's late, it's still important you do the work'. We say these words to inspire students to perservere at whatever challenge, goal or task it is that lies in front of them. By saying these phrases we acknowledge that students don't always learn things the first time, that they will make mistakes and most importantly, that with continued practice they will improve their learning. We also make these statements because we believe the work is important to student learning and therefore, insist that students complete the work.



So this leads me to my big question. Do your classroom practices support these ideas?

• Do you allow students multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning or do you allow for only one opportunity, forcing them to learn concepts by a certain time?
• Do you provide opportunities for students to make and learn from their mistakes or do you punish students for taking risks and making mistakes, leading to the erosion of student confidence?
• Do you incent students to continue practicing in an effort to improve their skills or do you shut the door to practice by penalizing students for not learning on time?
• Do your insist that the completion of work is more important than its timely submission?

Consider your assessment practices...

• Do you assign a mark of zero when a student fails to complete work on time?

If so, regardless of whether a student didn't understand how to complete the work or the student didn't bother to do the work, you have likely put an end to the learning. A zero signifies a sense of finality and as such, when a student receives a zero, he/she sees no reason to complete the work. That means that the student who didn't understand how to complete the assignment is being punished for not understanding or learning 'on time'. And the student who was lazy or forgot to complete the assignment is being let off the hook. He/she now has an excuse for not completing the work...a zero!

Assigning a zero for work not submitted on time also implies that you place greater value on the timely submission of work than the thoughtful completion of work. Basically, the questions you should ask yourself are 'Is it better for a student to complete work but hand it in late, or not complete the work at all?' and 'Is it better for a student to put effort into their work and submit it late, or hastily complete the work and hand it in on time?' If the work you have assigned is important to student learning, I believe that the timely submission of work, while ideal, is less important than ensuring students actually complete the work to the best of their ability and advance their learning.

• Do you deduct marks for late work?

If so, you are using 'carrots' and 'sticks' in attempt to alter behavior. The threat of having marks deducted for failing to submit work on time may create enough pressure that some students complete the work when they might not have in absence of the threat. These threats might provide extrinsic motivation for students who are quite capable, understand the course content and are 'marks-driven'.  They may force themselves   to rush and finish their work, but they likely won't submit their highest quality work and won't be maximizing their learning. Now consider the struggling students and slower learners.  The threat of a late penalty may crank up the pressure they feel, but it isn't likely to alter their behavior.  Even if they have the best of intentions to complete their work on time, their lack of understanding may prevent them from doing so.

• What is your balance between formative and summative assessment?

Do you mark everything that students do?

If so, you tend to emphasize summative assessment.
Summative assessment should be used to inform others, primarily parents, about the learning progress their children have made. It takes place after learning has occurred, at the end of a learning cycle. (T. Schimmer)

Do you offer lots of descriptive feedback instead of marking most things?

If so, you tend to emphasize formative assessment.
Formative assessment occurs when students are in the process of learning and the feedback they receive allows them to make improvements prior to a summative assessment.  The purpose of formative assessment is to inform students and teachers about students' learning progress and should be used by teachers to plan the next steps in instruction. (T. Schimmer)

Marks may make students do more, but marks won't make students do things better! 
Whatever the reason, many educators have fallen into the trap of thinking that everything a student does must count for marks. As a result, students are driven by marks instead of driven by learning. If our goal is for students to comply by handing in work, then extrinsic motivation such as marks might result in some success. But if our goal is for students to be thoughtful about the work they do and maximize their learning, then offering feedback and creating opportunities for improvement  are critical. Work can still be important and students will still complete work even if a mark isn't attached to it. Students require the opportunity to practice developing and refining new skills and interacting with new content without the pressure of being graded. The focus for students and teachers should be on learning rather than accruing marks. Instead of penalizing students for incomplete and incorrect work, teachers should focus on supporting students and offering them descriptive feedback that will help students move their learning forward.

So, as you reflect on how your students are performing, I urge you to consider whether your practices encourage or discourage students from 'trying again if at first they don't succeed'!

Exercising Professional Judgment

Back in late May I had the opportunity to attend a workshop by Tom Schimmer (@tomchimmer). The topic of his workshop, Assessment and Grading followed his book entitled 10 Things from Assessment to Grading.  Tom’s presentation has further motivated me to discuss assessment and grading with some of my colleagues.  What follows are some of the thoughts that have been percolating in my mind as a result of Tom’s workshop and my conversations with colleagues.

We all know that teaching is the furthest thing from a linear process. Although we’ve been handed the responsibility of helping our students achieve a multitude of learning targets, we have not been provided a predetermined script or set sequence of steps that ensure our students reach these goals. Each of our students learns in a different way and at a different rate. They bring different strengths and challenges to our classrooms each day. These are just some of the factors that we do our best to account for whenever we work with our students. As we assess our students, reflect on classroom situations and the outcomes of various teaching and learning strategies, we are constantly exercising professional judgment. We then do our best to design learning opportunities that best meet the needs of each of our students. It’s an imprecise science to say the least, but the adjustments and adaptations we make become pretty intuitive.

What allows us to exercise our judgment and make decisions that we believe are in the best interest of our students is professional autonomy. It provides us the opportunity to go faster, slower, deeper and explore learning strategies that we believe will best support student learning. It allows us to design our classroom assessments that we believe will best inform us about our students' learning.

Accompanying the flexibility that is afforded to us through our professional autonomy are the responsibilities associated with exercising professional judgment. This includes the ongoing assessment of our students’ progress towards learning outcomes. Some of this may be summative in nature but much of it will be formative. Classroom observations, dialogue with students, learning tasks and tests provide us snapshots at different points in time that allow us the opportunity to provide descriptive feedback to our students.  What gets tricky is when we must translate our ongoing assessments into grades. 

Is a child exceeding expectations? meeting expectations? minimally meeting expectations? or not meeting expectations? Drawing the distinction between these categories can be challenging. What is his or her current level of achievement? Assigning a grade that takes into account the improvements that a student has made throughout the course of a grading period can be quite challenging.

Again, the process of assigning grades is not a perfect science.  It relies on our professional judgment.  There is a temptation to rely on our gradebook, average scores from the grading period and simply convert them to a grade. This 'seems' like the most objective way of arriving at a grade for each student but in actuality contributes to inaccurate grading. It creates the 'perception' that we are ignoring any form of bias when in fact the whole process of assessment and grading relies on our judgment.  Who designs the assignments and tests? Who assesses student performance on these assessments? We do. 

And when it comes to accurate grading we must ask ourselves even more questions. 


Have we allowed our students to practice without penalty? 

Does our grading practice ensure that we aren’t penalizing students when they 
haven’t learned something by an arbitrary date we selected? 

Does the assigned grade recognize a student’s growth over time? 

Do the grades we assign reflect student learning and student learning only? 

Have we ignored the influence of student behaviours and work habits when assigning grades? 

After all, whether or not a student is pleasant, helpful and hardworking or unhappy, disruptive and lazy should not factor into our assessment of his or her progress towards learning targets.

It’s clear that the process of assigning grades is much less about ‘translating’ our assessments into grades and much more about ‘interpreting’ our collection of assessment data and exercising our professional judgment when assigning grades. This means having the courage to say to a student isn't ready to move forward when the numbers and percentages say he/she should. It also means having the courage to say a student is ready to move forward when the numbers and percentages say he/she shouldn't. 

This is just a small window into some of the considerations we need to account for in the complex process of assessment and grading. It’s safe to say that these are important processes that require extensive thought and have significant implications for our students.  I welcome your comments, feedback and experiences as I continue to dive deeper into these topics.