Classroom-based assessment to promote equity Đặng Ngân Giang Hanoi University Email: ngangiang295@gmail.com

Main contents Definition of classroom-based assessment Effects of classroom-based assessment on equity Strategies of effective classroom-based assessment Implications

What is equity? Equity is a measure of achievement, fairness, and opportunity in education Equity depends on fairness and inclusion Equity helps provide learners with what they need => Mutual respect

What is classroom-based assessment? Classroom-based assessment (CBA) is … “any reflection by teachers (and/or learners) on the qualities of a learner’s (or group of learners’) work and the use of that information by teachers (and/or learners) for teaching, learning (feedback), reporting, management or socialization purposes.” (Hill & McNamara, 2011)

What is classroom-based assessment? In other words … “assessment designed and undertaken during regular class time (place) by the teachers and/or students (subject) in order to make judgments on the students’ performance (object) and decisions regarding teaching and student learning.”

Components of CBA

What is classroom-based assessment? Purposes of CBA: to monitor, provide feedback on learners’ progress and plan teachers’ instruction to encourage learners to take responsibility for their own learning to provide information for accountability purposes (Nunan, 2015)

What is classroom-based assessment? Agents of CBA: two-way process Teachers: decisive agent + design assessments; + collect and interpret information of learning; + record and report learners’ progress and achievement. (Rea-Dickins, 2004) Students: active agents + evaluate own learning products/progress; + understand learning outcomes. (Shermis & Vesta, 2011)

What is classroom-based assessment? Methods of CBA: selected response and short answer: quiz… extended written response: essay, journal… performance assessment: observation, porfolio, self-assessment, peer-assessment… personal communication: dialogue… (Stiggins, 2004)

What effects does CBA have on equity? Teachers can: keep better track of learners’ progress to provide timely support; adjust teaching (reteach the content learners did not understand); determine which teaching methods are most successful with each group of students; have more comprehensive judgments of learners’ ability.

What effects does CBA have on equity? Learners can: have more opportunities to engage in self-initiated enquiry; feel recognized thanks to improved teaching; become more motivated because they will be given tasks that they are able to perform; are more involved in assessment process and their own learning; increase metacognition and improved ability to monitor their own progress. (Steadman, 1998; Atim, 2012; Stoynoff, 2012)

Challenges to CBA Requires students’ active participation; Requires large number of roles that the teacher performs (awareness, organizing skills, expertise and finally, human sensitivity); Limited teaching time and large class size. (Wach, 2012)

How can teachers use CBA effectively? Employ various assessment methods that respond to students’ different learning styles; Follow a four-stage procedure of classroom-based assessment to ensure reliability and validity.

Four-stage procedure of CBA Stage 1: Planning + identify the purpose for the assessment; + choose the assessment activity; + design specification of assessment; + prepare the learners for the assessment.

Four-stage procedure of CBA Stage 2: Implementing + introduce the assessment to students; + scaffold during assessment activity; + facilitate learner self-peer monitoring; + provide immediate feedback to learners.

Four-stage procedure of CBA Stage 3: Monitoring + make detailed recordings of evidence of achievement; + interpret evidence obtained from an assessment to form judgments about a student’s progress and achievements; + revise teaching and learning plan; + give feedback to learners.

Four-stage procedure of CBA Stage 4: recording and dissemination + share assessment findings with other teachers; + report assessment results to relevant stakeholders (make changes to specifications or curriculum). Planning Implementing Monitoring Recording & dissemination (Rea-Dickins, 2001)

Implications for teachers Reflect on their CBA beliefs and practices and determine appropriate practices and results to improve student language learning; Select appropriate assessment procedures based on curricular aims, the assessment purpose, and the learners; Attain and sustain sufficient expertise in assessment to fulfill their professional responsibilities.

Implications for administrators Provide large-scale assessments that are substantively consistent with CBA: be guided by the same curriculum standards engage students in the same kinds of inquiry and demonstrations of proficiency be evaluated in terms of shared criteria for judging high-quality work

Implications for administrators Establish community of practice Shared practice: orientation, seminar observations, networking, co-teaching, mini workshops, blackboard modules, action research, conference presentation. Community of people: teachers, experts, government officials. Domain of knowledge: practices of assessment (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002)

References Atim, H. (2012). How classroom assessments promote equity and students’ learning. (Master), University of Oslo. Hill, K., & McNamara, T. (2011). Developing a comprehensive, empirically based research framework for classroom-based assessment. Language Testing, 29(3), 395-420. Nunan, D. (2015). Teaching English to speakers of other languages: An introduction. NY: Routledge. Rea-Dickins, P. (2001). Mirror, mirror on the wall: Identifying processes of classroom assessment. Language Testing, 18(4), 429-462. Rea-Dickins, P. (2004). Understanding teachers as agents of assessment. Language Testing, 21(3), 249-258. Shermis, M. D., & Vesta, F. J. D. (2011). Classroom Assessment in Action. Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield Publisers, Inc. Steadman, M. (1998). Using classroom assessment to change both teaching and learning. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 75, 23-35. Wach, A. (2012). Classroom-based language efficiency assessment: a challenge for EFL teachers. Adam Mickiewicz University Press Poznan. Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: A guide to managing knowledge. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.