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| How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being. - Oscar Wilde |
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| Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein |
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| Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge. - Mark Twain |
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| I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him. - Mark Twain |
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| Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence. - Albert Einstein |
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| Wednesday, June 21, 2006 |
| School Reporting |
I'm somewhat concerned about the new reporting methods being proposed by the Federal Govt & enraged that they are tying funding to the implementation of it.
In the school my kiddies attend we don't have reports per se. The kids bring home a learning folder twice a year. This enables the parent to see how the child has improved from term to term - it also includes information about how the child is doing against year level averages & expectations of learning.
A component of the learning folder is an assessment that is done each term for each section of learning & social development as well. The child says how they think they have done against criteria and the teacher says how they think the child has done against the same criteria. This provides room for discussion on goal setting and social dissonance. Also provides a very clear picture of where the child thinks they are at (for example small boy always thinks he has done worse than the teacher does because he has unrealistic expectations)
Hence the current method (as applied at my kids school) achieves communication of child progress in 2 critical areas:
1. Against themselves
2. Against year level expectations including state and federal standards.
The proposed system in South Australia would grade the children as follows:
A Excellent achievement beyond what is expected at this year level
B Good achievement of what is expected at this year level
C Satisfactory achievement of what is expected at this year level
D Partial achievement of what is expected at this year level
E Minimal achievement of what is expected at this year level
So it is expected that a 'C' rating means your child is working satisfactorily and his or her learning is on track against federal/state measures.
There is no room in the new assessment methodology to assess the child's progress - only standard at a static moment in time.
I also have a problem with C being acceptable and A virtually unachievable for the majority - the grades encourage competition with other students rather than demonstrating and encouraging individual development and achievement. A child with a B average could do significantly better and never see this demonstrated on the report. In addition, without standardised curriculum (there is a base level required, but delivery and mechanisms for teaching are not standardised) reporting this way is very subjective. There appears to be a determination that curriculum is defined ie students will study maths, english, science, art, pe; but shows no understanding of literacy in maths or science or numeracy in art or pe. This lack of clear definition has confused parents and teachers.
The other significant issue is that the A-E grades have different meanings across each of the states - so for example in Victoria a student could only get an A if they have consistently achieved B's for the subject over an extended period of time, whereas in Western Australia a student would get an A if their work was excellent - while these 2 criteria's may appear similar in application they aren't. This is contrary to the supposition that a grade will carry the same meaning across state borders.
I know grading at the best of times is subjective - but kiddies in primary school do not have the context or perspective to assess the grading objectively and it may well be detrimental to their learning.
It will be interesting to see the approach taken by schools and the outcomes for teachers, students and families as these are introduced.
More info here, here, here and here. |
posted by Blue @ 4:24 pm  |
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| 2 Comments: |
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Hey Croak,
I think you'll find its not all schools that do this - but most primary schools do.
We've been pretty lucky with their school.
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this is the way the high school system works. i deal almost purely not with my own standards, but the standards of my class, my school and my state.
primary school kids should not have to learn about the horrors of grades, ranks and test medians untill much later.
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Hey Croak,
I think you'll find its not all schools that do this - but most primary schools do.
We've been pretty lucky with their school.