September 12, 2011
Tests
Well, general chemistry completed the first part of the written assessment today. Tomorrow they will finish the application second part of it. It’s interesting how many people do well on the homework but bomb the test. These students don’t strike me as the sort that would copy homework, particularly now when it doesn’t directly affect their grade. I think so many students psych themselves out. Test anxiety is no excuse for a poor test score though, sadly enough. Driver’s license, CPA training, insurance certification, teacher certification, doctorates, etc all require a pencil and paper tests so even the poor test takers must find some way to overcome that hurdle. I’m hoping that this system will allow them to see their weak points and notice that rarely does a student fail the entire test. It is usually one section or another that brings the overall grade down. If they can focus on that weak point, they can bring up the score. I hope it will be encouraging. All the aforementioned tests allow retakes, though it may cost time and money, but you are allowed to retake the test after you’ve had a time to study. Hopefully, eventually, we can move beyond that and help students start identifying these weak spots before the test rolls around. The scores on my test ranged widely and there are a few students who have grounds to argue a reassessment.
Another intriguing occurrence worthy of note is student resistance to application type assessments. Since the second part of the standard 1 assessment requires students to apply their knowledge or to think about the concepts in a more abstract manner, they are not able to simply memorize a chart or vocabulary word to achieve the score they desire. They actually have to master the material. I mentioned something about wanting to see how their brains worked and not how well they could play the “school game” and several of them smiled sheepishly. We have conditioned students to memorize and regurgitate, not to apply and analyze.
Reassessment
For honors chemistry, there were so few that I was creating reassessments on a request basis. The two students requesting reassessment each will have very different tests. I need to come up with reassessments for each section that I can give students so I don’t have to keep making up individual tests. I am expecting a fair amount of reassessments out of the two general chemistry classes. Well, I should rephrase that: quite a few students would have a solid argument to request reassessments. I do not know if they will or not. Time will tell.
Grading
I reorganized my grade book by sub-standard and the difference is so profound , almost tangible. It took forever to rewrite all the scores from the semester so far but the effort was more than worth it. Now I can clearly see the pattern of learning, regression or stagnation for a particular student. As we being standard 2, I will definitely be chunking off sections of my grade book for each sub-standard to assist with tracking of information mastered. The binder paper grade book is an enormous asset as I can add page whenever I need! However, I am still greatly concerned about the online grade book. Scores of low Cs can be seen for even the students who scored 3 or higher on the test. The online system goes by the percent, seeing 3/5 and averaging the score that way. I have no idea how to fix this other than to override the system at term. Parents can still determine a child’s grade by averaging standards and comparing it to the chart already given. In general, a 5 is an A+, a 4 is an A/A-, a 3 is B, 2 is a C and 1 is an F. The score of a 1 is indicative of a situation where the student didn’t turn something in or has very little or no understanding of the topic at hand. But that doesn't make the current percentages any easier to deal with, other than to ignore them. While I’m on the subject of not turning in assignment, lab assessments have become a small issue. Since the lab reports are often lengthy, it is unreasonable to require this to be done solely during class time. Thus, it goes home. However, as is always the chance with assignments being sent home, many of the lab notebooks never returned. Before today, that was the only summative assessment students had so several had a 0% in the course. I have since converted all those zeros to 1’s, as a 1 means both “no clue” and insufficient evidence, neither of which is an acceptable reason to have that score.
Overall
I am still greatly concerned about the online grade book. I am expecting a flurry of parent emails over the next several days. But, that is a good thing. Communication with parents is never a bad thing and when so much is changing, it’s even more important. I am exceedingly pleased with the extraordinary amount of data I have on student understanding and how well the test data correlates with the practice data. I am hoping this will clarify AFL and SBG in the minds of my students and help them to take control of their learning and success.
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