1	Accountability and Assessment: A presentation for parents and trustees from the Burnaby Teachers’ Association
2	Agenda:
3	Part Two: What do Teachers Believe?
4	A. Students Need to be valued as whole individuals Need support, encouragement, and attention to succeed Learn in a variety of ways and need a variety of learning experiences Deserve quality learning conditions Should have an equal opportunity to learn Progress should be evaluated and assessed in a wide variety of meaningful ways
5	B. Teaching Should foster intellectual, social and emotional growth Should include critical thinking skills, analysis, and opportunities for creative expression Should lead to students being busily engaged in learning Should include many different ways of gauging student progress
6	C. Parents Are their children’s first teachers Are natural allies with teachers Share a mutual interest with teachers – the student!
7	D. Trustees Work in the best interests of students Represent parents, students, and the community at large Are guardians of public education
8	E. The Public Education System Is a social good Should: be adequately funded and democratically governed safeguard the principles of equity and access for all be responsive to community needs through locally elected trustees
9	Part Three: What is Assessment?
10	Three types: • Assessment for learning • Assessment as learning • Assessment of learning
11	Assessment for learning collected information about student achievement that is used to plan follow-up classroom activities.
12	How to make it worthwhile… When they assess for learning, teachers use the classroom assessment process, and the continuous flow of information about student achievement that it provides, in order to advance, not merely check on, student learning. Canadian Association of Principals, “Valid Uses of Student Testing as part of Authentic, Comprehensive Student Assessment.” A Statement of Concern from Canada’s School Principals
13	Assessment as learning students are actively involved in assessment of their own learning to identify areas where they are successful, and areas where they need to improve
14	Assessment of learning Assessment at the end of a lesson or unit for reporting progress to students and parents.
15	Part Four: What are teachers’ concerns about assessment and accountability?
16	1. Overemphasis on testing, including: FSA tests and the ranking of schools Grade 10 exams Grade 11 Social Studies exam Widespread use of standardized tests and increasing importance of the test scores Testing used to score and sort students, not as an assessment tool to help student progress Expansion of testing, driven by accountability contracts
17	2. Accountability and Achievement Contracts: Consume district time and resources Data collection and testing take time from teaching and learning More a government PR exercise than a genuine attempt to make improvements for students
18	3. School Planning Councils Goal areas are determined top down by the Ministry and district, not based on school needs Under representation of teachers Limited number of parent participants Restriction of parents who are board employees from participation in their children’s SPC
19	4. What’s wrong with FSA • the way the FSA data is reported feeds the Fraser Institute’s school rankings • the rankings are misleading and biased • the FSA data is manipulated
20	The FSA data is manipulated • over-weighting of successful scores • the gender gap rating favours private schools • the “socio-economic” rating uses one limited factor among many • “tests not written” counts non-scores • low population schools fluctuate widely • insignificant differences are magnified
21	Over-weighting of successful scores • actual test results count for just 45% of the Fraser Institute school scores -grade 4 reading, 7.5% -grade 7 reading, 7.5% -grade 4 writing, 7.5% -grade 7 writing, 7.5% -grade 4 math, 7.5% -grade 7 math, 7.5% • up to an additional 25% is awarded based on the % of students “below expectations” • high-performing schools benefit disproportionately from this double-counting • some independent schools control their inputs through entrance exams, guaranteeing higher scores
22	The gender gap favours private schools • gender differences in reading, grade 7 = 10% • gender differences in math, grade 7 = 10% • gender gap ratings vary erratically for most schools • year on year, high-performing schools are as random as low-performing schools in that rating • single-gender independent schools receive no “gender gap penalty” at all • instead, they are rewarded with extra weight for their test scores and their “below expectations” bonus
23	The “socio-economic” indicator uses one factor: parental education • researchers have identified some 30 factors that influence learning • the most common top three, of near equal strength, are: -classroom management -home environment -metacognition: students planning, monitoring, and evaluating their own work (assessment for learning) • parental education is not among the top 20 factors in most research reviewed
24	“Tests not written” counts non-scores • the Fraser Institute last year added “tests not written/unexcused” as 10% of the total score • it’s a score of a score that was not obtained • it’s actually a measure of parent activism, not a measure of student achievement
25	Low population schools fluctuate widely • low student populations in small schools lead to invalid results year on year • extremely low enrolments can produce wildly positive or wildly negative rankings • Five year results: 02 03 04 05 06 Nakusp Sec. (53) 3.7 5.2 5.3 7.0 5.6 rank 265 215 208 92 197 Ucluelet Sec. (25) 5.3 3.1 5.2 4.3 3.3 rank 216 269 209 251 274
26	Reading Comprehension Results over Time • Five year results: 02 03 04 05 06 Gr. 4 Confed. Park 45 60 80 82 100 number 5 6 8 9 18 Gr. 4 Lyndhurst 100 71 80 77 38 number 6 5 5 10 3 Gr. 7 Montecito 93 86 94 92 95 number 28 25 33 24 35 Gr. 7 Edmonds 74 80 62 31 45 number 20 28 21 9 13
27	Insignificant differences are magnified • a difference in a school’s score of only 0.2 points can mean a huge difference in rank • Score Rank Difference 8.0 #150 7.8 #178 28 places 7.6 #206 7.4 #254 48 places
28	5. One Way Accountability: The data collection does not result in more resources for students who need them Government should be accountable for providing resources
29	6. Impact of excessive testing on teaching and learning Narrows the scope of what is taught and how it’s taught Overemphasizes rote learning rather than understanding Takes time from teaching and learning Discounts what we know about how students learn Leaves out important aspects of learning, such as critical and creative thinking
30	7. Damage to students and public education Reliance on standardized testing gets student achievement wrong, and it gets motivation wrong Values only one way to demonstrate what students have learned Places emphasis on scores and ranking rather than on the learning itself Values competition over cooperation Students are under pressure, which interferes with their ability to learn Low achievers become discouraged by constant evidence of their low achievement
31	What it means… Educational reform in Canada should not just be about narrowing numerical gaps in easily measurable outcomes, but about striving to benefit and enrich the learning of all students, and all aspects of every student, in an inspired and inclusive social and educational vision of what the country still stands for today and must aspire to become tomorrow. Andy Hargreaves, “The Long and Short of Educational Change.”
32	Part Five: What are teachers doing about their concerns?
33	Teachers are: Continuing to advocate for the resources and services our students need Meeting with government and MLA’s Meeting with school trustees Talking with parents Withdrawing from SPC’s and focusing on teaching, learning and valuable relationships with PAC’s and parents overall Urging parents to boycott the FSA tests
34	Teachers are: Proposing an alternative to the FSA tests: PLAP was the Provincial Learning Assessment Programme PLAP used a random sample model to assess curriculum across the province Random sampling instead of a census model is used for system assessment in most provinces in Canada Random sampling is used in the international testing in which B. C. participates B. C. should return to the PLAP for system assessment Leave individual student assessment to classroom teachers
35	Part Six: What can parents, trustees, and teachers do together?
36	The least we can do…
37	Conclusion What is our vision of public education?
38	Alfie Kohn: “Neither we, nor our assessment strategies, can be simultaneously devoted to helping all students improve and sorting them into winners and losers.” “Every hour spent on such exam preparation is an hour not spent helping students to become critical, creative, curious learners.”