Let's have a Twitter chat about results-only learning

I have spent most of the previous month talking about my new ASCD Arias book, The 5-Minute Teacher: How do I maximize time for learning in my classroom.

In spite of the excitement swirling around the new book I am still inundated with correspondence from readers of my first book, Role Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom.

Although I attempt to respond to all readers, I decided it's time to have an open chat about results-only learning, and what better way to do it than on Twitter, using the #RoleTalk hashtag?

Monday August 12th, 7-8 PM EST

Mark your calendar and add the #RoleTalk stream to your Twitter, HootSuite or TweetDeck feed. We'll discuss the following and more:

• student-centered learning
• yearlong projects
• narrative feedback
• SE2R feedback model
• BONUS: sneak peek at 5-Minute Teacher strategies
• transitioning from traditional to progressive student-centered learning
• digital/mobile learning strategies
• building autonomy into the ROLE
• discarding rules and consequences
• your other favorite ROLE strategies

 

Share with friends and colleagues

This promises to be an amazing chat with hundreds of intelligent teachers sharing their opinions on student-centered digital learning, assessment, feedback, project-based learning and much, much more.

See you on Twitter #RoleTalk at 7 PM EST on Monday, August 12th.


Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom, and The 5-Minute Teacher:: How do I maximize time for learning in my classroom, now available in the ASCD store, Barnes & Noble and at Amazon.com

Use the app, Evernote, for formative assessment

The web site and mobile app, Evernote, is a powerful collaboration, content management and formative assessment tool. Check out how one school uses Evernote in a 1:1 computer environment. 

Evernote offers the sort of technology integration that helps create a Results Only Learning Environment. 

You can learn more about Evernote here.

Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: How Results Only Learning Will Change Education as We Know It, due in early 2013 by world education leader, ASCD

Formative assessment in action

While browsing YouTube, I ran across this insightful video on formative assessment. Listen for keywords, like conversation and feedback. This is definitely worth 5 minutes.




Don't miss Mark's book ROLE Reversal: How Results Only Learning Will Change Education as We Know It, due in early 2013 by world education leader, ASCD

Why can't administrators figure out assessment?

Many of my colleagues understand me. They don't agree with all of my methods, but the logic behind results-only learning is clear.

Why, then, can't administrators get it?

I've made it clear in many places, that narrative feedback is far more objective than grades. The SE2R method I use, eliminates the subjectivity that comes with numbers and letter grades. I tell a student what she did, explain how it matches learning outcomes, redirect her to a prior lesson if necessary and request a resubmission of any changed activity. Simple and objective enough, right?

Not to a principal. Today, I was asked to share my "grades" on a particular student with a principal. After one quick glance at the lengthy, detailed narrative feedback left on our online grade book, she said, "So, it's just all of these subjective comments?"

Of course, I quickly explained that my feedback was not subjective at all. In fact, I proclaimed, my feedback is far more objective than any points or percentages would be. The principal persisted.

After reading feedback that ended in 'You have demonstrated mastery learning on this activity,' she looked at me quizzically and wondered aloud what the points on that activity would be. "I  assume it would be 100%," she stated.

When I persisted that there are no points, percentages or grades, she strode off shaking her head.

I started shaking my head, too, wondering when, and if, administrators will ever figure out 21st-century assessment.

Could you stop grading for one unit?

What if you stopped grading, just for one unit of study? Don't put a number, percentage or letter on an activity, project, quiz or test.

How would you evaluate your students? Is it even possible?

What would replace the grading?

Would you speak to your students more? Could they evaluate each other? Themselves? One unit.

Three or four weeks.

Change what you do.

What's holding you back?

Could it be a fear of learning that you never needed the grades in the first place?

Talking narrative feedback at ASCD Conference

I'm heading to Philadelphia this weekend for the ASCD annual conference.

In my session, I'll be discussing results-only learning and how we can eliminate grades, which only punish students.

If you're attending the conference, I hope to see you at my presentation: Using Narrative Feedback to Replace Grades: One Step in Results Only Learning Environment (ROLE).

The session is Monday, March 26, 10:30-11:30 am Room 112A, Pennsylvania Convention Center, First Level.

Results-only math lesson

Found this very cool video over at Joanne Jacobs' blog. This is an excellent example of results-only learning in a math class (minus the test she mentions at the beginning, of course). I would recommend that Leah follow up with a collaborative activity to review and process the warm-up or even a second pass at the same activity to ensure mastery.

Overall, this is a fine example of how to get students engaged in math without boring them with worksheets.

Testing and homework and grades, Oh my!

One of my favorite bloggers, Joanne Jacobs, has a knack for getting people riled. Jacobs' post about teachers confusing diligence and achievement got her followers ranting to what for some reason made me think of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Only instead of lions, tigers and bears, I kept hearing, "Testing and homework and grades, oh my!"

Photo credit: FantasyBooksandMovies.com

Although I applaud the passion of Jacobs' readers, I often find their opinions misguided. The "diligence" post was about boosting grades for hardworking students to a minus or a plus grade, mainly to encourage them. So a hardworking F student might be given a D-. The writer Jacobs' references suggests, however, that giving away A's and B's to students who lack skills is wrong -- even "fraudulent."

This ignited numerous comments about children who were being cheated by underachievers and students with disabilities, who are passed along by a broken system. Most of these parents favor the instruments they vilify in their comments, as long as the testing and homework and grades (oh my) benefit their children and don't help the so-called underachievers.

As you may have guessed, my solution, as utopian as it may seem, is to simply eliminate all of the instruments causing the problems -- the tests, the homework and, especially, the grades.

Teacher meetings are deflating

I've always said that faculty meetings are the place where good ideas go to die. Sounds cynical, I realize, but think about it the next time you attend one. Bring up something innovative and see how quickly it's shot down by a principal.

After a couple of grade-level meetings, led by teachers, I realized that these gatherings are just as deflating as the faculty meetings conducted by principals.

It's one complaint after another -- most of them about the same things, students not performing or high stakes testing.

In addition to eliminating the test, I'm in favor of eradicating all meetings.

Classroom of work vs. a classroom of learning

In "Students Don't 'Work' - They Learn," featured in Education Week in 1997, the inimitable Alfie Kohn discusses classrooms of work and classrooms of learning.

"In the former (work), the tasks come to be seen as - indeed, are often explicitly presented as - means to an end. What counts is the number of right answers, although even this may be seen as just a prerequisite to snagging a good grade. In fact, the grade may be a means to making the honor roll, which, in turn, may lead to special privileges or rewards provided at school or at home. With each additional inducement, the original act of learning is further devalued."

This remarkably simple notion lies at the foundation of the Results Only Learning Environment. 

Incredulous colleagues often inquire about some of the tenets of the ROLE. They wonder how it's possible to teach without daily worksheets, homework or tests. "How do you measure your students?" is a popular question.

Many are shocked when I tell them that I have no desire to measure my students. I just want them to learn, I explain, and if I place numbers and letters on their activities and projects, it's only a matter of time, before my classroom of learning becomes a classroom of work.

Feedback about feedback

As our second grading period draws to a close, I felt it was a prudent idea to remind students how we end the quarter. Even though we discuss reflection, evaluation and feedback often, it's never too much, I think.

A week prior to sitting down for our one-on-one discussions, when we'll reflect on the quarter and decide on a report card grade, I reminded students that they needed to begin the self-evaluation process.

"Remember, the major work we've done for the past nine weeks," I reminded them, heading into a three-day, holiday weekend. Review the feedback you've received and ask yourself how you will answer the question, "What grade should go on the report card?"

This quick reminder of how we do things in a results-only classroom will, I believe, go a long way toward making the evaluation conferences run more smoothly than if I had said nothing at all.

I meet with each student next week. Stay tuned for a report on how it turns out.

ResultsOnly Twitter chat link

In case you missed the first, monthly, scheduled #resultsonly Twitter chat, here is a link to the chat. The first chat was about formative assessment and narrative feedback.

I'd like to offer a special thanks to the people who helped kick off what I'm hoping will one day grow into something as big as other popular education Twitter chats.

Don't miss next month's chat, Wednesday, February 1st at 7 PM EST.

The numbers don't add up

While looking at students' grades in other classes, I came across several that didn't make sense. (Of course, by now, you know that grades, in general, don't make much sense to me.) Take a look at this example: 

In a class with 391 possible points, a student has 195 for a 50% F.

Seven of the assignments have 100% scores, which account for 73 points, meaning the student is perfect on nearly 20% of the material. Obviously, this is not a completely inept kid.

Three missing assignments account for 49 points -- 13% of the total. How much incentive does the student have to make them up? Based on the late penalties outlined below, I'd say there's very little incentive.

The student is penalized 25 points for several late activities. These penalties are harsh -- 50% of the value of the activity. Pretty tough for a 13-year-old. If I turn something in late to my principal, I certainly don't lose half of my pay.

Our sample student receives 28.5/99 on two tests, with no evidence of a retake on either. (Don't even get me started on the problem with two tests being 25% of the value of what a student produces in 45 days of work.)

These numbers simply don't add up. I got to thinking that if a report card grade is absolutely necessary, why can't we at least help students like this one taste a little success? So, I did some basic math, and here's what I came up with.

Raising the bar

 

If the late penalties are eliminated completely, this adds 25 points to the student's total score. Assume that the teacher does some re-teaching/coaching and the student retakes both tests. If the student improves to just 60% on both, her test total increases to 59/99.

These two simple changes (eliminating late penalties and bringing low test scores to just 60%) bring this student to a grade of C. Even if the student gets only 50% on one of the test retakes, she'll still get a C-.

I'd much prefer narrative feedback over the grade, but if some effort is made to help students perform well and embrace learning, the grades they have to get will increase. Then, perhaps they'll feel better about themselves and develop a thirst for learning.

As long as numbers exist, they might as well add up.

Formative assessment: topic of Twitter discussion

As the inaugural #resultsonly scheduled Twitter chat approaches -- Wednesday, 1/11/12 at 7 PM EST -- I thought I'd share a few posts that will help facilitate the chat, which focuses on formative assessment and narrative feedback.

Of course, you're welcome to add any relevant ideas of your own.

Meaningful narrative feedback
The SE2R approach to feedback
Student self-evaluation
Formative assessment and intrinsic motivation

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See you in the Twittersphere on Wednesday.

Grand opening: ResultsOnly Twitter chat

About six months ago, I started  tweeting to the #resultsonly Twitter hashtag. I created this Twitter chat stream, in order to heighten awareness about the Results Only Learning Environment and, hopefully, to begin a reform movement that encourages teachers to use more ROLE strategies.

With the new year, I have decided to launch a scheduled #results only Twitter chat -- one that will generate a conversation that focuses on ROLE strategies.

The Grand Opening of the #resultsonly scheduled chat is Wednesday, January 11 at 7 PM EST.

The chat will take place once a month at first. In an effort to avoid competition with other popular education-related chats, such as #edchat, I will narrow the discussion topics for #resultsonly.

Once the audience grows, I'll Tweet out topic surveys, so you can generate the discussions. For our first-ever scheduled chat, I think it's appropriate to discuss one of the rocks of the Results Only Learning Environment -- narrative feedback over grades.

Whether you are a traditionalist, a  progressive, a homeschooler or something in between, don't miss the #resultsonly Twitter chat on Wednesday, January 11 and every Wednesday after at 7 PM EST. All parents and educators are welcome.

Remember, so all participants see your tweets, be sure to add the #resultsonly hashtag to all tweets. See you in the Twittersphere on Wednesday.

New to Twitter? You can learn more about hashtags here.

New Year's Challenge: stop teaching to the test

I've been reading plenty of education reform blog posts and articles recently. Not that they aren't well-written or insightful; it's just that most reiterate the same refrain: achievement tests place a stranglehold on teachers, inhibiting their effectiveness.

This may be surprising, coming from someone who is well-known for railing against standardized testing, but it's time for teachers to stop complaining that they can't be effective because they have to teach to the test!

If we stop preparing students for the test and simply teach them to be efficient learners, they will perform well on the test without additional test practice. Sounds easy enough, right? Trust me, it is.

I do no test preparation of any kind in my results-only classroom. In fact, we never take any quizzes or tests. My students read daily. They discuss real-world situations that take place in both fiction and nonfiction, and they complete remarkable projects that encompass all of our learning outcomes. They ask lots of questions and we discover the answers together.

One day prior to our state-mandated achievement test, I review what they can expect. We discuss the tricks that are on the test. Apart from this, I simply remind them that they are well prepared, because throughout the school year, they have learned everything they will need to answer the questions on the test.

If we all approach the test this way, I believe the scores will increase exponentially. Maybe if students nationwide start scoring well on these insipid tests, eventually the bureaucrats will see that there is no longer any need for them.

Project based learning prepares students for life

While preparing a presentation for the ASCD Annual Conference and Exhibit Show, I came across this remarkable video, produced by Edutopia.org on project-based learning.

What a marvelous example of how project-based learning and assessment can prepare students for life, while helping them perform well on standardized tests -- a bonus that will keep administrators happy. The powerful quotes from great minds, like Howard Gardner, enhance a very insightful production.

What vision do grades provide?

I found this cartoon interesting. It got me wondering how any student might answer a question about vision, based on grades.

How results-only learning transforms schools

This video, posted to Edutopia.org, is a remarkable example of how ROLE strategies can transform any school into a remarkable learning community.

Although the people at Cochrane Collegiate Academy, featured in the video, don't call their school a ROLE, watch and listen for the results-only concepts shared by staff and students: collaboration, rapport-building, caring, hands-on, engaged and empowered students.

What you don't hear is anything about homework and grades.

All I wonder is with a model like Cochrane, why aren't more school administrators taking notice?

Do you use traditional grades

An interesting #edchat on Twitter about the impact of homework on education quickly turned to grades. I'm surprised by how many participants not only disdain homework but say that grades are unimportant.

So, what is your take on grades?