Written by Melanie Loxton, Primary School Teacher
This month I thought I would explain a little bit about the process of assessment, seeing as we have had a very stressful time trying to fit an extra two weeks’ worth of teaching and assessing into this shortened term. On a similar note, and with tongue in cheek, we teachers receive a lot of ‘jibes’ around holiday time – particularly when facing an extra-long June stint thanks to the World Cup, to which I like to sweetly reply: ”Isn’t it terrible how no-one informed you about the holidays when you made your career choice”, or “it’s either holidays or a mental institution a few times a year!” How do you moms feel about school holidays? Some of you dread them and scavenge for holiday clubs, right? And how do you feel when school starts? Relieved! The fact is, everybody needs a break from their working life, and truthfully, any teacher will agree that the few days holiday that corporate workers get is dismally unfair. We would also argue that working with young children all day is just that much more exhausting. After all, you might deal with clients all day –but one at a time! Our clients are with us all day and they have not acquired polite habits such as talking one at a time or waiting their turn. (Although I suspect some adult clients might not have learned these habit yet either!)
Also bear in mind that being on holiday is very expensive, particularly with children to entertain. This adds to our worries as teachers do not earn what people in the corporate world earn. So, yes, holidays are wonderful and sanity-restoring. What a lovely change it would be, though, if the next time you saw a teacher you said “I am so glad you will have a long holiday so that you will be that much more refreshed when teaching our children instead of burnt out and still trying to be patient with the children in your care”. It certainly would be a new type of comment!
Ranting aside, the assessment process is quite elaborate, even for the junior children. I must stress here that this only applies to the schools that are being properly run. We do hear true horror stories of certain schools where teachers do not know pupil from pupil, where exams are written “communally” and where there is no honest system of genuine assessment, or where standards are so low that results do not hold up in the real world. We do pride ourselves on being one of these ‘properly run’ schools which complies with all government regulations (which change often and with short notice and little training) while still trying to ensure that our curriculum and assessment results are meaningful and worthwhile.
Over the last 10 years that I have been teaching there has been a definite increase in ‘paperwork’ and a heavy emphasis on proof of having taught and practiced concepts and subjects. I think this is to counteract all those ‘horror’ schools so that there can be some means by which to check up on them. However it adds to our load and we find ourselves often resentful that we are not trusted. Most (good) teachers have an innate sense of doing things correctly.
So when a friend asked innocently the other day, “Why are you so stressed about reports? Don’t you just think, oh this child is a ‘3’ and this one is a ‘4’?” I felt that some background would come in handy, not only to justify how hard we do work, but to make you feel more comfortable in knowing that your child’s mark is not pulled out of the air depending on my mood!
Of course some areas are subjective and not measurable in definite terms, such as oral presentation and listening skills. But it is only difficult to tell how a child is doing if you have no-one with which to compare him. If we listen to 30 children tell their news or deliver an oral, it is very easy to say who did well or who under-performed compared to “the norm”. This is also why you may often think that your child is really good at something or very well-behaved!
Even at a Grade 2 level, our mark book is a mass of lists of assessment standards which need to be covered and assessed according to specified criteria. The national mark allocation of a ‘4’ being ‘very good’ down to a ‘1’ which is a fail, can be a little restrictive and so some schools have varied it a little, eg. We use a 4+ to indicate excellence and a 3+ to indicate a stronger achievement that a mere pass. Sometimes we insert the marks just so (eg. I feel she is a ‘4’ for reading), but most other times we convert marks out of 50 or out of 20 into one of these symbols. In each sub-area of Literacy and Numeracy there are a number of formal standardized tests we all do as a grade, as well as assessments of bookwork tasks such as application of work in class.
For example, under the heading “Spelling and Phonics” there will not just be one mark from one test. There will be 2 or 3 dictations, 2 or 3 formal standardized assessments (tests) plus marks for application of spelling and phonics in written work such as news or creative stories and even a test they did on a computer programme. Under the heading “Number concept”, we will not have guessed what we feel the child is capable of: we will have assessed a maths group session (a small group on the mat, not whole-class teaching), there will be 3 standardised Mental Maths tests, a mark for how fast and accurate their bonds have been in their speed test book, and 2 assessments of counting patterns done as part of classwork. For their “life skills” mark, we give marks for sports participation, physical ability in PT lessons, test results from learned theme work, test results from a Life Skills evaluation (do they know their address/phone number/manners/safety rules etc), and we evaluate their classroom behavior because it is a life skill to function optimally in a classroom.
Amidst the jargon, the message I wanted to get across is that we take assessment seriously and we try to be as accurate as possible by assessing a lot and often. Be reassured that one bad test will not be the sum total of their final result because of the policy of continuous assessment.
