sym033 raffles girls' school (secondary), singapore uncovering wisdom through pedagogy

(a CRPP-RGS PeRL Research Project)Student Performance and Assessment

SYM033Raffles Girls' School (Secondary), Singapore

THE PERFORMANCE TASK AS AN ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT: ITS CONTRIBUTION TO TEACHING

AND LEARNING

Uncovering Wisdom Through Pedagogy

SYM033a : Informing the practice on the school-wide implementation of the Performance Task as an alternative assessment.By Mary George CHERIYAN

SYM033b : Teacher perception and attitudes towards the design and implementation of the Performance Task as an alternative assessment.By Puay Lan CHUA, Lucille

SYM033c : Student motivation and achievement in the Performance Task.By Christopher SLATTER


OUTLINE

3

The journey so far?

Thinking SchoolsLearning Nation (1997)

I & E

Teach Less Learn More(2004)

Teacher

Quality of Interaction

Learner

…THE JOURNEY SO FAR…

Goals/ Outcomes

AssessmentPedagogy

GUIDING PRINCIPLES


Assessment Shifts – A Snapshot

2003

1997

2004

2010

C21st SkillsHigher order thinkingInformation communicationNational Education

Project work GCE A level

School-based Science Practical

Assessment

Holistic Assessment


Aims of exploring new ways to assess

Empower students to thinking more deeply about the Math they are learning

Provide teachers with information to revise and redirect their teaching


OTHER WAYS OF ASSESSMENT

Where are we?

Class Tests

SemestralExams

Projectwork

Homework

Other Assessment


MANY OTHER ASSESSMENTS

• Problem solving tasks• Investigation• Projects• Journals • Conferences • Portfolios

• Oral presentations• Class discussions • Observation

• Peer-directed• Self-directed• Teacher-directed

Can it be done?


WorldTRENDS

in Assessment

Progress

Knowledge& Skills

Feedback

Solutions

MultipleSources

Sole RelianceOn answers

External Agencies

Self assessment


• Involving the partnership of both teacher and students

• In making judgment about the student’s progress

• Using non-conventional strategies


OTHER WAYS OF ASSESSMENT…

On-going process

• Problem solving tasks• Investigation• Projects• Journals • Oral presentations• Interviews• Portfolios

• Class discussions • Observations• Checklists• Peer assessment• Self assessment • Student-generated

items


MANY FORMS OF ASSESSMENT…

Technological•Measurement•Knowledge•Skills

Cultural•Interpretation•Integration

Political•Power•Authority•Competing interests


THREE PERSPECTIVES (HOUSE 1981)

SYM033a : Informing the practice on the school-wide implementation of the Performance Task as an alternative assessment.By Mary George CHERIYAN

SYM033b : Teacher perception and attitudes towards the design and implementation of the Performance Task as an alternative assessment.By Puay Lan CHUA, Lucille

SYM033c : Student motivation and achievement in the Performance Task.By Christopher SLATTER


OUTLINE

((a CRPP-RGS PeRL Research Project)

Presenter: Mary George Cheriyan Director RGS PeRL

Presented at the Redesigning Pedagogy Conference, June 2011


INFORMING THE PRACTICE ON THE SCHOOL-WIDE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PERFORMANCE TASK AS AN ALTERNATIVE

ASSESSMENT.

Culture of informed practice: Teachers integrate their experience, judgement and knowledge with current, relevant and reliable research.

Reflective Practice: habit of inquiring and investigating a problem situation in order to understand how to frame a solution (Schon, 1983,87)


OVERARCHING CONCEPTS

This way of thinking is likely to instill in teachers the following attributes:

Open-mindedness (Dewey, 1933) Sense of responsibility Motivation (Loughran, 2002)


OUTCOMES

The divide between academic and teacher research

Legitimacy of the knowledge production by school-based inquiries

The teachers’ voice(Zeichner, 1995)


SCHOOL-BASED RESEARCH

Key ideas

Performance tasks are based on real world situations in which the student creates products and/or performances that demonstrate her key understandings of the big ideas in the topic.

Students apply higher order thinking to synthesize their knowledge of content and acquisition of skills to offer solutions and perspectives on the given issue. They may do so through divergent products that are appropriate to the context and their learning styles. The rubric lists the criteria that describe the standards by which their product/performance is assessed.


RESEARCH PROJECT: THE PERFORMANCE TASK

1. Multiple measures of learning (Eisner, 1999), Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006)

2. Demonstration of critical thinking ( Howell, Brocato, Paterson, Bridges, 1999; Foo and Fan, 2007)

3. Requires content mastery & conceptual understanding (MacLellan, 2004)


VALUE OF PT

Alignment to the Integrated Curriculum Model (Baska, 1987)

The RGS Assessment Framework

Time-based Assessments

Applied understandings-Performance Tasks

Applied understandings-Performance Tasks

Growth over time-Journal and Portfolios


THE PT IN RGS

1. Reliability and validity of school-constructed performance tasks: Focus on Secondary maths

2. What are teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, self-efficacy and their pedagogical practices in designing and implementing the performance task? How are they related with one another?

3. What are students’ motivation and their achievement in the performance task? How are they related with one another?


THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS


THE TEACHERS’ VOICE

Teacher perception and attitudes towards the design and implementation of the

Performance Task as an alternative assessment

(a CRPP-RGS PeRL Research Project)SYM033b


What do you understand by the term, ‘Performance Task’?

How accurate (valid and reliable) are performance tasks, compared to other forms of assessments, in gauging students’ understanding of a topic?

Do you vary your pedagogy according to the type of assessments planned, pen and paper assessment (PPA) or performance task (PT)?

Was this new assessment initiative been clearly communicated to you? Is it a practical move?

FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW

QUESTIONS POSED


How competent are you in designing a performance task? How can your competency be further developed?

Which, PPA or PT, provides students with more opportunities to demonstrate their critical thinking and/or creative thinking?

What are the challenges that you faced in the design of performance task? How did you overcome your challenges ?

What form of mentoring do you provide your students with as they embark on their performance tasks?

FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW

QUESTIONS POSED


Understanding of Performance Task

• PT design meetings – collaborative work • Inferences made about structure• Learn by doing…. look at past PTs, modify, adapt or create (5)• Dialogues on the multi-layered concept among teachers (3)• Workshops: Induction workshop(2) or PeRL PT workshop(2)• Draw parallels - similar to authentic transfer task in • Understanding by Design (UbD) workbook

Communication of Performance Task

• Encourage creativity - create product (2)• Extend student learning beyond the classroom• Demonstrate understanding (3)• Involve critical thinking skills• Challenging• Project work (PW) or alternative assessment (AA)• Audience (3)• Role• Authenticity (9) - transfer or application of learning

TEACHERS’ RESPONSES …..


Practicality of Performance Task as an Alternative Assessment

• Feasible• Individualism (2)• Meaningful and engaging• Process of discovering and uncovering (3)• Assessment beyond the classroom; PPA and textbooks would not

be seen as a ‘be-all’ and ‘end-all’ in learning • Authentic scenarios (2)• Challenging Raffles Programme (RP) curriculum • “Assessment chore”• Asia Pacific study on International Baccalaureate (IB) – intensive

drilling carried out in Years 5 and 6• Recognition and acceptance of PT by overseas universities



Accuracy of Performance Task in Gauging Understanding

Pedagogical Approaches and Assessment Modes

• Fairness - assess different abilities and skills (3)• Use of assessment rubrics• Benchmarking• Transfer or application of learning (3)• Alignment to learner’s outcomes• Validation: internal and external


• Built-in PT Prep (3) • Show relevant examples or tasks• PPA - chalk and board talk on the answer structure (2), PT - idea exploration and standards (in rubrics)• Understanding by Design (UbD) framework - alignment of assessment and pedagogy to learner’s outcomes• Status quo


Mentoring of Students in PT

• Level of mentoring depends on class character• Similar form of guidance• Set benchmarks• Audio-visual Aids and digital resources • Task outline• Coaching @ two levels – task requirement and level of

development


• Multi-dimensional exploration of task• Creativity in product design (4)• Measurement of creative thinking is a challenge• Regulate scale of product (2)• Higher order thinking skills like evaluation and decision-making(4)• Evidence of deep critical thinking – looking at perspectives• Variations in approach to task• No model answer

Demonstration of Critical Thinking and/or Creative Thinking


Level of Competency in PT design and Competency Development


• “Good at, but not an expert on”• Begin with the end in mind – key understandings and nature of product• Learn on the job or learn by doing (5)• Open-mindedness and receptive – continuous learning (3) • Collaboration (2)• Professional dialogues and sharing (3)• PT Guidelines

Challenges in PT design and Overcoming the Challenges

• Learner’s outcomes – dimensions of learning• Nature of product• Assessment rubrics (3) – wording and standards• Key understanding• Bench-marking and objective grading


FINDINGS :

High level of awareness on the existence of a STRUCTURE for PT design - GRASPS

G real world GOALR real world ROLEA real world AUDIENCES real world SITUATIONP real world PRODUCTS or PERFORMANCES Standards Criteria to judge product or performance

Unevenness in the articulation of the meaning of PT

Organisational communication of the rationale and objectives of PT is somewhat overlooked as teachers have uncovered and understood the idea of PT through self-discovery, collaborative work, professional discourse and workshops


FINDINGS :

Generally very supportive of the idea of PT as an alternative assessment as it i. caters to individualityii. supports the challenging Raffles Programme (RP)

curriculum iii. equips students with the 21st century competencies

PTs have been viewed as an ‘assessment chore’

Low level of acceptance of PTs as an indicator of academic achievement by overseas universities

PTs do provide a valid measure of the intended student’s outcomes. However the element of reliability is difficult to determine as the nature and form of PTs change on a yearly basis.


FINDINGS :

Slight to moderate variations in teaching pedagogy; it’s task dependent as well as subject dependent.

Teacher-involvement in the student learning process; some forms of teacher guidance, coaching and facilitation are provided.

Clear thought processes reflected in the design of PT - begin with the end in mind, and- mindful of a STRUCURE

Encourage critical thinking (higher-order thinking skills) and creative thinking (ideas and products).


1The teachers are very positive about the use of PTs as an alternative mode of assessment. They recognise and acknowledge the value of PTs, especially in equipping the students with the 21st century competency.

2The teachers, as assessors, take responsibility for their assessment design. They believe in learning by doing and they commit themselves to continuous learning to enhance their competency in the design of PTs.

FINDINGS :

1TKey challenge – crafting of assessment rubrics


2. Provide i. PT training workshop, conducted either by Alberta Assessment

Consortium (AAC) or RGS PeRL, for teachers so that there is a common understanding among the teachers, and

ii. greater infrastructure support e.g. provide a rubric construction kit that comprises a rubric checklist and a list of rubric vocabulary.

1. Communicate with clarity, concreteness and completeness to the teachers the idea of PT as effective communication is a necessity to successfully promote a shared vision.

IMPLICATIONS

3. Encourage the development of a Professional Learning Community, where dyadic communication, sharing and support prevails, for PT design.


4. End-of-year departmental review of PTs toi. fine-tune and improve the quality of existing PTs.

(Students’ inputs can be sought.)ii. ensure the validity and reliability of PT as an

assessment tool by using a set of PT assessment rubrics.

IMPLICATIONS

5. Validate PT as an alternative assessment so that overseas universities would recognise and accept the validity and reliability of PT as a measure of student achievement in RGS in their admission exercise.


The Students’ Voice

Student Motivation and Achievementin the Performance Task

SYM033c

Chris Slatter


Introduction


A Brief History of Performance Tasks atRaffles Girls' School (Secondary)


The Ministry of Education recognized that nearly all students from the top schools in Singapore progressed to

university.




university.

It was rationalized that these high ability students should not be required to sit O' Level examinations, but should be

offered an enriched secondary school curriculum.




university.

It was rationalized that these high ability students should not be required to sit O' Level examinations, but should be

offered an enriched secondary school curriculum.

This is the origin of the Raffles Programme.



Best practices in gifted education recommend that the teaching and assessment of high ability students should be

aligned with their learning style as well as their interests.





This means using a range of pedagogies to teach the students both inside and outside of the classroom, but what

about assessments?





This means using a range of pedagogies to teach the students both inside and outside of the classroom, but what

about assessments?

Performance tasks give students some degree of autonomy through choice of topics and allow students to present evidence of their understanding in a variety of different

ways.



The structure of a performance task...

R - real world Role

A - real world Audience

S - real world Situation

P - real world Products and Performance

S - Standards criteria to judge product and performance

G - real world Goal


Compare and Contrast...

1) Alternative Assessment.

2) Authentic Transfer Task.

3) Performance Task.


Conducting Research intoPerformance Tasks:The Students’ Voice


ConceptualFramework


What Does the Literature Have to Say About Performance Tasks?


Performance tasks tend to be used as an instrument to identify minority gifted / underrepresented gifted

populations.




populations.

Performance tasks tend to be used as a formative assessment (assessment for learning).




populations.

Performance tasks tend to be used as a formative assessment (assessment for learning).

There is little evidence that performance tasks are used as summative assessments (assessment of learning).



Hypothesis

Performance tasks enable teachers and students to achieve learning goals that are less accessible by

traditional assessments.


Research Question

How effective are performance tasks as an alternative form of assessment?


Methodology


Mixed methods design (sequential exploratory strategy).

Methodology



Focus group interviews conducted with students (purposeful stratified sample - Year 1 to Year 4 Class

Chairpersons, n = 40).

Methodology





Interviews are coded, and qualitative data is extracted.

Methodology





Interviews are coded, and qualitative data is extracted.

Qualitative data is used to design a survey for the collection of quantitative data from all students.

Methodology


Methodology


Results - What Did the Students Say?



Seeing examples of good and bad products would be useful.




Setting students deadlines for certain key stages of the performance task would be useful for Year 1 students. The

deadlines can be phased out as the students progress through to Year 4.






The overall percentage that the performance task is worth should reflect the amount of work that is required to

complete it.






The overall percentage that the performance task is worth should reflect the amount of work that is required to

complete it.

Deadlines for performance tasks overlap.


There is the danger that students just "copy and paste" information into their performance tasks without critically

evaluating the data.





There should be peer evaluation of each student's work.






How to deal with students who do not do their fair share of the group component of the performance task?






How to deal with students who do not do their fair share of the group component of the performance task?

It is unfair to assess students on skills that they are unfamiliar with, for example, video editing. This also gives

girls who have a video camera at home an unfair advantage.



The aesthetic qualities of a performance task should not be assessed.




The performance task should only cover topics that have been studied in class.




The performance task should only cover topics that have been studied in class.

Girls argue that it is unfair to give them scenarios that they are completely unfamiliar with, but this is required to some

extent in order to make the performance task authentic.



Some performance tasks are valuable because they are aligned with the curriculum. The performance task is a

natural progression of the topic being taught. Other performance tasks are very artificial. They are "done

because they need to be done" and for no other apparent reason.






Rubrics can be quite subjective. It would be better if they were more detailed.



Students should be randomly grouped for each performance task by their teacher.




Rubrics can be quite subjective. It would be better if they were more detailed.




Performance tasks are a more interesting form of assessment as compared to pen-and-paper assessments.




Performance tasks give students who are not good atpen-and-paper assessments an opportunity to demonstrate

their understanding.






Performance tasks give students the opportunity to be creative in terms of the process and the product.






Performance tasks give students the opportunity to be creative in terms of the process and the product.

Performance tasks allow students to “play to their strengths” in terms of the process and product.



Performance tasks allow students to find solutions to authentic problems.




Performance tasks are interesting because they are framed in a real world scenario.





Performance tasks give students the opportunity to work in groups. Preparation for the work place?





Performance tasks give students the opportunity to work in groups. Preparation for the work place?

Some teachers go through the rubrics, clarifying, elaborating and explaining.



Students study a topic in more detail when they are assessed by performance task. They read more deeply into

the subject.


Conclusions


Conclusions

Limitations of the performance task appear to be grounded in the technical details of its implementation. For example,

deadlines, duration and mark allocation.


Conclusions



Some issues centred around pedagogy were raised. For example, some – but not all – teachers will discuss the

grading rubric with their students. This needs to be addressed at a schoolwide level.


Conclusions



Some issues centred around pedagogy were raised. For example, some – but not all – teachers will discuss the

grading rubric with their students. This needs to be addressed at a schoolwide level.

In general, the students recognise the importance of performance tasks and are able to verbalise this. Their feedback is in general agreement with the pedagogical

objectives of performance tasks as stated in the literature.


Recognised Limitations



Small sample size. The 40 students who participated in the focus group interviews are only a small percentage of the

entire cohort of ca. 1800 students.





The students that were interviewed were the class chairpersons. Are they typical students whose opinions

reflect those of their peers?





The students that were interviewed were the class chairpersons. Are they typical students whose opinions

reflect those of their peers?

Just because a student (or anybody for that matter) says something, does not make it true!


Further Research


Further Research

To address the recognised limitations of the qualitative study, items that have been coded from the students’ focus

group interviews will be translated into survey questions that will be given out for all students to complete.


Further Research

To address the recognised limitations of the qualitative study, items that have been coded from the students’ focus

group interviews will be translated into survey questions that will be given out for all students to complete.

Numerical data obtained from the survey will be statistically analysed, thus giving a mixture of both qualitative and

quantitative information. This will allow (confident) recommendations to be made to both the school’s teachers and student population with regards to performance tasks.

sym033 raffles girls' school (secondary), singapore uncovering wisdom through pedagogy

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