Présentation à la réunion des directions d'école du district scolaire 3

Je suis à préparer une courte présentation concernant ma participation au colloque intitulé ; Assessment Institute. Je crois que ce colloque n'aurait pas pu mieux tomber dans ma carrière...Le "timing" comme on pourrait dire, était parfait. Après avoir travaillé avec ma communauté à l'élaboration de notre "Plan de réussite", notre « Profil d'école » et nos « Rapports de rendements » au cours des dernières années, je me demandais comment monter d'un cran l'évaluation des apprentissages. Cette réflexion s'est intensifiée au cours des deux dernières années. Nous avons débuté l'an dernier avec la monographie de l'évaluation des apprentissages et je sentais que j'étais plus ou moins bien préparé pour entamer ce virage avec mon personnel. Ce que je retiens du colloque est que le facteur le plus important dans l'amélioration des apprentissages des élèves est l'évaluation des apprentissages. Nous avons parlé de la différence entre évaluer pour apprendre et l'évaluation de l'apprentissage.

Pour débuter, je proposerai le visionnement de cette vidéo pour amorcer la discussion. Connaissons-nous vraiment nos élèves »? Est-ce que l'évaluation est au service des apprentissages ? Est-ce que nous avons à repenser et revoir notre utilisation de l'évaluation dans les apprentissages ?

La version francophone existe ici mais dure trois fois plus longtemps.

J'ai eu la chance d'entendre et de découvrir la crème de la crème en matière d'évaluation des apprentissages. Plus de 600 personnes se sont entassées pour écouter ces conférenciers. Ceux-ci ont fait avec nous, le pont entre la recherche et les pratiques. J'ai du matériel pour les prochaines années. Avec un guide de près de 500 pages, et des billets remplis de notes personnelles, j'aurai l'occasion, au cours des prochains mois, de décortiquer et de présenter à notre communauté éducative ce qui se fait de mieux en matière d'évaluation des apprentissages. Nous avons aussi parlé de l'évaluation de l'écriture et de textes. Je réalise que nous avons là aussi du chemin à faire mais, notre plan annuel de cette année me dit aussi que nous sommes sur la bonne voie. Nous aurons à discuter des six temps en écriture et de trouver des façons pour que nos élèves écrivent plus et écrivent mieux.

Voici donc les billets où j'ai placé mes notes prises lors des conférences. Je vous les partage mais, encore mieux, je me prépare un endroit que je pourrai visiter au besoin et me permettre de préparer les prochaines journées de formation continue comme je l'avais fait la dernière fois.

Ma rencontre avec Rick Stiggins : You can’t use a method only because you are comfortable with it… You have to use the right method at the right time. With time, it’s possible to learn new methods and to be comfortable. We need to ask ourselves these questions… It can do more harm than good…

We also have to develop effective communication to support learning;
- Focus on student’s work-not student as learners.
- Descriptive helping students to see how to do better the next time
- Clearly understandable to all users
- Sufficiently detailed to inform but not overwhelm
- In time to inform& help…

The long lasting problem; Teachers & leaders have rarely been given the chance to learn how to assess productively…

The emotional profile of students who are successful is different from the one of failing students. It’s an emotional world!

Students are not in control if they can learn or not…

Priorities are changing and society wants all winners. As we continue to evolve toward greater technical & social complexity, lifelong learning skills become essential and so, Reading comprehension, Ability to write effectively, Math problem solving, Living in a digital world…Become keys to life long learning. This is a new mission and teachers are being accountable for it in order to meet society’s need. Our new challenge is to see how can we keep winners winning and how do we get losers onto winning streaks?

We as educators need to ;
- locate student on the scaffolding
- establish the value of the next target
- make it appear reachable to them (promotes hope)
- show them themselves reaching it

All students must believe that they can meet the standards. If they don’t believe this, the learning stop. We must assess accurately, and use results effectively in order to make sure students reacts productively to the assessment results.

We need also to create a culture of confidence.
Requirements;
- Assess accurately &
- Manage and share results effectively in order to
- Elicit a productive emotional reaction to the assessment results from the learner.

The distinction between:
Assessment of learning: How much have our students learned in the past ?
Assessment for learning: How can we help our students learn more in the future ?

Teacher’s role in assessment FOR learning;
- master each standard
- Deconstruct each into enabling targets
- Transform into student-friendly version
- Transform to accurate classroom assessments
- Use those in collaboration with students to track growth- to promote winning streaks.

To improve, students must:
- know what good work looks like
- compare their work to that standard
- understand how to close gap (Royce Sadler, Australia)

Ma rencontre avec Damian Cooper : The Eight Big Ideas to improve learning :
1. Assessment serves different purposes at different times
2. Assessment must be planned and purposeful
3. Assessment must be balanced and flexible
4. Assessment and instruction are inseparable
5. For assessment to be helpful to students, it must inform them in words, not just numerical scores or letter grades
6. Assessment is a collaborative process
7. Performance standards are an essential component of effective assessment
8. Grading and reporting student achievement is a caring, sensitive process

If kids learn in different ways…shouldn’t’ we assess in different ways too? How many teachers when they return a test take the time to have the kids find their errors and give time to correct it in order to improve student learning? Kids want that the effort that they will put in place are worth it. We need to move from a model that defines learning as competition (learning bell) to success to all. Quality is non-negotiable. Do it until it’s quality work…..
If when a student turn in a paper that is crap and that you accept it…They will keep turning them in again and again… Who got their driving licence the first time… Sometime we need more time to learn something… We can’t have teacher scream “Go!” and run until the end of the year even if he loose students along the way… This doesn’t work anymore…

We need to work and to find ways in linking practices with the data collected. For example when a teacher gives a test back to the students…There should be no marks but indicators of missing or wrong information. He then should give more time to the students to work in group to enhance their learning before the test is marked. The goal is better learning….

No student left behind shouldn’t mean no teachers left standing…

Visualisation could be use to help student see themselves in the future and to motivate them in putting the effort.

Am I already doing this?
- Do I routinely share learning goals with my students so they know where we are heading?
- Do I routinely communicate to students the standards they are aiming for before they begin work on class?
- Do I routinely have students self and peer assess their work in ways that improve their learning?
- Do my questioning techniques includes all students and promote increased understanding? We must not have invisible in class… They are at risk…
- Do I routinely provide individual feedback to students that inform them how to improve?
- Do I routinely provide opportunities for students to make use of this feedback to improve specific piece of work?

Strategies to use in class:
Portfolios are the best way to link learning with assessment…. It’s also the best way to involve the student in that process. We need to hold the student accountable for that process…

Use a traffic light in the start of a lesson. It’s a stick with a stick with a circle green or a red circle… When ask whish student understand…Show me who understands… Mostly red must start over… Then not to forget to check in other ways to make sure that they have really learned.. Removes pressure…

Why involve students in the Assessment process?
Because students;
- Develop understanding of what quality work looks alike
- Become independent monitors of their own work
- Develop skills of metacognition
- Develop critical thinking skills
- Develop communication and interpersonal skills

Ma rencontre avec Anne Davies : School shouldn’t be a place where young children see old people get exhausted and tires… It’s not to work harder but smarter…

Questions ?
Does classroom assessment make a difference? Yes
How much difference does it make? Significant…
What kinds of things make the difference? Three keys…

What classroom assessment techniques make the difference (The three keys)
- Involving students in the classroom assessment process
- Increasing descriptive, specific feedback, and
- Decrease evaluation feedback

Ma première rencontre avec Cassandra Erkens

Ma deuxième rencontre avec Cassendra Erkens : Activité : An exercise in leadership: In a middle of the flip chart, there is a dot. Two persons get a marker and two rubber bands tied with a knot in the middle…each person place their marker in one side of the elastic….Your job is to always keep the knot over the center… If I wanted him to follow better…what I could have done differently: go slower, talk to him, and give him feedback. Leadership is an art but there is also an art to follow… What could he have done to follow better? He could have asked questions…. But if I want him to ask question…I have to let him know that it’s safe to ask question or to say slow down. It’s all in the culture and the one that we need to have in place. Where there is competition is not very safe… It’s the same for students…

Leadership note:
- Remember that to lead means to go before.
- Take risks.
- Lead with “yes” for empowerment. “Yes. when we get the funding…”
- Ask ! (Ask the kids, the staff…what is the a problem…)
- Get focused and stay focused.
- Tight/Loose leadership.
- Accountability. (Hold others and self accountable)
- Study your craft.
- Study your impact.
- Remember that you are calling for change.
- Model, Model, Model ! (We must be the change we wish to see in the world, Gandhi)
- Break it in manageable chunks…
- How can I help you?
- Let try, back-off and watch…

Ma rencontre avec Ken O'Connor: Ken nous donne 15 trucs pour faire de l'évaluation des apprentissages une réussite.

A repair kit for grading: 15 fixes for broken grades.
1- Don’t include student behaviour in grades; include only achievement.
2- Don’t reduce marks on “work” submitted late; provide support for the learner.
3- Don’t give points for extra credit or use bonus points; seek only evidence that more work has resulted in a higher level of achievement.
4- Don’t punish academic dishonesty with reduce grades; apply other consequences and reassess to determine actual level of achievement.
5- Don’t consider attendance in grade determination; report absences separately.
6- Don’t include group scores in grades; use only individual achievement evidence.
7- Don’t organize information in grading records by assessment methods or simply summarize into a single grade; organize and report evidence by standards/learning goals.
8- Don’t assign grades using inappropriate or unclear performance standards; provide clear descriptions of achievement expectations.
9- Don’t assign grades based on student’s achievement compared to other students; compare each student’s performance to present standards.
10- Don’t rely on evidence from assessment that fail to meet the standard of quality; rely only on quality assessments.
11- Don’t rely only on the mean; consider other measure of central tendency and use professional judgment.
12- Don’t include zeros in grade determination when evidence is missing or as punishment; use alternatives, such as reassessing to determine real achievement or use “I” for incomplete or insufficient evidence.
13- Don’t use information from formative assessments and practice to determine grades; use only summative evidence.
14- Don’t summarize evidence accumulated over time when learning is developmental and will grow with time and repeated opportunities; in those instances, emphasize more recent achievement.
15- Don’t leave students out of the grading process. Involve students; they can-and should- play key roles in assessment and grading that promote achievement.

Je retiens aussi de Ken:
* Grades must be consistent, accurate, meaningful and supportive of learning… Not a grading game but a learning game…

* No studies support the use of low grades or marks as punishments. Instead of prompting greater effort, low grades more often cause students to withdraw from learning “ (Guskey & Bailey 2001)

* You should use “I” for incomplete instead of zeros. It put the responsibility on the student…where it should be…

La beauté du cybercarnet offre la possibilité de partager l'information et de débuter un dialogue avec ceux qui le désirent. Je me sens donc choyé de pouvoir assister à des colloques de cette envergure. Je me sens donc mieux outillé afin de grandir dans le domaine de l'évaluation des apprentissages comme direction d'école, comme pédagogue.

Pour terminer, je propose cette vidéo humoristique... à vous de tirer vos conclusions sur l'évaluation des connaissances versus l'évaluation des apprentissages...

Je vous propose aussi pour en savoir un peu plus, cette vidéo préparée par le conseil scolaire de Moose Jaw en Alberta.

Comme directeur d'école je ne suis pas trop inquiet pour ceux et celles qui réussissent…Ils vont continuer à le faire s’ils sont bien encadrés. Par-contre les élèves en difficultés doivent avoir un sentiment d’espoir. On doit développer avec eux l’évaluation de leur apprentissage en leur donnant l’espoir qu’ils peuvent réussir et qu’en mettant de l’effort, ils vont continuer de s’améliorer. L’intelligence émotionnelle doit être pris en considération car personne veut faillir et encore moins sur la place publique. Nous devons prendre les programmes d’études, les développer en cibles, les expliquer et les publiés pour qu’ils soient accessibles et compris par les élèves.
Nous avons aussi beaucoup de travail à faire avec l'inclusion des élèves dans le processus d'évaluation.

Je veux aussi saisir l'occasion pour présenter 4 livres achetés lors de ma participation à ce colloque;

* 10 Traits of Highly Effective Teachers, (2002), Elaine K. McEwan
* The Moral Imperative of School Leadership (2003), Micheal Fullan
* 10 Traits of Highly Effective Principals, (2003), Elaine K. McEwan
* 101 Stunts for Principal, (2005), Frank Sennett

À suivre...