assessment in core growth areas (review of literature)

8/12/2019 Assessment in Core Growth Areas (Review of Literature)

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Review of Literature

Lifelong Learning and the Growth Mindset

In order to survive we must grow. Remaining static only hurts us. If a person working in anoffice wants a promotion, they must show that they can become more than what they

currently are. There is always room to improve and to become more knowledgeable andeducated individuals. As a teacher, a major goal of mine is to encourage my students to

become lifelong learners so that they constantly grow intellectually. In a typical K-12

education, students tend to have their hands held throughout the process. The college and

university environment is much different. Students choose to be there and fewer people

are pushing them and the responsibility for learning is far more in the hands of thestudents. Dunlap and Grabinger (as cited in Crow, 2009) define lifelong learners as having a

capacity for self-direction, meta-cognitive awareness, and disposition toward lifelong

learning (p. 92). This definition highlights the importance of the individual. A person is not

a lifelong learner if they need to be constantly prodded to seek out knowledge. In order toencourage my students to become lifelong learners and find success in life outside of highschool, they must value this idea of learning, be self-directive, and adopt a growth mind-set.

Carol Dweck (2010) defines a growth mind-set as one where an individual sees intelligenceas something that can be developed through various means. This is in contrast to a fixed

mind-set where intelligence is seen as something innate to a person and static. A growth

mind-set leads to improved grades and especially benefits groups that may suffer from

negative stereotypes about their abilities, such as Black or Latino students. I am drawn to

the idea of a growth mind-set due to the connections to lifelong learning. Students with agrowth mind-set focused on learning, believed in effort, and were resilient in the face of

setbacks. (Dweck, 2010, p. 26) These are all qualities that are critical in becoming alifelong learner. A lifelong learner is not someone who passively gains knowledge through

experience. A lifelong learner is someone who sees value in learning and therefore actively

seeks out the knowledge. Students must have the motivation and drive to learn. In thefollowing sections I will delve deeper into what motivates individuals and explore how I

can harness that motivation to show my students the value of learning. I go on to explainmy plan for shifting my students to a growth mind-set. My understandings will wrap up

with a discussion of the struggles I will be facing due to the greater cultural considerations

surrounding education in America.

Motivation

Why do we do what we do? What makes a student play video games for hours on end but

not complete a school assignment? It is all to do with motivation. Motivation is the thing

that keeps us interested in a task or encourages us to do something that we may nototherwise. According to Vallerand and Ratelle (2002) motivation can be broken into three

types: Extrinsic, intrinsic, and amotivation. To fully understand what drives my students

and to best get them engaged in learning, it is crucial to understand the intricacies of each


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of these motivations.

Extrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivation (EM) is a good place to start since it is the prevailing type ofmotivation in schools today. Vallerand and Ratelle (2002, p. 42) describe EM behaviors as

being driven by the desire for outcomes that are external or disconnected from the actual

behaviors themselves. Students do the work to gain grades, to get into good colleges, or to

not get into trouble with their parents. For teachers, EM is easy to apply. Its not difficult toadd pressure by putting a zero in the grade book or calling home to a students parent. EM

is not always this clean cut though. There is an EM spectrum ranging from purely external

and disconnected rewards (External Regulation) to rewards that are in harmony with thevalues of an individual (Integrated Regulation). Integrated regulation is less severe than

external regulation, yet the motivation is still provided from something separate from theactivity itself (Vallerand & Ratelle, 2002).

As an example, lets look at a student who is given an assignment to write a reflection bythe following day. What extrinsic rewards will push this student to complete the

assignment? If they complete the assignment well, then they will receive a good grade. If

they get a good grade they will get a higher GPA and get into better colleges. Going to a

better college means getting a higher paying job. We can also look at rewards as the

absence of negative consequences. If the student did not complete the assignment thenthey will get a zero on the assignment. This zero in the grade book may be visible to their

parents. Their parents may ground the student or reprimand them in some way. On theexternal regulationend of the spectrum, you can consider the reward of more money or the

absence of punishment as the motivator. On the integrated regulationend of the spectrum,

the student may identify themselves as a high performing student and therefore thereward of a good grade is closely connected to their values. This spectrum demonstrates

that there are levels of severity with respect to EM, yet all outcomes still come from asource external to the action. It would be more desirable if the positive outcomes from a

task were internally created and therefore self sustaining.

Intrinsic motivation.

The more difficult motivation to cultivate in our students is intrinsic motivation. Vallerand

and Ratelle (2002, p. 42) describe intrinsic motivation (IM) as being characterized by

participating in an activity due to the innate pleasure or satisfaction that it brings. We canlook at IM in three forms. First, people can enjoy the feeling of learning, understanding, and

gaining new knowledge. This is known as IM to know. Second, people can feel pleasure inachieving, improving, or creating something. This is known as IM to accomplish. Last,

people can enjoy the physical sensations that an activity can provide. This is known as IMto experience stimulation(Vallerand & Ratelle, 2002, p. 42).

As an example, lets look at an individual who loves playing music. They get a certain


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feeling playing in a band and it drives them to seek out that feeling. They nag their band

mates to practice every other day. They sit down for hours on end writing music. They gofrom venue to venue trying to book a show. They may even go so far to ignore their

responsibilities at work or to their family in order to satisfy this passion and to experience

that feeling that is so enjoyable to them. No one is providing this reward. The rewards are

created internally and they come from many aspects of the experience. The musician iscurious about music theory and wants to learn something new (IM to know), they want to

practice and constantly improve their own skills (IM to accomplish), and they want to feel

that rush of adrenaline when they are performing on stage (IM to experience stimulation).

IM is driven by students interests and intellectual values. Students decide what they want

to invest their time and effort into and it can be a struggle as a teacher to motivate themtowards tasks that are at odds with their values (Kuhn, 2005). As the above example

demonstrates, IM is a powerful force and one that can result in great success. IM stays with

us for years and continues to push us to do things of value to us or that bring us joy. It mayseem that once a student is intrinsically motivated to a perform a task there is little we can

do to take that passion away, but, as I will discuss in a later section, IM is fragile and ouractions as teachers can easily shatter it.

Amotivation.

I cannot talk about motivation without mentioning amotivation (AM). Amotivation ischaracterized by a disconnect between actions and outcomes (Vallerand & Ratelle, 2002).

An individual who is amotivated does not feel that anything they do matters and thereforethey do not engage in behaviors with any intention of achieving a specific outcome. Many

math teachers have had students that say they cant do math. They believe that anything

they do right is purely luck and that no matter how much work and effort they put in, itwont change the fact that they are, in their eyes, incapable. This mirrors how a student

with a fixed mind-set thinks. For example, if a fixed mind-set student does badly on a test,they believe that it is due to their ability which they cannot change. Therefore, they must

find some other way to achieve, such as cheating (Dweck, 2010).

Harnessing the Power of Motivation

Consequences of different forms of motivation.

So why does it matter if someone is extrinsically motivated versus intrinsically motivated?

As long as they are motivated to participate in a specific task, does it matter if the rewards

are externally or internally regulated? I do not think that many people would perceive AM

as desirable. A disconnect between actions and outcomes leads to a sense of helplessnessand lack of control which can lead to such negative consequences as disengagement and

dropping out of school (Vallerand & Ratelle, 2002, p. 43). But what about the consequencesrelated to EM and IM? According to Deci (1995), Intrinsic motivation is associated with


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richer experiences, better conceptual understanding, greater creativity, and improved

problem solving, relative to external controls (p. 51). For example, Deci (1995, p. 47) ranan experiment on a group of college students who were taught a three hour unit on

neurophysiology. One group was told that there would be an evaluative exam at the end of

the unit, and the other group was told that they would engage in a task that would actively

utilize the material. Both groups were actually given the exam, and it turned out that thegroup who expected to be evaluated performed worse and exhibited less of a conceptual

understanding of the content. Within my own practice, I want to avoid feeding the external

regulationside of the EM spectrum as much as possible. A culture has developed in schools

that places such a strong emphasis on getting an A rather than developing a joy oflearning. This can be seen through the focus of curriculums on standards and testing (Crow,

2010). My ultimate goal is to deemphasize the role of extrinsic motivators and to encouragestudents to become intrinsically motivated so that they benefit from the positive

consequences associated with different forms of motivation.

Autonomy and the effects of external motivators on intrinsic motivation.

In the above example of the neurophysiology students, the groups were also given a survey

at the end of the unit to measure their level of intrinsic motivation. It was found that thestudents who knew that they would be tested and receive a grade were less intrinsically

motivated than the group who thought they would actively engage in the material (Deci,

1995, p. 47). Why is this?

DeCharms (as cited in Deci, 1975, p.131) suggests that people have this innate need to feelin control or autonomous. They want to feel like they are the one driving the car and

making the choices that direct their actions. Being intrinsically motivated to perform a task

is an example of autonomy. A student who stays up all night scrapbooking for fun has madethe decision to do so. No one is forcing their hand and coercing them. But what things can

reduce this feeling of autonomy? Deci (1995, p. 31) provides a list including deadlines,imposed goals, surveillance, evaluations, and threats. The autonomy-reducing action that I

am personally most guilty of is providing rewards, in my case grades, as a motivator. An

external agent coming along and providing a reward for a task suddenly changes who is

driving the actions. If I start giving extra credit to the above student to create a scrapbook

page every night, then I remove some of this control from the student and they begin to feelslightly less autonomous.

Deci (1975, p. 139) proposes that providing extrinsic motivators for activities for which an

individual is intrinsically motivated decreases this sense of autonomy and results in areduction in IM. Also, once an individual begins to perform a task for rewards, they will

only continue to perform those tasks as long as the rewards are present (Deci, 1995, p. 51).

They are also likely to seek the path of least resistance to the rewards which for me as a

teacher is undesirable. I dont want the student above to rush through the scrapbook pagesjust to get the extra credit. I want them to put care into what they do and to feel the

pleasure in creating amazing work. Although I am required to provide grades for mystudents, during the course of my action research I hope to reduce the interpretation of


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grades as rewards.

A note on external rewards.

External rewards do not always need to be detrimental to intrinsic motivation and there isan argument to use them. In my own classroom I have used extrinsic rewards such as an

improved grade or free time to play four square outside, and as a result students focus on

the task that I want them to engage in and they complete the work. This type of reward

system and the results are immediate, yet they are not long lasting and, as mentionedabove, they can have detrimental effects on IM. I want to be able to acknowledge my

students good work and encourage them to do things that they may not want to do, but

how can I do this without the negative consequences of extrinsic rewards?

One solution is rooted in DeCharms idea that people have an innate need for autonomy.

Deci (1995, p.38) along with his research partner Richard Ryan describe many rewards as

a form of control that is used by parents and teachers to pressure kids into doingsomething they ultimately do not want to do. Alternatively, rewards can be provided in anon-controlling way by using them solely as an acknowledgment of good work. So, external

rewards can be used without too many detrimental effects on IM, but how can we motivate

students to complete tasks that they do not want to do while still allowing them to feel

autonomous? Full autonomy in my classroom is unrealistic. I am responsible for teaching

my students certain content and I cannot provide them 100% freedom to do whatever theywant, or else many students will not push themselves to learn the specific content that I

need to teach them. There is always this conflict between setting limits and supportingautonomy. Ryan (as cited in Deci, 1995, p. 43) suggests that avoiding controlling language

and providing opportunities for choice allows teachers to create limits that are still

autonomy-supportive. My goal is to continue to provide choice for my students in myclass and to use language that acknowledges this conflict which conveys an appreciation of

the childrens perspective and thus should lessen the extent to which they would feelexternally controlled (p. 43).

Why Grades?

Grades are a major component of our educational system. Most public colleges use a grade

point average to evaluate students before admittance to the school and there is a common

acceptance that an A demonstrates high achievement while an F is failing. Up until now I

have also assigned grades in my class, but as mentioned above, external rewards can bedetrimental to intrinsic motivation. It is the goal of this action research study to de-emphasize letter grades and use a system that focuses on qualitative traits and encourages

personal growth. I cannot just drop grades from my class though without first considering

the consequences. I need to determine what purposes grades achieve and therefore

discover what needs will exist once they are gone. I discovered the key purposes of grading

are to:


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Communicate student progress to parents Communicate student performance to colleges Communicate comprehension to students. Assess Learning

Grades in the traditional sense are seen as a result of assessment. A student hands in apaper and they get a letter grade which reflects the students performance on that writingtask. This use of grades is inauthentic and is described by Earl (2003) as Assessment of

Learning and is intended to certify learning and report to parents and students about

students progress in school, usually by signaling students relative position compared to

other students. (Earl, 2003, p. 22) Grading has taken up some of these roles since there is

nothing else in place to achieve the purpose. Kohn (1999) states that, Anyone who hasheard the term authentic assessment knows that abolishing grades doesnt mean

eliminating the process of gathering information about student performance and

communicating that information to students and parents. Rather, abolishing grades opensup possibilities that are far more meaningful and constructive.

Communicate student progress to parents.

At my school, day to day student progress is mainly communicated through a website

called Powerschool. Powerschool lists all assignments, what score the student received on

those assignments, which assignments the student is missing, the students current grade,and, if the teacher chooses to do so, shows comments from the teacher. This requires

initiative from the parents to ensure they check Powerschool, yet some parents may noteven be able to access the website. Powerschool is also a very indirect form of

communication and misses some of the benefits of direct parent communication. Shirvani

(2007) found that direct parent communication improves parents self-confidence towardstheir childs abilities and improves student engagement in the classroom. Bennett-Conroy

(2012) found that direct communication to parents is rare and is most often initiated byactive parents. Parent involvement increased when teachers reached out to parents and

initiated communication. If I wish to de-emphasize grades in my classroom, I need to

ensure that there remains clear, open, and consistent communication to parents. At our

school there already exists a comment system in the semester report cards and my hope is

to expand this throughout the year. By integrating comments into the weekly routine, myhope is that parents will have a clearer understanding of how their child is progressing in

my class, they will feel more connected to their childs education, and they will relinquish

their desire for a letter grade.

Communicate student performance to colleges.

One purpose of grades is communicating the performance of students to colleges. Wagner(2002) shares that college is often given as a reason to focus on test scores and GPA, but in

reality they are looking for much more. They are more interested in what will keep a

student in college rather than just get them in. High school GPA and standardized test score


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are unfortunately the best sources of data admissions staff have access to in order to

predict college success even though GPA has been shown to be unrelated (Sparkman,Maulding, & Roberts, 2012). College admissions staff are spread too thin to look at more

qualitative measures of a student though and therefore rely upon grades as a quick and

simple measure of a student. Our educational system has forced my hand by requiring me

to supply a grade to colleges so I need to ensure that the grades I assign truly reflect astudents performance with respect to criteria that the college, I, and the student value.

The very real relationship between letter grades and college acceptance is a cause for

concern in my research. School can at times be a competition for students and parents,

pitting one child against another for those coveted Ivy League spots and letter grades can

unfortunately take on the role of a tool for comparison rather than just individualaccomplishment. Therefore, many parents and students highly value grades and there is a

chance that they may resist any change to the school environment that may negatively

affect the grades that the student receives. I must ensure that I clearly communicate toparents and students the reasoning behind the changes I am making as well as the process

for assigning grades at the end of the semester.

Communicate comprehension to students.

Quizzes, tests, and exams are a common occurrence in todays classrooms and along with a

test comes a grade to reflect the level of a students understanding. Tests are often final andleave little room for improvement. They focus on counting errors rather than celebrating

achievements. They provide an opportunity for students to needlessly compare themselvesto their peers which leads to reduced self esteem and beliefs in competency (Filozof,

Albertin, & Jones, 1998). These qualities are all detrimental to a growth mindset, yet there

is still a need to communicate to students how they a progressing with the content of acourse. In my own classroom I do not want tests to be perceived as high stakes milestones

that reflects their performance in the course. I want tests to be seen as a tool for selfassessment, reflection, and goal setting. I will therefore not assign grades to tests and I will

have students track the content that they are mastering rather than the content that they

are struggling with. Tests will be accompanied with an opportunity for reflection and self

assessment which will be reflected in the grade for the class. I hope that this will transform

student perception of tests from evaluative exams into a form of constructive feedback.

Assess learning.

A major purpose of grades is as an assessment of learning. As a teacher I need to continue

to assess the growth of my students, but I want to ensure that I am assessing competenciesthat are meaningful, applicable to life outside of school, and authentic. Hart (1994) states

that authentic assessments must assess process and broad competencies. There are manyways to define these competencies, so I have looked at several sources that I value:

Tony Wagners list of core competencies that reflect Twenty-First Century skills


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(TEDxTalks, 2012).

Stanford Universitys d.School design mindsets (Hasso Plattner, 2010) Lori Reeds (2006) seven and a half habits of lifelong learning HTHCVs Habits of Heart and Mind (HOHAM) (Cuevas, 2006) Habits of an engineer (D. Kastelic, personal communication, June 28, 2013)

By comparing these lists of competencies, I have created a comprehensive list of eight CoreGrowth Areas that will guide my students self assessment this year. They are creativity,

courageousness, curiosity, action, pride, mindfulness, communication, and cooperation.

Appendix B shows how I have grouped the competencies from the above lists into these

growth areas. Although I have constructed an understanding of these growth areas in my

own mind, students will co-construct a definition and rubric for each during the first weekof school. I want to ensure that the students feel ownership of this assessment system and

that they have some control over it, therefore feeling a sense of autonomy which is so

important for keeping students intrinsically motivated (Deci, 1975).

In my research, students will reflect weekly on their growth in these areas while alsocollecting and citing their work from the class as evidence. By the end of the semester the

students will have a portfolio of their work that will allow me to assess their growth and

learning. Hart (1994) states some of the benefits of using portfolios as assessment tools:

A well-designed assessment portfolio can serve four distinct purposes. It can enable;

Teachers to assess student growth and progress. Parents and teachers to communicate more effectively about students work. Teachers and supervisors to evaluate instructional programs. Students to become partners with teachers in the assessment process. (p. 24)

These purposes appeal to me and connect to my goals for this research, especially the lastone. My hope is that the assessment system that I use in this research will encourage

students to value their own learning and therefore take hold of it and drive it. This can onlybe done if they are an active part of the assessment process.

Cultural Considerations

Anti-intellectualism and the goals of schooling.

There is a certain level of anti-intellectualism in the educational system of the UnitedStates. Elias (2008) defines anti-intellectualism as, a student's lack of interest in and

disrespect for intellectual pursuits and critical thinking and a preference for an education

experience that is practical and requires only memorization (p. 110). Hofstadter (as cited

in Elias, 2008) was one of the first to identify anti-intellectualism as a feature of the generalAmerican population. He found that it was compatible with the vocational objectives yet

hostile to the academic professionals associated with higher education. Why has anti-intellectualism developed in this country? Elias (2008) gives several suggestions, from


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evangelical religious beliefs to Hollywoods portrayal of intellectuals, but the reason that

resonates with me is the unquestioned supremacy of economic capital over culturalcapital in American society (p. 111). Many of the things that we value (money, fame, good

looks) are not connected to intelligence. There is more value in materials things than there

is in being educated.

An argument can be made that intellectualism is counter to the capitalist society that we

live in. The current grading system that is utilized in schools fits nicely into the capitalistic

culture of this country. Grades are a commodity that students can compete for and a

motivator to push them towards achieving their dreams. Eigenberger (as cited in Elias,2008) points out that attaining the American dream may require intelligence, street smarts,

and hard work, but not intellectualism. You can also argue that the pursuit of capitalistgoals is enough to encourage individuals to go to a university and seek out knowledge, yet

Hook (2004) has shown that students that exhibit anti-intellectual beliefs find it more

difficult to adjust academically to college. This makes sense from a motivational

perspective. If you fail to see value in the ideological goals of an institution, then you are

less likely to be intrinsically motivated to adapt to the new situation.

I personally do not see this disconnect between intellectual and capitalistic goals. I believea culture that values intelligence is needed and would inevitable see much more economic

growth and a populace that is better educated and productive. In his TEDxTalk (2012) in

New York, Tony Wagner discusses how the schooling system in the United States is at oddswith the types of learning that is associated the skills valued in the professional world that

would lead to great innovation. But what can I do to begin such a significant cultural

change? The greatest tool I have is the influence I have on my students. I need to be pushing

my students to value mindfulness, curiosity, and the rest of the eight Core Growth Areas

that I have discussed above. It is through our young people that a greater cultural change

may occur.

assessment in core growth areas (review of literature)

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