Measuring Progress?

As we come up on the end of our first trimester, we are left with the large question of “how do we convey student progress so far this year?” both to the students themselves and to their parents.

A part of our vision for our learning community is that there would not be grades, but instead, we would capture our learners’ progress throughout the year. Grades do not always give us information about what a learner is capable of, what they are learning, or what their next steps in learning are. In fact, often when we get down to it, we have to wonder what role grades have for our students.

And yet - letting go of grades can be difficult on a number of levels. Even the students will ask me occasionally “But how did I do?”

“Well,” I’ll say. “You tell me. You got all but two problems correct, and when I pointed them out, you were able to find your mistake. You're ready to move on to the next math lesson tomorrow. And you can use this math skill to solve real-world problems.”

“Yes, but did I get an A?”

“We don’t do As.”

“Can you write something on my paper?” *I write a star*

“Is the star the best? What does the smiley face mean? You put a smiley face on her paper. Is hers better than mine?”

These are conversations we had at the beginning of the year.

As humans, we love feedback (particularly positive feedback). So, how do we give feedback - both positive and constructive - in a truly meaningful way?

One aspect of learning I’ve observed over the years is that we all are wired for what motivates us differently. Some of us do not want grades at all. We do not want to compete, we do not want to be told where we stand against others. We just want to do the thing, figure out what we could do better, and then make it better. I fall into this category 100%. I’ll work harder when I am self-motivated than if there is a grade.

Other learners thrive on outside feedback. They want to be told how they did, how they compare to others, and what level they are. They monitor their work based on a karate-belt-level system.

As educators and parents, we spend a lot of time thinking about how it should be - but we often think of our own motivations and what we want from our kids. To me, it would be lovely if we were all self-motivated, noncompetitive learners. While other parents would prefer to have their learners

engaged in a more achievement-style format to encourage progress.

No side is wrong, as long as we follow what’s best for the learner and not the adults.

After spending three hours agonizing over narrative progress reports (and I am nowhere close to done) I’m not sure our progress reporting is the right method - although it certainly has given me a clear path forward for each student, and I hope their families will find it helpful. But will it be meaningful for the learners themselves?

We are currently playing around with the idea of having the students set individual long-term goals and work towards earning badges in these areas. Instead of getting a grade in math, they are working towards earning their badge on “adding numbers up to 100” or “Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing with decimals”. They have a goal card around this specific target and can monitor their progress on these cards. We will see how this plays out. Again, there are some learners who love this idea and some who have asked not to participate.

We will continue in our pilot year of trying to determine how to meet the needs of all of our learners.