What's your strategy for staying current on student assessment and feedback?

In my experience, identifying goals and priorities is paramount before deciding which direction to pursue. Assessment should tie to the shared vision of the organization which exists when there is a clear mission and purpose with core values which align with the personal vision and shared vision; it is a “common direction and reason for being” and when stakeholders have the “same picture and are committed to one another having it” (Senge, 2006). Once the shared vision is established along with the mission and values of the organization, then the three most important questions about assessment should be: 1. What do we want students to know? 2. How will we know if they know it? 3. More importantly, what will we do if they don't?

Clear objectives are important, but what often get overlooked is clarifying the purpose of the objective in the world.connections to application support long term memory and appropriate application. If students understand the purpose as it relates to future learning and tangible uses then it allows the student to self asses their learning based on their ability to complete a task associated with the objective. When students can evaluate their effectiveness and determine areas of improvement. When student able to articulate an area of strength and weakness then they own the learning and develop self awareness.

The note above about consulting with peers seems especially important here. In this AI-generated article, I want to stress the "human touch." Join a learning community in-person or online to talk about practices and theory. Set up a "club" (or whatever you want to call it) to hold regular meetings with peer-teachers to work through a book/articles or to share your experiments, successes, failures. It is a bonus if you can find people who work in the same institution, though I recognize that it's not feasible for everyone.

Fortunately, in today's world of information at our fingertips, there is a never ending surplus of resources to support the assessment journey. Some schools may also choose to bring in outside consultants or implement a change model like The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX).

My research on reflection provides sobering analysis (both published and pending): Reflectivity is often a sham. There must be a microprocess, which C-PGA fulfills. One must seek "combative collaboration." As reflection-as- researcher, one must challenge and doubt one's weltanschauung. Problematizing means a search for new, optimal knowledge versus satisficing. Going outside and questioning matter. We must make up multiple hypotheses about the change we desire, considering the opposites. Gap is locating where we are and where we want to be; we must consider the impossible. Finally, alternatives are more than replacing current practices, and there should be experimentation and continuous evaluation. The entire process is iterative.