{"id":5594,"date":"2019-06-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/shifting-the-english-department-to-competency-based-assessment\/"},"modified":"2020-03-21T09:29:43","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T13:29:43","slug":"shifting-the-english-department-to-competency-based-assessment","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/shifting-the-english-department-to-competency-based-assessment\/","title":{"rendered":"Shifting the English Department to Competency-Based Assessment"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the third post in a series about the Farmington Area Public Schools<\/a> in Minnesota. Links to the other posts are provided at the end of this article.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"BeginningThe English department at Farmington High School has made major shifts toward competency-based curriculum and instruction, as described in the previous post<\/a>. This has required parallel shifts in assessment, with greater use of formative assessment and competency-based grading.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch of the assessment we do is formative, and we treat that more like practice and skill development,\u201d explained one of the four English teachers who have been making this shift. \u201cSo what I\u2019ve found in my classroom is that the kids who might not love English class, or might struggle with it\u2014now instead of seeing a 3 out of 10 on a writing assignment, they see on their rubric that they\u2019re \u2018approaching\u2019 the competent level. That has allowed us to have those authentic conversations when we\u2019re doing our conferencing, like \u2018Hey, if you just fix these one or two things on the rubric, you can move up into that competent level.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt causes a complete mind-shift, where students don\u2019t just shut down after a couple weeks. Now they understand, \u2018there\u2019s no tricks to this\u2014at first we\u2019ll be practicing new skills, and then we\u2019ll assess where you are at the end of the unit.\u2019 And that\u2019s really freeing for a lot of kids. It has kept them in the game. They keep getting a little bit better, and then they\u2019re ready to show how they\u2019ve improved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another teacher said that shifting to formative assessment and competency-based grading is great for the teachers too. \u201cIt\u2019s awesome, because you see the lightbulb go off the first time the kid comes up and they think they\u2019re going to get yelled at or told that they\u2019re doomed\u2014and instead they\u2019re amazed that they have the opportunity to improve a few things we discussed and then move up to the next level on the rubric. That\u2019s been pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four assessment levels are \u201cBeginning,\u201d \u201cApproaching,\u201d \u201cCompetent,\u201d and \u201cExtending.\u201d The district prefers the term \u201ccompetency\u201d rather than \u201cmastery,\u201d because they feel that \u201cmastery\u201d implies more of an \u201cextending\u201d level, whereas \u201ccompetency\u201d is a more reasonable expectation for most students on most topics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still assign points for the summative assessment, because they need to have a grade at the end of the marking period,\u201d a teacher explained. Students receive their summative grade by doing another piece of writing that focuses on the same skills, again with an opportunity to revise. Students who don\u2019t receive at least 70% on their summative assessments have to work on revisions. If they didn\u2019t complete their formative assignments, they need to go back and complete those before getting another opportunity on the summative assessment.<\/p>\n

The reverse is also true\u2014students who pass summative assessments without doing the formative work could technically advance based on demonstrated mastery. However, no students have done that, and the teachers don\u2019t encourage students to skip the formative work. The summative assessments typically require demonstration of \u201cstrategic thinking\u201d or \u201cextended thinking\u201d\u2014the higher levels of Webb\u2019s Depth of Knowledge Framework<\/a>\u2014and students are typically unable to do that without having completed the formative work. This is a good example of teachers approaching competency-based grading thoughtfully, with a focus on deeper learning rather than a checklist mentality of moving through content quickly and superficially.<\/p>\n

The teachers were surprised by how little pushback they received from parents in response to the changed grading system. They communicated clearly with parents at the beginning of the year about the changes and their rationales. They also asked parents to look at the rubrics on Infinite Campus, the school\u2019s learning management system, and they understood that the new approach to grading actually provided more information about their child\u2019s progress than the old approach of letter grades and points. Some parents expressed concerns that the students were putting lots of work into formative assessments that weren\u2019t yielding points toward the final grade. The teachers explained that all of the formative work would lead to a strong summative grade, and most parents were comfortable with the new process.<\/p>\n

The teachers are also shifting how they incorporate and assess required content. \u201cWe looked at the \u2018why\u2019\u2014what do we really want kids to be taking from English class?\u2014and we realized that we don\u2019t need to be grading every single little thing, and we began developing more authentic assessments, whether they were formative or summative. We got rid of a lot of fluff. We got rid of things where we felt, \u2018Kids don\u2019t need to know this!\u2019 We don\u2019t need to be devoting a day and a half to literary element terms, and then assessing them with multiple choice quizzes on scantron forms. We can figure out how to do literary element terms within our book clubs, or we can integrate them into a story we read together, which is a more powerful way to learn. These changes reduced what we were grading, because we had gotten rid of so much excess. And we\u2019re giving fewer numeric scores and more narrative feedback, which feels more meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other Posts in the Series:<\/strong><\/p>\n