Written By Starr Sackstein

Traditional systems deem it necessary for teachers to “grade” students on their overall performance based on an average of different experiences and often a final exam. These scores are supposed to communicate learning from the entire year, essentially marking what they know now that they didn’t know is September.

But what if there is a better way?

Too often, teachers are expected to develop methods of determining final averages that are often an isolated experience of reviewing a grade book, tests and other means of points gathering like class participation, homework and project completion. If a student who has already achieved mastery doesn’t see the value in homework, a zero is added to their homework score, drastically reducing the average and blurring the actual communication of mastery learning.

There are better ways to assess student growth by including the students in the process.

Consider the following:

The more involved and authentic we make end of year assessment of learning, the more engaged the students will be in their learning all year. Ownership of one’s learning is an essential way of making learning more meaningful for each individual child and that’s what we must shoot for as much as we can.

How can you change your end of year assessment process to help students own their learning? Please share

Does this sound like something that would be helpful for your school? Click here to schedule a call with a Mastery Learning expert.

*This post originally ran on Starr Sackstein’s Education Week Blog in 2016.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *