Assessment Literacy

Research

Worldwide the critical elements impacting quality educational systems include comprehensive, standardized assessment and the use of this information to set targets and guide practices and policy. While standardized testing of students is now mandatory in Canada, there is a lack of training in the use of data to improve student performance. Research suggests that improvement targets must be based on the context and results specific to the school and classroom, and that these processes are essential to improving educational opportunities, especially for at-risk students. (Fullan, 1998, 2000; Earl & Lee, 1998; Creemers, 1996; Ujacka, 1999; Barth, 1990; Jencks, 1972; Kovacs, 1998; OECD, 1997; Rutter, 1983; Sammons, 1996; Sheerens, 1995; Schmoker, 1999; Sergiovanni, 1991, 95; Stoll, 1996; Wendel, 2000; Henchey, 2001).

Components

Those delivering education need support to monitor the progress of their respective schools, to set goals and adjust their instructional strategies to reflect assessment results. To develop understandings of how to improve performance by maximizing the effective use of assessment data and to explore the various types of data and their uses, educators need to interpret data, select appropriate assessment instruments, and use the results to generate educational goals and strategies and to monitor their impact. Valuable knowledge and tools to equip educational leaders with a comfort level in aligning student assessment results and district or school improvement plans are needed as school districts grapple with reduced funding for staff development and increased pressures to demonstrate achievement gains through accountability contracts.

Examples from the Field

During the 1999-2000 school year, 17 teachers and 5 consultants in the Grand Erie District School Board and the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board in Ontario participated in an action research study, conducted by the two school boards and Nipissing University with additional funding supplied by the Ontario Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). The teachers, paired with a "critical friend", analyzed their school’s results on the 1999 EQAO provincial test results for Grades 3 and 6, identified areas for improvement, and used feedback/corrective action to improve those results. Substantial student achievement success was indicated by the 2000 EQAO test results and the teachers’ own assessments. Other results were that teachers viewed "provincial test results as friendly data that schools can use to improve student learning and action research and feedback/corrective action as powerful methods to do so.  The study contributes to understanding how provincial testing can be used to improve student learning and what constitutes effective teacher in-service education.  It shows how professional teachers can play a leading role in school improvement by taking charge of their own professional learning.1"

The following are assessment literacy training initiative examples that have occurred recently in Canada:

• The Ontario Ministry of Education held a workshop in March 2002 on Target-setting: Effective Use of School Data. It was oversubscribed with 450 participants.
• Also in Ontario OISE/UT piloted a number of one-day workshops with full registration.
• The Alberta Assessment Consortium held both summer and winter sessions on related topics.
• The BC Principals Association is delivering a series of regional workshops around the use of data to improve instruction. Topics have included data-driven dialogue and showcasing of school success stories. An innovative feature of this series is the requirement that a team from each participating district include the superintendent, district staff and school principals.

Implications

Assessment literacy directly affects student achievement and therefore its capacity needs to be increased to guide both policy and practice in Canadian classrooms. Students benefit when teachers and schools analyze the results of provincial testing and use them as a basis for action research. As Wideman states "Action research should be a part of the school improvement plan . . . be recognized as a valuable form of professional development and should be included among the criteria for teacher re-certification and performance appraisal because it facilitates the integration of theory and results in changes in classroom practice.2" Assessment literacy is a timely concept to assist schools and teachers improve student achievement.

1 Wideman, Ron. "Using Action Research and Provincial Test Results to Improve Student Learning", International Electronic Journal For Leadership in Learning 6 (20), September 23, 2002.  
2 Ibid.