“When the fight begins within himself, a man's worth something.”

As writing instructors consider which philosophical approach will work best for them, they must be aware of the types of assessments that will be most effective in producing their desired results.  This is such a key aspect to teaching that is often overlooked.  The standard has always been to create a test or essay prompt to check for student learning.  One of the most beneficial professional developments I have attended was on instructional design, and the focus was on "backward design", the idea of starting by planning your assessments and then figuring out how to instruct in a way that prepared students for those assessments.  It seems so obvious now that this is a better method of planning, but for years I would teach content and try to figure out at the end how to assess for student understanding of that content.   These types of summative evaluations did not produce the quality of writing I was hoping for.  I am improving on this aspect of my teaching, but there is still a dilemma that must be dealt with when it comes to the types of standardized assessments that are gaining momentum in the education system.  Brooke Horvath, in here article titled The Components of Written Response: A Practical Synthesis of Current Views, shows that formative evaluations will create compositions that allow "students to learn from their mistakes, extrapolating advice in shaping better prose in future writing situations."  A standardized test cannot do this.  Students approach these types of assessments with the idea that when it is over, I am longer accountable for this information.  An educators goal should be to foster continual learning, so there needs to be more of a focus placed on formative assessments.

I was discussing assessments and value of grades with some fellow writing instructors when one of them made the observation that we have made great and dramatic changes to the ways in which we present content, but we have not changed the ways we grade in over a hundred years.  This is troubling because the letter grade that is attached to an assignment is probably the most influential feedback students receive, yet what does a "B" really say about the progress and development of a student? There needs to be a paradigm shift in how educators measure growth and development of students.  I will be more specific on this in later posts, but for now let's consider how to incorporate more formative assessments into the writing process.  Brooke Horvath again states, "Texts should be treated as unfinished, each stage an ongoing process; students are encouraged to see revision as a desirable, necessary event that should occur."  Our focus as writing instructors should be to to give as many opportunities to progress through each writing assignment.  This of course starts a debate about grade inflation.  If every student can show progression throughout the writing process, how does a teacher not give favorable marks to each draft?    Our goal should be to produce writing that the students are proud of and has the ability to reflect understanding of the higher order thinking skills that occur through writing.  Grades need to become secondary to this.  First, a teacher needs to establish the standards that they feel are essential to writing, then teach in a way were every student has the ability to meet those standards.  If every student can do this, then every student deserves the highest marks possible.