While there are many things that I love about being a teacher, the importance of evaluating and assessing student learning has become something I dread. While I understand assessment is necessary, I believe that it has been taken to an extreme. When I reflect upon my experience teaching in both America and France, I notice stark differences. The first thing that really jumped out at me was the frequency with which testing occurs in France–not even once per year! And not until middle school! It is also the final year of school that matters the most in France, as you are taking you content area exams for your baccalaureate (bac), which is extremely important in France.

It’s true that I believe we over test our students in America. However, I feel that assessments do not happen frequently enough in France. In my opinion, finding a good balance between the frequency in America and in France would be ideal. Keeping all of this in mind, I’ve tried to keep an open mind about the role and value of assessment in schools.

FERPA/HIPAA

While I am familiar with bother FERPA and HIPAA, neither of these things exist in France. However, I do remember the strict laws and guidelines I was expected to follow when I worked in Michigan. Having been removed from teaching in America for nearly five years, it was an interesting experience for me to test my memory regarding student and family rights.

It was really interesting and insightful to complete the pre and post assessment quizzes about FERPA and HIPAA. There were a number of things that I found surprising.

• When a student transfers to a new school, the former school is required to send the student’s education records to the new school. To me, this seems completely logical. However, I learned that this is not the case. It is the school’s responsibility to request the student’s education record.
• Schools are required by FERPA to maintain a student’s transcript for 5 years. I remember when I was a student being convinced that my permanent record was going to follow me around and haunt me for literally the rest of my life. Now, I know that this is not at all the case. In fact, there is no minimum amount of time to keep student records.
• Schools must individually notify parents of their FERPA rights by mail. Again, this one seemed pretty straightforward and logical to me. All parents should be notified of their FERPA rights, and to me, the most logical means of doing so is by mail. However, this is not the case. The school may notify families by a variety of different means.

Types of Data and T3PD

There are four different types of data that can be collected in education:

1. Demographic
2. Achievement
3. Process
4. Perception

Unfortunately, at this time, I am not teaching in what would be considered a traditional classroom, and I am not teaching a standard curriculum. I only work with very small groups of students (maximum 5), once per week for two hours. Because of this unique situation, I have been given very strict guidelines and expectations regarding what I am and am not able to do in terms of deviating from the curriculum or given guidelines/expectations.

As an American trained educator, I definitely see, value, and understand the importance of gathering data and using to to guide and inform instruction. After viewing and reflecting upon the list of tools for classroom data collection, I can imagine how I would implement these tools and use them to inform my instruction.

Demographic Data

In my current capacity, this is something which is never discussed or considered.

Achievement Data

While I often use summative assessments to gauge student learning and guide my teaching, the only form of achievement data the my establishment cares about is student success rate on the official Cambridge English Exam. When I’ve tried to share my summative assessment results, no one seems interested.

Process Data

Again, I have used many tools in the past to assess student progress. My former school district invested in Clickers, which were nice, but never seemed to be available when I needed them. With advancements in technology, the need for specific tools no longer exists. Today, websites like Plickers exists to make gathering data even easier. We are able to quickly assess student understanding and identify any ideas that need to be retaught.

Perception Data

In the past, I have used surveys and polls to gather this type of data. My former school district loved using SurveyMonkey. While I appreciated many features on this tool, I did not think that it was the best to use with students. For example, at the end of the survey when you received an image with a message, that often generated what the distracting reaction from students.

I have many teacher friends who love using Google Forms with their students. I think that Google is going to be the direction that many schools take, as more and more schools are using Google products in their schools. Again, I would love to use this type of tool with my students, but we simply do not have the resources (time or technological) to do so.

Plan for Implementation

As I mentioned, I will not be able to implement any of these into my current position. However, I can imagine the positive results that I would find if I were able to do so. Implementing something like Plickers is an excellent way to keep students engaged and to verify student understanding. It also enables me to identify struggling learners so that I can reach out to them as necessary.

I also love the idea of using Google Forms with my students in order to gather more specific information about students learning and topics for future lessons. I think this is also something that would be extremely interesting and engaging for my students.

At this time in France, I am unaware of any online tests (or even computer based tests) that students take. France remains very traditional in their delivery of content to students. Things that I once took for granted (for example, visiting a store’s website), have become significant challenges. France has been slow to embrace technology, but I am hopeful that in the next couple of years, there will be considerable growth and acceptance regarding the importance of technology in our lives.

Example of Tool for Gathering Perception Data

Using Google Forms, I created a survey that I would like to administer that the beginning of the year, in order to learn a little bit about the learning history of my students, as well as to gather data to guide my instruction. More often than not, I assume that students have been taught (and understood) a concept in a previous course, only to discover that was a misconception. I am finding that, at least with English learning, students are given the most basic and incomplete explanations, and often taught the same content year after year, regardless of previous experience.

In taking the time to gather this data early on, I believe that I will be better equipped to truly help my students learn and grow and speakers of English. Here’s a link to the survey that I am going to begin using (hopefully) starting next year.

ISTE and CITW 9 Standards

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity: Using various technology based tools to gather data on student learning is a great way to get all students invested in the content.
2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences: In giving students the opportunity to provide data electronically, we are better preparing them to enter the real world. It seems like every website that you visit asks you to complete a survey or provide feedback before closing the browser, so providing students with authentic opportunities to learn how to do this is an excellent way of preparing citizens for the future.
3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning: As the world changes, technology changes. Our world continues to become more advanced, so it only makes sense that our teaching must evolve with it. Staying current and using varied resources is important in providing students with authentic learning opportunities.
4. Setting Objectives/Providing Feedback: Using digital tools to gather information about perceptions and progress would be invaluable. I think it is important that teachers receive feedback from students, just as it is important for students to receive feedback from teachers. This feedback is how we grow. Using technology makes it much easier to gather and assess data.