Issues and Trends in Assessment What support is evident within Alberta Education documents for a no-zero policy?
The School
Act, Guide A
tosked Education
and theabout Teaching
QualityPStandard
Frequently Questions No-­‐Zero olicies all include references to assessment practices
and responsibilities
of
teachers
and
leaders.
However,
the
following
documents shed additional light on the current
dialogue The surrounding
the
issue
of
a
no-zero
policy.
no-­‐zero debate is generating a lot of interest. You might be hearing people ask some of these questions. The Quality
Alberta Assessment Consortium (AAC) provides the According to Alberta Education’s Principal
Practice
Guideline, “The principal ensures that student assessment
and evaluation practices throughout the school are fair, appropriate and balanced” (2009, p. 5). Although
the
following responses to help parents and the public develop a more complete document does not define what constitutes “fair, appropriate and balanced” assessment practices, references in understanding of the issues. other documents
shed light on this topic.
It doesn’t mStudent
ake sense. Why should kids et credit in
for doing was
no developed
work? in 1993 by a working
The Principles
for Fair
Assessment
Practices
forgEducation
Canada
group of Actually, representatives
of professional
ministries
of education
across
Canada.
they dfrom
on’t agvariety
et credit when they organizations
don’t do the and
work. Teachers determine the The
Principles
for
Fair
Student
Assessment
Practices
for
Education
in
Canada
is
the
product
of
a
comprehensive
assessments that are needed in order to be sure students have learned the material. effort to
reach consensus on what constitutes sound principles to guide the fair assessment of students. The principles and their
Students are expected to do the assignments. related guidelines should be considered neither exhaustive nor mandatory; however, organizations, institutions, and
individual
professionals who endorse them are committing themselves to endeavor to follow their intent and spirit so
as
to achieve
fair andwequitable
of students
When essential ork is nassessments
ot completed at the (1993,
end op.f 2).
the term, a mark of “incomplete” is entirely appropriate. The teacher does tonot have eachievement
nough information to give a final One of the
principles
specifically relates
to the need
separate
from effort.
mark. T
he s
tudent w
ill h
ave t
o r
epeat t
he c
ourse o
r a
t l
east c
omplete he the
missing work 4. Combining disparate kinds of results into a single summary should be done cautiously.tTo
extent possible,
achievement,
effort,
participation,
and
other
behaviors
should
be
graded
separately.
in order to get credit. A single comment or grade cannot adequately serve all functions. For example, letter grades used to summarize
achievement are most meaningful when they represent only achievement. When they include other aspects of
Wait student
just a m
inute. How was
ill effort,
kids lamount
earn to e responsible if of
teachers can’t gneatness,
ive them performance
such
(asbopposed
to quality)
work completed,
class
participation, personal conduct, or punctuality, not only do they lose their meaningfulness as a measure of
zeros? achievement,
but they
also zsuppress
information
concerning
other
aspects of
learning
and invite
Contrary to popular belief, eros do not teach students to bimportant
e responsible. Zeros give inequities. Thus, to more adequately and fairly summarize the different aspects of student performance, letter
students permission to quit. Educational authorities worldwide support this conclusion. grades for achievement might be complemented with alternate summary forms (e.g., checklists, written
comments) suitable for summarizing results related to these other behaviors (p. 10).
Instead of being given a zero for tasks not completed, students should be required to Assessment leaders throughout the world support this position. The Principles for Fair Student Assessment Practices
complete the do
work. This eans students are required o be more responsible than the
if Alberta
for Education
in Canada
not in
andmof
themselves
have
legal
status; thowever,
a key
research study,
they are able to (2009),
opt out of doing the bywAlberta
ork by Education
simply ‘taking zero.’ Student Assessment
Study
commissioned
speaksthe to the
importance of the Principles for
Assessment Practices for Education in Canada and the resulting implications for classroom assessment.
Fair Student
Why are we coddling kids like this? How will they ever learn to be accountable? As part of its findings, the research team identified a set of theoretical principles that would optimize classroom
Making students the principles
work is wsupport
hat holds hem aofccountable. Giving a student a zero is assessment
practices.
Four ofdo these
the ttenets
a no-zero policy.
the equivalent f giving permission o quit. Principles for Fair Student Assessment Practices for
1.
Educators
must o
know
and understand
thetdocument
Education in Canada (Centre for Research in Applied Measurement and Evaluation, 1993).
13.
Assessment
not bew
used
reward ortpunish.
Parents and must
teachers ork totogether o help students as they learn to be accountable -­‐ 14. Assessment of achievement is not aggregated with assessment of behaviour.
by No-zero
doing tpolicies
he work. The student-learning
goal is learning, and w
e n134
eed to remember that students are in 17.
support
outcomes
(pp.
– 135).
school because they are still learning. It’s our job to help them. Among the resulting recommendations, two relate specifically the issue of no-zeros.
Assessment in Alberta will:
7. Be guided by the Principles for Fair Student Assessment Practices for Education in Canada (Centre for Research
in Applied Measurement and Evaluation, 1993).
13. Report academic achievement, behaviour, and social-emotional development separately and accurately (pp.
145 – 146).
It should be remembered that the issue surrounding the use or non-use of zero is a summative grading issue.
However, a world-wide research base (Black & Wiliam, 1998) supports the use of formative assessment as having the
greatest impact on student learning. As important as open and fair grading practices are, they are only one part of a
complete picture of sound classroom assessment practices. Addressing the topic of classroom assessment from a
holistic perspective as articulated in the AAC Key Visual provides jurisdictions, schools and teachers with a solid
foundation on which to approach the development of sound classroom assessment practices.
So, how do teachers motivate students to do the work if they don’t give zeros? When an essential assignment is not completed on time, teachers, administrators, parents and the student work together to understand the problem and then find solutions. This might involve working on assignments at lunch, during study hall, after school or at some other negotiated time. The emphasis is on supporting students and helping them build the skills they need to be successful adults, by insisting they take responsibility and do the required work. Isn’t the no-­‐zero policy what’s causing such irresponsible behavior at post-­‐secondary and in the workplace? Some people are suggesting that poorly motivated employees and students are the product of the no-­‐zero policy. However, whole school or whole system no-­‐zero policies are actually relatively new. Some of the behaviours that are causing the problems in the workplace may actually stem from students who have been taking the zeros and thus opting out of their assignments. In the real world, that’s not how it works. You don’t get to say to your employer, “No thanks, I don’t actually want to do that. I’ll take a cut in pay today.” Assigned tasks aren’t optional. But in the world of the zero, they seem to be. When students are assigned repeated zeros, they often quit and head off to the workplace without the skills they need. And that’s one possible reason there are problems with employees who don’t know how to work because they’ve been allowed not to. Why shouldn’t behaviour be included in a student’s grade? According to Alberta Education’s Teaching Quality Standard, “Teachers select and develop a variety of classroom assessment strategies to assess the full range of learning objectives” (1997, p. 6). Behaviours, though important, are not typically specified as learner outcomes. As such, they must be reported separately. The grades students receive should provide accurate information to the student, parent and others about how well the student has met the curriculum outcomes. When teachers include zeros for missing work – a behaviour issue – the grade no longer reflects what it is supposed to communicate. Assigning a code of “incomplete” is a signal to both students and parents that more work is required before a grade can be assigned.