Measuring What Really Matters

I have been thinking a lot lately about the relationships between testing and assessment. Heading into state testing this year, all classrooms were asked to do a goal setting activity where students look at their state test scores from last year as well as scores from the two mirror tests we did this year and shoot for a certain score. This was supposed to be posted visually somewhere. I was SO reluctant... The idea just bugged me. A LOT. It took me a while to nail down why. 

I mean... There are SO MANY reasons - the first being that I had just spent all year trying to convince my 8th graders that ANYone can do math, that ALL voices were valuable and had something to offer, and that right answers weren't the most important thing. Doing this activity this way would send the complete opposite message - in a bright, cheerily-condescending, and impossible-to-miss way. Just what I need - a huge neon reminder for my kids who decided that math wasn't right for them that they were, in fact, right when they made that decision. And, even though this is a good enough reason to make me squeamish, it was not actually the root of my frustration.

What really got me fired up was the fact that we were putting so much focus and intention on this stupid arbitrary number. A number that measures what a kid remembers about some questions they were asked on one day a year ago. Does this number matter in the grand scheme of things? Is it some kind of predictor for future success as an adult? Maybe a little. But is THIS measure really the one that I want to stake a claim to as most important? Is this activity that will take multiple instructional days, and be referenced in the future, actually make my students better people? Doubtful. 

So I started thinking about how to measure what matters - what REALLY matters - for my students' future success. I decided that those factors that most greatly increase potential success AND that I had any control over teaching would have to be the Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMPs). 

Now I do actually talk about, reference, and teach the SMPs, but measuring them is a different story! I currently use a modified standards-based-grading approach (based on this post from Kelly O'Shea), but I was imagining how my conversations would go with parents if I have "Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them" as a grade in my grade book... what constitutes an 8 versus a 10? Not quite so clear cut as my standard rubric!

Also, I have had to wrestle with the idea of essentially grading students on something that feels more like a behavior than a demonstration of knowledge. While it is unfortunately true that most grades wind up doing this anyway, I don't want to purposely head that direction. 

(A side comment here - I WISH that I could go to all feedback and forgo grading - it would make everything so much more awesome. Unfortunately I am currently required to submit letter grades, and while I am considering the possibilities of heading more in the feedback-only direction, my brain just isn't there yet!)

Anyhow, my current thoughts about measuring what matters: 

1. This is important so even though I don't know what I'm doing yet, I need to figure it out.
2. Current idea: I can make rubrics for each of the SMPs, and focus on what types of things I should see demonstrated at each level so students can see a progression of what actions to take to improve both themselves and their level of work. I would need to focus on observable aspects of work (like naming/labeling, multiple representations/solutions/solution paths, explaining why a solution works, etc). 
3. I am concerned about "leveling" the SMPs and making it seem like certain things are more important, or creating some weird value system that messes with kids' relationship with math (like most of the things we've done to kids in math class of the past have). My goal here is to support growth and encourage hope and improvement, not pigeonhole kids into levels. 
4. Another possibility: Just have SMP checklists? This would avoid levels but still give some guidance. Unsure if this is more or less helpful for student learning...
5. Explore ways to head towards feedback only (some thoughts):
1. Have students collect evidence of learning (portfolios?)
2. When it comes close to a grading period, meet w/ each student and have a discussion about what grade they feel they deserve - they must back it up with evidence. 
3. If I have SMP rubrics/guidelines of some kind, this could support students in reasoning out what grade they deserve.
4. Need to figure out how to get admin on board and make sure parents are informed and don't freak out if I do these things...
6. I need to find/follow/speak to more people who are teaching the way I wish I was teaching!
1. If you're reading this and are interested/intrigued/already doing this and wanting to share, PLEASE let me know! :)

A final thought - even though I don't have many readers and this whole process is more for my OWN thinking than anything else, I feel like I need to state publicly that I don't completely hate state testing. I do wish that the way we tested and what was tested and how we score and how we use that information actually mattered more for student learning and informing instruction, but I do get what we're doing and why. I just don't believe that basing my teaching entirely on those numbers is what's best for my students' lives or their relationship to mathematics.