Pre & Post Assessment Reflection

Staley Math & Science teachers give pre-assessment reflections to students to increase feelings of confidence and control by reminding them of the preparation work they have put in before taking the assessment. They later provide students with another opportunity to reflect after their assessment.

Pre-Assessment Reflection

After listening to a podcast centered around the Pedagogy of Confidence by Dr. Yvette Jackson, a 6th grade math teacher at Staley was inspired to see if providing students with pre-assessment reflections would help improve student confidence and equate to better assessment results. The podcast spoke about increased confidence decreasing test anxiety. The podcast mentioned that getting students to hype themselves up by reminding them of the prep work they have put in before taking an exam will increase their feelings of confidence and control and result in lowered stress responses. After speaking to her colleagues, the entire 6th grade math and science department designed pre-assessment reflections to see if the practice would work.

The school follows Mastery Based Grading practices, so assessments are broken down by standards.

One of the Google Forms used for a 6th grade math pre-assessment reflection is embedded below:

Post-Assessment Reflection

After their assessments, students use a Google Sheet with graphs to track their mastery on each standard. They update their corresponding unit data sheet each time they attempt a standard from the unit so they can see their growth. They then go to the reflection tab to reflect upon their progress.

Teacher Reflection

How has this impacted student learning?

• The students are largely responding really positively to this process. They seem to appreciate seeing their growth, knowing where they need to focus their energies, and figuring out steps to improve. The reflections prompt the students with habits they can utilize, and seeing them listed out and acknowledging what they are and aren't doing to prepare for assessments does impact mastery.

How has this impacted student agency and engagement?

• The students are very responsive this year. I don't even have to tell them to get it out. They open the Google Sheet and fill it in on their own.

Would you change anything?

• We have. This year is the first year that everything is in one document for the students. Last year we had a Google Sheet with two tabs, one for the data tracking and one for the reflection questions, and the students would have to make a new copy for each unit. Now they are all together, and the students continually open and edit the same document so they can see their progress for each in one place.

Do you do anything to differentiate the reflection or the goal setting?

• We don't really differentiate the reflection Google Sheet, but we do differentiate the assistance we provide to the students filling it out.

Which future ready skills does this practice best bolster?

• Definitely Embrace Challenges. They are developing a growth mindset to learn from mistakes, persevering by applying new strategies, and reflecting and building on struggles, failures, and successes.

Student Reflection

How has this impacted your learning?

• I really like using the Google Sheets. I like to see how I've done on the assessments, and it helps me understand my grades. I like to look at the charts. I study a lot more now, but I don't waste time on things I don't need to do.

Would you change anything?

• I wish more of my teachers did this.