Assessing Students' Affect Related to Assessment for Learning

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Assessing Student’s Affect Related to Assessment for LearningW. James Popham and Rick StigginsScoring the InventoriesRemember, results should be compiled for the class as awhole so as to identify patterns or, over time, trends inresponses. One easy procedure is to determine the numberof students who select each response to each item. Thisprocedure may work best when the teacher is just doing aquick check to determine the current state of affairs in theclass. Then make a simple bar graph for each item. How dothe students’ responses distribute themselves along the“agreement-disagreement” response scale? The patterns willusually reveal students’ sentiments. .But if the teacher seeks to track changes in students’affect over time, frequency counts and bar graphs can beclumsy. It is typically better in that case to calculate averageratings so the teacher can detect changes in students’ scoresover time. To convert the frequency counts to averagescores, simply multiply the score (1 to 5) by its frequency,add the resulting calculations across scores and divide bythe total number of students responding. This should bedone for each individual item separately.To compute an academic efficacy score based on thecombined positively and negatively stated items, rememberthat scores on a positively stated item go from 1 for astrongly-disagree response to a 5 for a strongly agreeresponse. But on a negatively phrased item, the scale isreversed. The higher the score, the more “appropriate” is theresponse. Because there are two items per variable, a pervariablescore can range from a low of two points to a highof ten points. Here is a graphic illustration of the scoregeneratingprocess:Item Rating scale Combined for each score1 5 4 3 2 1 Clarity of Learning Targets2 5 4 3 2 13 1 2 3 4 5 Eagerness to Learn4 5 4 3 2 15 1 2 3 4 5 Academic Efficacy6 1 2 3 4 57 1 2 3 4 5 Progress Monitoring8 5 4 3 2 1 InformationAdjusting Instruction Based on ResultsWe begin this section with two cautions. First, thestrategies suggested form the foundation of an AFLclassroom. The vast majority of teachers have not been giventhe opportunity to learn how to create such environments.The creation of an AFL requires a fundamentalunderstanding of several principles that we can merelyhighlight herein. Those interested in further study of theprinciples, strategies, and tactics outlined below shouldconsult one or more of the numerous articles and books nowbeing published regarding AFL.Second, we assume that the teacher’s (inventory-user’s)goal is to help the largest possible proportion of theirstudents meet pre-specified academic achievementstandards. That is, the mission is to maximize studentsuccess. The AFL suggestions offered below can have thatimpact. If the teacher’s mission is something other, such asto produce a dependable rank order of students at the end ofinstruction, the suggestions offered may becounterproductive.If an inventory’s results suggest that students’ sense ofacademic efficacy is lower than desired on the basis of asingle administration of a grade-appropriate inventory, or isnot tending upward on repeated measures over time, theninstructional actions need to help students gain a sense ofcontrol over their learning success. This requires thatclassroom practices get students on academic “winningstreaks” and keep them there. Six specific strategies appliedin this order can help with this:1. Provide learners with student-friendly versions ofthe achievement targets from the very beginning ofinstruction.Learning accelerates when teachers describe what goodwork looks like using vocabulary that learners canunderstand. Students can hit any target that they can see andthat holds still for them. With clear signposts before them,students can watch themselves progressing ever closer tosuccess. This builds confidence. When this frame ofreference is missing for them, students can lose their wayand their ability to find the path to success. Obviously, thissuggestion places a premium on teachers’ having clear andappropriate achievement expectations, that is, the suggestiondepends on teachers’ knowing where they’re going.2. Accompany those expectations with samples ofstudent work that reveal to students, from thebeginning of the learning, what their work will looklike as it improves.Those samples should cover the full range, includingweak, mid-range, and high-quality work. Again, this allowslearners to evaluate where they are at any time on thecontinuum of achievement in relation to where teachers wantThis version released through The Council of Chief State School Officers4The FAST SCASS • Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers
Assessing Student’s Affect Related to Assessment for Learningthem to be. As students see the fruits of their efforts inlearning results, academic efficacy grows.3. Provide students with continuous access todescriptive feedback, that is, with feedback showingthem now to do better the next time.In effect, this suggestion gives students control in theform of the information needed to keep them moving alongthe learning progression relevant to the achievement targetbeing pursued. Teachers should want their students to winearly, win small, and win often. Winning streaks becometrajectories that take on a life of their own. Confidence andoptimism grow. And, of course, teachers must be sure thatclassroom assessments are of sufficient quality to provideteachers and their students with accurate information.4. Teach students to self assess so they can begin togenerate their own descriptive feedback.This suggestion requires that students learn to apply thevery same performance criteria their teachers apply whenevaluating students’ work. By getting students to play a rolein this process, teachers set students up to become partners indetermining what comes next in their learning, that is, insetting goals and in defining success. This contributes tostudents’ sense of control over their success.5. Help students learn to improve their work one keyattribute of success at a time.By not overwhelming students with too many neededimprovements, teachers can help their students succeed bytaking baby steps and, continuously, building an internalsense of control over their success. Winning streaks feelgood, and this builds confidence.6. Teach students to reflect on changes(improvements) in the quality of their work and whythose improvements have happened.This suggestion represents the culmination of what isaccomplished by applying Suggestions 1 to 5 above. Bydeveloping an understanding of the key attributes of goodwork as reflected in actual samples of that work, teachersgive students the tools needed to see key changes inW. James Popham and Rick Stigginsstudents’ own work. By giving descriptive feedback, one keyattribute at a time, and helping students learn to generatetheir own feedback, teachers give students a mirror in whichto see themselves climbing toward success. All of this putsstudents in touch with their own evolving academiccapabilities. In effect, success becomes its own reward.With the resulting sense that success is, in fact, withinreach, students’ academic efficacy and eagerness to learnwill increase. But the foundational conditions are thatstudents be in touch with the targets from the beginning ofthe learning, and that students have access to their owncontinuous record of assessment results so they navigate thepath to success and watch themselves arriving there. It issurprising how effectively success builds eagerness for moresuccess.Concluding RequestThe current version of these introductory remarks andthe three affective inventories are being distributed on alimited basis with the hope that some educators may chooseto employ them and, based on those experiences, relaysuggestions to us regarding how to improve either theinventories themselves or the introduction to their use. If youhave suggestions, please relay them to : rstiggins@ets.org orwpopham@ucla.edu.ReferencesBlack, P. and D. Wiliam (1998a). “Assessment andClassroom Learning,” Assessment in Education:Principles, Policy and Practice 5(1): 7-73; alsosummarized in “Inside the Black Box: RaisingStandards through Classroom Assessment,” PhilDelta Kappan. 80(2), 139-148.This version released through The Council of Chief State School Officers5The FAST SCASS • Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers
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