Research PresentatioThe Effects of Student Assessment Choices on 11th Grade English Student Achievement and Attitude toward Assessmentn

The Effects of Student Assessment Choices on 11 th Grade English Student Achievement and Attitude toward Assessment Matthew Prost

Introduction

“There is small choice in rotten apples.”

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 11 th English student assessment choices on student achievement and attitude toward assessment

Sub-Questions

What was the effect of student choice of assessment on 11 th grade student comprehension of short stories?

How did teacher selection of student assessments affect 11 th grade student attitude toward assessment?

How did student selection of student assessments affect 11 th grade student attitude toward assessment?

Research Hypothesis

Student choice of assessment will affect the short story comprehension of 11 th grade students.

Literature Review – Student Motivation

Suldo, Shaffer, and Shaunessy (2008)

Low-achieving students in general education and college prep programs = lowest attitudinal scores

High-achieving students = most favorable attitude (NOT toward teachers)

Lam and Law (2006)

When teachers adopted more motivating teaching strategies, student performance improved.

Performance in writing also improved when motivated.

Literature Review – Student Achievement

Tse, Lam, Chan, and Loh (2006)

Found a link between reading attitude and attainment.

Gender link found as well.

Hannafin (2004)

Found that low-ability students scored higher in a less structured program

Found that high- and medium-ability students scored better in a structured program.

Literature Review – Assessment Strategies

Gulikers, Bastiaens, and Kirschner (2004)

Suggested that student perceptions should be considered in designing effective authentic assessment.

Dorman and Knightly (2006)

Encouraged student involvement in assessment.

Lizzio and Wilson (2008)

Specific and positive feedback gave students a feeling of effective help.

Design

62 11 th grade English students at Luther Preparatory School

Control

Two sections (13 and 17)

Experimental Group

Two sections (15 and 17)

Two short stories units in a six week timeframe

Control group was given teacher designed formative and summative assessments.

Experimental group could choose their formative and summative assessment format.

Design Continued

At the conclusion of the units, both the control and experimental groups were given a survey using a Likert-like scale with questions designed to to assess student attitudes toward assessment and English class. (Qualitative Data)

Student grades in summative assessments were also tabulated for both groups. (Quantitative Data)

T-test for independent samples at the .05 level of significance was used.

Results

Formative Assessment

No student chose to create his or her own construct.

Summative Assessment

45.13% of the time students chose to create their own construct.

Dialogue for “The Devil and Tom Walker”

Visual map of “The Minister’s Black Veil”

Monologue for Aunt Georgiana in “Wagner Matinee”

Eulogy for Granny Weatherall

Results Continued

Statistic Value

No. of Scores in Group X 30

Sum of Scores in Group X 2678

Mean of Group X 89.26667

No. of Scores in Group Y 32

Sum of Scores in Group Y 2966

Mean of Group Y 92.6875

t-Value 0.147857

Degrees of Freedom 60

Conclusion Based on Quantitative Data – Sub Question 1

The data were insufficient to reject the null hypothesis, and therefore student choice of assessment does not affect the short story comprehension of 11th grade students.

Results Continued

Choice in assessment is important to me.

Choosing my own assessment would give (gives) me a sense of achievement.

Choosing my own assessment would help (helps) me to focus my attention in these units.

Choosing my own assessment would involve (involves) more work than tests and quizzes.

An assessment of my own choosing would allow (allows) me to identify my strengths and weaknesses in my study of literature.

I would gain (have gained) further insight into my approach to learning as a result of choosing my own assessment.

Tests provide a useful means of assessment.

I would find (find) student directed assessment to be too ambiguous and undirected.

The ability to choose would help (helps) me to better understand the stories.

A written test would accurately demonstrate (accurately demonstrates) my learning and knowledge in English class.

Results Continued

Tests proved a useful means of assessment (7)

Written tests accurately demonstrated their learning and knowledge (10)

Ambiguous nature of student-designed assessment (8)

Sub Question 2

Results Continued

Choice in assessment was very important to students (1)

Assessment of own choosing allowed them to identify strengths and weaknesses (5)

Student-directed assessment was not too ambiguous and undirected (8)

Sub Question 3

Results Continued

Felt teacher-designed tests demonstrate learning and knowledge (10)

Perceived tests more negatively as a means of assessment (7)

Choosing assessment involved more work than tests and quizzes (3)

Choice in assessment was important as well as gave a sense of achievement (1 and 2)

Side-by-Side Comparison Overall, the data seem to indicate that the attitude of the experimental group students was affected positively when given choice in assessment

Conclusions