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From Silence to Dissent: Fostering Critical Voice in an Era of Compliance
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learning when teachers use them as a way to assess the extent to which students have complied with their demands as opposed to using grades as supportive feedback to help guide student learning, to inform instruction, and to help teachers understand whether or not their pedagogy is effective. Discussing this demand vs. support model of grading was eye-opening for many students; while they expressed discomfort with many of their grading experiences, they had never before really reflected on how, and for what purposes, grades might be employed. Some expressed surprise, and relief, that our discussion was un-graded. Because after reflection, the number of instructional activities students identified in their program that were explicitly evaluated struck many as inconsistent with what professors were telling them about good teaching and learning for its own sake. The fact that this activity was not graded was unique, even liberating. But, like our students who will soon be teachers, we too often have little say about whether or not to give grades. Similarly, as university professors in a teacher education program, we must worry about how our students will fare on standardized tests, as the state will make judgments about our program based on our students’ performance. But, assessment information based on standardized tests is often misleading, and can be used to make dubious claims about how much students are actually learning or about the success of academic programs. It is for these reasons that we too perpetually face the “Yes but…” question, a revelation for many students.Professor Doe: What’s different about the conversation we’re having now compared to discussions in other classes? What accounts for this very high level of engagement?
Steve: Look at the situation. Is this high risk or low risk? Are we getting graded? No, we’re just having a conversation with no stakes attached and we’re really learning the most in this kind of setting. Everyone wants to get involved. Remember what we read about the affective filter? [Laughter in class] To get back to the original question, yeah there is a place for this -- we need this at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Look how everyone gets involved.
Ronald: In this university setting where everything is graded, everything is assessed, how can you maintain this level of engagement given a threatening environment? I mean we’re still in a classroom where every experience, every paper, every assignment is graded and analyzed and evaluated and then we have pre-evals, in-process evals, post-evals … I just realized something!!! This is why kids hate school. Because the energy, the enthusiasm for learning gets sucked right out of them with all the obsessive focus on assessment.
Carissa: So you’re really in the same position as we will soon be in as teachers. You have people above you telling you that you must give grades, as just one example. You don’t really have a choice either.
Professor Doe: Let me give you a different kind of example. There will be pressure from the state to insure that you pass the exit exam, the teacher certification test. There is actually a number attached. Our accreditation is determined by whether or not a certain number pass this test. If we fall below that number we could lose our accreditation. This is power politics.
Jane: So, are you going to teach to the test?
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| | Authors: Marlowe, Bruce. and Canestrari, Alan. |
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learning when teachers use them as a way to assess the extent to which students have
complied with their demands as opposed to using grades as supportive feedback to help
guide student learning, to inform instruction, and to help teachers understand whether or
not their pedagogy is effective. Discussing this demand vs. support model of grading was
eye-opening for many students; while they expressed discomfort with many of their
grading experiences, they had never before really reflected on how, and for what
purposes, grades might be employed. Some expressed surprise, and relief, that our
discussion was un-graded. Because after reflection, the number of instructional activities
students identified in their program that were explicitly evaluated struck many as
inconsistent with what professors were telling them about good teaching and learning for
its own sake. The fact that this activity was not graded was unique, even liberating.
But, like our students who will soon be teachers, we too often have little say about
whether or not to give grades. Similarly, as university professors in a teacher education
program, we must worry about how our students will fare on standardized tests, as the
state will make judgments about our program based on our students’ performance. But,
assessment information based on standardized tests is often misleading, and can be used
to make dubious claims about how much students are actually learning or about the
success of academic programs. It is for these reasons that we too perpetually face the
“Yes but…” question, a revelation for many students.
Professor Doe: What’s different about the conversation we’re having now compared to
discussions in other classes? What accounts for this very high level of engagement?
Steve: Look at the situation. Is this high risk or low risk? Are we getting graded? No,
we’re just having a conversation with no stakes attached and we’re really learning the
most in this kind of setting. Everyone wants to get involved. Remember what we read
about the affective filter? [Laughter in class] To get back to the original question, yeah
there is a place for this -- we need this at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
Look how everyone gets involved.
Ronald: In this university setting where everything is graded, everything is assessed,
how can you maintain this level of engagement given a threatening environment? I mean
we’re still in a classroom where every experience, every paper, every assignment is
graded and analyzed and evaluated and then we have pre-evals, in-process evals, post-
evals … I just realized something!!! This is why kids hate school. Because the energy, the
enthusiasm for learning gets sucked right out of them with all the obsessive focus on
assessment.
Carissa: So you’re really in the same position as we will soon be in as teachers. You
have people above you telling you that you must give grades, as just one example. You
don’t really have a choice either.
Professor Doe: Let me give you a different kind of example. There will be pressure from
the state to insure that you pass the exit exam, the teacher certification test. There is
actually a number attached. Our accreditation is determined by whether or not a certain
number pass this test. If we fall below that number we could lose our accreditation. This
is power politics.
Jane: So, are you going to teach to the test?
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