OVERVIEW OF “HOW CAN I CLOSE THE GAP?”
Read the following excerpt from Jan Chappuis’ article on “Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning.”
Strategy 5: Use Evidence of Student Learning Needs to Determine Next Steps in Teaching
With this strategy, we build a feedback loop into the teaching cycle, checking for understanding and continuing instruction guided by information about what students have and have not yet mastered. After having delivered a lesson and after students have done something in response, we use what they have done to determine further learning needs. Do their responses reveal incomplete understanding, flawed reasoning, or misconceptions? Are they ready to receive feedback? Strategy 5 includes a repertoire of approaches to diagnose the type of student learning needs in preparation for addressing them.
Strategy 6: Design Focused Instruction, Followed by Practice with Feedback
This strategy scaffolds learning by narrowing the focus of a lesson to address specific misconceptions or problems identified in Strategy 5. If you are working on a learning target having more than one aspect of quality, build competence one block at a time by addressing one component at a time. For example, mathematics problem solving requires choosing the right strategy as one component. A science experiment lab report requires a statement of the hypothesis as one component. Writing requires an introduction as one component. Identify the components of quality and then teach them one part at a time, making sure students understand that all of the parts ultimately will come together. After delivering instruction targeted to an area of need, let students practice and get better before reassessing and grading. Give them opportunities to revise their work, product, or performance, based on feedback focused just on that area of need prior to the graded event. This narrows the volume of feedback students, especially struggling learners, need to attend to at a given time and raises their chances of success in doing so. It is a time saver for you and more instructionally powerful for students.
Strategy 7: Provide Opportunities for Students to Track, Reflect on, and Share Their Learning Progress
Any activity that requires students to reflect on what they are learning and to share their progress reinforces the learning and helps them develop insights into themselves as learners. These kinds of activities give students the opportunity to notice their own strengths, to see how far they have come, and to feel in control of the conditions of their success. By reflecting on their learning, they deepen their understanding and will remember it longer. By sharing their progress, students develop a deeper commitment to making progress.
What are some important points about each of the strategies?