Increasing Learning Through Self-Assessment

In “Putting Students in Charge of their Own Learning”, Zubrzycki (2015) reports on schools where self-assessment is part of students’ daily learning. The author defines self-assessment as a process in which students judge their progress towards a learning goal and identify their next steps towards the goal. Zubrzycki finds that students need to learn to ask three key questions: “Where am I going? Where am I now? And where to next?”. Zubrzycki argues that effective self-assessment includes several key components: teachers mush translate state standards into student friendly goal statements, students must receive explicit instruction on how to self-assess their work using a rubric or other assessment system, and self-assessment must be followed up with a chance for students to revise their work. Zubrycki implies that the accuracy of self-assessment may be less important than the process of reflection and revision for student learning. (Zubrycki, 2015)

This article directly relates to my research because the primary question I am asking is: How does self-reflection affect student engagement and motivation for future learning? This article supports the argument that self-reflection increases motivation for future learning. Zubrycki (2015) explains that self-assessment helps students take more ownership of their learning by understanding what goal they are working towards, what their current performance is, and what steps they need to take to achieve the goal. In this article, student learning goals are all based on state content standards versus being invented by the learners themselves. In my research, I will also be using grade level standards as learning goals. I wonder how goals created by students (as opposed to by teachers interpreting state content standards) may affect student motivation for future learning?

Key components from the article that I would like to incorporate in my study are ensuring that goal statements are student friendly, providing direct instruction on how to use scoring rubrics and how to completely answer the short response reflection activities, and providing students with an opportunity to revise their work or continue their learning directly after self-assessments.

Reference

Zubrycki, J. (2015, November 11). Putting students in charge of their own learning. Education Week, 35(12). Retrieved November 6, 2018, from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/11/11/students-self-assess-their-way-to-learning.html