Assessment
1. Pre- and Post-Surveys
Creating a Baseline and Measuring Change
We had a desire to know where our students stood on a number of key indicators at the beginning of the course in order to measure change by the end of the course. It is important to collect this kind of data to know if and how the course you taught achieved the goals you set. You can also use the data to help justify teaching the course again and to help administrators and colleagues recognize the need for this kind of course to be taught.
The surveys were created by listing the goals we wished to accomplish and looking at a number of surveys for teens to gather ideas for topics and item language. Please note that these surveys have not been normed and validated, although it was constructed with great care by people with expertise in assessment.
The pre-survey was administered in February 2006 and the post-survey in June 2006. Due to an oversight in survey administration, three questions were discarded. Here are the survey results.
You are welcome to modify the surveys for your own purposes. If you are new to pre- and post-testing and creating surveys for research purposes, we recommend that you contact the Department of Assessment at 475–8303 for assistance, since it is a task that requires a high level of skill.
Click here to access the pre-survey.
Click to access the post-survey.
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2. Rubrics
The Value of Rubrics: Choice and Empowerment
We strongly recommend that all assessment utilize rubrics. Through our own experience, we found that once students understood and knew how to read a rubric, they truly did choose the level at which they wished to succeed.
We also learned that students were not used to working with them, and if we could do it over, we would spend much more time familiarizing students with this tool. Ideally, we would have students:
1) See a sample rubric and discuss the components; have them apply it to a piece of work, such as writing, to learn how it is used to evaluate work.
2) Co-create a rubric. Nothing helps with understanding a rubric like having a hand in creating it, and it also serves to allow students to feel a sense of ownership and power over their grades.
3) Use rubrics for peer evaluations.
4) Use rubrics for self-assessment.
Sample Rubrics
We used several rubrics in our course. Click on each to view, and feel free to use and modify them.
Timeline rubric (see section on Interviews and Timelines for more information)
Learning Style Conversation with Teacher rubric (see section on Learning Styles for more information)
Video blog rubric (see section on Video Blogs for more information)
Final video blog assessment rubric (see section on Video Blogs for more information)
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3. End of Class Interview
Focus Group
Our final exam was based on full participation in a focus group at the end of the semester. Our goals for the focus group were to give students the power to shape the future of this course, learn what to repeat and what to improve or discard, and to give students the opportunity to reflect on the changes they’ve seen in themselves and their communities.
“We get to decide what happens here. Our opinions get heard.”
We split the group into two groups by gender. Over the course of the class, we learned that students express themselves differently when they are in same-gender groups, and we wanted them to be as open as possible during this exercise.
Focus Group Questions
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