Conceptualizing and Using Classroom Assessment to Support Self-Regulated Learning

• In Event: Teaching on Assessment: Implications for Preparing Teachers

Abstract

Objectives
This presentation introduces a conceptual approach to blending classroom assessment (CA) and self-regulated learning (SRL). The framework, CA: SRL, has 4 stages: (1) pre-assessment; (2) the cycle of learning, doing, and assessing; (2) formal assessment; and (4) summative assessment. This presentation focuses on Stage 2, the cycle of learning, doing, and assessing, corresponding to assessment for learning (AfL). We show applications of SRL for classroom assessment to help teachers of educational psychology bridge theoretical gaps and make practical connections.

Theoretical framework
CA consists of activities that teachers perform to gather and use information about student learning. AfL is a part of CA that focuses on immediate assessment to guide learning and teaching, rapid feedback, and instructional response. SRL refers to how individuals initiate, engage, and sustain their learning progress to attain desired goals. Our approach relies on Zimmerman’s (2002) SRL model in three phases: forethought, performance, and self-reflection. Because of the social nature of classrooms, we add co-regulation processes to the Zimmerman model. In blending CA and SRL, we emphasize iteration and feedback as key processes that merge CA and SRL.

Methods of inquiry
Our development of CA: SRL was conceptual and based on review of the existing literature on measurement, CA, learning, motivational and behavioral theories, and SRL. We refined our development of CA: SRL as we co-taught a graduate-level course in CA.

Data sources
Our data sources were scholarly works and empirical research in CA and SRL. We drew our examples and practices from professional literature, collaboration with classroom teachers, and our own experiences as instructors in higher-education institutions and secondary schools.

Conclusions
In Stage 2, students perform based on what they have learned, self-check, receive feedback, and take their next learning steps. SRL processes may iterate multiple times before students are ready to move on to formal assessment. Teachers or peers provide external feedback, co-regulating with students towards mastery of goals. For example, after a period of direct instruction or group inquiry, students can respond to short surveys or checklists about their task-related expectations, perform a non-graded assessment, then self-assess using a similar survey. Teachers then offer external, co-regulating feedback by debriefing the whole class and/or individuals. When students plan for the next Stage 2 iteration, they do so using not only information from external feedback and performance outcomes, but also the evidence of their prior expectations and self-assessment. With many sources of information, students become better calibrated to goals.

Scholarly significance
CA: SRL adds to the knowledge base about SRL through supporting connections of theory-to-practice in teacher education. There is often a disconnect between research in the field of SRL, which has shown that students who learn and use SRL strategies improve their performance, and SRL practice in classrooms. Similarly, despite claims that students learn through AfL, the question of how such learning occurs is somewhat undertheorized (Bennett, 2011). Stage 2 of the CA:SRL framework, the cycle of learning, doing, and assessing, demonstrates how CA supports learning through AfL.

Authors

• Sarah M. Bonner, Hunter College - CUNY

• Peggy P. Chen, Hunter College - CUNY