School Improvement? Ask the Kids

Most jurisdictions around the world engage in some form of continuous assessment of schools. OFSTED in the United Kingdom, with its rigorous inspection and target setting, is a government body that is firmly established and has its defenders and detractors. The Fraser Institute in Canada is an example of how a third party can take it upon itself to rate school performance. Using such data as provincial assessments and graduation rates, the Institute tracks improvement and ranks schools within specific geographic areas. Again, some see this as a contribution to encouraging schools towards excellence; others see it as a false measure that only affects real estate prices.

Very few schools systematically ask their clients to assess their performance. Students, you might argue, are too impressionable or immature to engage in high-level evaluation of complex systems such as school organization or curriculum delivery. However suspect you may think the source, data is data. Used judiciously, student surveys can provide valuable feedback to a school staff, particularly if three criterion are followed: first, the students must understand the instrument used for their feedback; secondly, results must be interpreted to yield general trends, thereby minimizing specific contradictions; lastly, results should provide opportunities for further dialogue, clarification, and action.

The school library can be an excellent place to coordinate such data gathering. In a previous school, my library staff took the lead in providing our new and courageous principal the survey data he needed to move other staff in effective directions. I had never seen a enterprise that could affect school culture so quickly.

So, in this spirit, I have created the above secondary school student assessment form, based on the very instrument (the Achievement Chart) used here in Ontario to measure student performance in developing required knowledge and skills. It grids the same four categories (Knowledge and Understanding, Thinking, Communication, and Application) to a four level value scale. 

Perhaps you think this is bogus, believing that assessment of school and student are two different things and the ability to assess by student and teacher quantitatively so. Perhaps you can reshape the statements in each category or even the categories themselves. What would an elementary assessment instrument look like? How could you use technology to develop this process?

Whatever your instrument, the principle is the same: if the purpose of assessment is to improve student learning, then students should be given regular opportunities to comment on how well they are being taught, how deeply they are learning, and how creatively their school could improve.