Do Your Assessments Reflect Your Teaching?
If we expect gifted students to learn information at a more rigorous level than the general population, then we must also assess them at higher levels as well.
Case Study: Science Test
In a recent science exam (about renewable and non-renewable energy sources), I did away with the multitude of fill-in-the-blank questions and instead asked students to utilize higher level thinking skills. In doing so, I got an amazing glimpse of my students’ true understanding of the material.
Recognize Fallacies
I made several purposely-flawed statements about power sources such as “Our city should switch entirely to wind power. This will reduce pollution and end global warming!” Students then wrote a brief paragraph arguing against these statements using details from the unit.
Judge With Criteria
I asked students to rank the five power sources according to various criteria (cleanliness, ease of use, power) and offer a one sentence explanation. I also asked students to pick which power source would be best according to different scenarios. Students then back up their thinking with evidence.
Prioritize
I also asked my students to prioritize which criteria is most important when selecting a power source. Again, in this type of question I’m more interested in their thinking than their actual answer so they must back up their statements with evidence. This question forced students to decide, for example, whether solar power’s reduced efficiency actually made fossil fuels a better choice as a power source.
Certainly assessments in other disciplines can be likewise modified. In language arts, ask your students to judge the author’s use of descriptive language. In social studies, ask your students to prove that the Ancient Greeks have had a lasting effect using evidence. In math, work out a problem and ask students to note ambiguities or fallacies in your work.
Grading
The most difficult part of these tests is determining how to grade each answer, since the responses are so open ended. I assign four points to each of these short answer questions. This allows me to communicate that an answer is correct, but lacks sufficient evidence.
How do you assess your gifted learners?
These are great assessment ideas! In my 9th grade English GT classes, I've included for many years the ideas you've mentioned regarding judging with criteria and prioritizing. We'll take several chapters of a novel and the students will create a “Top 5 List” of the most important revelations, actions, or ideas within the chapters, supporting their choices with “why” and then ranking those choices with #1 being the most influential idea/occurrence. Students are examining points of literary analysis, then evaluating those points in connection to the novel's development through text evidence – perhaps making predictions about future influences using literary techniques the author has included (foreshadowing, symbolism, etc.), and then they are making a small assertion and defending it (why their choice of #1 is valid), which is critical thinking and an AP writing skill. The answers reveal the thinking processes as well as the skills, and are therefore interesting to read/grade/discuss. Keep sending us these great ideas for affirming the higher level thinking of GT learners!
Awesome ideas! Asking for rankings and justification is a great way to understand students' thinking.
Awesome ideas! Asking for rankings and justification is a great way to understand students' thinking.