Supporting Effective Self-Assessment of the Redesigned Curriculum’s Core Competencies
Roundtable Discussion: Miriam Miller
Session A | 9:00 – 9:40 | Location: Room 1005
Abstract:
There are often new initiatives in our current educational climate, but perhaps one with most significance to BC Educators is the advent of the Redesigned Curriculum (see curriculum.gov.bc.ca). Along with the many substantial and subtle changes the Redesigned Curriculum brings, is the mandate for students to self-assess their growth in the Core Competencies. The Core Competencies are a set of personal, social and academic skills that are to be embedded in all curricular content and across all disciplines. It is expected that students self-assess their Communication, Critical and Creative Thinking, and Personal and Social Responsibility skills by June 2017. The purpose of the self-assessment is, in part, to develop within students the capacity to be reflective and to think critically about their learning and progress. Although many BC teachers generally intend to use assessment for learning, there is an increasing sense of temporal pressure and, as a result, some educators are questioning how they can foster opportunities for meaningful student self-assessment while still meeting the Ministry’s mandate of reporting at the end of the school year. The combination of the Revised Curriculum’s novelty and educators’ limited time has generated some tension as teachers grapple with how to ensure that the student self-assessment does not become a meaningless exercise to simply to meet the criteria of the ministry.
This roundtable discussion will focus on particularly pertinent questions related to how educators can effectively support students as they assess their Communication, Critical and Creative Thinking, and Personal and Social Responsibility skills. The discussion will be guided by the following questions:
- How can educators effectively teach what the Core Competencies are so that students know what they are to assess?
- How can educators establish routines for gathering evidence and documenting growth in the Core Competencies so that students might engage in effective self-assessment?
- How can educators provide rich opportunities for students to recognize where they are at and where they are going in their Communication, Critical and Creative Thinking, and Personal and Social Responsibility skills?
- What are the ways in which educators are documenting and reporting students’ self-assessment?