It would make life easy if anything we needed to know about our own situation could be adequately represented by a letter grade or even a number as we stumble daily though life.
We could simply assign something between A and F as 颅indicators of progress toward personal goals, the quality of a 颅personal 颅relationship or even our own 颅personal physical and mental health.
But representing progress with a letter or a number is not, in the great scheme of things, even remotely helpful as we strive to move toward our goals: personal happiness, career satisfaction, financial security or even willingness to learn.
In 1957, William Bruce Cameron, a professor of sociology, 颅published an article in the Bulletin of American Association of 颅University Professors titled 鈥淭he Elements of Statistical Confusion Or: What Does the Mean Mean?鈥�
Cameron identified the difficulty of 颅performing appropriate statistical 颅measurements to real life, and coined a phrase that has come to define the 颅difficulty of measuring success in life or learning or any other complicated process: 鈥淣ot 颅everything that counts can be counted and, conversely, not everything which can be counted, counts.鈥�
Certainly, it is the desire to measure 颅progress in any number of human activities, which is second nature to people. What is not second nature is how to measure progress beyond superficial representations.
That, all by itself, can lead to some 颅significant misinterpretations.
That鈥檚 how it can be measuring progress in learning. We 颅sometimes fail to take into account the difference between outcome goals and process goals.
Outcome goals, like mastering the content of a course in Grade 10 math, might fail to recognize the importance of process goals, observable activities that help a student of grade 10 math gain mastery of the content and get closer to an outcome goal 鈥� 颅readiness to move to the next level.
Again, in that Grade 10 math class, 颅students might work on 颅mastering 颅trigonometry, finance, algebra, relations and functions, linear equations and systems.
Then, after experiencing success and demonstrating competency in some or all of those areas a designated number of times, students move on to another skill.
Struggling students don鈥檛 get Ds or Fs. Instead, they continue to practise concepts until they鈥檝e grasped them 鈥� and only then move forward. Teachers, meanwhile, give students updates on their 颅progress, 颅including what they still need to master.
This system allows students to progress at their own pace. Fast learners can advance quickly and excel, while slower learners have the time they need. Success is the desired outcome.
It鈥檚 true that what gets measured gets managed, but with learning (and living), managing and measuring progress is a far more complicated process than simply assigning a letter grade or percentage.
What it involves, as well as the 颅鈥渕astery鈥� approach to progress, is frequent live 颅feedback from teacher to student.
Live feedback involves giving students constructive criticism and advice while they work. This is not a matter of 颅receiving an mystery assessment at the end of an 颅assignment, but rather is about students, while they are working toward mastery, receiving guidance, 颅encouragement and input from their teachers.
Self-assessment is another way for 颅students to 鈥渙wn鈥� the 颅progress they are making toward an outcome goal. 颅Self-assessment is a learned skill that 颅enables the learner to identify their specific strengths and weaknesses, and provides individual insight into what may be needed to improve.
Self-assessment is reflective. By 颅establishing their own measures for performance, students monitor their learning processes. It is of pivotal importance in the teaching/learning process that students, not their teachers, gain ownership of their 颅learning.
Self assessment, in turn, should provide the student with some acceptable options as to how progress can be represented.
Portfolios are a way that showcases 颅individual student learning by allowing teachers and students to curate students鈥� best work and progress as the course proceeds.
A portfolio might include work from throughout the course of the school year. Choosing representative pieces over time encourages students to reflect on the 颅learning process and note how they鈥檝e moved forward 鈥� and why.
Letter grades, vague and uninformative as they are about both performance and 颅progress, can discourage students and, as one teacher I know put it: 鈥淥nce kids give up, it鈥檚 all over.鈥�
Einstein, on the other hand, ever the 颅optimist about learning, said: 鈥淔ailure is success in progress.鈥� As the best teachers know, it is important to keep that hope for success alive and well.
Geoff Johnson is a former superintendent of schools. 颅
