Assess More?

By that headline, I don’t mean more testing. Heaven knows we have enough of that. What I do mean is better assessment through an understanding and application of Andrew Butler's findings on transfer of learning that comes from repeated practice and routine assessment.

Typically we think learning occurs through studying. We believe that testing simply measures what was studied and learned. Yet, in his own research (http://people.duke.edu/~ab259/pubs/Butler(2010).pdf) and a review of other’s research (http://people.duke.edu/~ab259/pubs/Roediger&Butler(2010).pdf) Butler found that repeated practice and feedback promotes better retrieval and transfer of learning.

 
What this means in the classroom is that frequent assessment is a better predictor of long term retention. The closer to the learning that the assessment occurs, the better it sinks in. And, the more assessment, the greater the benefits, even over time. No one is exactly sure how this happens, but it is being explained by considering the neural networks that are made when the brain makes connections between learning and doing.

What does all this additional assessment look like? We’ll educators for years have been calling it formative assessment. Those brief pauses, reviews and check-ins during learning when students are asked to do something with their learning such as compare it to other things they know, or sort it into categories, or line it up in sequence. Retrieval is the essence of good learning. It’s how today’s learners will use their knowledge and skills in the future. If frequent formative assessment actually deepens students’ knowledge, then let’s do more of it.