I agree that you lose minutes assessing during class, but at least those minutes are lost to something that matters. We show what we value by how we spend our time – it’s our most limited resource. It’s hard to show that reassessment is valued if there is no time for it to occur during the normal schedule.

We should do it outside the class because these are not compulsory hours.
If we do it in class, then we “lose” minutes. And perhaps you are in a middle of an engagement activity.

But thanks for answering….

Thanks for your comments, Alex.

That demonstration that they had done something to prepare was the inspiration for the credits, and came before the credit system. The reason I moved to the more formal system was for accounting purposes – I could get a record of who was doing work, and when. This gave me evidence to use when parents asked if their child was doing the work for the class.

Given the growth mindset concept that SBG strives to inspire in students, I don’t think it will ever be perfect. Perpetual tweaking is required for improvement in many things!

Hi Xavier,

I give students the option of assessing before or after school, during lunch, or during class. If they sign up to assess during class, then I leave 10 – 15 minutes at the end of class for that purpose. This requires planning, of course, but I’m pretty flexible for students that travel far to get to school and are unable to get to school early or leave later.

I still give unit exams because they provide bulk assessment of the learning standards at one time. I get a good idea of what a student can do with that longer amount of time devoted to assessment. The rest of the time, I assess with a 1-2 question quiz that is usually straight forward to grade so I can get it back to the students with feedback during the class period.

I mean: if you assess students individually when they want, then each student take the exam in regular class. So he/she is missing the regular class: his/her partners are taking regular class while he/she is taking the exam.

If you program the tests, then you lost the freedom of choice, that is the essential part of this system, I think.

I think that the only good solution is to have an extra hour for voluntary assessment. But this is complex in terms of school organization.

In conclusion, when do you assess?

Thanks,
Xavier

I think I’ll never stop tweaking my SBG system.