Math Essay #3: What’s in Your Math Wallet, Part 3.

Sometimes, I said, the best way we move toward a different assessment view is simply to show ourselves a better way.   

This was the final line of the previous On Math essay in this collection.

And so it is.

And so we did.

We showed ourselves a better way.

What is a better way, though?

According to Merriam Webster “better” can be thought of as an adverb meaning to a higher or greater degree. As in, my students did better this year on the unit 4 math assessment than they did last year.

In our work as teachers of mathematics, the better way should guide us toward evidence of collective increased levels of student learning for all students in the grade level or course.

For me that better pathway should ultimately make the work of teaching essential standards more coherent for teachers and result in stronger, more equitable mathematics learning for students.

The starting line for this better pathway then is drawn in the sand of one singular and special place.

Really, you think. Really? Yes, really!

The starting line is:

Common mathematics unit assessments for all grade levels and all math courses.

Over the years, I’ve come to believe common unit-by-unit math assessments are one of the most powerful places for a mathematics team to begin their collective work.

The common assessments are the heartbeat that delivers your professional work life to the simple, yet challenging critical question # 2 of the PLC culture: How will we know if they learn it?

Agreement on the mathematical tasks and questions used to assess each essential learning standard for a unit of math study is where the real work of the collaborative effort begins.

In reality, the common unit math assessment forces your team into agreement conversations.

What do we believe students need to learn?

What mathematical evidence would convince us they’ve learned it?

What level of cognitive demand are we expecting students to demonstrate?

What does quality student work look like?

How will we score this assessment consistently?

Your digital assessment wallet isn’t merely a repository of documents. It’s a repository of your teams’ collective agreements!

There are, however, a few ground rules (to use a math phrase – assumptions or givens) to those agreements and getting properly launched off the assessment starting line.

1. Written collaboratively by the grade-level or course-based team.
2. Essential standards identified on the assessment
3. Tasks and questions aligned to each essential standard.
4. A balance of lower- and higher-level-cognitive-demand tasks.
5. Team agreement on how each task will be scored for proficiency.

These are the guideposts along the common mathematics assessment highway. Perhaps now you can understand why that empty assessment wallet from my story in Parts 1 and 2 bothered me so much.

Better begins when we stop treating assessment as something individual teachers create for their students and begin treating it as a place where your math team makes and takes action on collective agreements about student learning.

My Front Porch Math Question:

What is one agreement about common unit-by-unit mathematics assessment that could help your team take its next step?

To go deeper: If by chance you have already made it to the starting line, and are now walking the common assessment path, then take a minute to self-reflect and score the quality of your common assessment design elements.  For more details and insights, you can go here.