EVALUATING PERFORMANCE
Shared Goals Unite Pohnpeian Parents and Educators

By Rodrigo Mauricio

In October, 54 parents met with teachers and administrators at Awak Elementary School to organize the community’s first clustered Parent Teacher Association (PTA). After selecting leaders, parents moved into groups to discuss the following question: “How are children typically assessed in Pacific island schools?” Much of the discussion centered on how parents assess children in their own homes. In addition, educators explained the similarities between parental and educational assessment.

The genesis for such rich conversations began at a meeting with the Pacific Regional Educational Laboratory’s (Pacific REL’s) Assessment Cadre. The Cadre works through the Pacific Communities with High-performance In Literacy Development (Pacific CHILD) project to support improved early reading literacy. Awak Elementary School in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, is one of the project’s nine
intensive sites. After much reading and discussion, the Cadre identified three key activities as part of assessment: performance, observation, and conversation.

Performance. Assessments are based on performance. Teachers create opportunities for students to demonstrate what they can do with the knowledge and skills they are learning. For example, teachers assess students’ writing samples.

Observation. One important assessment activity is observation. Teachers watch students carefully as they perform various activities and then record what they have observed.

Conversation. The goal is for teachers to meet with each student every two weeks to talk about their observations and to hear students’ perceptions of their own performance. Together, teacher and student discuss the next steps.

At that first PTA session, parents discussed their use of similar processes at home. For example, parents form opinions about children’s needs and performance by observing them completing tasks around the home. Parents also recognize the importance of talking with their children regularly.

The discussion validated parental roles, the importance of learning that takes place at home, and parents’ use of assessment practices and indicators like performance, observation, and conversation. With increased confidence, parents shared assessment experiences at home, the gifts of knowledge they give their children, and how they get to know their children better, using those understandings to guide or teach their children.

The meeting helped unite parents and teachers in a common goal: assessment for learning both at home and in school. For the first time, teachers expressed an interest in visiting homes to learn more about individual children. Parents realized how valuable they are to the school. Significantly, the issues of education and assessment in their broadest meaning did not end at that meeting but generated further questions among parents and teachers.

It is important for teachers to know the gifts of knowledge each child brings into the classroom and for parents to know the knowledge and skills their children bring home from school. Teachers can build on children’s talents and gifts by creating conditions for further learning, and parents can enhance their children’s knowledge and skills by supporting and nurturing their learning. Finding out about each child’s learning gifts is what assessment is all about.