top of page
Site Menu
Welcome!
All the information, slides, links, and resources for my 2025 teacher convention presentations are included on this website.
I am available to work with school staff groups or leadership groups both in-person and virtually on the topics shown on this website. Contact me at cloke.shelly@gmail.com for prices and availability.
Cognitive-Based Assessment
So if grades interfere with feedback uptake, is there a practical way to give students feedback using grades?
Yes.
Changing grade categories to represent what students need to do in order to master the outcomes (cognitive processes) allows grades to inform feedback and provides avenues for students to uptake that feedback, using it to improve their understanding.
Traditional Grade Categories
Often secondary teachers use assessment-type as the basis for their grade categories. A summary printout of the grade categories might look something like this:
Efficient, but what does it tell the student, parent or teacher? Typically, a student's lowest mark is in the unit exams category. What advice can a teacher give for the student to improve?
Study more.
I have said this countless times to students when suggesting what they need to do to improve. Eventually I began to question how helpful this advice was...
Creating Cognitive-Based Grade Categories
What if grade categories were based on the complexity of cognigtion levels instead of on assessment types?
Language Arts
Within / About / Beyond
Social Studies
Show / Apply / Go Beyond
Other examples you can download:
Poetry Test Example
Note: These are assessments that I have made myself and they are far from perfect so if you use anything, please update and adjust as needed :)
Each section is entered as a separate grade in the gradebook and added to one of the cognitive-based categories that were chosen and weighted at the beginning of the year.
Students can choose to redo an M if they want but I require A and NY to redo. They only have to redo the sections they did poorly on which makes it more likely they take the feedback from their first attempt to target their efforts on the redo.
It also means less marking for me.
Individual Student Reports in Language Arts
These categories summaries show students who struggle with BEYOND the Text questions, which is the most typical result--marks tend to be higher for the straighforward questions and decrease as complexity and abstraction increase.
This student has done well in all categories except Conventions in writing. By grouping grades according to cognitive skill, not only does it show where a student struggles, but also allows me to better advise them on how to improve. In this case, the student needs to edit their writing.
This example shows the opposite of what you would expect--marks are lowest on the more straightforward questions. To improve, this student needs to slow down and pay attention to detail. They might also have memory/recall issues but do better when they put information together or think beyond what they learned
Individual Student Reports in Social Studies
These examples in Social Studies have three categories: SHOW Learning, APPLY Learning and GO BEYOND Learning.
As expected, the category students struggle more with is the GO BEYOND category.
But every once in a while, a student will be lowest in the catgory that is less complex. In this case, the student needs to study their terms and slow down, go back and find answers that are right there.
How does this look in a gradebook program?
Grade categories and weightings
RLV stands for Read/Listen/View while WSP stands for Write/Speak/Represent
Weightings could change according to many factors such as grade level--in grade 6, more emphasis would be on working with the text whereas high school would have more emphasis on more complex and abstract thinking.
Powerteacher gradebook assignment list -- one assessment is entered multiple times; each mark reflects a different level of cognition
Because I am not assessing compliance but instead, learning of core concepts, I find I am not chasing students for work; instead, I am looking for the best and most recent evidence of their cognitive abilities, essentially, what they need to be able to do in order to master the outcomes.
Course Outline -- deciding on your categories and weightings
What could this look like in other subjects?
Math 10C Example
Huge thanks to Leanne Rafuse at Drayton Valley Community Outreach School; (leanne.rafuse@wrsd.ca) for developing these ideas in Math and sharing these examples
Summary
Cognitive-Based Assessment requires a shift in thinking and approach, but I believe it is well worth it.
Determining the cognitive skills that students need to master the outcomes from the program of studies to form grade categories and aligning your assessments with these categories provides valuable information on student performance, where they struggle and what they can do to improve.
I am always happy to share my work so if you would like a copy of the examples or if you have any questions, please reach out to me at cloke.shelly@gmail.com.
bottom of page