Cooperative Learning And Assessment Assessing, evaluating, and reporting student learning The role and benefits of cooperative learning in assessment, evaluation, and reporting Cooperative learning and seven principles of assessment and reporting Cooperative learning and levels of assessment References Assessing, Evaluating, And Reporting Student Learning Assessment is the collection of data to make a judgment. Evaluation is the rendering of a judgment based on merit. Reporting is the communication of the results of assessment and evaluation to interested audiences. Cooperative learning groups can enhance and at times are required for assessment, evaluation, and reporting--particularly when performance, authentic, or total quality assessment is employed.   The Role And Benefits Of Cooperative Learning In Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting Cooperative learning groups present unique and important opportunities and benefits for instruction, assessment, evaluation, and reporting. Using cooperative learning groups in assessment provides the following advantages: Additional sources of labor to conduct assessments and communicate results. Students are a natural source of help and assistance to teachers when labor intensive performance, authentic, or total quality assessment practices are used. More modalities to be used in the assessment and communication process. Learning in cooperative groups allows for assessment procedures that cannot be used when students work alone, individualistically, or competitively. The possibility for more diverse outcomes. Cooperative learning groups enable teachers to assess critical thinking and level of reasoning, the performance of taught skills (such as conducting a science experiment), the ability to communicate knowledge, interpersonal and small group skills, self-esteem and self-efficacy, and commitment to producing quality work. Additional sources of information. Cooperative learning provides self- and peer assessments along with the teacher's. The opportunity for the continuous improvement process to become an ongoing part of classroom life. Cooperative learning groups offer a setting in which instruction, assessment, and continuously increasing achievement can all be part of one process. Total quality in education is based on the premise that all school members are organized into teams working cooperatively to continuously improve the processes of learning. A setting in which students may best learn (and create) the rubrics used to assess and communicate about their work. This helps students produce higher-quality work, understand feedback, and assess classmates' work. The possibility for students to learn from the assessment and reporting experiences. Learning is enhanced when the assessment requires group members to discuss the accuracy, quality, and quantity of their own and each other's work. Less possibility of teacher bias affecting the assessment and evaluation process. Frequent sampling and evaluation by a variety of others in addition to the teacher provides a broader base of data for evaluation, a wider range of perspectives in applying criteria, and the potential for consistent patterns of interpretation to occur. The support system necessary to implement the improvement plan that results from the communication of the assessment results. Communication of results must directly point toward what needs to be improved and what the students do next. The opportunity to assess group as well as individual outcomes. There are times when a groups' scientific, dramatic, or creative projects need to be assessed. The means to make assessment procedures congruent with ideal instructional methods. Instruction and assessment procedures need to be aligned so they work for, not against, each other. Cooperative learning tends to result in higher achievement and a variety of important outcomes (Johnson & Johnson, 1989) that are aims in education.   Cooperative Learning And Seven Principles Of Assessment And Reporting Cooperative learning plays a major role in the seven principles of assessment and reporting. Those principles are (Johnson & Johnson, 1996): Make an assessment and reporting plan. The plan should identify learning and instructional processes, outcomes to be assessed, and the setting in which assessment will take place. Use cooperative learning groups and understand their benefits in assessment, evaluation, and reporting. Numerous benefits are described above (also see Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1993). Avoid the use of "pseudo" groups or traditional learning groups in your assessment plan. Such groups are characterized by social leafing, free riding, hostility among members, sabotage of each other's work, and a variety of dysfunctional behavior patterns. Ensure that learning groups are truly cooperative. Cooperative learning groups are characterized by positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face promotive interaction, the appropriate use of interpersonal and small-group skills, and group processing. It is cooperative learning groups that promote higher achievement, more positive relationships among students, and greater psychological health. Make assessment practices an integrated whole by implementing procedures before, during, and after instruction. Before instruction specify objectives, design relevant instructional tasks, establish criteria for success, specify the processes of learning through which students are to reach the criteria, and establish the plan for collecting the information needed to assess students' learning and the success of the instructional unit. During instruction, conduct observations, assess social skills, and interview students. After instruction assessments may include paper and pencil achievement tests, measures of actual student performances (such as compositions, class presentations, portfolios), or critical thinking through academic controversy. Group products can also be used for assessment and reporting. Students can assess themselves and their groupmates with checklists, tally sheets, rating scales, rubrics, or open-ended reflection sheets. Involve students, classmates, and parents, in reporting assessment results. Student-teacher conferences enable each student to discuss with the teacher individual progress in reaching learning goals, incorporating the student's, teacher's' and cooperative group members' assessments in the dialogue. Student-led, parent-teacher conferences enable each student to be accountable for communicating learning (and learn the skills needed to do so) by being in charge of the conference. Use cooperative learning groups to help individualize the educational goals, learning processes, assessment procedures, and reporting procedures for gifted and disabled students.   Cooperative Learning And Levels Of Assessment When cooperative learning is used in instruction and assessment, there are two levels of assessment and evaluation--the individual and the group. Individual assessment is more frequent than group assessment, but both are important. Since the purpose of cooperative learning groups is to make each member a stronger individual in his or her own right, a pattern to classroom learning is created where students learn in a cooperative group, individually demonstrate their learning, then debrief the learning in their cooperative group (for examples of group-individual-group applications see Cooperation In The Classroom and The Nuts And Bolts Of Cooperative Learning).   References Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1996). The role of cooperative learning in assessing and communicating student learning. In T. R. Gusky (Ed.) 1996 ASCD yearbook: Communicating student learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Holubec, E. J. (1993). Cooperation in the classroom (6th ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company. Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Holubec, E. J. (1994). The nuts and bolts of cooperative learning. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Navigation Home Cooperative Learning Q&A Essays (on home page) About the center (on home page) Newsletters (on home page) Books and supplies Contacting us (by email and otherwise) The U of M College of Education and Human Development The University of Minnesota Etc. Except as noted, the contents of this site are copyright © David and Roger Johnson. About reproduction.