Collaborative SMART Goals and Assessment for Learning

So why don't we use goal setting and monitoring more pervasively as an improvement method in our schools? Certainly, one big reason is that adopting a goal-conscious state of mind is hard work. It takes time not only to develop real and compelling goals, but it is even more difficult to make time to continuously monitor progress on goals, and then adjust our practices and programs based on that feedback...

Another reason is we've lacked curriculum-embedded classroom-based measures, ones we can examine collaboratively and systematically, that would give us ongoing feedback about student learning and the effects of our instruction. Schools have traditionally left classroom assessment up to individual teachers, and as teachers, we are very comfortable with our own assessments; we have typically relied on unit tests, quizzes, worksheets, essays, and other means of testing our own students' knowledge. In fact, until recently, with the advent of the professional learning communities movement, we have rarely co-developed assessments with our colleagues to assess learning for our collectively shared students. Without that built-in accountability and sense of shared responsibility, there's little that compels us to ask how we might be able to do better...

... we are only now becoming familiar with the power of feedback, a key feature of effective use of goals ... however, the feedback must be both timely and specific, what is called formative (vs. summative) assessment, and ongoing vs. only at the end of learning. Rick Stiggins calls this type of feedback "assessment for learning." Assessment for learning is a process of engaging students in understanding clear learning targets, using formative assessments for self-assessment and teacher-feedback, and positioning learning in a non-judgmental environment. When common assessments, collaboratively developed by teams of teachers, are used both formatively and summatively, teachers get the added benefit of promoting student learning as well as teacher learning...

Students need ongoing, descriptive feedback from accurate assessments to allow them to build on their successes and to make adjustments when things are not working... With dependable information from accurate formative and summative assessments in hand, students and educators can set goals for improved learning and teaching. Whether it is the educators setting the SMART goals to improve their practice or the students setting SMART goals to improve their learning, the objective is clear — improved teaching and learning practices resulting in student success for all. With a quality, balanced classroom assessment program everyone is a winner...

Assessment of course is not the whole picture. It must reside in a system of curriculum and instruction management that has mechanisms for continuous renewal and improvement. When goals are embedded as part of a continuous learning culture, curriculum, instruction and assessment come alive.