Use an Assessment Roadmap to Reduce Students’ Anxiety and Promote Student Agency

Introduction

Assessment can be challenging, particularly when it seems you’re never quite sure when it’s going to come around. By using an assessment roadmap, students are able to engage in goal setting. Knowing what they are expected to achieve by a certain date provides students with a sense of control that they may not otherwise have had over their learning. Students will be less anxious about their assessments if they use an assessment roadmap. Even so, we realize that students will still experience stress and anxiety before assessments, and we can only help ease that stress as much as we can.

Why assessment roadmaps are important?

An assessment roadmap outlines what’s due when, which helps students plan their approach to learning. When students are able to plan ahead of time, they are far more likely to be successful. Additionally, the assessment roadmap provides students with a clear sense of what skills they need to learn to complete their tasks for a particular unit. For teachers, intentional planning of formative and summative assessments takes time. But I have always believed that intentional planning will pay dividends. By using an assessment roadmap, teachers can scaffold their lessons based on identified tasks. It can be beneficial for students if teachers prepare for classes in advance and identify strategies to support their learning.

An assessment roadmap can also help teachers identify the approaches to learning skills that students need to develop in order to achieve success on their summative assessments. We can therefore avoid the discussion of what skills we should select for the unit and instead focus on what skills will help students succeed. Finally, using an assessment roadmap as a guide can also lead to better alignment between criterion-based grading and student growth goals. Considering these benefits, I recommend beginning by assessing what skills you want your students to learn during this unit based on the assessment objectives and then providing them with opportunities to practice those skills before assessing them.

How to create an assessment roadmap?

The first step is to brainstorm all the different things students should be able to do and the knowledge and understanding they should possess based on the assessment objectives listed in the IB subject guides (e.g., explain scientific knowledge, use a range of terminology in context, justify opinions and ideas, using examples, explanations, and terminology, etc.) or any standards that your school uses. Go back through your list and create integrated assessment tasks once you have identified the skills, knowledge and understanding. Select a time when you can give these assessments and take into account the students’ workload from other subjects. In cases where students do not understand concepts or skills, be flexible before introducing new material and tasks. When planning assessment, the turnaround time for feedback is also important to consider. It is more effective to give feedback during the formative learning stage than comment during summative assessment unless the feedback is aimed at helping students succeed in their next task.

How does assessment roadmap guide Instruction with students?

Summative assessments are used by teachers to give students feedback on their progress. A summative assessment usually takes place at the end of a unit. Nevertheless, many research-based studies suggest that using formative assessments throughout the instructional process reduces student anxiety while also promoting student agency. The use of formative assessments can provide ongoing information about how students are learning and serve as a guide for adjustments in instruction in order to meet more needs in the class. Building an assessment roadmap is all about seeing the big picture while paying attention to the little details. Formative tasks can be planned more effectively once teachers identify their summative assessments and what tasks will be used as formal and informal feedback.

How do assessment roadmaps create psychological safety?

It is possible to create psychological safety in three ways through the assessment roadmap. First, it lets students know what their expectations are for success. Second, it allows students to evaluate their progress as they take steps towards achieving those goals. The third advantage is that it provides students with feedback on their work, which allows them to make necessary adjustments to improve their performance. These three things create a partnership between student and teacher where both parties have vested interest in working together – promoting agency. We often hear students say they don’t care about the formative assessment, because it doesn’t affect their grade. The problem here is that students do not engage in a real discussion about how small steps can help them reach their goals. For students to learn and find meaning in formative tasks, it’s important to earn their trust and take them through the steps. Tom Geraghty (@tom_geraghty) in his weekly psychological safety newsletter shared P J Milani’s tweet (@milanicreative) which resonated with me. “A series of small bets is not only less intimidating than one big one, but much more likely to result in success.” The concept perfectly applies to chunking summative assessment into smaller and manageable formative assessments in assessment roadmaps.

How to implement assessment roadmaps with students after creating it?

In addition to being shown periodically throughout the course of instruction, assessment roadmaps should be shared with students at the beginning of each unit of instruction. It is also crucial that teachers ask for input from students on what they think is important for them to learn. Once students have reviewed the assessment roadmap, they are guided to set their learning goals based on the criteria and specify the areas in which they would like feedback. In this way, they are able to see how well they are doing, evaluate themselves and then work to meet their criteria.

Final thoughts

The assessment roadmap serves as a practical, organized tool for teachers to plan their instructions and guide their students to set their own learning goals. By visualizing milestones along the way, students can visualize their progress. As a final point, I think creating an assessment roadmap helps to make teaching and learning more intentional. Assessment planning is about setting a purpose for each assessment you give your students. The key to providing feedback to your students is getting clear on what you want them to know and be able to do at every stage of instruction. You can create a visual tool that helps organize your thoughts around assessments so that you can use that information when planning future instruction.

Examples and resources

To paint a picture, I have included a few examples of assessment roadmaps I have created with colleagues in the past. The identification of the essential approaches to learning skills occurs through the process of creating assessment roadmaps. 

To learn how assessment roadmaps can be used to guide instruction and feedback, take a look at my post on Developing Self-regulating Learners through a Systematic Formative Feedback Process.