Collaborating with teachers to design and implement assessments for self-regulated learning in the context of authentic classroom writing tasks

ABSTRACT

We present data from a larger longitudinal study, focusing on researchers’ and teachers’ collaborative design and implementation of assessments for learning (AfL), including student self-assessments, to support self-regulated learning (SRL) during classroom writing activities. We focus on students (N = 112) when they were in Grade 3. The study used a mixed method triangulation approach. Data include: detailed descriptions of classrooms with relatively high and low emphasis on SRL; students’ self-assessments of SRL; and students’ writing processes and products from a teacher-researcher co-constructed writing task. Students enrolled in classrooms with high emphases on SRL had more opportunities and support for SRL and AfL and, consequently, demonstrated more sophisticated self-assessments and higher levels of interest and task value than their peers in classrooms with low emphasis on SRL. Also, these learners demonstrated higher levels of self-regulation in writing tasks and higher quality writing products. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-regulated learning
• assessment for learning
• self-assessment
• participatory research
• grade school

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Project funding was renewed when students in the Kindergarten Cohort were in Grade 3. We sought consent renewal from students already enrolled in the project and also recruited additional student participants from their classrooms. As it happens, most of the students in classrooms we characterised as high emphasis were new to the project in Grade 3.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research comes from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, file #435-2016-0374.

Notes on contributors

Nancy E. Perry

Nancy Perry is Professor and Dorothy Lam Chair of Special Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Her research focuses on: (a) children’s development of self-regulated learning (SRL); and (b) working with teachers to support children’s development of SRL through tasks and assessments, instructional practices, and interpersonal relationships in classrooms.

Simon Lisaingo

Simon Lisaingo is doctoral candidate in the School and Applied Child Psychology Programme in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada. His research examines motivational beliefs, emotions, and processes that enable students to overcome challenges they face at home and school.

Nikki Yee

Nikki Yee has recently completed her PhD in Special Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Her research focuses on inclusive classroom environments that support Indigenous (and all) learners, and also that support the development of children’s self-regulated learning.

Natasha Parent

Natasha Parent is a PhD student in the Human Development, Learning, & Culture Program at the University of British Columbia. Her research focusses on contextual factors influencing child and adolescent development and how they impact overall well-being.

Xinke Wan

Xinke Wan is a PhD student in the Human Development, Learning, & Culture Program at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Her research focuses on a) teacher’s classroom practices of supporting students’ self-regulated learning (SRL); and b) development of self-authorship of college students and pre-service teachers.

Krista Muis

Krista R. Muis is Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Faculty of Education at McGill University. Her areas of research include epistemic cognition, emotions, and self-regulated learning. She also explores how individuals process complex, contradictory content on socio-scientific issues like climate change, and designs interventions to foster digital literacy.