For several years now, I have given a group task instead of a test for our unit on functions in Algebra 1. We do so many collaborative group activities as we explore patterns, domain/range, and functions/relations that giving a group assessment seems the only reasonable choice.
Students (in groups of four) travel to seven different stations around the school. Many of the tasks are open-ended, all are more challenging that I would give on a standard test. While I like the activity a lot, this year I spent a good deal of time thinking about assessing the task. I wanted it to be out of a certain number of points that was not necessarily the same as the number of parts within each station. Rather than grading each step for its own sake, I was forced to consider the entire body of work and determine the students' level of understanding. I realized that this is essentially how SBG works and why I find it so preferable to traditional grading. In traditional grades, it might be the case that one student misses more parts of problems (and thus earns a lower grade) but has better overall understanding than another student who has a surface level understanding but can better complete the steps of a process. Of course, this also speaks to the nature of the question being asked.
It may have taken me four years, but I finally understand why I love my assessment plan for this unit more than any of the others!
