Effect of self-evaluation on narrative writing

Abstract

Abstract Despite the burgeoning use of alternate assessment, few studies have examined effects on students. In this study, 148 students in 15 grade 4-6 classrooms were taught over an 8-week period how to evaluate their work (control N=148). Treatment group students became more accurate in their self-evaluations than controls. Contrary to the beliefs of many students, parents and teachers, students' propensity to inflate grades decreased when teachers shared assessment responsibility. Treatment students also outperformed controls on narrative writing but the overall effect was small (ES=.18). Weaker writers improved their writing much more if they were in the treatment than the control group (ES=.58). Improvements consisted of increasing integration of story elements around a central theme and the adoption of a narrative voice. In contrast conventions of language were relatively unchanged. The results of the treatment were attributed to the focusing effect of joint criteria development and use, and to the heightened meaningfulness of self-evaluation over other assessment data. Effects of Self-Evaluation 3 Effects of Self-Evaluation Training on Narrative Writing 1 Teacher strategies for assessing students' work have shifted from an exclusive reliance on testing toward a more balanced approach in which classroom tests and examinations are supplemented with alternate forms such as portfolio assessment, performance evaluation, and selfevaluation. Assessment is more closely integrated with instruction, instruments and procedures are demystified, assessment is a continuous process rather than a terminal event, and teachers share authority with students. Although self-evaluation has been implemented extensively in elementary schools, few systematic attempts to teach students how to evaluate their work have been reported and little is known about the effects of self-evaluation training on students' achievement. In this study we implemented an in-service program that provided a small sample of teachers with instruments and procedures for teaching grade 4-6 students how to evaluate their performance in narrative writing and measured the effects of the in-service on the accuracy of students' self-appraisals and the quality of their narrative writing. Theoretical Framework Motivation for Alternate Assessment Practice