Professional Literature Summary

Article #1

Bib. Information McMillan, J. H. & Hearn, J. (Fall 2008) Student self-assessment: The key to
(APA Formatting): stronger student motivation and higher achievement. Educational
Horizons, 40-49. Retrieved from
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ815370.pdf

Author(s) Affiliation: James H. McMillan - professor and chair in the Department of Foundations of
Education and director of the Metropolitan Education Research Consortium at
VA Commonwealth University

Jessica Hearn - Ph.D.; research associate in Department of Foundations of

Education at VA Commonwealth University

Type of Resource: This article is a scholarly article from the journal Educational Horizons,
(Scholarly intended to inform teachers' practice.
/Trade/Other)

Summary of essential o what is self-assessment

information: o a process to monitor and evaluate the quality of thought
o identify strategies in order to improve understanding
o important to establish criteria to increase ease of assessment
o combination of self-judgment, learning targets and correctives, and self-
monitoring
o make sure to identify strategies, give feedback, and determine next steps
o self-assessment can give feedback as learning occurs
o performance goals vs. mastery goals
o performance promotes assessment tools
o mastery promotes internal process
o self-monitoring and evaluation are metacognitive
o how do you implement - in stages
o stage 1: determine criteria with students' language
o stage 2: model how to apply to criteria using work samples
o stage 3: provide feedback about evaluation
o stage 4: identify goals and strategies to attain goals
o Rolheiser's growth scheme used to assess self-assessment
o broken down into beginner, intermediate, and full level
Potential relevance to This article is relevant to my research topic because it provides an overall
your research topic understanding of what self-assessment is. It identifies the difference between a
and study: post-assessment evaluating after learning, and a self-assessment evaluating
throughout the learning process which includes before and during learning. It
discusses how we, as teachers, reflect on our own practice and that it is
important for children to do the same. Additionally, the article provides exact
steps for each stage of implementing self-assessment in the classroom. It
provides a starting point for teaching students how to self-assess, and then
acknowledges different stages of the process and how to track its effectiveness.