Do students self-evaluate fairly?
Many teachers, parents, and students believe that if students have a chance
to mark their own work they will take advantage, giving themselves higher scores
regardless of the quality of their performance. We have found that students,
especially older ones, may do this if left to their own devices. But, when
students are taught systematic self-evaluation procedures, the accuracy
of their judgment improves. Contrary to the beliefs of many students, parents,
and teachers, students' propensity to inflate grades decreases when teachers
share assessment responsibility and control (Ross, et al., 2000). When students
participate in the identification of the criteria that will be used to judge
classroom production and use these criteria to judge their work, they get a
better understanding of what is expected. The result is the gap between their
judgments and the teacher's is reduced. And, by focusing on evidence,
discrepancies between teacher and self-evaluation can be negotiated in a
productive way.