Placing Assessment Into the Hands of Young Children: A Study of Student-Generated Criteria and Self-Assessment

This study is an investigation by a teacher-researcher of first-grade and second-grade children's generation of assessment criteria for integrated projects and the children's self-assessments of those projects using a 5-point rating scale. The study also compares students' scores with the teacher's independent scores from the rating scales. The results indicated that the young students believed that the amount of work and cooperation that went into a project was as important, if not more important, than the actual product that resulted from their efforts. They further believed that process skills were ones on which they should be assessed individually and as a group. When students' scores were compared with teacher's independent scores on the self-assessment rating forms, it was found that either the majority of the scores were similar or that the teacher tended to rate the students higher than the students rated themselves. The study found that group evaluations of other groups did not yield reliable scores because students tended to let the negative behavior of a single student affect the group's score. The study also found that young children are quite capable of choosing their own assessment criteria and engaging in self-assessment.