Student Self-Assessment

Self-Assessment Overview
Student self-assessment involves students in evaluating their own work and learning
progress.

Self-assessment is a valuable learning tool as well as part of an assessment

process. Through self-assessment, students can:

 identify their own skill gaps, where their knowledge is weak

 see where to focus their attention in learning
 set realistic goals
 revise their work
 track their own progress
 if online, decide when to move to the next level of the course

This process helps students stay involved and motivated and encourages self-reflection and
responsibility for their learning.

You should set clear expectations for student performance. As in peer assessment, you
need to coach students on assessment criteria and how to apply them in grading their
work. Give them practice assessing themselves.

A valuable process on its own, self-assessment may be paired with peer

assessment. Applying knowledge gained through peer assessment, students’ self-
assessment can be a potent next step in actively promoting their own learning and
achievement.
The Importance of Student Self
Assessment
In his book, Embedded Formative Assessment, Dylan Wiliam highlighted five core
strategies that should be part of any successful formative assessment practice in the
classroom. Two of those core strategies involve student self-regulation and self assessment.
Here are those strategies Dylan provides:

1. Clarifying, sharing, and understanding learning intentions and criteria for

success– getting the students to really understand what their classroom experience
will be and how their success will be measured.
2. Engineering effective classroom discussions, activities, and learning tasks that
elicit evidence of learning– developing effective classroom instructional strategies
that allow for the measurement of success.
3. Providing feedback that moves learning forward– working with students to
provide them the information they need to better understand problems and
solutions.
4. Activating learners as instructional resources for one another– getting students
involved with each other in discussions and working groups can help improve
student learning.
5. Activating learners as owners of their learning– self-regulation of learning leads
to student performance improvement.

It’s numbers four and five above that I want to focus on today. Teachers need to empower
their students and give them a leading role in their own education. It’s no doubt that most
students are their own biggest critics and that’s okay; focusing that lens that can have
fantastic results. By engaging in the process of thinking about and assessing their own
work, they act on the evidence of their own learning and take responsibility for it.

In 1996, Fernandes and Fontana – two highly-respected education researchers out of

Portugal – established a training program of self assessment strategies with 25 primary
school teachers. Over a period of eight months, the teachers implemented these strategies
within their classrooms. Students in these classrooms were compared to students in the
classrooms of 20 control teachers. The results showed that students who are provided with
regular opportunities and encouragement to engage in self assessment are more likely to
attribute their learning to internal beliefs (i.e. students believe they can have an impact on
their own learning). These students were less likely to attribute success to luck or other
unknown variables and were more likely to understand the real causes of their academic
success, such as learning, effort and studying. (Changes in the control beliefs in Portuguese
primary school pupils as a consequence of the employment of self assessment strategies.
British Journal of Educational Psychology, 66, 301–313)

Students who engage in these activities are more likely to develop internal attributions, a
feeling of empowerment, and a sense of autonomy. These are the same attributes that
empower us as adults in our own work, so it does make sense that it would do the same to
students in a classroom.