Cooperative learning "is here to stay," said David Johnson, so educators must develop thoughtful ways to assess students' work as part of a group as well as individually.
Cooperative learning has been attacked by some parents who decry the notion that their own child's performance will be influenced by other students' work. But, Johnson said, "the purpose of cooperative learning is to make each group member a stronger individual in their own right."
- Unsure if some students are dominating group discussions, or if students are using specific interpersonal or cooperative skills? Take a "five-minute walk" through the classroom as students are working in their cooperative groups: select skills to observe; create an observation sheet; plan a route through the classroom; gather data on every group; give feedback to individual students, to the group, or to the class; and chart or graph the results. The five-minute walk can provide a rich amount of data in a short time.
- To provide students with immediate feedback on a test, have each student make two copies of his or her test. One copy goes to the teacher for grading. Then students retake the test in their cooperative groups. The task for the group is to answer each question correctly, and all students have the responsibility to ensure that each of them knows the correct answer and can explain its rationale. So students compare their answers, look up additional information (if necessary), and ensure that everyone understands the material.
- Involve students, when appropriate, in assessing each other's work. There's no way that an English teacher could assign writing every day, if she intended to critique every paper. But having students form cooperative groups to react to each other's writing makes it possible to ask students to write more frequently, while still getting the feedback they need to improve.