When is the deadline?

SBG calls for repeated assessments to determine student mastery of the defined standards/learning outcomes.  However, this inevitably leads to the question of when the deadline should be to determine mastery.  Should it be at the end of the quarter?  The semester?  The unit?  A combination?

Ultimately, grades will be due.  Therefore, this is the latest that the deadline can possibly be.  Because I want to encourage long-term learning, this is the deadline I will set in my classroom.  Students are welcome to re-assess on any standard up to this point.  However, their final grade will inevitably be determined by a summative assessment, which may or may not be a written test - it should be what you feel is the best method to "sum up" what your students have learned.  Students must learn the material and retain it so that they can perform well on the summative (aka "final").  This means that the summative determines most - if not all - of their grade as it is the last snapshot of their mastery.  The importance of this test must be made clear to students.  However, teachers must effectively prepare students for the summative as well.  This begins with the wise selection of standards.  Do you plan to assess all of your standards at the end of the year?  In other words, do you expect your students to retain the information you worked so hard to teach them?  (If not, then why are you teaching it in the first place and should it be one of your standards?)  This is why I choose to have my assessment at the end of the year.

After the standards have been selected and teaching occurs, you're ready to assess.  And re-assess.  And possibly re-teach.  Teachers cannot expect to cover material once (or just at one designated time in the curriculum) and then forget about it until the final.  Students forget about it to - and it is too late to review immediately before the final.  Instead, previously-covered material must appear on assessments throughout the grading period to remind students of what they know (and don't know!) so that they are reminded and motivated to review.  Done correctly, this prevents the summative assessment from sneaking up on them.  Not only does the teacher have a good idea about how students will do, but students know as well and can prepare accordingly over the course of the semester.

An argument could be made in other classes to have the deadline for assessment on specific standards be at the end of the unit during which those standards were addressed or at some other logical point based on the curriculum (not just because it was time for a test).  However, this again begs the question: Do you want your students to have a short-term recall of the information or truly learn it for long-term knowledge?

A compromise may be to have your year-long standards which are assessed and made official at the end of the grading period, then break those down into "supportive goals" to achieve those standards.  For instance, I teach Spanish songs to facilitate grammar and vocabulary acquisition.  My standards that students are assessed on are related to recognizing when to use the grammar structures and translating the vocabulary.  However, a supportive goal would be to sing "La vaca y el mono".  Now, we're breaking our standards down into how we're going to teach them - these are the beginnings of unit-long/monthly/weekly/daily objectives.  Notice, however, that there is still no room for standards that I do not plan to assess at the end of the grading period (and therefore these are not officially assessed or recorded, either).  If an objective does not support one of my standards that I established as my learning goals for the year, should I be teaching it?  (My personal answer to this is sometimes.  For example, I do not plan to have a standard specifically for Mexican Independence Day, but feel it is important to at least expose students to this important holiday and relevant information.  Then again, this would relate to a standard in which I may ask students to "Compare important holidays from Spanish-speaking countries to our own.")

Ultimately, the determination of your course standards and when their final assessment will be should be guided by this question:  If they're not important enough to remember in the long run, are they important enough to teach at all?