Innovation at One Schoolhouse: How Three Teachers Are Rethinking Assessment
In our One Schoolhouse online academic program, teachers are leading the way in innovating assessments—acknowledging the changing landscape of learning with AI while building personal relationships with their students. Instead of responding to the threat of AI by banning it or pretending it doesn't exist, these three teachers are changing what they ask students to do, assessing the process of thinking, not just the finished product.
Conversations in French
French teacher Jennifer Murphy (Beginning I, Advanced I) began having her students use the Mizou chatbot to measure language proficiency. In a live conversation with the bot, students discuss a theme, such as immigration in France, and must-use assigned grammar concepts. The bot adapts to what they say, correcting a sentence or continuing the conversation if it is well formed. Students appreciated the corrections they received during the conversations, because they targeted mistakes or uncertainties in the moment. Murphy requires students to speak rather than type, because pasted responses reveal little about proficiency.
“It is a powerful tool,” said Murphy. “The students really have to consider what input they're giving to the AI because the input is driving their learning. That’s very different from our former paradigm of ‘here's the test,’ where the output drives your learning.”
Murphy also asks students to explain their thinking in real time via videos whenever they present work. She likens the approach to a return to the Socratic method: what matters is what students put in, and whether they can explain it.
Oral Reasoning in Math
Math teacher Carol Braun (Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus) has launched one-on-one oral quizzes in which she asks students to talk through their reasoning. Braun recognizes that AI can easily solve most of the problems she assigns her students, and the oral quizzes help her better understand her students’ reasoning skills, identify students who need more attention, and give her confidence that her students understand the material. “Many [students] have told me that they learn the material better simply through the act of talking through the quiz questions with me,” she said.
Carol’s assessments also include manipulation of physical objects, online interactive applets, or graphing software, as well as partner-based assessments done in live video calls with other students.
Solution Videos in Physics
Leslie Chamberlain (AP Physics C Electricity & Magnetism, Mechanics) has students create videos walking through their solution to a problem of their choice, one they believe shows their growth. “Even if they use AI to solve the problem, they have to understand it for that to come across in the video,” said Chamberlain. Students also discuss what they got wrong at first and how they corrected course, making growth part of the assessment.
“It's hard to do, but oral exams are such great ways (AI or not) to assess student understanding,” said Chamberlain. She says that more personal connection is the key to better assessments in today’s environment.
AI Awareness in the Classroom
In the age of AI, teachers are also going beyond redesigning their assessments. Disclosure statements, pledges, and reflections turn AI use from a hidden temptation into an open conversation and give teachers insight into how students learn. Teachers are also being explicit about expectations, saying plainly when AI is and isn't allowed.
Braun has been direct with students about AI. At the start of the year she shared her expectations for AI use and documentation in short videos that students watched and signed onto. She then asked them to reflect on whether AI had helped or harmed their math learning so far. On weekly problem sets, students must describe how they did or didn't use AI. Those notes give Braun insight into how students learn, and they have helped her revise her policies.
In addition to a pledge, Chamberlain asks students to explain when and where they used AI on project work, which she says reduces ambiguity. Her assignments requiring no AI use carry a standard notice at the top saying so.
Chamberlain has also invited AI into the learning process on purpose. To open a unit on electric potential, students asked Gemini, "What is the meaning of electric potential?" then read the response and kept asking follow-up questions to deepen their understanding or chase a curiosity. After completing the unit's learning and practice, students returned to their conversation to critique and reflect. Chamberlain says they enjoyed it for several reasons: it gave them a quick overview before diving in, it helped them recognize AI's limits when they noticed oversimplification or unnecessary complexity, and it gave them practice writing prompts.
Throughlines
Across three very different subjects, One Schoolhouse teachers demonstrate what it looks like to respond flexibly to current conditions: using oral assessments, being explicit about expectations, and treating students as partners.
