TEKS-Based Assessment

1. TEKS-Based Assessment

2. In this next session, we will be talking about assessing the TEKS, and the types of things you may do in the classroom to measure how well a child has learned TEKS content.

3. As a group, talk about the different types of assessments currently used in your classrooms. After everyone has shared the assessments they use, summarize the types of assessments used by the collective group on page 12-25 of your packet

4. Which assessments were identified by your group ?

5. Did your group identify… • Before the lesson (diagnostic) assessment? • During the lesson (formative) assessment? • After the lesson (summative) assessment?

6. Categorize the assessments your group listed on page 12-25 of your packet. Which type of assessment do you use most frequently in your classroom, diagnostic, formative or summative?

7. This section of the TEKS training will introduce how diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments may be used in your classroom.

8. Why should we focus on TEKS-based assessment?

9. Within Texas Education Code, the Texas Legislature has identified a common curriculum (TEKS) for every student in the state, and a common assessment (TAKS, TAKS-Alt, or TAKS-I) beginning at grade three.

10. § 28.002. REQUIRED CURRICULUM. (a) Each school district that offers kindergarten through grade 12 shall offer, as a required curriculum: (1) a foundation curriculum that includes: (A) English language arts; (B) mathematics; (C) science; and (D) social studies, consisting of Texas, United States, and world history, government, and geography

11. TAC § 101.3(a) The goal of the statewide assessment program is to provide all eligible Texas students an appropriate statewide assessment that measures and supports their achievement of the essential knowledge and skills of the state-mandated curriculum.

12. TEC § 39.023. ADOPTION AND ADMINISTRATION OF INSTRUMENTS. (f) The assessment instruments shall be designed to include assessment of a student's problem-solving ability and complex-thinking skills using a method of assessing those abilities and skills that is demonstrated to be highly reliable.

13. SECTION I

14. Section I: Diagnostic Assessment

15. Everyone in this room knows that kindergarten through grade two students are not tested on state mandated assessments in mathematics. What does the law require educators to measure in grades K-2?

16. The 79th Texas Legislature has appropriated funding for schools to provide accelerated reading and math intervention for struggling students in Grades K-6 during the 2005-2006 school year. -TEA, 2005

17. District-wide mathematics diagnostics, such as the Texas Math Diagnostic System, should be used to identify students with mathematics difficulties. -TEA, 2005

18. Unfortunately TMDS is designed for grade three and over, and many districts have not created diagnostic assessments for students in grades K-2, and few assessments are available for purchase.

19. So if instruction must meet students’ needs, how must we evaluate those needs prior to instruction?

20. Why use diagnostic assessment? • Required by law, struggling students must be identified and served prior to failing the grade five mathematics TAKS • This type of assessment helps us evaluate the knowledge students have retained from prior instruction, or learned at home • Diagnostic assessment can help educators tailor instruction within a unit based on student need

21. Diagnostic assessments do not need to be graded, but should be used by the teacher to determine which TEKS student expectation statements should be emphasized within a unit of study.

22. Please note: • Diagnostic assessments should be open-ended in nature and allow for many types of student responses • Include items that require students to communicate their thinking • Include items that require students to use multiple representations • Multiple choice questions should NOT be used in this type of assessment

23. Pretend you are a first grade teacher. What concepts and skills would you expect your students to know about fractions?List these concepts and skills on page number 12-26 of your packet.

24. Use the TEKS as your Guide • (K.3) Number, operation, and quantitative reasoning. The student recognizes that there are quantities less than a whole. The student is expected to: • (A) share a whole by separating it into two equal parts; and • (B) explain why a given part is half of the whole.

25. What content related to fractions are you required to teach in first grade? Record your responses on page 12-26 of your packet.

26. Use the TEKS as your Guide • (1.2) Number, operation, and quantitative reasoning. The student uses pairs of whole numbers to describe fractional parts of whole objects or sets of objects. The student is expected to: • (A) separate [share] a whole [by separating it] into two, three, or four equal parts and use appropriate language to describe the parts such as three out of four equal parts; and • (B) use appropriate language to describe part of a set such as three out of the eight crayons are red.

27. The diagnostic assessment used should require students to access and communicate prior learning. This will help the teacher identify patterns in what students (individual and whole class) know about fractions prior to instruction.

28. Ideally, the diagnostic assessment created would also help the teacher identify student readiness to learn about dividing objects and sets into thirds and fourths using fair shares.

29. A first grade teacher developed the diagnostic assessment included in your packet. With the help of your group, evaluate the students’ work on pages 12-27 through 12-38 and answer the questions on page 12-39.

30. Search for Evidence • Does this student understand how a fraction is created and named? • Does this student understand that equal sections are required when creating a fraction? • Does this student understand how to name a fraction that is a part of a set?

31. After answering these questions, what would you do instructionally to meet the needs of this student?

32. Debrief Instructional Modifications

33. SECTION II

34. Section II: Assessment During the Lesson

35. In the past, teachers have relied heavily on homework to evaluate student learning. This section will discuss formative assessment methods teachers may use during the lesson to evaluate student thinking in “real time”.

36. Read the following TEKS knowledge and skill and student expectation statements.

37. (1.3) Number, operation, and quantitative reasoning. The student recognizes and solves problems in addition and subtraction situations. The student is expected to: • (A) model and create addition and subtraction problem situations with concrete objects and write corresponding number sentences;

38. Find a partner in the room. Discuss how you would assess student learning on this topic.

39. Share assessment ideas that you and your table partner discussed.

40. Knowledge-including mathematical knowledge- is now being seen as socially constructed. -Silver, et. All, 1990

41. Students learn mathematics through communication. Students need opportunities not just to listen, but to speak mathematics themselves-to discuss what they have observed, why procedures appear to work, or why they think their solution is correct. -Silver, et. All, 1990

42. Students must construct their own mathematical understanding. Teachers have to pose questions and provide opportunities for students to apply and communicate what they are learning.

43. Posing questions where the answer becomes the question opens up the social “space” in the classroom. This allows all students the opportunity to participate, and makes them accountable for the content they are learning.

44. Assessment opportunities may be open-ended to capture multiple responses from students. Think about the assessment ideas you discussed with your partner for TEKS statement 1.3A.

45. In an open-response assessment, a teacher might ask students to identify three addition or subtraction sentences with “11” as the answer (solution).

46. This task would allow students to participate in the assessment regardless of their cognitive level.

47. Review the student work found on pages 12-42 – 12-44. Which students have a firm understanding of composing and decomposing numbers? Which students are in the initial stages of developing number sense? Record your answer on page 12-41 of your packet.

48. Once students have developed equations, the teacher can begin recording students’ answers. This will allow many different equations to be shared with the class and help the teacher identify students that need additional support.

49. After this activity, teachers may pair students together and ask them to think about a problem situation that would have 11 as the solution. How would you pair the students in your classroom?

50. Assessing measurement