Where Are We Going? Building a Common Understanding of Balanced Assessment

1. Where Are We Going?Building a Common Understanding of Balanced Assessment District Assessment System Audit

2. Why do we assess? • Inform instructional and programmatic decisions • Encourage students to try to learn

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5. Assessment Manifesto: A Call for the Development of Balanced Assessment Systems • Read and highlight the text • Under “I think,” respond to one of the following: • What squares with your thinking? • What was a diamond in the rough? • What is still circling around in your mind? • Share with a partner, and record their thinking under “My partner thinks” • Summarize your discussion in complete sentences

6. Listen to Rick…. • Developing Balanced Assessment Systems • New Mission, New Beliefs

7. What is a Balanced Assessment System? • A balanced assessment system is a configuration of different assessment types and processes to fulfill multiple purposes.Brazemore, Cippoletti, Howard (2009)

8. Why Balanced Assessment? • A balanced assessment system takes advantage of assessment of learning and assessment for learning; each can make essential contributions. When both are present in the system, assessment becomes more than just an index of school success. It also serves as the cause of that success.Chappuis, Stiggins, Arter, & Chappuis (2006)

9. Why Balanced Assessment? • To maximize student success, assessment must be seen as an instructional tool for use while learning is occurring, and as an accountability tool to determine if learning has occurred. Because both purposes are important, they must be in balance.--NEA (2003)

10. A Balanced Assessment System Assessment FOR • Formative • Frequent • Curriculum & instructionally-embedded; teacher-made, student-involved • Happens while material is being taught • A moving picture (journey) Essential Question: How can we help students learn more? Assessment OF • Summative • Periodic • May be state-mandated, publisher-made, or teacher-designed; often standardized • Happens after material has been taught • A snapshot in time Essential Question: What have students already learned?

11. Assessment Users & Uses • Assessments have different uses and their results inform different users. • Conversations about assessment need to include: • What decisions need to be made? • Who’s making them? • What information will be helpful to them?

12. PURPOSE: Assess to meet whose information needs? • Classroom Level Users • Program Level Users • Institutional/Policy Users

13. Classroom-Level UserInformation Needs • Who is the user? • What decisions is to be made? • What information will be helpful? • Student, teacher & parents • What comes next in the learning? • Continuous info on each student’s progress toward each standard

14. Program-Level UserInformation Needs • Who is the user? • What decisions is to be made? • What information will be helpful? • Teacher teams, principal, curriculum leaders • What standards have been mastered? Are programs working? • Periodic but frequent evidence summarized across students and classrooms

15. Institutional / Policy-level User Information Needs • Who is the user? • What decisions is to be made? • What information will be helpful? • School, district, community leaders • Are enough students meeting standards?? • Annual assessments, within and across schools, showing students/ groups meeting standards

16. Classroom Instruction Program Improvement Institutional Accountability How goes each student’s journey to each standard? What standards are our students meeting? Are enough of our students meeting standards? Notice Different Questions for Different Users and Decisions

17. Balanced Assessment Meets All User Needs: • Annual accountability testing serves some purposes • Interim, benchmark, short-cycle, common tests meet other info needs • Continuous classroom assessment informs still others

18. Three Tiers of Assessment Summative (evaluative) Scope Interim (instructional, evaluative, predictive) Formative (instructional, minute-by-minute, during the lesson) Frequency of Administration

19. Are we in balance?

20. FORMATIVE INSTRUCTIONAL TOOLS AND PROCESSES Assessment FOR Learning  Instructionally embedded  Frequent  Connected to learning targets  Happens while material is being taught  Penalty Free – Isn’t used for grades Classroom Formative Task(s) Classroom Formative Task(s) Classroom Formative Task(s) Classroom Formative Task(s) Classroom Formative Task(s) INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM Interim Assessment Interim Assessment Summative Assessment SUMMATIVE AND INTERIM ASSESSMENTS Assessment OF Learning  Aligned to curriculum pacing  Periodic  Connected to standards  Occurs after material has been taught  Scored or graded

21. BIG Idea! • Balance continuous classroom assessment in support of learning with periodic assessments verifying learning.

22. You can enhance or destroy students’ desire to succeed in school more quickly and permanently through your use of assessment than with any other tools you have at your disposal. Rick Stiggins Assessment Dynamics

23. Assessment Experiences • With a partner: • Think of a negative experience you’ve had being assessed. • What made it negative?

28. Negative Experiences Effects • Stopped trying • Never talked in class again • Embarrassment • Anger • Never took another class in this subject • Redoubled efforts Causes • Not clear what was to be tested • Trick questions • Time limits • Results didn’t reflect knowledge • No feedback, feedback incomprehensible, feedback too late to do any good • No chance to improve; one shot do or die

29. Assessment Experiences • With a different partner: • Now think of a positiveexperience you’ve had being assessed. • What made it positive?

31. Positive Experiences Effects • Felt successful • Felt encouraged to keep trying • Knew what it took to succeed • Motivated to learn • Wanted to take more classes on this subject • Redoubled efforts Causes • Clear what was to be tested • Criteria for success were clear • Feedback was personalized; could be used to improve performance • Practice opportunities that were not graded • Step by step learning aligned with assessment • Questions were understandable • Chance to improve

32. Student Responses to Assessment Experiences • Unproductive Responses I don’t know what to do I don’t get it I’m probably too stupid I give up • Productive Responses I know what to do I can handle this I choose to keep trying

33. How can we create and use assessments to monitor andpromote student learning?

34. Leadership Discussion