UbD Think like an Assessor Stage 2

1. UbD Think like an Assessor Stage 2 Dr. Robert Mayes University of Wyoming Science and Mathematics Teaching Center rmayes2@uwyo.edu

2. Assessor – 3 basic questions • What kind of evidence do we need to support the attainment of goals? • Tasks that reveal understanding, such as comparing and contrasting or summarizing key concepts • What specific characteristics in student responses, products, or performances should we examine to determine the extent to which the desired results were achieved? • Criteria, rubrics, and exemplars are needed • Does the proposed evidence enable us to infer a student’s knowledge, skill, or understanding? • Validity and reliability concerns

3. Stage 2: EvidenceThink like an assessor not an activity designer Assessor Activity Designer

4. Stage 2: EvidenceThink like an assessor not an activity designer Assessor Activity Designer

5. Continuum of Assessment Methods • Vary in several characteristics • Scope: from simple to complex • Time Frame: short-term to long term • Setting: decontextualized to authentic • Structure: highly structured to ill-structured • Move from snapshot to scrapbook Performance Task Informal checks Observation/ Dialogue Quiz/ Test Academic Prompt

6. Collecting a Range of Evidence • Activity: (HO) determine a range of assessment evidence you may use related to the • Enduring understanding • Topics important to know and do • Worth being familiar with • Which assessment methods best fit the 3 categories? Worth being familiar with Important to know and do Enduring Understanding

7. Academic Prompt Assessments • Open-ended question or problem that require student to prepare a specific academic response • Think critically and prepare response • Require constructed response under exam conditions • Divergent – no single best answer • Subjective judgment based scoring using criteria or rubric • May or may not be secure • Often ill-structured – require development of strategy • Involve analysis, synthesis, and evaluation

8. Performance TaskAssessments • Complex challenges that mirror the issues and problems faced by adults • Real or simulated settings, authentic • Require student to address audience in non-exam conditions • Divergent – no single best answer • Subjective judgment based scoring using criteria or rubric, • Greater opportunity to personalize task • Not secure – students given criteria in advance

9. Performance Task – 6 Facets • Activity: Use the 6 Facets of Understanding to generate a performance task related to your enduring understanding • Questioning for Understanding (HO) • Performance Verbs (HO) • Performance Task creation (HO) • Performance Task brainstorming (HO)

10. Performance Task -GRASPS • Creating a performance task with context and roles • Goal • Role • Audience • Situation • Product, Performance, and Purpose • Standards and Criteria for Success

11. Performance Task -GRASPS • Activity: Create a performance task using GRASPS • GRASPS Performance Task Scenario (HO) • Student roles and audiences (HO) • Possible Products and Performances (HO)

12. Assessor Question 2: Determine achievement • What specific characteristics in student responses, products, or performances should we examine to determine the extent to which the desired results were achieved? • Criteria, rubrics, and exemplars are needed

13. Designing Scoring Rubrics • Rubric: criterion-based scoring guide for evaluating a product or performance along a continuum. • Consists of: • Evaluative Criteria – qualities that must be met for work to measure up to a standard • Fixed Measurement Scale – often 4 or 5 levels • Indicators – descriptive terms for differentiating among degrees of understanding, proficiency, or quality

14. Rubric Types • Holistic – provide an overall impression of the elements of quality and performance levels in a student’s work • Analytic – divides a student’s performance into two or more distinct dimensions (criteria) and judges each separately • Recommend use of analytic with a minimum of: • Criteria for understanding (HO) • Criteria for performance • Using Facet-Related Criteria (Figure 8.3, Pg 178)

15. Rubric Types • Generic – general criteria in given performance area • Can be developed before specific task defined • Example: General Problem Solving Rubric • Example: Generic Rubric for Understanding (HO) • Task-Specific – designed for use with particular assessment activity • Task dependent so cannot be used to evaluate related performance tasks

16. Rubric Types • Longitudinal Rubric – progression from naïve to sophisticated understanding • Increased understanding of complex functions and interrelatedness of concepts • Greater awareness of how discipline operates • Greater personal control over and flexibility with knowledge

17. Effective Rubrics • Relate specific task requirements to more general performance goals • Discriminate among different degrees of understanding or proficiency according to significant features • Do not combine independent criteria in one column of rubric • Use Student Anchors to (Anchor design, Pg 181) • Set standards based on student artifacts • Consistency in judgment of student work • Equip students to do more accurate and productive self-assessment

18. Effective Rubrics • All potential performances should fit somewhere in rubric • Rely on descriptive language (what quality looks like) not comparative or value language to make distinctions • Avoid making lowest score point sound bad, should describe novice or ineffective performance • Highlight judging performance’s impact as opposed to over rewarding just process or effort

19. Assessor Question 3: Valid and Reliable • Does the proposed evidence enable us to infer a student’s knowledge, skill, or understanding? • Validity: did we measure what we meant to measure • Does the evidence indicate understanding of the expressed outcomes? • Are the performances appropriate to the understanding sought? • Do not pay so much attention to correctness that degree of understanding is lost.

20. Validity • Two key validity questions for assessment tasks: • A student could do well on this performance task, but really not demonstrate the understanding you are after? • A student could perform poorly on this task, but still have significant understanding of the ideas and show them in other ways? • Activity: determining validity (Figure 8.5)

21. Validity • Two key validity questions for rubric: • Could the proposed criteria be met but the performer still not demonstrate deep understanding? • Could the proposed criteria not be met but the performer nonetheless still show understanding?

22. Reliability • Reliable assessments reveal a credible pattern, a clear trend • Need for multiple evidence (scrapbook) rather than just a snapshot of student performance • Have parallel assessments on the same concept using multiple assessment formats.

23. Dr. Robert Mayes University of Wyoming Science and Mathematics Teaching Center rmayes2@uwyo.edu