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Overview of Benchmark Assessment Training Session. Part of a training series developed to accompany the AIMSweb Reading Improvement System . Purpose is to provide the background information and data collection procedures necessary to organize and conduct School Benchmark Assessment.
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Overview of Benchmark Assessment Training Session • Part of a training series developed to accompany the AIMSweb Reading Improvement System. • Purpose is to provide the background information and data collection procedures necessary to organize and conduct School Benchmark Assessment. • Designed to accompany: • Administering and Scoring of Reading Curriculum-Based Measurement for Use in General Outcome Measurement Training Workbook. • Standard Reading Assessment Passages. • AIMSweb Web-based Software. • Training Video.
Big ideas of Benchmark Assessment • It’s about using General Outcome Measures (GOMs) for formative assessment/evaluation to: • Inform teaching AND • ensure accountability. • It’s different from, but related to, summative high-stakes testing/evaluation. • Doesn’t inform teaching. • Mostly for accountability/motivation.
Today’s High Stakes Evaluation World • USUALLY appropriate for summative evaluation. • NOT useful for decisions teachers need to make every day: • For whom do I need to individualize instruction or find more intensive instructional programs? • How do I organize my classrooms for instructional grouping? • How do I know that my teaching is “working” for each student so that I can make changes in instruction when necessary? • NOT very useful to administrators who must make decisions about allocating instructional resources, especially in a preventative or responsive model.
High Stakes Testing (continued) • Testing often takes place after years of instruction with long time frames between (annual). • Information about success and failure rates provided too late to make changes. • Primary use of high stakes tests then may be to “assign the blame” to students, their parents, teachers, or schools. • High cost in terms of: • Loss of instructional time. • Time for test taking. • Paying for the tests.
High Stakes Testing (continued) • In summary, typical High Stakes Testing is: • Too little! • Too late! • At too high a cost!
Formative Evaluation to Inform Teaching • Process of assessing student achievement during instruction to determine whether an instructional program is effective for individual students. • When students are progressing, continue using your instructional programs. • When tests show that students are not progressing, you can change your instructional programs in meaningful ways.
An Example: Weight • High standard: All children will have a healthy weight by the end of third grade. • High Stakes Assessment: Based on assessing body density. • Weighing each student. • Immersing each student in a large tub filled with water, and measuring the amount of water displaced. • Divide weight by displacement and get density, a very accurate picture of physical status.
Weight (continued) • After 8-9 YEARS of growth, we would: • Place students who are “unhealthy” in remedial programs. • Create new health programs. • Blame the effectiveness of old health programs. • Blame the students (or their families) for over - or under - eating.
Formative Evaluation: Same Standard - Different Assessment High Standard: All children will have a healthy weight by the end of third grade. Benchmark Assessment: Monitor weight directly, frequently, and continuously. From birth, measure weight frequently and continuously with a simple, albeit less precise, general outcome measure, weight in pounds, using a scale.
At ANY Point in Development • The child could be weighed and a decision made about healthy weight. • This process is: • Efficient. • Sufficiently accurate. • Proactive. • We would know their health status before they reached the high stakes point!
Big Ideas of Benchmark Assessment Benchmarking allows us to add systematic Formative Evaluation to current practice. • For Teachers (and Students) • Early Identification of At Risk Students • Instructional Planning • Progress Monitoring • For Parents • Opportunities for Communication/Involvement • Accountability • For Administrators • Resource Allocation/Planning and Support • Accountability
Benchmark Testing: Useful for Communicating with Parents Designed for collaboration and communication with parents. Student achievement is enhanced by the teacher-parent communication about achievement growth on a continuous basis. A Parent Report is produced for each Benchmark Testing.
Managing and Completing Benchmark Assessment • Setting It All Up • When to Test • What to Test and Score • Who Is Tested • Who Does the Testing • How Students are Tested
Setting It All Up: Essentials Checklist (p. 30)
Step 1: Who is in Charge? • Identifying a Benchmark Coordinator… • Could be, but need not be, the School Principal • Even if District-wide, Should Also Be Within-the-Building
How do we prepare Parents? • A letter sent directly home? • An article in the the school newsletter describing Benchmark Testing? • Notes: • Be Proactive! • Avoid Confusion with “Norming!”
Preparing Staff • Have Professional Articles Available • Use Sample Products (Access to Internet and Video) • Layout Timelines, Sources of Support and Training
When Will We Test? • AIMSweb Benchmark Assessment occurs three times each school year within these time frames. • Fall 9/1 to 10/15 • Winter 1/1 to 2/1 • Spring 5/1 to 6/1 • Testing should be completed in no more than 2 weeks.
Rational for Benchmark Testing Schedule Fall: An initial beginning of the year student and teacher adjustment period. Not too soon, and not too late. Winter: An opportunity for a “mid-course correction.” Spring: Summative evaluation of progress and planning for Summer and next year.
What to Test? Best to Start with Reading and Early Literacy
How and What Will We Test? Students are tested individually using the procedures taught in the AIMSweb Administration and Scoring of R-CBM Workbook. Students read 3 AIMSweb Benchmark Reading Assessment Passages, carefully developed to represent graded narrative material of about equal difficulty. Students read 3 passages so that the highest score and the lowest score are deleted, leaving the median. 5 minutes should be allocated per student.
Who Will We Test? ALL students on a general education teacher’s class roster excluding those students who do not have the physical skills to participate meaningfully.
Who Will Do The Testing? • It is possible, but not necessary, for general education teachers alone to collect all the Benchmark information. • Other Persons.. • Teacher aides • Title I teachers and aides • Special education teachers and aides • Principals and other administrators • School psychologists, counselors, speech and language pathologists • Student teachers and other pre-service undergraduate and graduate trainees • Community members
Who Will Do The Testing? The Key Variable is Training Plan a Session for All that Addresses Professional Ethics Test Security Confidentiality/Sensitivity Train with Rigor, Using the Administration and Scoring Workbook Check Out All Personnel with the AIRS
How to test Identify Where Identify the People Plan the Schedule
Where will the testing take place? • Possible Locations: • Station(s) within the Classrooms • Station(s) in the Halls • Stations in Media Center • Stations in Lunchroom • Stations in Gym Minimize “Travel Time” and Distractions
After Testing • Make Sure There is a Data Entry Plan and Responsibilities--Don’t Wait Until Afterward • Make Sure that a “Done Time” is Specified and Adhered To • Schedule a Staff Debriefing • To Demonstrate How to Interpret and Share Information • Do Debrief What Worked and Problem-Solve Solutions
Summary Benchmark Testing, using simple general outcome measures, provides an ONGOING data base to teachers, administrators, and parents for making decisions about the growth and development of basic skills. Professionally managed by the professional staff, in a process that communicates that WE are in charge of student learning.
