Implementing Effective Assessment in Science

1. Implementing Effective Assessment in Science Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board December 1, 2011 Damian Cooper (905) 823-6298 dcooper3@rogers.com

2. VIRTUE OF HOPE “Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.” - John Wooden

3. Session Outcomes • Understand how the purposes of assessment and grading are changing • Learn about 8 Big Ideas that should guide our assessment practices in science • Explore assessment strategies related to the Big Ideas in the context of science assessment and grading

4. Time to Talk About Assessment • Identify for yourself your #1 issue or concern about assessment and/or grading in science. • Share your concerns at your table. • Which of these are shared by the majority at your table?

5. Why, in 2011, are we re-examining our assessment beliefs and practices?

6. Mission: to sift and sort students Mean

7. 21st Century Mission: Excellence from ALL y x Proficiency 50%

8. Time to Talk About Assessment • What is the mission in my classroom? • How do my students know this?

10. The Problem with 50% • Grade 9 marks were a strong predictor of OSSD completion. Students with marks between 50% and 59% were less than half as likely to graduate as those with marks over 75%. Who Doesn’t Go To Post-Secondary Education? Final Report of Findings for Colleges Ontario Collaborative Research Project 2009, A.J.C. King W.K. Warren M.A. King J.E. Brook P.R. Kocher

11. Growing Success: 7 Principles To ensure that assessment, evaluation, and reporting are valid and reliable, and that they lead to the improvement of learning for all students, teachers use practices and procedures that: • are fair, transparent, and equitable for all students; • support all students, including those with special education needs, those who are learning the language of instruction (English or French), and those who are First Nation, Métis, or Inuit; • are carefully planned to relate to the curriculum expectations and learning goals and, as much as possible, to the interests, learning styles and preferences, needs, and experiences of all students; • are communicated clearly to students and parents at the beginning of the school year or course and at other appropriate points throughout the school year or course; • are ongoing, varied in nature, and administered over a period of time to provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate the full range of their learning; • provide ongoing descriptive feedback that is clear, specific, meaningful, and timely to support improved learning and achievement; • develop students’ self-assessment skills to enable them to assess their own learning, set specific goals, and plan next steps for their learning.

12. Research on Effective Assessment • The provision of effective feedback to students • The active involvement of students in their own learning • Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment • Recognition of the profound influence assessment has on motivation and self-esteem • The need for students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve Crooks, 1988; Black & Wiliam, 1998

13. The Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment • Assessment serves different purposes at different times: it may be used to find out what students already know and can do; it may be used to help students improve their learning; or it may be used to let students, and their parents, know how much they have learned within a prescribed period of time. • Assessment must be planned and purposeful. • Assessment must be balanced, including oral and performance as well as written tasks, and be flexible in order to improve learning for all students.

14. The Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment 4. Assessment and instruction are inseparable because effective assessment informs learning. 5. For assessment to be helpful to students, it must inform them in words, not numerical scores or letter grades, what they have done well, what they have done poorly, and what they need to do next in order to improve. 6. Assessment is a collaborative process that is most effective when it involves self, peer, and teacher assessment.

15. The Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment • 7. Performance standards are an essential component of effective assessment. • 8. Grading and reporting student achievement is a caring, sensitive process that requires teachers’ professional judgement.

16. The Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment • Assessment serves different purposes at different times: it may be used to find out what students already know and can do; it may be used to help students improve their learning; or it may be used to let students, and their parents, know how much they have learned within a prescribed period of time.

17. Assessment for Learning “Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting students’ learning. It thus differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence.” Black, Wiliam et al. 2004

18. Assessment as Learning “Assessment as learning is a metacognitive process in which students take ownership for improving their own learning. It involves students setting learning goals as well as monitoring, reflecting upon, and adjusting their own learning, often in response to feedback from the teacher and their peers.” Earl, 2003

19. Assessment of Learning “Assessment of learning includes those tasks that are designed to determine how much learning has occurred after a significant period of instruction. The data from such assessments is often used to determine report card grades.

20. Differing Assessment Purposes Assessment for and as Learning • Tryouts • Practices Assessment of Learning • Games • Playoffs

21. Time to “Talk About Instruction” • In your groups, apply the sports metaphor of “tryouts”, “practice”, and “game” to one of your own classes. • What issues and concerns arise? • Work with your colleagues to examine solutions to these issues and concerns.

22. The Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment • 2. Assessment must be planned and purposeful.

23. “Backward Design” Program Planning Stage 1: Identify targeted understandings and skills Stage 2: Determine appropriate assessment of those understandings and skills Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and instruction that make such understanding and skills possible Adapted from Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

24. Plan Backward from What’s Essential… Worth being familiar with Important to know and do Enduring understandings/ Essential skills Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

25. What is a “Big Idea/Enduring Understanding”? • Not a topic or concept e.g. “global warming” BUT • A generalization that • is broad in scope • is fundamental for a deep understanding of a given subject • usually identifies a relationship between 2 or more topics or concepts e.g. “Global warming may be explained in terms of naturally occurring events or the impact of human activity.”

26. Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings • have lasting value/transfer • are at the heart of the discipline • require “uncoverage” (abstract or often-misunderstood ideas) • are embedded in factual knowledge, skills and activities • may be expressed as statements or as “essential questions”

27. What is an “Essential Skill”? • A skill that is fundamental to student success in a given subject domain • May be demonstrated across a wide range of units within a year/course, throughout an entire year/course, as well as from year to year e.g. scientific inquiry

28. Clarity of Standards • Content Standards: - the ‘What?” i.e. the curriculum expectations • Performance Standards: - the “How well?” i.e. the Achievement Chart

29. Content Standards: Overall and Specific Expectations Overall Expectation Specific Expectations analyse some of the risks and benefits of human intervention (e.g., tree plantations; monoculture of livestock or agricultural crops; overharvesting of wild plants for medicinal purposes; using pesticides …. – etc. analyse the effects of various human activities on the diversity of living things;

30. Topics Compared to Student-Generated Questions INTU’s can be of particular use when considering STSE overall expectations Consider how these “topics” differ from the corresponding INTU questions:

31. Time to Talk About Assessment • Apply the INTU model to a unit of study in your own program: • Assume the role of a student in your class and, working with a colleague, pose INTU questions that you intend to explore during the unit • Then discuss with your colleagues the pros and cons of the INTU model

32. Tests Assignments Performance tasks (presentations, debates, seminars, etc.) Examination … Knowledge & Understanding Thinking and Investigation Communication Application, Organizing Assessment Data:traditional model or K.I.C.A? • Tests • Assignments • Performance tasks (presentations, debates, seminars, etc.) • Examination • …

37. Plan Backward from What’s Essential… Worth being familiar with Assessment Types Traditional quizzes & tests -paper/pencil Performance Tasks & Projects -open-ended -complex -authentic Oral Assessments -conferences -interviews -oral questionning Important to know and do Enduring understandings/ Essential skills Adapted from Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

38. The Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment • 3. Assessment must be balanced, including oral and performance as well as written tasks, and be flexible in order to improve learning for all students.

39. Ensuring Balance in My Assessment Toolkit

40. Triangulation of Data: Classroom Assessment Performance task Valid & Reliable Picture of Student Achievement Oral defense/ conference Written test data

41. Ensuring a Balance of “Write”, “Do”, and “Say”

42. You Need to Ensure a Balance of Assessment Types • Students: write, do or say • Teachers: mark, observe or listen • Authenticity is key – no collages!

43. Real World Mathematics

44. Grade 10 Vocational Mathematics: Solving Authentic Problems Using Surface Area and Volume • Students work on a group problem-solving task using manipulatives • Teacher leads whole class in discussion about what they know and what they are struggling with • Aquarium Task: students work on this task individually but are encouraged to consult their group members whenever necessary. The problem may be solved using either the formula for surface area or the formula for volume. Each method yields a different answer. • Measurement Assessment: students collaborate with group members to complete • Reflection: “When painting a room, both volume and surface area measurements are involved. Explain how.”

45. The Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment • Assessment and instruction are inseparable because effective assessment informs learning.

46. The “zone of proximal development”Lev Vygotsky • What do students currently know and what can students currently do? • Where do I want them to get to? • How big is the gap? • How do I ensure the gap is just right to challenge students in a way that maximizes learning?

47. Differentiating Instruction • To develop skills, simplify the content e.g. Simpler texts, less depth/breadth, etc. • To master content, present using a different mode suited to student’s strengths e.g. Graphics, audio, video, manipulatives, etc.

48. Purposeful Grouping of Students • Heterogeneous groups to provide support and to consolidate new learning • Homogeneous groups to deepen learning and to provide specific instruction to struggling learners • Flexible grouping to ensure all students work in their “zpd”

49. Differentiating Assessment Must be within student’s “ZPD” Keep rubric consistent for all students but adapt checklist to be within student’s “ZPD” May be tiered to be within student’s “ZPD” • Content standards: curriculum expectations • Performance standards: rubrics/checklists • Student products & performances

50. Partial Research Process Rubric