Assessment Professional Learning Module 2: Assessment OF Learning

1. Assessment Professional LearningModule 2: Assessment OF Learning

2. Assessment FOR learning Assessment AS Learning Assessment OF learning

3. Assessment FOR learning: occurs when teachers use inferences about student progress to inform their teaching. Assessment AS learning: occurs when students reflect on and monitor their progress to inform their future learning goals. AssessmentOF learning:occurs when teachers use evidence of student learning to make judgements on student achievement against goals and standards.

4. Assessment OF learning: occurs when teachers use evidence of student learning to make judgements on student achievement against goals and standards. It is usually formal, frequently occurring at the end of units of work where it sums up student achievement at a particular point in time. It is often organised around themes or major projects and judgements may be based on student performance on multi-domain assessment tasks. It has a summative use, showing how students are progressing against the standards, and a formative use, providing evidence to inform long term planning.

5. The Victorian Essential Learning Standards provide: • an opportunity to reconnect student learning with quality assessment practices and • a space where curriculum and assessment can be re-designed to enhance students’ deep understanding of big ideas.

6. Victorian Essential Learning Standards • Strands - 3 interwoven threads in the triple helix Discipline-based; Interdisciplinary; Physical, personal & social learning • A domain is a description of essential knowledge, skills and behaviours within a strand e.g. Thinking Processes • Domains are further divided into dimensions

7. Standards are written for dimensions at levels to: • Enable assessment of student achievement and progress • Reporting to parents to occur at levels for which there are standards • Ensure state-wide consistency • Intermediary progression points show steps in between the standard levels (e.g. 3.5 is expected about the end of grade 5).

8. “Teachers are designers of curriculum and learning experiences … [and] of assessments … As with other design professions, standards inform and shape our work.” (Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe 1998, p. 7)

9. A range of assessment task types • A wide variety of assessment tasks will be needed to assess students’ achievement against the standards. • Some of these should assess across domains and enable students to work at different levels. • These multi domain and multi level assessment taskspromote deep understanding. Their design is one focus point in this module.

10. Effective assessment OF learning tasks are • open-entry (students with various prior learning levels can begin them and they cater for different learning preferences and interests); • open-ended (no single right answer, multiple pathways and products are possible); • build students’ capabilities on the standards; • provide space for student ownership and decision-making. … and

11. Multi domain assessment tasks are • authentic (engage students in relevant, integrative and worthwhile problems that result in students producing, not reproducing, knowledge); • productive (have intellectual challenge, are connected to students’ worlds and other parts of the curriculum, respect differences among students); • require deep understanding of important ideas; and • are often performance or portfolio assessment.

12. Performance assessment • values work done over a longer time scale • can assess complex skills and allow students to show their achievement in a variety of ways • can be used to evaluate both the process and the product of an assessment task (Albert Oosterhof, 2003) • students can do something in front of an audience (e.g. solve, dance, act, talk, weigh …) make a product (e.g. device, model, webpage …) or both (e.g. create a piece of music in groups and play it for an audience).

13. Portfolio assessment • involves students in making decisions, selecting, and justifying the inclusion of samples of their work that show achievement of the Standards over a period of time (i.e. they are selections not collections) • usually requires students to meet guidelines or parameters set by, or negotiated with, the teacher: e.g. include: - at least 2 pieces that show improvement over time • at least 1 …. or 1 …

14. Multi domainassessment tasks are one method of assessment against the standards and can be designed in a 3-step process: 1. The standards across domains are used to develop the specific student learning outcomes for curriculum. 2. The assessment task is designed using the student learning outcomes from the curriculum planning. 3. The rubric that is used to judge the quality of students’ work is created.

15. Step 1: The standards across domains are used to develop the specific student learning outcomes for curriculum • A context is chosen (could be a theme, problem, big idea or local/international event). • Learning focus statements and the standards across a number of domains and levels are examined to identify those that “fit” the context. • Student learning outcomes for the overall task are developed. • Curriculum is planned (For further details on this step see the Curriculum Planning Modules).

16. Step 2: The assessment task is designed using the student learning outcomes from the curriculum planning. (see Activity2-4A) • Student learning outcomes (from step 1) are used to ask: “What would count as evidence of student learning?” (i.e. what would they have to do, say, write, make or show me?) • Then an idea for an assessment task is generated (sometimes quickly, at other times after brainstorming ideas). “How can we bring this together into a coherent whole?” • The task is “spelled out” in a flowchart: “What exactly will students have to do - and by when?” • A creative version to engage students is prepared.

17. Add your description of the assessment task here Add your instructions for the first step in here Add step 2 Think about …. Add step 3, etc Add what will actually be assessed in here …. “Spelling out” the task - a flowchart (Hildebrand, 2005)

18. Step 3: The rubric that is used to judge the quality of students’ work is created.(see Activity 2-5). • The student learning outcomes are re-visited, sharpened and clarified into criteria • They are entered down the left column in a rubric • Four columns of quality are entered (choose your own labels, see ideas in Activity 2-5) • Descriptors for each level of quality are entered across each row (start with highest quality work and work back from that). • The rubric is tested (other teachers, students, samples of work…) and refined.

19. What is a rubric? Derives from the latin word for red: ruber. “A rubric is a set of scoring guidelines for evaluating students’ work” (Grant Wiggins, 1998, p.154). The criteria and the rubric aim to “make an essentially subjective process as clear, consistent, and defensible as possible” (Judith Arter and Jay McTighe, 2001, p. 4) A rubric is a tool to assist both students and teachers make judgements about student achievement of the standards.

20. A rubric is • your promise to students about how you will judge the quality of their achievement of the standards • about the work, not about labelling the students • about the important criteria and substance of the task (not every tiny detail) • never perfect the first time you use it!

21. One row in a rubric for rubric design

22. Sample multi domain units of work with assessment tasks and rubrics are at:http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/support/sample_units.html Level 1 Tools Level 2 Travelling to school Level 3 Pulling Strings Level 4 In the News Out of this world Level 5 The Right Moves Level 6 Zines

23. Assessment FOR learning Assessment AS Learning Assessment OF learning Multi-domain assessment tasks are a useful tool for