Common Formative Assessment WSFCS PLC School Facilitators

1. Common Formative Assessment WSFCS PLC School Facilitators

2. PLC’s • Focus on Learning • Focus on Collaborating • Focus on Results

3. Focus On Learning • What do we want our students to know, understand and be able to do? - Unpacking Standards • How will we know when they have learned it? • Data Protocols and Common Assessments • How will we respond when some students have not learned and how will we respond when some students have learned? “Learning by Doing”. Dufour, Dufour, Eaker, Many. Solution Tree.2006

4. Develop Strategies Apply New Knowledge Implement Strategies Analyze the Impact All Teams Engage In An Ongoing Cycle of Continuous Improvement Data: Gather Evidence of Student Learning

5. All Teams Engage In An Ongoing Cycle of: Gathering evidence of current levels of student learning Developing strategies to build on strengths and address weaknesses in that learning

6. All Teams Engage In An Ongoing Cycle of: Implementing the strategies and ideas Analyzing the impact of the changes to discover what was effective and what was not Applying the new knowledge in the next cycle of continuous improvement

7. The Basic Picture-PLC • Analyzing evidence of student learning • Examining Data Protocols • Clarifying essential student learning • Unpacking Standards • Developing common formative assessments • Instructional practices that impact student learning • Examining student work • Standards in Practice

8. What are Common Formative Assessments? • Assessments for learning that are typically created collaboratively by a team of teachers responsible for the same grade level or course on identified “essential” learning.

9. Why Common Formative Assessments? • Gather accurate information about student achievement across a subject area and grade level while learning is in process. (Assessment for learning) • Use assessment process and results effectivelyto promote maximum student learning success • Identify and evaluate instructional strategies that are effective in helping students acquire the intended knowledge.

10. “The Case for Common Formative Assessments”(CFA’s) Article Breakout (by 6 groups) Read (2-3 minutes) Discuss(3 minutes) Share with group (1-2 minutes per group)

11. 1. Team developed common assessments are more efficient. • Teachers teaching the same course or grade level are responsible for ensuring all students acquire the same knowledge and skills. • Teachers working in isolation work hard. Creating assessments together is working smart.

12. 2. Team developed common assessments are more equitable. • Increases the likelihood that students will have access to the same essential knowledge and skills, will take assessments of the same rigor, and have their work judged according to the same criteria.

13. 3.Team developed CFA’s are more effective in monitoring and improving student learning • Proven to be one of the most powerful strategies available to educators for improving student achievement.

14. 4.Team-developed CFA’s can inform and improve the practice of both individual teachers and teams of teachers. • Teachers can benefit from the practice of others. “Teachers have to feel that there is some compelling reason for them to practice differently, with the best direct evidence being that students learn better.”

15. 5. Team-developed CFA’s can build the capacity of the team to achieve at higher levels. • The conversations surrounding the creation of common formative assessments are a powerful tool for professional development.

16. 6. Team-developed common formative assessments are essential to systematic interventions when students do not learn. • The conversations surrounding the results of common formative assessments are a powerful tool for targeting students who are not succeeding and for planning focused, common remediation strategies.

17. Assess all students with the same rigor, on the same targets Usually are Not graded. (formative) If teachers feel they must be used for grades then students should be given additional opportunities to demonstrate learning. Should identify students who need additional time and support for learning. Common Formative Assessments:

18. Common Formative Assessments: • Identify program area concerns where many students are struggling. • Can be used with pre/post assessment model. • Common Formative Assessments can be structured in ways other than multiple choice tests.

19. Common Formative Assessments are NOT: • Every assessment a teacher gives in the classroom. Could be a few items identified as “essential” by the group. • Mini benchmark or EOC’s/EOQ’s. • Designed to make teachers teach the same way, only the same content.

20. Learning Team Common Assessment Process Clear Purpose Clear Targets Sound Design Effective Communication Student Involvement

21. Clear Targets To separate the essential from the peripheral, carefully apply 2 criteria to each target: Doug Reeves • Endurance – are students expected to retain the skills/knowledge long after the test is completed? • Readiness for the Next Level of Learning – is this skill/knowledge preparing the student for success in the next grade/course?

22. Target Method Match SourceAdapted from: Stiggins, Richard J, Judith Arter, Jan Chappuis, and Stephen Chappuis. Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing it : Right-Uing It Well. Upper Saddle River, NJ: ETS. 2007. pg. 64.

23. Assessment Methods • Selected Response-Multiple choice, true/false, matching, short answer, fill-in • Extended Written Response (constructed response)-Requires student response that is at least several sentences in length. Scoring guide. • Performance assessment-Observation and judgment as to quality of performance or product. Requires scoring guide. • Personal communication-Requires interaction with students..can be time consuming.

24. Target-Method Match Chart

25. 4.01 – Collect, organize, analyze, and display data (including line graphs and bar graphs) to solve problems. Practice Target Method Match

26. Practice

27. Learning Team Common Assessment Process Clear Purpose Clear Targets Sound Design Effective Communication Student Involvement

28. Sound Design How do we design assessments that cover our targets and serve our purposes? • Selected response and short answer • Extended written response • Performance assessment • Personal communication

29. Exceptional Children Considerations • Use clear and concise language. • Use short, common names from various cultures. • Consider how words, charts, and other visuals are arranged. • Simplify sentence structures and avoid complex sentences.

30. English as a Second Language (ESL) Considerations • Avoid words or phrases that do not have a clear translation: "get along" • Avoid confusing student names: "April," "May," "June," "Paris," "Drew," etc. • Avoid multiple-meaning words: "fair" (okay, just, light, good weather, State Fair?), "make" (create, earn, brand of car, cause to happen, prepare)

31. Avoid Stereotypes • Items should avoid portraying anyone in a stereotypical manner. • Stereotyping includes activities, occupations, or emotions. • Positive stereotypes are still stereotypes. Items should not assume that all students come from the same socioeconomic or family background.

32. Select the item that does not support a stereotype OR • Megan brought $50 to the mall. She spent $41. How much money did Megan have left? • Megan’s book has 50 pages. She has read 41 pages. How many more pages does Megan have left to read?

33. Content Guidelines • Each Item should measure a single concept, principle, procedure, or competency. • The testing vocabulary must be consistent with the expected grade level of the students tested. • On-grade or 1 or 2 grades below • Maintain content specific words • Incorrect answer choices must be plausible choices. Use common student misconceptions for distractors.

34. Multiple Choice Item Writing

35. Item Writing Basic Terminology • Stem - the question sentence and any other information • Foils - the answer choices • Distractors - incorrect answer choices • Key - the correct answer

36. Which is the state bird of North Carolina? A Bluebird B Robin C Cardinal D Sparrow Stem Distractor Distractor Distractor Foils Key Distractor

37. Procedural Guidelines • Items must be written in question format (not fill-in-the-blank or completion). • What is being asked must be clear to the student.

38. Complete the following using your George Washington was __________.

39. See the difference… Who was the first President of the United States? A Abraham Lincoln B George Washington C John Adams D Andrew Jackson

40. Best Answer Format • one keyed response • distracters must be incorrect but plausible

41. In which situation would a person burn the most calories? A cleaning the bathroom B push-mowing the lawn C playing a game of chess D reading an adventure novel

42. Stem • Write the items so that the central idea and any common elements are included in the stem instead of the foils. • Place the question as close to the foils as possible.

43. Best Answer Use qualifying words in a stem when needed to emphasize the “best answer”. best, most likely, and most appropriate (bold and italicized)

44. How is a delta most likely formed? A irrigation B glacier movement C precipitation and condensation D deposition of sediment

45. General Foil Development Guidelines • Standard multiple choice items must contain four foils (A,B,C,D) [NCEXTEND2 items only have three foils: A, B, C]. • Answer choices should be ordered logically, such as ascending or descending value for numbers, the order in which the words appear in a chart, chronological order, etc.

46. Answer choices should be ordered logically, such as ascending or descending value for numbers. In what year did North Carolina name the emerald its state gemstone? A 1776 B 1973 C 1893 D 1941 True – False This item follows the general foil guidelines.

47. … • Distractors (the incorrect answers) should be plausible and reasonable but not correct • Foils should be independent and not overlapping. To the extent possible, foils for an item should be homogeneous in content and length.

48. How much does a Channel Bass, the state fish of North Carolina, usually weigh? A up to 75 lbs B less than 100 lbs C between 30 and 40 lbs D about the same as a Plott Hound How much does a Channel Bass usually weigh? A over 100 lbs B between 60 and 80 lbs C between 30 and 40 lbs D less than 20 lbs Foils should be independent and not overlapping.

49. All of the above, none of the above, I don’t know are not used as foils. Word the foils positively, avoid any negative phrasing. Avoid providing clues to the correct response. Avoid writing items in which phrases in the stem are repeated in the foils.

50. … Avoid specific determiners since they are so extreme that they are seldom the correct response. To the extent possible, specific determiners such as ALWAYS, NEVER, TOTALLY, and ABSOLUTELY should not be used when writing items.