Standards Based Assessment Systems

1. Standards Based Assessment Systems Dana Anderson ESD 113 Danderson@esd113.k12.wa.us

2. Purpose of Today • Engage in a dialog regarding grading practices • Explore and reflect upon aspects of a Standards Based Assessment System • Begin to build consensus about grading • Chart a course for next steps

3. Topical Agenda • Why change grading? • What are grades for? • What makes a grade? • What are standards based grades? • How do you manage it? • What is a standards based report card? • What are our next steps?

4. Concerns Based Adoption Model

5. CBAM- Standards Based Report Cards • Where are you with regard to this change? • Where do you think the staff is? • Discuss and Share Out

6. A Brief History of Time… • Prior to mid 1700’s students did not get grades, they received written narrative feedback • 1780- Yale University quantified feedback on a 4 point scale (4.0 system) • 1877- Harvard created “Divisions” • Division 1: 90 to 100 • Division 2: 75 to 90 • Division 3: 60 to 74 • Division 4: 50 to 59 • Division 5: 40 to 49 • Division 6: below 40

7. Why Change the Current Grading System? • We Consider Factors Other Than Academic Achievement when Assigning Grades • We Weight Assessments Differently • We Misrepresent Single Scores on Classroom Assessments • We compare students against each other instead of what they need to learn (standards) (Source: Transforming Classroom Grading by Robert Marzano)

8. Factors Other Than Academic Achievement Student 1 Same Teacher Student 2 Same Course Same Homework Scores Same Tests Scores Same Quiz Scores Same Project Scores Same Presentation Scores Grade “A” Grade “B-”

9. Factors Other Than Academic Achievement

10. Teachers Weight Assessments Differently Team Teaching Same Class Teacher 1 Teacher 2 Same Students Same Homework Scores Same Quiz Scores Same Test Scores Grading Based on Achievement Factors (No effort, behavior, etc) Exactly the same Assessment Information to Construct Grades Agreement 57.7% of the Time

11. Misrepresentation of Single Scores Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 All 3 students do the same class assignment Assignment has two parts Part I – Multiplication Part II – Deductive Reasoning, Problem solving, Communicating Mathematically Each part is worth 10 points

12. Mathematics Assignment • Part 1 Directions: Fill in the answer for each multiplication problem. • 7 x 6 = 2. 12 x 11 = • 9 x 7 = 4. 7 x 32 = • 6 x 6 = 6. 13 x 5 = • 42 x 7 = 8. 5 x 5 = • 9. 14 x 3 = 10. 6 x 9 = Part II Directions: Write your answer and show all your work on a separate piece of paper. Treena won a seven-day scholarship worth $1,000 to the Pro Shot Basketball Camp. Round-trip travel expenses to the camp are $335 by air or $125 by train. At the camp she must choose between a week of individual instruction at $60 per day or a week of group instruction at $40 per day. Treena’s food and other expenses are fixed at $45 per day. If she does not plan to spend any money other than the scholarship, what are all the choices of travel and instruction plans that she could afford to make? Explain your reasoning.

13. Misinterpretation of Single Scores Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 All 3 students do the same class assignment All 3 students receive the same percent score All 3 students receive the same grade All 3 students have demonstrated different understandings

14. Students Computation Problem Solving Score Karen 10 4 14 Mike 4 10 14 Sue 7 7 14 Misrepresentation of Single Score – Single Score represents a wide array of Skills and Abilities

15. Think Time • What do you think about the four problems with grading? • Are there other issues related to grading practices that concern you?

16. At What Price? • Have you ever received a grade that was a flagrantly inaccurate representation of your achievement in a course of study? • How many of you believe that grades you received in school were not an accurate representation of your achievement?

17. What Are Grades For? • On at least 3 Post-it Notes write what you think is the purpose of grades. • Place them on butcher paper at your table and discuss your thoughts. • Group purpose statements into themes.

18. In the assessment literature… • Administrative Purposes • Retention • Placement • College entrance • Feedback about achievement • Guidance • Courses of study • Career planning • Instructional Planning • Motivation What is the most important purpose?

19. How do you determine grades? • Not digging too deeply yet, but what method do you use to determine student grades? • Percentage of points (“Modified” Norm Referenced) • Attainment of learning goals (Criterion Referenced) • Knowledge Gain (Individual Referenced)

20. A tale of two scenarios Scenario #2: You teach English to a class of 8th graders with varying ability levels. During this grading period, the student’s grades are based on quizzes, tests and homework assignments that involve working out exercises. Kelly has not turned in any homework despite your frequent reminders. Her grade on quizzes have ranged from 65 to 75%, and she received a D on each of the tests. In this situation, you would… Scenario #1: In your 7th grade social studies class, report card grades were based on quizzes, tests and an out-of-class project, which counted as 25% of the grade. Terry obtained an average of an A on his quizzes and tests, but has not turned in his project despite frequent reminders. In this situation, you would… Brookhart, 1993)

21. Grades are often based upon • Academic Achievement • Effort • Behavior • Attendance

22. Academic Achievement • Subject-Specific Content • Information-Based Topics (Standards) • Process or Skill-Based Topics (Standards) • Thinking and Reasoning Skills • Information Processing Skills (Comparing, Analyzing, Classifying) • Logic (Argumentation, Induction, Deduction) • Knowledge Utilization (Inquiry, Investigation, Problem Solving, Decision Making) • Communication Skills • Writing • Speaking • Other Media

23. Non-Academic Achievement • Effort • Participation • Work Completion • Behavior • Following Rules • Teamwork • Attendance • Tardiness • Absenteeism

24. Feedback Time… • What would you like to see included on your report cards? • Academic Achievement • Non-Academic Achievement • Discuss at your tables and share out.

25. Cycle of Assessment Reporting Standards Standards Reporting Rubrics & Anchors Feedback Self-Assessment Reflection Against Rubrics Learning Opportunities Assessment System Student Teacher

26. How do you track achievement? • Most of us assign points to assignments, quizzes and tests. • Grades are based on points earned ÷ points possible. • What might be wrong with this practice?

27. What’s Wrong With Points?

28. So where did points come from? • 1917- US Army develops Alpha test, multiple choice and true false to determine training placement of recruits. (Evolves into ASVAB) • 1941- College Entrance Examination Board commissions SAT, multiple choice format • 1942- Essay portion is dropped from SAT • 1950s- Textbook publishers begin to adopt correct/incorrect model of assessment • Test results begin to be reported as percentages, and single scores become indications of general achievement in content areas. • Items that could not be scored as correct or incorrect are given points (essay, oral presentations, etc.)

29. So how can it be managed? • Use a Standards Based Grade Book • Assess students topically (standard) • Use rubrics to score student work • Report results by topic (standard)

30. Standards Based Grade Books • Moving from Columns to Rows and from Points to Rubrics • Look at sample grade book • How is it different from a traditional grade book? • Why is it organized by student rather than class? • How are differently weighted assignments handled in this model of tracking progress?

31. Rubrics • It is assumed that rubrics are well understood by staff, but… • Rubrics can be holistic, item specific, qualitative, and/or quantitative • Rubrics can be designed to assess Information-Based as well as Skill/Process-Based Tasks • Rubrics should have between 3 to 5 levels of quality (odd numbered scales tend to regress toward the middle when used for scoring) • Appropriate use of rubrics has been shown to increase student achievement • Rubric scores have been shown to be more accurate than grades when correlated with standardized tests

32. Moving from the abstract to the concrete • A quiz has been designed to assess student’s knowledge and skill in the topics of Precipitation and Reading Tables. • Take a moment to take the quiz yourself. • Which items are assessing the two topics? • Now read the rubrics provided and determine (as a table) the rubric scores for students A and B in both topics.

33. Still want points? • Use the table provided to determine the point value and score you would give to each student’s response and determine the overall percentage score for students A and B. • How do your results compare with the rubric scores? • What does this mean in terms of assessing learning?

34. Think Time • How does this example illustrate the differences between points and rubrics? • What would you need in order to systematically assess students in the manner we’ve been discussing?

35. Okay, but what about time? • Recording multiple standard scores takes more time than single percentage scores. • Average: 7 minutes longer for a class of 30 (3 standards) • Scoring student work using rubrics takes less time than assigning points and calculating percentages • Average: 14 minutes less for a class of 30

36. Assigning Final Grades • Check for understanding: • Pretend you “buy” everything that we have been talking about so far, why would averaging be a less than desirable method for determining end of term grades? • What is “lost” when grades are reported as A, B, C, or D?

37. True Score Based on Averaging Rubric Score Avg Score = 1.64 True Score = 1.5 Assessments Displayed Chronologically

38. One pesky problem… • Averaging makes up for over or under scoring students’ work (when compared to “true” score. • However, the average over time method assumes that the true score, or learning is constant over time. • This is not supported by research on learners and learning. • The “Power Law of Learning” indicates that true scores increase over time as a result of multiple opportunities to practice new skills or apply new knowledge.

39. Power Law of Learning

40. True Score Based on the Power Law Avg Score = 1.64 True Score = 1.5

41. Final Standard Scores • Are best determined using the Power Law of learning. • Can be closely estimated using .25 point intervals over time. • Should be based upon multiple small assessments evenly spaced over time.

42. Now you try…What Final Power Score would you assign? 3.00 2.71 3.00

43. Think Time • What are some “issues” with regard to final grading? • How could technology make this process simpler?

44. Assessment Items • There are 7 types of assessment items that are used in classrooms to assess student achievement. • The role of the classroom teacher is to purposefully select the appropriate item type and to construct assessments that determine topic proficiency.

46. Jigsaw reading and cooperative group teaching activity. You need to get into groups of 5. Each group member needs a set of the reading materials (one color per individual) Read your section and share: What is your item type appropriately used to assess? How is it best scored? What are some key points or guidelines for using your item type? Your task if you choose to accept it Mr. and Mrs. Phelps…

47. Report Cards (Finally) • Look at the sample report cards provided and discuss: • What do you like from each sample? • What would you change? • What would you like your report cards to look like? • Share out…

48. Next Steps • Determine leadership and organizational structure of building report card team • Gather survey and perception information to determine where folks are on the change continuum. • Determine what you will include in grades • Determine weights you will apply to your grading categories • Create draft report cards • Craft topic assessments • Select a management system • At each step • Communication plans • Professional development and staff support