Curriculum and Assessment Overview

1. Curriculum and Assessment Overview Educ 3100

2. What is Curriculum? • A course of study • What to teach - content • Everything that students learn from in the schools is part of the curriculum of the school. Alice: Oh, no, no. I was just wondering if you could help me find my way. Cheshire Cat: Well that depends on where you want to get to. Alice: Oh, it really doesn't matter, as long as... Cheshire Cat: Then it really doesn't matter which way you go.

3. Where is the Content of the Curriculum defined? • State core curriculum • How is it organized? • How do you know what to teach based on the core curriculum? • Who writes this stuff? • http://www.schools.utah.gov/curr/core/page2.htm • National standards • www.nctm.org • www.ncte.org • District standards • www.davis.k12.ut.us • Textbooks

4. Curriculum Concerns • Articulation • Vertical Curriculum -- How does the curriculum about a topic progress from grade to grade? • Spiral curriculum • Horizontal curriculum – How does the learning in different subjects relate in the same grade? • Alignment • Are the objectives, learning experiences, and assessments aligned with each other? Vocabulary: Scope and sequence - how much content and in what order

5. What Students Should Know and Be Able to Do The curriculum should be centered around

6. Types of Achievement Targets • Knowledge • What do you know? • Skills • What can you do with what you know? • Reasoning • Products • Dispositions • How do you feel about what you know and can do?

7. Assessment is the process of gathering evidence of student learning to inform instructional decisions What is Assessment? • Gather accurate information • Weave classroom assessment and its results into instruction in ways that benefit students

8. McTighe and O’Connor Article In your group, evaluate the practice given and describe how it contributes to improved learning for students. • Practice 1: Use summative assessments to frame meaningful performance goals. • Practice 2: Show criteria and models in advance • Practice 3: Assess before teaching • Practice 4: Offer appropriate choices • Practice 5: Provide feed back early and often • Practice 6: Encourage self-assessment and goal setting • Practice 7: Allow new evidence of achievement to replace old evidence

9. McTighe and O’Connor Article • Summative Assessments • Summarize what students have learned at the end of an instructional segment. • Diagnostic Assessments • Used to check for prior knowledge and skill level, identify misconceptions, profile learner interests, and reveal learning style preferences. • Formative Assessments • Ongoing assessments to provide feedback to teachers and students for the purpose of guiding teaching to improve learning.

10. Assessment for Student Success • Assessment is a student-involved activity during the learning to build competence and confidence. • Students understand where they are in relation to the ultimate vision of success. • Assessment is accurate and students are trained to make dependable judgments about the quality of their own work.

11. Therefore, Assessments must help us. . . • Accurately diagnose student needs. • Track and enhance student growth toward standards. • Motivate students to strive for academic excellence. • Verify student mastery of required standards.

12. Motivational Assessment or Not? Mr. Allen is having his students score each other's quizzes and then call out the scores so he can plot them on the board.  

13. Motivational Assessment or Not? Students in Miss Ela's class are discussing samples of anonymous science lab notes to decide which are great examples, which have some good points, and which don't tell the story of the lab at all well. They are gradually developing criteria for their own lab "learning logs."  

14. Motivational Assessment or Not? Catherine has just received a grade on a report she wrote for social studies. She got a "B." There were no other comments  

15. Motivational Assessment or Not? Pat's latest story is being read aloud for the class to critique. Like each of her classmates, she's been asked to take notes during this "peer assessment" so that she can revise her work later.  

16. Motivational Assessment or Not? Students in Henry's basic writing class are there because they have failed to meet the state's writing proficiency requirements. Henry tells students that the year will consist of teaching them to write. Competence at the end will be all that matters.

17. Motivational Assessment or Not? Jeremy's teacher tells him that his test scores have been so dismal so far that no matter what he does from then on he will fail the class.

18. Curriculum Library • What is in it? • Who is it for? • What value does it have for me? FIELD TRIP!