Assessment

1. Assessment PD Cadre Workshop June 26, 2014

2. “Not everything that counts can be counted. And not everything that can be counted, counts.” - Albert Einstein

3. Plan For The Day • Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment • What is Assessment? • Instructional Design Model (UBD) • Target-Method Match • Feedback • Data Conversations • Rubrics • Rigor and Relevance

4. Resources • Information you may already know • Resources to support you in your PD roles • WikiSpace: http://harlemassessment.wikispaces.com/ • Take a minute now to “join”. Then review the site.

5. Reminder!! Change

6. Harlem Learning Process

7. Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Curriculum Curriculum Guides: Skills or content that will be taught Curriculum Aligned with Standards and State Accountability Assessments Assessment Instruction Based on New Illinois State Learning Standards Student Achievement • Balanced System • Of and For learning • Informs instructional practice Delivery of Curriculum Content Engaged Instructional Strategies Time on Task Data-Informed Decision Making Process

8. What Role Does Assessment Play in the Instructional Process?

9. What distinctions do you make between "testing" and "assessment"? • Turn and Talk

10. Why is it important that teachers consider assessment before they begin planning lessons or projects? • Turn and Talk

11. Assessment inspire us to ask these hard questions: • “Are we teaching what we think we are teaching?” • “Are students learning what they are supposed to be learning?” • “Is there a way to teach the subject better, thereby promoting better learning?”

12. When assessment works best, it does the following: Provides diagnostic feedback • What is the student's knowledge base? • What is the student's performance base? • What are the student's needs? • What has to be taught?

13. When assessment works best, it does the following: Helps educators set standards • What performance demonstrates understanding? • What performance demonstrates knowledge? • What performance demonstrates mastery?

14. When assessment works best, it does the following: Evaluates progress • How is the student doing? • What teaching methods or approaches are most effective? • What changes or modifications to a lesson are needed to help the student?

15. When assessment works best, it does the following: Relates to a student's progress • What has the student learned? • Can the student talk about the new knowledge? • Can the student demonstrate and use the new skills in other projects?

16. When assessment works best, it does the following: • Motivates performanceFor student self-evaluation: • Now that I'm in charge of my learning, how am I doing? • Now that I know how I'm doing, how can I do better? • What else would I like to learn? For teacher self-evaluation: • What is working for the students? • What can I do to help the students more? • In what direction should we go next?

17. Think about your own assessment practice. • Turn and Talk • How do you approach assessment in your classroom?

19. Measuring Mastery

21. Comprehensive Balanced Assessment A comprehensive balanced assessment system includes: • State (Accountability) Assessments • Interim/Benchmark Assessments • Classroom Assessments • Formative • Summative Each should be aligned to standards

22. State Assessments According to The US Department of Education, The purpose of state assessments required under No Child Left Behind is to provide an independent insight into each child's progress, as well as each school's. This information is essential for parents, schools, districts and states in their efforts to ensure that no child--regardless of race, ethnic group, gender or family income--is trapped in a consistently low-performing school.

23. Benchmark/Interim Assessments Benchmark assessments are assessments that are administered periodically throughout the school year, at specified times during a curriculum sequence, to evaluate students’ knowledge and skills relative to an explicit set of longer-term learning goals (generally a semester or school year).

24. In the context of an RTI prevention model, universal screening is the first step in identifying the students who are at risk for learning difficulties. Universal screening is typically conducted three times per school year, in the fall, winter, and spring. Universal screening measures consist of brief assessments focused on target skills (e.g., phonological awareness) that are highly predictive of future outcomes . • Assists in identifying grade-wide deficits in curriculum and instruction. • Provides a baseline for grade-wide goal setting. • Identifies students at risk of academic or behavioral difficulties. • Can generate local norms and benchmarks. • Screening data, while brief, is authentic, timely, and your first indicator of difficulty with your school, class, or student Universal Screener

25. Progress Monitor • Provide on-going indication of instructional effectiveness • Inform decisions regarding changes in instructional programs/interventions • Provide data for level of responsiveness to intervention • A General Outcome Measure (GOM), application of skills learned

26. Summative Assessment Summative assessments are a measure of achievement to provide evidence of student competence or program effectiveness. Summative assessments are found at the classroom, district and state level and can be graded and used in accountability systems. The information gathered from summative assessments is evaluative and is used to categorize students so performance among students can be compared.

27. Formative Assessment • A process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to help students improve their achievement of intended instructional outcomes. • Formative assessment is found at the classroom level and happens minute-to-minute or in short cycles. • Formative assessment is not graded or used in accountability systems. • The feedback involved in formative assessment is descriptive in nature so that students know what they need to do next to improve learning.

29. The Backwards Design Model • Stage 1: Identify Desired Results • Linked to Content Standards • Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence • Ongoing Assessment • Performance Tasks • Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction • Sequence of experiences • Scaffolded • Differentiated

30. Before Instruction • Determine what you want students to know and be able to do • Essential learning, power standards/priority standards • Identify learning progressions • What if students don’t know foundational or “pre-requisite” skills • Review current data to determine students’ current knowledge • Collect additional data as needed • Group students • Develop differentiated classroom instruction based on data • Work with Special Education Teachers and Consultants to determine how instruction will be supported for students with IEPs

31. What formative assessments (not just tests) will I use to determine if students are learning? How will I modify instruction based on that data? Examples of formative assessment (Checking for Understanding) http://wvde.state.wv.us/teach21/ExamplesofFormativeAssessment.html Observations Questioning Discussion Exit/Admit Slips Learning/Response Logs Graphic Organizers Peer/Self Assessments Practice Presentations Visual Representations Kinesthetic Assessments Individual Whiteboards Laundry Day Four Corners Constructive Quizzes Think Pair Share Appointment Clock As I See It During Instruction

32. Explore • Summative example links • Share your suggestions/recommendations

33. Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment Accurate Assessment Clear Targets Assess What? What are the learning targets? Are they clear? Are they good? Clear Purposes Why Assess? What’s the purpose? Who will use results? Good Design Assess How? What method? Sampled how? Avoid bias how? Effectively Used Sound Communication Communicate How? How manage information? How report? Student Involvement Students are users, too. Students need to understand learning targets, too. Students can participate in the assessment process, too. Students can track progress and communicate, too.

34. Target-Method Match Selecting The Right Type of Assessment

35. Students who could identify their learning scored 27 percentile points higher than those who could not. ~Marzano, 2005 Students can hit any target they can see that holds still for them. Clear Targets: Benefits to Students

36. A Math Example

37. Master content knowledge Use knowledge to reason and solve problems Demonstrate performance skills Create quality products Kinds of Targets

38. Learning Targets with Associated Verbs

39. Identify important or difficult learning goal. Identify word(s) needing clarification. Define the word(s). Rewrite the definition as an “I can” statement, in terms that students will understand. Try it out and refine as needed. Have students try this process. Converting Learning Targets to Student-Friendly Language

40. Word to be defined: PREDICTION A statement saying something will happen in the future Student-friendly language: I can make predictions. This means I can use information from what I read to guess at what will happen next. Student-Friendly Language

41. 4 types Learning Targets • Knowledge • Reasoning • Performance/Skill • Product

42. Why It’s Important to Determine Target Type • Know if the assessment adequately covers what we taught • Correctly identify what students know and don’t know • Keep track of student learning target by target or standard by standard • Helps determine HOW to assess (method)

43. Target -Method Match: What is it? • A way to design assessments that cover our targets • Answers“ASSESS HOW?”

44. Types of Assessment Methods • Selected response & short answer • Extended written response • Performance assessment • Personal communication

45. Selected Response (SR) • Students select correct or best response from a list provided • Students’ scores are figured as the number or proportion of questions answered correctly • Formats include: • Multiple choice • True/false • Matching • Short answer • Fill-in questions

46. Extended Written Response (EWR) • Requires students to construct a written answer in response to a question or task (not select one from a list) • Extended = several sentences in length • Examples: • Compare pieces of literature • Solve a math problem, show & explain work • Interpret music, scientific info. or polling data • Analyze artwork • Describe in detail an economics process

47. Extended Written Response • Correctness judged by: • Giving points for specific info. present OR • Use of a rubric • Scores can be: • Percentage of points attained OR • Rubric scores

48. Performance Assessment (PA) • Based on observation & judgment • Rubric • Judgment made on quality • Examples: • Playing instrument; speaking in foreign language; working in a group (the doing/process is important) • Creating products like a lab report, term paper, work of art (quality of product is important)

49. Performance Assessment • 2 parts: • Performance task or exercise • Scoring guide/Rubric • Scoring guide: • Can award points for specific features of performance or product • Can take form of rubric: levels of quality described • Scores could be number or percent of points earned or a rubric score

50. Personal Communication (PC) • Find out what students have learned through interacting with them • Often an informal assessment, but if clear & accurate info. is gathered, can be used for feedback to students, self-reflection for students, goal setting • Examples: • Oral examinations • Interviewing students in conferences • Looking at & responding to students’ comments in journals and logs