Getting Ready for the Next Generation of Assessment

1. Getting Ready for the Next Generation of Assessment Assessment that Supports High-Quality Learning A Balanced Approach Day 2 Draft

2. Day 2 Goals • Improve classroom assessment literacy. • Understand that students are essential partners in the assessment process. • Identify assessment processes and actions. • Action Planning • Increase familiarity with next generation of assessment and available tools and resources. Draft

3. Objectives Participants will be able to: • Use the specifications for the Smarter Balanced Assessment to identify and develop high quality assessment items. • Discuss appropriate uses of assessment processes and techniques. • Make connections between the Common Core State Standards and the next generation of assessment. • Understand the importance of student involvement in the assessment and learning process. Draft

4. Principles of Assessment • Assessments are grounded in a thoughtful, standards-based curriculum and are managed as part of an integrated system of standards, curriculum, assessment, instruction, and development. • Assessments include evidence of student performance on challenging tasks that evaluate Common Core Standards of 21st century learning. • Teachers are integrally involved in the development and scoring of assessments…so they deeply understand and teach the standards. • Assessments are structured to continuously improve teaching and learning. • Assessment, reporting, and accountability systems provide useful information on multiple measures that is educative for all stakeholders. (Darling Hammond 2010) Draft

5. The Focus on Formative Draft

6. The “Black Box” Findings • Black and Wiliam’s research indicates that improving student learning through assessments depends upon five factors: • Providing feedback to students • Students’ active involvement in their own learning • Adjusting teaching to take account for results of assessment • Recognizing influence of assessment on students’ motivation and self-esteem • Ensuring students assess themselves and understand how to improve Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment,” KAPPAN, 1998. Draft

7. Attributes of Effective Formative Assessment • Learning Progressions • Learning Goals and Criteria for Success • Descriptive Feedback • Self- and Peer- Assessment • Collaboration Draft

8. Benchmark / Interim Assessments • Are usually a form of summative assessment • Can be used as an early warning of performance on later high stakes tests • Often constructed by external sources • Can cover some or all of a year’s curriculum • Provides broad domain or sub-domain coverage (minimally diagnostic) • Results raise programmatic questions that require further investigation (*formative for program – not current student) Draft

9. Classroom Assessment User: Teacher What is required of CT teachers? Common Core of Teaching - CCT Draft

10. Assessment in Support of Learning • Assessment quality must address the impact of the results on the learner and the learning. • Assessments must: • go beyond merely providing judgments about student performance to providing rich descriptions of student performance. • evolve from being isolated events to becoming events that happen in ongoing series to reveal patterns. • go beyond merely informing instructional decisions of teachers to informing decisions also made by students. Rick Stiggins, 2006 Draft

11. Standard, Progression, Target • Standard: What we want students to be able to know and do at the end of any given time– CT Standards (CCSS) • Learning Progression: “Descriptions of the successively more sophisticated ways of reasoning within a standards content domain.” (Smith et al, in press) • Learning Targets: These are statements of intended learning based on the standards. Learning targets are in kid friendly language and are specific to the lesson for the day and directly connected to assessment. Draft

12. Through the Eyes of the Kids Draft

13. Student Success • If all students are to succeed, they must have continuous access to credible evidence of their own academic success at mastering prescribed achievement standards. • This will reveal to the learner and the teacher, not only current achievement status, but improvements in student own capabilities—a powerful booster of confidence and motivation. Draft

14. Classroom Assessment User: StudentEDge(PDK), 2006 Draft

15. Evidence-Centered Design Interpretation Observation “Assessment Triangle” Cognition • Item development approach that defines claims about students and their learning • Evidence needed to support claims • Types of items and tasks needed to collect evidence

16. Introduction to Evidence-Centered DesignModern Approach to Designing Items and Tasks Traditional Item Development Evidence-Centered Design versus Claims Task Models Assessment Targets Evidence Keys to Evidence- Centered Design

17. Traditional Approach to Item Development 1.2.1 Apply reference skills to determine word meanings. 1.2.2 Apply vocabulary strategies in grade level text. 1.3.1 Understand and apply new vocabulary. 1.3.2 Understand and apply content/academic vocabulary. 1.4.1 Know common sight words appropriate to grade-level. 1.4.2 Apply fluency to enhance comprehension. 1.4.3 Apply different reading rates to match text. 2.1.1 Understand how to use questioning when reading. 2.1.2 Understand how to create mental imagery. 2.1.3 Understand and determine important or main ideas and important details in text. 2.1.4 Apply comprehension monitoring strategies before, during, and after reading: use prior knowledge/schema. 2.1.5 Apply comprehension monitoring strategies before, during, and after reading: predict and infer. 2.1.6 Apply comprehension monitoring strategies before, during, and after reading: monitor for meaning, create mental images. 2.1.7 Apply comprehension monitoring strategies during and after reading: summarize informational/expository text and literary/narrative text.

18. Evidence-Centered Design Evidence AssessmentTarget Item/Task Claim Content Standard

19. 6 Key Components of Evidence-Centered Design 1. Define the domain 2. Define claims to be made 3. Define assessment targets 4. Define evidence required 5. Develop Task Models 6. Develop Items or Performance Tasks

20. Content Specifications

21. Item Specifications

22. Using Evidence-Centered Designto Guide Item Design • What evidence is required given the assessment target I am measuring? • What are the key features that must be included in the item? • Will this item allow for the production of the evidenceI am seeking? • Is there anything about this item that may make it more difficult to collect evidence from some students?

23. Accessibility • Bias • Sensitivity • Sensory or Learning Disability • English Language Proficiency

24. Jimmy is the star on his football team. This season he scored ten touchdowns, kicked twenty extra points, and had eight field goals. What is the total number of points Jimmy has scored this season? What is this question asking me? What is a field goal? 104

25. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) “Universal Design does not imply ‘one size fits all’ but rather acknowledges the need for alternatives to suit many different people’s needs.” “… the essence of UDL is flexibility and the inclusion of alternatives to adapt to the myriad variations in learner needs, styles, and preferences.” – Rose and Meyer

26. 4 Challenges to Accessibility Review • Inaccurate receipt or interpretation of stimulus • Interacting with content • Inaccurate production or recording of response • Inaccurate interpretation of response

27. Bias • Bias occurs when content contained in an item or task creates an unfair disadvantage for a sub-group of students • Unfamiliar contexts or examples • Unusual names of people or places • References to local events or issues

28. Sensitivity • Sensitivity focuses on content that creates unease, provokes negative feelings, or challenges beliefs or values • Religions, religious practices, and religious figures • Political topics • Issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and culture

29. Examples of Accessibility Guidelines • Only use graphics when necessary • Avoid idioms, jargon, and terminology that is difficult to translate • Clearly label all graphics • Keep tables as simple as possible

30. Accessibility Considerations • Vision • Cognitive Load • Language • Motor Skills

31. Guidelines for Universally Designed Items and Tasks • Simplify vocabulary and sentence structure • Place problems in familiar contexts with familiar items and names • Use graphics only when necessary • Simplify graphics and tables • Avoid the use of color and maximize contrast • Avoid content that spans multiple pages or that contains multiple elements • Use highly interactive manipulations only when necessary • Identify terms and visuals that should not be altered

32. Six Item Types • Selected Response • Constructed Response • Extended Response • Performance Tasks • Technology-Enabled • Technology-Enhanced

33. Selected ResponseSingle Response – Multiple Choice Many experts will tell you that television is bad for you. Yet this is an exaggeration. Many television programs today are specifically geared towards improving physical fitness, making people smarter, or teaching them important things about the world. The days of limited programming with little interaction are gone. Public television and other stations have shows about science, history, and technical topics. Which sentence should be added to the paragraph to state the author’s main claim? A. Watching television makes a person healthy. B. Watching television can be a sign of intelligence. C. Television can be a positive influence on people. D. Television has more varied programs than ever before.

34. Selected ResponseMultiple Correct Options Which of the following statements is a property of a rectangle? Select all that apply. ☐ Contains three sides ☐ Contains four sides ☐ Contains eight sides ☐ Contains two sets of parallel lines ☐ Contains at least one interior angle that is acute ☐ Contains at least one interior angle that is obtuse ☐ All interior angles are right angles ☐ All sides have the same length ☐ All sides are of different length

35. Constructed Response The table below shows the number of students in each third-grade class at Lincoln School. There are 105 fourth-grade students at Lincoln School. How many more fourth-grade students than third-grade students are at Lincoln School? Show or explain how you found your answer.

36. Constructed ResponseExtended Response Pen 1: Length: (feet, square feet) Width: (feet, square feet) Area: (feet, square feet) Pen 2: Length: (feet, square feet) Width: (feet, square feet) Area: (feet, square feet) • Ms. McCrary wants to make a rabbit pen in a section of her lawn. Her plan for the rabbit pen includes the following: • It will be in the shape of a rectangle. • It will take 24 feet of fence material to make. • Each side will be longer than 1 foot. • The length and width will measure whole feet. Pen 3: Length: (feet, square feet) Width: (feet, square feet) Area: (feet, square feet) Part A Draw 3 different rectangles that can each represent Ms. McCrary’s rabbit pen. Be sure to use all 24 feet of fence material for each pen. Use the grid below. Click the places where you want the corners of your rectangle to be. Draw one rectangle at a time. If you make a mistake, click on your rectangle to delete it. Continue as many times as necessary. • Part B • Ms. McCrary wants her rabbit to have more than 60 square feet of ground area inside the pen. She finds that if she uses the side of her house as one of the sides of the rabbit pen, she can make the rabbit pen larger. • Draw another rectangular rabbit pen. • Use all 24 feet of fencing for 3 sides of the pen. • Use one side of the house for the other side of the pen. • Make sure the ground area inside the pen is greater than 60 square feet. • Use the grid below. Click the places where you want the corners of your rectangle to be. If you make a mistake, click on your rectangle to delete it. Use your keyboard to type the length and width of each rabbit pen you draw. Then type the area of each rabbit pen. Be sure to select the correct unit for each answer. [Students will input length, width, and area for each rabbit pen. Students will choose unit from drop down menu.] Use your keyboard to type the length and width of each rabbit pen you draw. Then type the area of each rabbit pen. Be sure to select the correct unit for each answer. Length: (feet, square feet) Width: (feet, square feet) Area: (feet, square feet)

37. Performance Task • Student Directions: • Part 1 (35 minutes) • Your assignment: • You will read a short story and article, watch a video, review research statistics, and then write an argumentative essay about your opinion on virtual schools. • Steps you will be following: • In order to plan and compose your essay, you will do all of the following: • Read a short story and article, watch a video, and review research statistics. • Answer three questions about thesources. • Plan and write your essay. • Directions for beginning: • You will now read the sources and watch a video. Take notes, because you may want to refer back to your notes while writing your essay. You can refer back to any of the sources as often as you like. • (short story) • (article 1) • (video) • (research statistics) • Questions • Use your remaining time to answer the questions below. Your answers to these questions will be scored. Also, they will help you think about the sources you’ve read and viewed, which should help you write your essay. You may click on the appropriate buttons to refer back to the sources when you think it would be helpful. You may also refer to your notes. Answer the questions in the spaces provided below them. • Analyze the different opinions expressed in “The Fun They Had” and the “Virtual High School Interview” video. Use details from the story and the video to support your answer. • What do the statistics from “Keeping Pace with K–12 Online Learning” suggest about the current trends of virtual schools in the U.S.? Use details from the charts to support your answer. • Explain how the information presented in the “Virtual High School Interview” video and the article “Virtual Schools Not for Everyone” differs from the information in the research statistics? Support your answers with details from the video and the articles. • Part 2 (85 minutes) • You will now have 85 minutes to review your notes and sources, and to plan, draft, and revise your essay. You may also refer to the answers you wrote to the questions in part 1, but you cannot change those answers. Now read your assignment and the information about how your essay will be scored, then begin your work. • Your Assignment • Your parents are considering having you attend a virtual high school. Write an argumentative essay explaining why you agree or disagree with this idea. Support your claim with evidence from what you have read and viewed.

38. Technology-Enabled Selected or Constructed Responses that include Multimedia Brianna is running for class president. She needs to give a speech to the 4th grade class. Listen to the draft of her speech and then answer the questions that follow. (Test-takers listen to an audio version of the following speech.) “Hi, My name is Brianna. I am running for class president, and I hope you will vote for me. You know many of my friends said they would. I am involved in many activities, including track and theater. If I am elected, I will hold several fundraisers so that all students in the 4th grade can go on a trip at the end of the year. Also, we can donate a portion of the money to a charity of our choice. If you want a class president who will work hard for you and listen to your needs, please vote for me next week!” This speech needs to be revised before the student presents it. Which sentence should be omitted to improve the speech. A. I am running for class president, and I hope you will vote for me. B. You know many of my friends said they would. C. If I am elected, I will hold several fundraisers so that all students in the 4th grade can go on a trip at the end of the year. D. If you want a class president who will work hard for you and listen to your needs, please vote for me next week!”

39. Technology-Enhanced Collects Evidence through a Non-Traditional Response Below is a poem, a sonnet, in which the speaker discusses her feelings about a relationship. Read the poem and answer the question that follows. Remember by Christina Rossetti Remember me when I am gone away,          Gone far away into the silent land;          When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day 5          You tell me of our future that you plann'd:          Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while          And afterwards remember, do not grieve: 10          For if the darkness and corruption leave          A vestige* of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile          Than that you should remember and be sad.   In the sonnet “Remember,” which two lines reveals a change in the speaker’s message to her subject?

40. Technology-Enhanced Collects Evidence through a Non-Traditional Response The value of y is proportional the the value of x. The constant of proportionality for this relationship is 1. On the grid below, graph this proportional relationship.

41. Proceed with Caution: Avoiding Past Mistakes in Quality Item Development Shelbi K. Cole, Ph.D. Director of mathematics for Smarter Balanced Assessment Gail Pagano CT State Department of education

42. Avoiding Practices of the Past • DON’T • Do ANYTHING until you have a clear purpose. • Write each item to align to a single standard. • Write each item to align with the content of ONLY the current grade level. • Write items that attend to the “middle of the class”. • Focus on ONLY the content standards. Draft

43. Avoiding Past Practices DON’T • Ignore the importance of performance tasks in achieving the overarching goal of college and career readiness. • Focus only on grades that will be assessed on the summative assessment. • Limit the development to items and tasks that look like those that will appear on a summative assessment. Draft

44. Building Capacity for High Quality Assessments • Build capacity for understanding the standards before doing anything else • Write items and tasks that focus on big ideas, interconnections, and critical 21st century student skills (problem posing & solving, research/inquiry, speaking & listening, use of complex informational texts) • Consider both vertical and horizontal learning progressions

45. Meeting Your Needs • Group work using tools from Smarter Balanced Assessment. Draft

46. Balanced Does Not Always Mean Equal • Balanced Assessment System---A balanced assessment system is a configuration of different assessment types and processes to fulfill purposes that align with expectations for learning and performance (Bazemore, Cippoletti, Howard, et al., 2008). It meets the needs of all users, but does not necessarily mean equal or of equal weight Draft

47. Teachers make the difference. Draft