Assessment can become effective instruction

1. Assessment can become effective instruction Using Assessment for Learning: Strategies that Improve Student Achievement

2. Our Partners • Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium • Alberta Assessment Consortium AAC Alberta Assessment Consortium

3. The Goals of the Workshop • recognize the differences between assessment for learning (formative assessment) and assessment oflearning (summative assessment); • learn how assessment forlearning can become instruction; • consider how involving students in the assessment process contributes to their achievement, and • begin to develop a personal and school plan for implementation.

4. Assessment for Learning

5. Pluses, Minuses and Inquiry Activity Assessment is a critical element of the learning process. • Pluses—benefits, advantages, positives • Minuses—drawbacks, barriers, disadvantages, negatives • Inquiry/Insights—questions, interesting ideas and implications

6. Assessment Metaphors/Similes • Assessment is… (or Assessment is like…)

7. Yes/No SurveyMy survey question is __________________

8. Guiding Question • How can assessment become effective instruction?

9. How Do I Currently Measure Student Achievement? • Think about the 5 most common ways you personally use to measure student achievement? • Without discussion, write one on each Post-it Note. • When everyone is finished, take turns grouping the Post-it Notes on the group’s chart paper. • Using consensus, label each category

10. In assessment of learning, students have little or no input in determining assessment criteria and may not even be aware of the criteria that the teacher has established. Research tells us that student achievement is enhanced when they are fully involved in a process with established evaluation criteria. Davies, 2002, Black and Wiliam, 2001, Wolfe, 2001.

11. Clear Criteria

12. Assessment FOR Learning Terminology Card Sort Instructions • Deal out the yellow definition cards. • Place the blue term cards face up on the table. • Take turns placing the definition cards on each of the term cards. • Finalize your group’s choices using a consensus.

13. Key—Terminology Card Sort • Descriptive Feedback • part of an ongoing hopeful conversation about learning that relates directly to the expected learning outcomes • Learning Outcome • what we expect students to learn • Criteria • what would be accepted as evidence that a student has achieved the learning outcome(s) • Assessment • collecting information on student achievement and performance to improve student learning • Evaluation • judgment regarding the quality or worth of a response • Assessment for Learning • using information collected to communicate with students about their progress toward a clearly specified learning destination (formative assessment) • Assessment of Learning • summarizing information collected about learning in order to share that information with those outside classrooms (summative assessment)

14. Key—Terminology Matching

15. Would you label this matching activity as assessment or instruction? • Why?

16. Assessment OF LearningAssessment FOR Learning

17. One Student’s Journey—Reflections on Grade 6 Writing samples • What factors might account for this student’s remarkable progress in a 10-month period? • What learning experiences might she have had? • Why was she able to reflect on her work so effectively? • What does this student know about writing and about herself as a writer?

18. What does the research say about assessment?

19. Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam Posed Three Questions • Does improving formative assessment raise standards? • Is there room for improvement in formative assessment practice(s)? • Are there ways to improve formative assessment practice(s)? Refocus, p 11–13

20. Black and William’s research indicates that improving learning through assessment depends on five key factors: • The provision of effective feedback; • The active involvement of students in their own learning; • Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessments; • A recognition of the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem of students, both of which are crucial influences on learning; • The need for students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve. Refocus, p 11–13

21. Effective Questioning

22. Pat Wolfe, a Leader in Brain Research Found That: • Emotion plays a significant role in a student’s ability to learn. • Emotionally negative environments/ experiences at school decrease student learning. • Emotionally meaningful experiences help make information relevant. Refocus, p 15

23. Pat Wolfe, a Leader in Brain Research Found That: (cont`d) • Memory is enhanced when students • are fully engaged in the learning process; • reflect on information being taught; • relate to something they already know; • form meaningful mental associations. • Think about your own learning experiences in relation to Wolfe`s research. Does it resonate? • Refocus, p 15

24. Research on Assessment FOR Learning—Data Card Analysis Instructions • Deal out the research cards among the group members • Read your card(s) and make a personal connection to the information—anecdote, story, fact • Take turns reading the research data and sharing personal connections

25. Key Factors in Assessment FOR Learning • Provides effective feedback for students; • Actively involves students in their own learning; • Helps teachers adjust practices to take account of the results of assessment; • Recognizes the profound influence of assessment on motivation and self-esteem; • Acknowledges the need for students to be able to assess their work and understand how to improve. Refocus, p 16

26. Characteristics of Effective Assessment FOR Learning Assessment • is an essential part of teaching and learning; • Involves sharing goals (learner outcomes) with students; • Aims to help students know and recognize the criteria to be achieved; • Involves students in self-reflection; • provides feedback that helps students recognize the next steps and how to take them; • is underpinned by the belief that every student can improve; and • involves both teacher and student reviewing and reflecting on assessment data. Refocus, p 15

27. Ann Davies Says…(A Carousel) Instructions • Four posters are placed around the room, each having a quotation and a question • Brainstorm responses to the question at your station―write these in a list • At the signal, move clockwise to the next station • Read the list and add new ideas only • Continue to rotate at the signal • Revisit all stations and select one idea you’ll try. Record it in your Participant Guide.

28. Venn Diagram Refocus, p 19

29. Assessment OF Learning…Assessment FOR Learning… Adapted from Ruth Sutton

30. Balance in Assessment—Users and Uses Instructions • Work with a partner to complete the chart titled “Assessment Users and Uses”. List users • Describe decisions each user might make. • Is the user mainly concerned with large scale or classroom assessment information. What are the implications of various stakeholders’ views on classroom assessment?

31. According to Arter and Busick (2001), some possible conclusions about assessment users and uses: • Large-scale provincial achievement and standardized tests do have an important function. They serve the information needs of some educators whose needs would not be met without achievement or standardized tests. • Classroom assessment is essential to the well-being of students. Many very important decisions are made on the basis of these data. • Classroom assessment uses go far beyond grading. • Students are important consumers and users of assessment information. We have to know what we’re doing to minimize negative effects and maximize positive effects. • Both large-scale and classroom assessments are important for the well-being of students.

32. Making Classroom Assessment Work—Home Group Topics • Chapter 3―Beginning With the End in Mind • Chapter 4―Showing What the Learning Looks Like • Chapter 5―Evidence of Learning • Chapter 6―Using Assessment to Guide Instruction • Chapter 7―Collecting, Organizing and Presenting Evidence

33. Making Classroom Assessment Work—Lessons Learned Jigsaw Lessons • Step 1—Home Group—select five practical/good classroom practices from your chapter (15 minutes) • Step 2—Expert Group—share and discuss ideas, identify 3 practical/good practices. (10 minutes) • Step 3—Home Group—take turns sharing the best of the best ideas. (15 minutes)

34. Surveying My Landscape Moving Forward…Planning your professional journey • Met―I am moving along confidently in this area. • On the Way―I am moving with caution in this area. • Beginning―I have not started moving in this area. Refocus, p 24

35. Under the Microscope As I look at my responses to the Self-Reflection checklist, • I feel good about… • I have questions about… • One of the statements I want to meet is… • I will know that I have met a goal when… Refocus, p 25

36. Action Template

37. Workshop Outcomes • recognize the differences between assessment for learning (formative assessment) and assessment oflearning (summative assessment); • learn how assessment forlearning can become instruction; • consider how involving students in the assessment process contributes to their achievement; and • begin to develop a personal and school plan for implementation.

38. Closing Narrative • Real Stories, Refocus, p 21, 22 • Story of Emily, Appendix F, Vision of Success

39. “Students can reach any clear target that they know about and that stays still for them.” Stiggins, 2001

40. “Remember that the one doing the work is the one growing the dendrites.” Pat Wolfe, 2001