Assessment For Learning: Secondary

1. Assessment For Learning: Secondary NESA Spring Educators Conference April 4, 2011 Damian Cooper (905) 823-6298 dcooper3@rogers.com

2. Session Outcomes • Review the research base behind current assessment directions • Examine the importance of metacognition, feedback, and self and peer assessment. • Understand the critical role played by “assessment for learning” in providing students with the information they need to improve • Learn about research-based “assessment for learning” strategies that are proving to be effective in improving student learning • Share with colleagues how these strategies may be appropriate to my own classroom

3. Time to Talk About Assessment • Identify for yourself your #1 issue or concern about classroom assessment at your school. • Share your concerns at your table. • Which of these are shared by the majority at your table?

4. Mission: to sift and sort students Mean

5. Mission: excellence from ALL Range of Competent Achievement

6. Instruction Students bring different knowledge & experience to school Students learn at different rates Students learn in different ways Assessment Not all students are able to demonstrate their learning in the same way Not all students respond the same way to test pressure Some students need more scaffolding than others If the new goal of education is success for all, then we have no choice but toDifferentiate Instruction & Assessment

7. Research on Effective Assessment • The provision of effective feedback to students • The active involvement of students in their own learning • Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment • Recognition of the profound influence assessment has on motivation and self-esteem • The need for students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve Crooks, 1988; Black & Wiliam, 1998

8. The Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment • Assessment serves different purposes at different times: it may be used to find out what students already know and can do; it may be used to help students improve their learning; or it may be used to let students, and their parents, know how much they have learned within a prescribed period of time.

9. Assessment for Learning “Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting students’ learning. It thus differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence.” Black, Wiliam et al. 2004

10. Assessment of Learning “Assessment of learning includes those tasks that are designed to determine how much learning has occurred after a significant period of instruction. The data from such assessments is often used to determine report card grades.

11. When the classroom culture focuses on rewards, gold stars, grades, or class ranking, then (students) look for ways to obtain the best marks rather than to improve their learning. One reported consequence is that, when they have any choice, (students) avoid difficult tasks. They also spend time and energy looking for clues to the “right answer”. “Inside the Black Box”, Black & Wiliam, 1998

12. “…assessment which is explicitly designed to promote learning is the single most powerful tool we have for both raising standards and empowering lifelong learners.” Assessment for Learning: Beyond the Black Box, 1999, University of Cambridge School of Education

13. Differing Assessment Purposes Assessment for Learning • Tryouts • Practices Assessment of Learning • Games • Playoffs

14. Time to Talk About Assessment • Discuss the distinction between assessment for learning” and “assessment of learning” as it relates to current practice in your classroom

15. But we must begin with the question, “What constitutes essential learning for students in the 21st. century?”

16. “Backward Design” Program Planning Stage 1: Identify targeted understandings Stage 2: Determine appropriate assessment of those understandings Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and instruction that make such understanding possible Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

17. Plan Backward from What’s Essential… Worth being familiar with Assessment Types Traditional quizzes & tests -paper/pencil Performance Tasks & Projects -open-ended -complex -authentic Oral Assessments -conferences -interviews -oral questionning Important to know and do Enduring understandings Adapted from Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

18. “Backward Design” Program Planning Stage 1: Identify targeted understandings Stage 2: Determine appropriate assessment of those understandings Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

19. “Backward Design” Program Planning Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and instruction that make such understanding possible Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

20. Time to Talk About Assessment • Discuss the essential skills that Jeff can assess through the G7 task that could NOT be assessed through the written examination.

21. Time to Talk About Assessment • Evaluate the quality of the G7 task, using the Checklist for a Well-Designed Performance Task.

25. Grading Co-operative Group Tasks

26. Assessment of Learning “Assessment of learning includes those tasks that are designed to determine how much learning has occurred after a significant period of instruction. The data from such assessments is often used to determine report card grades.

27. Identify the set of critical assessment tasks Agree upon the relative weighting of each task Establish the criteria by which each task will be assessed Develop common, high quality scoring tools that capture the essential indicators of quality performance Periodically engage in moderation of student work Collect banks of exemplars, several for each level, for each task Grade teams need to collaborate to…

28. Assessment for Learning “Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting students’ learning. It thus differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence.” Black, Wiliam et al. 2004

29. Diagnostic Assessment • Engage students with a hook: “If you won the lottery…” • Activate prior knowledge • Assess current skills and understanding in 3 ways: -through written work -through performance assessment and observation -through oral assessment: questioning, conferencing, discussion, etc.

33. Cloze Procedure

34. Using Assessment Data to Differentiate Instruction • Examine the data from diagnostic assessments to group students according to their strengths and needs • Use mini-lessons followed by practice to address these needs • Identify individual students who are most “at risk” • Use a combination of groupings to increase understanding …

35. Purposeful Grouping of Students • Heterogeneous groups to provide support and to consolidate new learning • Homogeneous groups to deepen learning and to provide specific instruction to struggling learners • Flexible grouping to ensure all students work in their “zpd”

36. Using Assessment Data to Differentiate Instruction • Schedule time to conference with individuals or small groups of students who need the most support • Plan this time strategically as a routine part of your instruction

37. Using Assessment Data to Differentiate Instruction

38. Time to “Talk About Assessment” • Discuss this approach to diagnostic assessment: -how closely does it align with your current practice? -how does it differ? -what elements of this model could be adapted to your own class? -what challenges do you anticipate? -how might these be solved?

39. Differentiating Instruction • Teachers need to fully understand accommodation, modification, and substitution • To develop skills, simplify the content e.g. Simpler texts, less depth/breadth, etc. • To master content, present using a different mode suited to student’s strengths e.g. Graphics, audio, video, manipulatives, etc.

40. Differentiating Assessment Must be within student’s “ZPD” Keep consistent for all students May be adapted to be within student’s “ZPD” • Content standards: learning outcomes • Performance standards: rubrics/checklists • Student products & performances • Assessment conditions

41. Differentiating Assessment

42. Differentiating Assessment

43. Differentiating Assessment

44. Differentiating Assessment

45. Differentiating Assessment

46. Tiered Assessments • Design task @ grade level, to demonstrate proficiency, independently • Adapt or modify task to increase challenge: less structure, more choice, greater sophistication, etc. • Adapt or modify task to reduce challenge: more structure, less choice, less sophistication, etc.

47. Reporting to Parents Learning outcomes (incl. IEP ref. if applicable) Rubric levels Anecdotal comments • Grade level at which student is working • Achievement level at which student is performing • Degree of support provided

48. Time to Talk About Assessment • To what extent are the preceding descriptions of instruction, assessment and reporting for diverse learners consistent with current practice in your school or classroom?

49. Components of Assessment for Learning (Black & Wiliam, 2003) • Oral questioning • Marking as feedback • Peer and self-assessment • Formative use of summative tests

50. Components of Assessment for Learning (Wiliam, 2007) • Clarifying learning intentions and sharing criteria for success • Engineering effective classroom discussions, questions, and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning • Providing feedback that moves learners forward • Activating students as owners of their own learning • Activating students as instructional sources for one another