Aligning Unit Tests and Backwards Instruction Planning

1. Virginia Department of Education Office of School Improvement Aligning Unit Tests and Backwards Instruction Planning 2013-2014

2. Why do we use summative assessment? • Is assessment something we do only after instruction has been completed in order to give a grade… • Or a way to outline beforehand the goals for students to demonstrate mastery of essential knowledge and skills? Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

3. Stages in the Backwards Design Plan Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

4. Benefits of Backwards Design • Clarifies learning goals for both students and teachers • Results in sharply defined teaching • Increases student performance Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

5. Stage One Identify desired results for the unit.

6. Why is this unit important? • “What you’re trying to do is make it more likely that by design, you’re more goal-focused, more effective. … What we see over and over again is that there’s a misalignment between short-term plans and actions and long-term goals.” Avenues Workshop Series. (2013, March). Understanding by Design with Grant Wiggins. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgNODvvsgxM.

7. What are Enduring Understandings? Worth being familiar with Important to know and do Enduring Understanding Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision of Curriculum Development.

8. Essential Questions • Get at matters of deep understanding • Provocative and multi-layered • Reveal richness and complexities of a subject Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision of Curriculum Development.

9. Examples • High School Virginia & US History • Unit: Revolutionary Period • Grade 5 Writing • Unit: Written Expression

10. Example: Revolutionary Period Unit • Essential Question • Enduring Understanding • The American Revolution was inspired by ideas concerning natural rights and political authority, and its successful completion affected people and governments throughout the world for many generations. • How do ideas about rights of people and their relationship to their rulers influence government?

11. Example: Written Expression • Essential Question • Enduring Understanding • Good writers use precise, descriptive vocabulary and vary sentence structure as they revise for clarity. • How do we develop a tone that supports the purpose of our writing?

12. Stage Two Determine acceptable evidence.

13. Alignment & Content Coverage

14. Basic Component: Consistency & Fairness

15. Steps for Creating a Standards-Based Unit Assessment Table of Specifications

16. Tips for Success • Do this BEFORE teaching the unit • Work in collaborative groups if possible • Use all relevant Standards of Learning documents (SOLs, Curriculum Framework, Blueprints, Released Test Items)

17. Choosing Where to Start • Review SOL assessment data to determine the areas of greatest need for the largest number of students • Use the Table of Specifications process with those units first • Expand to other units as time and personnel resources allow

18. Subtask 1:Determine which standards will be assessed

19. The Shift in Choosing Content and Skills for Assessments Assessing what is IMPORTANT for them as students Assessing what is EASY for us as teachers

20. Materials Needed • Use division written curriculum (when available) • Standards of Learning documents • Standards of Learning (required) • Curriculum Framework (required) • Blueprints (recommended)

21. Table of Specifications PLACEHOLDER FOR VIDEO OF WORD DOCUMENT

22. Subtask 2:Unpack standards, knowledge, and skills for content and cognitive level.

23. Unpacking Process • Understanding how to use a taxonomy to unpack a standard, knowledge, skill, or process: • Review the overarching standard in order to determine the CONTEXT. • Determine the CONTENT (what students must know) • Determine the COGNITIVE LEVEL. (Bloom’s Taxonomy, Revised): What students must be able to do with what they know.

24. Bloom’s Taxonomy (Revised) Remember Recalling previously learned information Understand Demonstrating an understanding of the facts; explaining ideas or concepts Apply Applying knowledge to actual situations Analyze Breaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships Evaluate Justifying a decision or course of action Create Generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things

25. Bloom’s Taxonomy (Revised) Remember arrange, define, describe, duplicate, identify, label, list, match, memorize, name, order, recall, relate, recognize, repeat, select, state Understand • classify, convert, defend, describe, discuss, distinguish, estimate, explain, give examples, indicate, locate, paraphrase, predict, summarize Apply change, choose, compute, demonstrate, employ, illustrate, interpret, manipulate, modify, practice, prepare, show, sketch, solve, use Analyze appraise, breakdown, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, diagram, differentiate, distinguish, examine, infer, model, question, test Evaluate appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose, conclude, defend, discriminate, estimate, judge, justify, interpret, rate, support, value Create assemble, combine, compose, construct, design, develop, devise, formulate, generate, plan, set up, synthesize, tell, write

26. Example: Unpacking a Standard For the learning objective, underline the content, circle the word(s) that provide information regarding cognitive level, and finally, classify the word into one of Bloom’s six cognitive levels. VUS.1h Interpret the significance of excerpts from famous speeches and other documents. Standard = Context Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Processes

27. Example: Unpacking a Standard For the learning objective, underline the content, circle the word(s) that provide information regarding cognitive level, and finally, classify the word into one of Bloom’s six cognitive levels. VUS.1h Interpret the significance of excerpts from famous speeches and other documents. Apply

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29. Subtask 3:Determine how each standard, knowledge and/or skill be will assessed.

30. Assessing Knowledge and Skills • Selected Response • Constructed Response • Performance Tasks

31. Item Type: Selected Response • Objective—right or wrong answers • Examples • Multiple choice • True/false • Matching

32. Select Response: Multiple Choice • Approximate amount of time to answer per item: 30-60seconds (depending on level of cognitive demand) • Cognitive level it best evaluates: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze Gareis, C.R., & Grant, L.W. (2008). Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, & student learning. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

33. Selected Response: True/False • Approximate amount of time to answer per item: 15 seconds • Cognitive level it best evaluates: Remember, Understand Gareis, C.R., & Grant, L.W. (2008). Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, & student learning. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

34. Selected Response: Matching • Approximate amount of time to answer per item: 60-90 seconds (depending on number of matching items) • Cognitive level it best evaluates: Remember, Understand Gareis, C.R., & Grant, L.W. (2008). Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, & student learning. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

35. Item Type: Constructed Response • Written or oral • React to and use information • Generally graded with a rubric • Examples • Fill-in-the-Blank/ Diagram • Short Answer • Essay Gareis, C.R., & Grant, L.W. (2008). Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, & student learning. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

36. Constructed Response: Fill-in-the-Blank/ Diagram • Approximate amount of time to answer per item: 30 seconds • Cognitive level it best evaluates: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze Gareis, C.R., & Grant, L.W. (2008). Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, & student learning. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

37. Constructed Response: Short Answer • Approximate amount of time to answer per item: 30-45 seconds • Cognitive level it best evaluates: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create Gareis, C.R., & Grant, L.W. (2008). Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, & student learning. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

38. Constructed Response: Essay • Approximate amount of time to answer per item: At least 60 seconds for each individual point; significant additional time may be needed • Cognitive level it best evaluates: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create Gareis, C.R., & Grant, L.W. (2008). Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, & student learning. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

39. Item Type: Performance Task • Apply knowledge • Usually “real life” situations • Generally graded with a rubric • Examples: • Role-play (debates, skits) • Model/Simulation • Performance/Product • Labs Gareis, C.R., & Grant, L.W. (2008). Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, & student learning. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

40. Choosing the Assessment Item • How much emphasis do we place on the standard, knowledge, or skill in the unit? • Remember the goals for the unit! • What cognitive level is the standard, knowledge, or skill?

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42. Subtask 4:Design the assessment.

43. Sources for Items • Virginia Department of Education released test items • Textbooks • Online item banks • Previously-given assessments • Your brain

44. Consistent and Fair Assessments • Have we considered and tried to avoid: • Culturally biased language and expressions • Developmentally inappropriate reading level • Mechanical or grammatical mistakes in assessment items • Insufficient or unclear directions • Poor layout, causing uncertainty or mistakes in reading the assessment • Insufficient number of assessment items • Subjective scoring Gareis, C.R., & Grant, L.W. (2008). Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, & student learning. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

45. Increasing Fairness: Hints for Overall Test Construction • Make sure one item does not give away the answer to another item (cluing). • Provide clear directions to each portion of the test. • Do not split items across pages. • Make sure the test is neat and error-free. • Provide clear and adequate response spaces. • Provide point values for older students. Gareis, C.R., & Grant, L.W. (2008). Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, & student learning. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

46. Main Types of Rubrics • Checklist • Holistic Rubric • Analytical Rubric Gareis, C.R., & Grant, L.W. (2008). Teacher-made assessments: How to connect curriculum, instruction, & student learning. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

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48. Stage Three Plan learning experiences and instruction.

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50. Virginia Department of Education Office of School Improvement Aligning Unit Tests and Backwards Instruction Planning 2013-2014