benchmark assessment - orange public schools / · pdf filemay want to read the questions out...

MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY Copyright Regents of the University of California

BENChMARk ASSESSMENT CONTENTSIntroduction 1ReorganizeYourTeacherGuide 2Overview 3UsingBenchmarkAssessments 4CodingBenchmarkItems 6Self-Assessment 7Survey/Posttest 12Investigation1I-Check 26Investigation2I-Check 36Investigation3I-Check 48Investigation4I-Check 58AssessmentAlignmentSummary 72

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INTRODUCTIONThe Existing FOSS Assessment System.Theassessmentsystemincorporatedintoyour2000or2005FOSSTeacherGuidefeaturesbothformativeassessmentsandsummativeassessments.Theformativeassessmentsareintegratedintotheinstructionalsequence,providingopportunitiestomonitorstudentprogressthroughoutthemodule.Thesingleopportunityforsummativeassessmentoccursattheendofthemoduleafterinstructioniscomplete.Theend-of-moduleassessmentprovidesaone-timelookatstudentachievement.

The New FOSS Assessment System.Thenewassessmentsystemstillusestheintegratedformativeassessmentsthroughouttheinstructionalsequence,butthesummativeassessmenttoolsandprocedureshavebeenrevisedextensively.Thesummativeassessmentsaredifferentinform,function,andname.Thenewsummativeassessmentsarecalledbenchmark assessments,andtheyinclude Asurvey (pretest),givenbeforeinstructionbegins. I-Checks, givenattheendofeachinvestigation. Aposttest,givenafterinstructioniscomplete.

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Assessment folio (EXISTING)

BENChMARk ASSESSMENT

REORGANIzE YOUR TEAChER GUIDEThisnewBenchmarkAssessmentfoliocanbeinsertedintoyourteacherguidejustinfrontoftheexistingAssessmentfolio.TheformativeassessmentinformationandguidanceintheexistingAssessmentfolioisstillusefulandcurrent.Thesummativeassessmentinformationintheexistingfolio,whichpertainstotheend-of-moduleassessmentonly,shouldnolongerbeused.TheinformationandguidanceintheremainderofthisBenchmarkAssessmentfolioshouldbeusedinitsplace.

ThenewBenchmarkAssessmentDuplicationMasterscanbeinsertedintotheteacherguideinplaceoftheexistingEnd-of-ModuleDuplicationMasters.ThenewBenchmarkAssessmentDuplicationMastersincludetheSurvey/PosttestandI-Checks.

Benchmark Assessment folio (NEW)

Benchmark Assessment Duplication Masters

Survey/ Posttest I-Checks

(NEW)

End-of-Module Assessment

(OLD)

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OvERvIEwThenewFOSSassessmentsystemfeaturesbenchmark assessments.Benchmarkassessmentsareshortteststhataregivenatcriticaljuncturesthroughouttheteachingofamodule.Thebenchmarksservethreefunctions.First,theyprovidesummativeinformationachievementdatathatcanbeusedforgradingandaccountability.Second,benchmarkassessmentsprovideformativeinformationforteachersdiagnosticinformationthattheycanusetoimprovetheeffectivenessoftheirteaching.Andthird,benchmarkassessmentsprovideinformationdirectlytostudents,guidingthemtothinkcriticallyabouttheirlearningandtorevisetheirthinkingaboutthesciencebeinginvestigated.

Thisthirduseofthebenchmarkassessmentsisimportant.Researchhasshownthatself-assessmentpracticesarepowerfulinstructionaltools for enhancing student learning. These reflective practices help studentsunderstandthelearninggoalsandexpectations,andtakemoreresponsibilityfortheirownlearning.Self-assessmentalsohelpsstudentsclarifytheirthinkingsotheycancommunicatetheirunderstanding of complex ideas more effectively. And self-reflection motivatesstudentstoworkmorethoughtfullyandcarefully.

Benchmarkassessmentsoccurinthreeplacesduringamodule. Thesurveyisgivenbeforeinstructionbegins,andincludes

1015items,someopen-responseandsomemultiple-choice. I-Checksaregivenattheendofmostinvestigations.Each

I-Checkconsistsof510items,inmultipleformats.I-Checksaresonamedbecausestudentsplayanactiveroleincheckingtheirownunderstandingoftheconceptsbeingtaught.

Theposttestisgivenafterthemodulehasbeencompleted.Theitemsarethesameonesthatappearonthesurvey.

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USING BENChMARk ASSESSMENTS

Survey aSSeSSment

Ifyouareusingthebenchmarkassessmentsforschoolordistrictaccountability purposes, you will need to follow specified procedures, suchasthoseusedwhengivingstandardizedtests.Thismeansstudentswillreadandanswerquestionswithoutanyassistance.Ifyouareusingthebenchmarkassessmentsinyourclassroomonly,youmaywanttoreadthequestionsoutloudandmovethroughthetestquestion by question to minimize the effect of reading proficiency.

Thesurveyisadministeredafewdaysbeforeinstructionbegins.Studentsareoftenuneasyhavingtotakeatestwhentheyhaventyethadtheinstructiontheyneedtodowell.Theyneedtoknowthatthesurveyisnotgraded,butwillbeusedtohelpyoudeterminewhatstudentsalreadyknowandwhattheyneedtolearn.Helpstudentsseethesurveyasalearningtool.Attheendofthemoduletheywillgettocomparetheiranswersonthesurveyandtheposttesttoseehowmuchtheyhavelearned.Studentshavefewopportunitiestoseehowtheirknowledgehaschanged.

Whenyouadministerthesurvey,encouragestudentstoanswerthequestionsasbesttheycan.Eveniftheythinktheydontknowtheanswers,theyshouldtrytothinkaboutsomethingrelatedthattheydoknowandapplythatknowledge.Collectthesurveys,codethemfordiagnosticpurposes,butdontmakeanymarksonthem.Holdthemuntilafterstudentstaketheposttest.

I-CheCk aSSeSSmentS

I-Checkassessmentsareadministeredafteryoucompletemostinvestigations.Totrackachievement(asummativeuse),codealloftheitemsusingthecodingguidesinthisfolio.Werecommendthatyoucodeoneitematatime,acrossallstudents.Codingtendstobemoreconsistentacrossstudentswhenyouusethismethod.Eventhough you have to shuffle papers more, you will find that it actually takeslesstimetocodetheassessmentsoverall.Thismethodalsoallows you to think about the class as a whole and reflect on necessary nextsteps.

BENChMARk ASSESSMENT

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TheI-Checkscanalsobeusedforformativeassessment.Researchhasshownthatstudentslearnmorewhentheytakepartinevaluatingtheirownresponses.TheproceduredescribedbelowhasworkedformanyteachersusingtheFOSSassessmentsystem.

1. HavestudentscompletetheI-Checkeitherunassistedorusingaread-aloudstrategywiththewholeclass.

2. CodetheI-Checkitembyitem,butdonotwritecodesonstudentstests.Recordcodesinagradingprogramorgradebook.Makenotesabouteachitemandidentifyimportantpointstodiscusswithstudents.

3. ReturnI-Checkstostudents.Useoneoftheself-assessmentstrategies described later in this folio to help students reflect on and refine their thinking.

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Havestudentstaketheposttestafteralloftheinvestigationsarecompleted.Itcanbeadministeredinanyofthewaysdescribedabovefortheotherbenchmarkassessments.Aftercodingtheposttests,returnthemandthesurveystostudents.Havethemcomparetheirsurveyandposttestresponses.Discussthechangesthathaveoccurred.

Usetheposttestforformativeevaluationofthemodule,andmakenotesaboutthingsyoumightwanttofocusonthenexttimeyouteachthemodule.

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BENChMARk ASSESSMENT

CODING BENChMARk ITEMSAnitemisaquestionorstatementdesignedtoelicitevidenceoflearningfromastudent.Usuallytheitemsarepresentedinwriting,andstudentsrespondbychoosingananswerfromalist(multiplechoice),producingalongorshortwrittenanswer,orgeneratinganotherkindofartifactthatprovidesevidenceoflearning.Thequalityandreliabilityoftheinformationaccruedfromanyassessmentisdirectlyrelatedtothequalityandreliabilityoftheitems.

Theitemsinthebenchmarkassessmentshavebeenscrupulouslydesignedandrigorouslytestedin48classroomswithmorethan1000students.Asaresult,wecanbesurethattheitemswillyieldthekindofinformationaboutstudentlearningthatwewantthemtoyield,andthattheywillproducethevaluedinformationtimeaftertimeinallkindsofsituations.Inotherwords,theassessmentitemsarevalidandreliable.IftheyareusedasintendedinthecontextofteachingthisFOSSmodule,theywillinformyouaboutstudentlearningasyouprogressthroughthecurriculum,andstudentswillengagetheimportantideasofscienceingreaterdepthandwithrefreshingclarity.

Studentperformanceonthebenchmarkassessmentsexposesthedepthoftheirlearningandthedegreetowhichstudentsaremeetingthegoalsofthecurriculum.Tohelpyoudeterminehowstudentsareperforming,thisBenchmarkAssessmentfoliocontainscodingguidesforeachbenchmarkitem.Codingguidesarecomposedofmodelstudentresponses.Theresponsesarenumberedthehighernumbersareassociatedwithmoresophisticated,completeresponsesbuttheyarenotintendedtobescores.Instead,theyarenumericalcodesthatrefertothedepthandaccuracyofastudentsconceptualunderstanding.

Performanceonthebenchmarkassessmentscanbeusedasacomponentofastudentsgrade,butyoushouldnotsimplyaddupthenumberstoassignagrade.Insteadwesuggestthatyoulookatthefrequencyofthecodes.Ifyouseemostly0sand1s,thestudentneedsfurtherinstruction.Ifyouseemostly2s,thestudentis developing science vocabulary and can state a number of scientific factsandsimplerelationships.Ifyousee3s,thestudentisdevelopingtheexpectedconceptualunderstandings.Andifyousee4s,thestudentisabletoapplyconceptualknowledgetonewsituations.Agradeshouldbebasedonmultiplesourcesofevidence,includingfactorssuchasgroupparticipation,responsibilityforlearning,verbalexpression,perseverance,andprogress,thatis,changebetweenastudentsstartingknowledgeandhisorherknowledgeafterinstruction.

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SELfASSESSMENTSelf-assessmentismorethanreadingcorrectanswerstotheclassandhavingstudentsmarkwhetherornottheygottherightanswer.Self-assessmentshouldprovideanopportunityforstudentstothinkabout their answers and to figure out how they could improve their answers. This kind of reflective process also helps students develop a betterunderstandingofwhatawell-constructedresponselookslike.

Self-assessmentrequiresdeep,thoughtfulengagementwithcomplexideas.Itinvolvesstudentsinwhole-classorsmall-groupdiscussion,foll