assessment competencies literacies

Developing Assessment Competencies and Literacies for the 21st Century Educator

Carlo Magno, PhDCounseling and Educational Psychology Department

De La Salle University, Manila

SHIFTS IN ASSESSMENT• Testing Alternative assessment

• Paper and pencil Performance assessment • Multiple choice Supply • Single correct answer Many correct answer • Summative Formative • Outcome only Process and Outcome • Skill focused Task-based • Isolated facts Application of knowledge • Decontextualized task Contextualized task

• “school improvement efforts would not be productive until educators become masters of the basic principles of sound classroom assessment” (Stiggins, 1995).

Why do we need standards?

• To make sure that everyone delivers quality work

• To produce quality students

• To deliver quality programs

National Competency-Based Teaching Standards (NCBTS)

• (1) Social Regard for Learning• (2) Learning Environment• (3) Diversity of Learners• (4) Curriculum• (5) Planning, Assessing, and

Reporting• (6) Community linkages• (7) Personal Growth and

Professional Development

Domain 5

• (5.1) The teacher communicates promptly and clearly the learners’ progress to parents, superiors and to learners themselves,

(5.3) the teacher monitors regularly and provides feedback on learners’ understanding of content.

(5.2) the teacher develops and uses a variety of appropriate assessment strategies to monitor and evaluate learning

Problems?

• Planning, assessing, and reporting are not stated as competencies

• The concepts of planning, assessing and reporting can be independent or subsumes each other.

• The domain on planning, assessing, and reporting are limited to procedural knowledge.

ASSESSMENT COMPETENCIES FOR TEACHERS

• Constructed by the AFT, NCME, NEA:

• Teachers should be skilled in:

1.choosing assessment methods appropriate for instructional decisions.

American Federation of Teachers, National Council on Measurement and Evaluation, and National Education Association in the United States of America.



2. Administering, scoring, and interpreting the results of both externally produced and teacher produced assessment methods.




• Using assessment results when making decisions about individual students, planning teaching, and developing curriculum and school improvement.




• Developing valid pupil grading procedures that use pupil assessment.




4. Communicating assessment results to students, parents, other lay audiences, and other educators.




4. Recognizing unethical, illegal, and otherwise inappropriate assessment methods and uses of assessment information.


Standards

• Standard 1: Choosing assessment methods

A C T

Selection of assessment method—basis

.99 .99 .99

Standard test-meaning of measurement error

.79 .91 .76

Using norms correctly .76 .85 .77

Standards

• Standard 2: Developing assessment methods

A C T

Teacher made assessment least measurement error

.68 .75 .67

Determining validity .91 .90 .94

Item construction-essay/performance

.82 .83 .78

Standards

• Standard 3: Interpreting assessment results

A C T

Interpret teacher-made test score

.82 .83 .78

Interpret Grade Equivalency score

.77 .79 .63

Interpret percentile band scores

.80 .78 .60

Standards

• Standard 4: Using assessment results in decision making

A C T

Standard test data most useful for classroom

.55 .51 .52

Basis for comparing schools' test scores

.63 .59 .52

Explaining discrepancy between classroom and standard test scores

.55 .57 .47

Standards

• Standard 5: Using assessment results in grading

A C T

Weighting test scores to give grades

.38 .36 .34

Reliability of tests for grading .21 .24 .15

Recognize sound grading practice

.85 .85 .85

Standards

• Standard 6: Communicating assessment results

A C T

Explain basis for grade .98 .99 .99

Interpret stanine .59 .67 .37

Using tests for resource allocation

.91 .93 .92

Standards

• Standard 7: Recognizing unethical assessment practices

A C T

Display of grade—privacy .98 .96 .98

Test as only criterion for grade

.91 .91 .87

Acceptable actions on standardized tests

.90 .95 .94

Assessment Literacy• According to Parterno (2001)

– “The possession of knowledge about the basic principles of sound assessment practice, including terminology.

– The development and use of assessment methodologies and techniques.

– Familiarity with standards of quality in assessment

– Familiarity with alternatives to traditional measurements of learning

Assessment Literacy

• North Central Regional Educational Laboratory: – “the readiness of an

educator to design, implement, and discuss assessment strategies”

Assessment literate educators:• Center for School Improvement and Policy

Studies, Boise State University– Recognize sound assessment, evaluation,

communication practices; – They understand which assessment methods to use to

gather dependable information and student achievement.

– Communicate assessment results effectively, whether using report card grades, test scores, portfolios, or conferences.

– Can use assessment to maximize student motivation and learning by involving students as full partners in assessment, record keeping, and communication

Assessment literate educators:

– Assessment literates know the difference between sound and unsound assessment.

– They are not intimidated by the sometimes mysterious and always daunting technical world of assessment

Stiggins (1995)

Assessment literate educators:• Cont. Stiggins (1995)• They enter the realm of assessment

knowing: • what they are assessing, • why they are doing it, • how best to assess the skill/knowledge of

interest, • how to generate good examples of

student performance, • what can potentially go wrong with the

assessment, • and how to prevent that from happening

Assessment literate educators:

• Cont. Stiggins (1995):– They are also aware of the potential

negative consequences of poor, inaccurate assessment

Assessment Literacy• (1) Assessment comes with a clear purpose • (2) focusing on achievement targets • (3) selecting proper assessment methods • (4) sampling student achievement

Recommendations

• 1. Assessment competencies for teachers needs to be made in the Philippine setting– The National Competency-Based Teaching

Competencies has a very limited specification for the assessment skills of teachers. This needs to be elaborated further

Recommendations

• 2. Teachers should be screened based on the requirements of sound assessment.– LET standards on assessment needs to be

improved– Criteria for assessing teacher performance

should include their ability to make sound assessment

Recommendations

• 3. Preservice teachers needs to be educated on assessment literacy.– Include the topic on assessment literacy in

assessment of learning courses as part of the introduction

Recommendations

• 4. Graduate studies on education for school leaders, counselors, teachers, and other school personnel should be taught the utility and value of assessment when making decisions.