BEATRICE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOCUS ON STUDENTS AND RESULTS

Building Common, Informative Assessments

Context for Common Assessments

What is it we expect them to learn? Essential Learnings

How will we know when they have learned it? Common assessments (Formative & Summative)

How will we respond when they don’t? Pyramid of Interventions

How will we respond when they do? Enrichment and Differentiation

Essential Question

How can we create common assessments to monitor and promote student learning?

Standard: High quality assessments are collaboratively

developed and collectively used to monitor, measure, and promote high levels of student achievement.

The Mission

Understand the rationale for and process of using common assessments, including assessment for and assessment of learning

Identify strategies for aligning standards and assessments

Identifying the key factors to consider when developing common assessments

What is a common assessment?

Any assessment created by and given by two or more educators with the intention of collaboratively examining the results for: Shared learning Instructional planning for individual students and/or Curriculum, instruction, and/or assessment

modifications(DuFour)

Assessment for learning, when done well,is one of the most powerful, high-leveragestrategies for improving student learningthat we know of. Educators collectivelybecome more skilled and focused atassessing, disaggregating, and using

student achievement as a tool forongoing improvement.

– Michael Fullan

Why common assessments?

High Quality Classroom Assessment

Educators need to ask themselves: Why am I assessing? What am I assessing? What is the best assessment method? How do I communicate the results?

Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment

Research consistently shows that regular, highquality FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT increasesstudent achievement.RESEARCH ON EFFECTS

• Black & Wiliam (1998) International Research Review

-- .5 to 1.0 Standard Deviation Score Gain--Largest Gain for Low Achievers

Formative Assessment

“When implemented well, formative assessment can double the speed of students’ learning” Dylan William (December/January 2007 Educational

Leadership, pg. 36)

1.0 Standard Deviation Equals:

35 Percentile Points on a Norm-Referenced Assessment (TerraNova, Gates MacGinitie)

2-4 Grade Equivalents5 ACT Composite Score Points

Assessment FOR Learning vs. Assessment OF Learning

FOR—How can we use assessment to help students learn more?

OF—How much have students learned as of a particular point in time?

Adapted from Stiggins

Assessment of Learning

The purpose is to measure student achievement for reporting and accountability--document mastery of standards.

Uses include certifying student competence, sorting students, promotion and graduation decisions, grading

Assessment for Learning

The purpose is to promote further improvement of student learning during the learning process and involve students in the ongoing assessment of their learning.

Uses include providing students with insight to improve, help teachers diagnose and respond to student needs, help parents see progress over time

Essential Questions:

How can we createcommon assessments

to monitor andpromote student

learning?

Consider the Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment

The Right Stuff: Effective Formative Assessment

Clarify and share learning intentions and criteria for success with students (exemplars and clear targets)

Engineer effective classroom discussions, questions, and learning tasks (Think of Questioning Makes the Difference Activity)

Provide feedback that moves learners forewardActivate students as the owners of their own

learning (student self-assessment)Encourage students to be instructional

resources for one another William (Educational Leadership, 65 (4), 36).

Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment

Key #1—Clear PurposePlanning Phase

Assessment for Learning Diagnose needs and strengths

Collaborative Teams will use the information from the assessment to make instructional decisions for the students in the class

Key #2—Clear TargetsStage #1 Planning Phase

What Are the Learning Targets?A learning target is any achievement expectation

we have for students on the path toward mastery of a standard.

It clearly states what we want the students to learn and should be understood by teachers and students.

Learning targets should be formatively assessed to monitor progress toward a standard.

Collaborative Teams must discuss and resolve a description of a proficient student on the standard-

Creating Targets For “Driving a Car with Skill”

What knowledge will students need to demonstrate the intended learning?

What patterns of reasoning will they need to master?

What skills are required (if any)?What product development capabilities

must they acquire (if any)?

Driving a Car with Skill

Knowledge

Reasoning

Skills

Product(s)

Driving a Car with Skill

Knowledge Know the law Read signs and understand what they mean

Reasoning Evaluate ‘am I safe’ and synthesize information to

take action if needed

Skills Steering, shifting, parallel parking…

Achievement Targets

Knowledge Mastery of substantive subject content where mastery

includes both knowing and understanding it

Reasoning The ability to use knowledge and understanding to figure

things out and to solve problems

Performance Skills The development of proficiency in doing something--where

it is the process that is important such as playing a musical instrument, reading aloud, speaking in a second language

Achievement Targets

Products The ability to create tangible products, suchas term papers,

science fair models, and art products, that meet certain standards of quality and that present concrete evidence of academic proficiency

Key #3--Good DesignStage #2 Development Phase

Focused on Learning Targets Focus on the targets that are part of the larger

essential learning. Do Not create an assessment for the entire concept—select specific skills or content that contribute to students’ learning toward the standard (essential learning)

Appropriate Assessment Method Well-written items, tasks, and rubrics Samples student achievement in such a way to make

appropriate inferences about student learning

Guiding Principles

Choosing the Best Assessment Method--chart

Educators need to deliberately choose an assessment method that fits the standards being assessed

Test Specification Chart (Blueprint) List Learning Targets Identify if the targets are knowledge, reasoning,

performance skills, products, and/or beliefs/behaviors

Ask the Question “How Important” to guide development

Guiding Principles

Items are the appropriate level of difficulty—goal is to reveal areas of strength and areas for growth, not 100% proficiency by ALL (i.e. current BPS Math & LA ES tests)

Assessment items are tightly aligned to what is actually taught in the classroom

The common assessments we will create are to be used in conjunction with all other classroom assessment activities (variety of methods)

Assessment Method

Selected Response MC, T/F, Matching, Enhanced MC

Constructed/Written Response Fill-in-the-blank, short answer, label a diagram,

“show your work”, nonlinguistic representation

Performance-Based Product (essay, project) Performance Based (presentation Process (oral questioning, observation)

Psychometric Properties of Good Tests

Valid Does the test measure what you think it measures? Are scores appropriate and accurate?

Reliable Does the test measure student achievement

consistently? Are scores trustworthy and dependable?

MC Item Writing Guide

MC Most efficient Different levels of cognitive processing can be

assessed (Quick Flip Chart) Easy to score Difficult to construct high quality questions 2 or more response options

MC, continued

MC Item Parts Stem (poses the question or states the problem) Options (all choices given for the item) Keyed Answer (Correct Answer) Distractors (all of the incorrect responses)

Formats Closed stem (asks the complete ? and ends with ?

Mark Sentence completion format Best/Most format Roman Numeral format

MC Item Writing Checklist

Measures a single significant pointNot misleading/deceiving

Emphasize special words (BEST, ONLY, etc.)Independent (no cueing)Randomize the position of correct choicesArrange in a logical orderAvoids the following:

Always, never, none, allDistractors represent plausible answers or

common errors Avoid humorous option

Constructed Response Item Writing Guide

Can assess different levels of thinkingCan obtain more in-depth information about

knowledge of a topicQuick to createDifficult to score consistentlyPotential confounds (reading level, writing

skills, time management

Constructed Response

Parts of Constructed Response Items Prompt (question, problem, topic) Response requirements (tells how to respond) Answer elements (the components of an acceptable

response) Rubric (assigning value to overall quality of the

answer)

CR Item Writing Checklist

Guidelines that are appropriate from MC apply

Verify approach is best way to assess objectives/targets

Insure expected behavior is specified in test specifications

Insure examinee knows response requirements

Developing the Common Assessment

Using the guidelines, create a formative assessment in which the team believes

Plan to administer the assessment at point of instruction! Similar pacing will be required to accomplish this goal

Observe the administration of the assessment (student reactions, behaviors, questions) and take notes to share with your team

Creating the Assessment

Use the handout as an example for setting up a common assessment

Next Steps & Further Training

Clearly articulate purpose and targets √Develop a common assessment

Plans for quality assurance Develop scoring criteria

Administer the common assessmentEngage in collaborative scoring & data analysis

The Now What of the process! “Done properly, formative assessment can generate

dramatic improvements in teaching and learning…” but how teachers use the information about the teaching and learning is the rest of the story!

Next Steps

“The power of formative classroom assessment

depends on how you use the results.”

(Guskey)

Next Steps

Collect the data in a way that is manageable and meaningful.

Do SOMETHING with the data—set a goal, have a conversation, draw conclusion, CHANGE INSTRUCTION TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE LEARNERS

Re-examine the results of another assessment to mark progress on a given skills