Chapter 7: Content Area Assessment

Ade Dwi Putra

Primary Purposes of Content Area Assessment

Monitor student progress– Formative assessments– Should guide instruction– Math test, “fist-to-five,” “Dame 5,”

projects, DIBELS, MIDE, Aimsweb, etc. Reclassification

– ACCESS, local assessments Accountability

– ACCESS, ISAT, PSAE, local assessments

Considerations for Content Area Instruction

English is learned through integrated language and content area instruction

Language of content areas varies depending on context (i.e. table)

Content area instruction needs scaffolded support for learning concepts– Visuals, graphic organizers, realia, cooperative

learning, etc. Content area teachers need to alter

instruction and alter assessment for ELLs

Adapting Content Area Assessments

Scaffold--don’t separate!– Rather than separating language and

content, provide contextual supports.Exhibits or projects, visual displays,

organized lists, tables/graphs, short answers.

Differentiate scoring.– Use one score for writing

conventions/grammar and a separate score for content.

Communicate criteria.– Tell students how their work will be

scored.

Thinking Schools Versus Standardized Schools

“part of the failure of the education system has been the failure to match instruction to the most effective way that children learn” (p. 168).

Balance between standards and “thinking” schools.

Basic Assessment Approaches

Determining Prior Knowledge– Look at table

on page 176. Create your own examples for assessing what 5th Grade students know about the Civil War.

NONVERBAL

RECOGNITION

STRUCTURED QUESTIONS

UNSTRUCTURED DISCUSSION

FREE RECALL

WORD ASSOCIATION

Basic Assessment Approaches

Assessing Conceptual Knowledge Semantic Maps

– Spider map– The Time Ladder Map– Contrast Overlay Map (aka Venn-Diagram)– The Cause/Effect Map

Be sure that students are familiar with the graphic organizer prior to assessment.

Technology can also be very helpful.– http://www.district87.org/staff/jensenp/Stud

ent%20Work.htm

Basic Assessment Approaches

Reading Comprehension– T-lists– Cloze test

Random deletion, purposive deletion, limited cloze

Basic Assessment Approaches

Vocabulary– Recognizing or generalizing attributes,

examples, and nonexamples.– Sensing and inferring relationship

Do the words freedom and jail go together? Why or why not?

Freedom is to slave as _____ is to student. Categorize/classify

– Applying concepts to a variety of contexts Freedom of a country, freedom from jail, freedom from

slavery, freedom of religion, etc.– Generating novel contexts

Use the word freedom and slavery in a sentence.

Dorath’s legs are at a steep angle.

Mohamed is scolding Peter.

Daichi’s arms are invisible.

Gilberto is pleading for someone to read with him.

Basic Assessment Approaches

Thinking Skills– Be sure to guide planning,

instruction and assessment with thinking skills in the content areas

– Comprehension– Analysis– Comparison– Synthesis– Evaluation

Basic Assessment Approaches

Writing to Integrate Language and Content– Provide writing prompts to mirror the

thinking processes.– 1. What does the number sentence tell

you?– 2. How did you solve the problem?– 3. Write a word problem.

Write the numbers.Write an operation and make a number

sentence.Now make a story to go with the question.

Science, Math, Social Studies

Declarative knowledge–T-lists, semantic maps, cloze tests

Procedural knowledge–Scoring rubrics, check lists, self-

assessment

General Guidelines for Content Area Assessment

Embed assessment into instruction Scaffold assessments with contextual

supports Assess procedural knowledge as well as

declarative knowledge Always assess prior knowledge Encourage self-assessment Use integrated assessments of language

and content; differentiate scoring Make criteria visible

Questions?