Powerpoint Templates

1. QUALITY ASSESSMENT Jackson County Social Studies Network Meeting January 24, 2011 Information Provided By: Tovah Sheldon Data, Curriculum & Assessment Coordinator Jackson County ISD Tovah.Sheldon@jcisd.org Powerpoint Templates

2. Objectives: • Educators will learn additional or extended information regarding assessment best practices. • Educators will analyze their current assessment strategies for validity & reliability. • Educators will begin the process to adjust any components of their process based on new knowledge and allotted time.

3. A Good Assessment is Accurate & Used Effectively

4. According To Rick Stiggins… Stiggins, “Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing it Right – Using it Well”, p. 13. (Figure 1.2 Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment)

5. Without a clear purpose, you may build assessments that are not very useful… • Assessments with different purposes should be built differently • The type(s) of reporting wanted/required should guide assessment development

6. Reasons for Assessment • There are several reasons why teachers assess students: • Determine why students are struggling to learn certain concepts • Provide remedial instruction to such students • Determine how much students have learned in order to grade them or to rank them • Determine which learning targets to address next in class

7. Reasons for Assessment • There are ways how administrators use assessment data on students: • Select students for special programs • Determine readiness for future learning • Place students in appropriate programs • Determine the adequacy of student performance (accountability)

8. Reasons for Assessment • Students use assessment data in several ways, too: • Determine where they are on a learning progression • Determine next steps in their own learning • Direct their independent learning inside and outside of the classroom • Deciding whether and how to continue learning

9. Reasons for Assessment Continued… • The bottom line is that no single assessment will serve every user and every use • Diagnostic information may be helpful to the teacher but not much use to an administrator • Standardized tests are not of much use to the teacher but may be so to the public • We need to select/develop tests that meet the needs of users • THEREFORE… You can’t build a test to meet your needs if you don’t know what your needs are!

10. According To Rick Stiggins… Stiggins, “Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing it Right – Using it Well”, p. 13. (Figure 1.2 Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment)

11. The Assessment Continuum Inductive Quality Items Quality Assessments Deductive Quality Balanced Assessment System Type of assessment items & quality filters Blueprint, accessible data & administration practices create accurate evidence of student learning. The combination of external and internal quality assessments show longitudinal student learning and reflect the process & systems of curriculum, instruction, etc.

12. Quality Filters • See handout…

13. Quality Assessments

14. Purposeful Evidence/Data Collection • Combination of Quality Items/ Purposeful Assessment Structure • Purposeful Administration Procedure

15. “If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.” George Harrison (1943 - 2001) "Any Road", Brainwashed, 2002 Adapted from Lewis Carroll

16. What is a Test Blueprint? • Plan for constructing an assessment… what could/should be included? • Explicit Purpose of Assessment • Item by Item Identified Learning Targets • Levels of complexity & importance demonstrated by item weight and target reoccurrence.

17. Assessment Blueprint Sample

18. Assessment Blueprint Sample Assessment Name: _____________________ Assessment Explicit Purpose:______________________________________________ Direction to Administer, Analyze, Validate Quality & Revise:

19. Rule of Thumb Criteria… (All of this should be identified on a test blueprint) • At least 3 items per target (5 is better) for reliability, especially if you are utilizing selected response as your item type. • Appropriate distribution of items over targets.(If most of your time is spent teaching specific targets in the classroom, then the assessment should reflect that) • Levels of complexity/cognitive demand are appropriate for targets and instruction. • Appropriate ordering of questions to flow logically. (Items should be organized purposefully, either by content, easiest to hardest, etc… not by item type) • Appropriate and purposeful weighting of items.(Items could be more highly weighted based on difficulty level… not just to make the assessment total a nice round number like 100.) • Assessment instructions/directions are clear for consistency. (Can students use notes on the test? A calculator? Can they retake part or all if it and if so, no what criteria?) … Think, if all of this was planned out ahead of time, prior to writing any actual questions, how easy would it be for you to identify or create the best items and/or communicate to other stakeholders the quality and value of the assessment…

20. Quality Balanced Assessment System -Uses multiple measures

21. Big Picture(Your Content Area) Do your assessments build linearly (and link) in your classroom AND beyond to give a clear picture of a student’s educational life? Does one assessment act as a predictor for a future assessment? Are your assessments for status or growth (or both)?

22. Big Picture(Your Content Area) Do you use multiple measures to validate student learning? (internal & external assessments) Do you provide multiple opportunities for students to verify they have mastered a target?

23. Big Picture(Your Content Area) Remember Formative, Interim and Summative are not types of assessments but WAYS TO USE the assessment (…so some assessments may be written in more than one place ) Also, think about how NOT ALL assessments that you use must be on this matrix, but if they are not on the matrix, what purpose do they serve?

24. Theory into Practice – Work Time • Based on your own identified areas of need or your department’s focus, you have a choice to utilize new knowledge, resources and time to: • Revise, adapt or create specific quality items • Revise, adapt, or create 1 quality assessment including the blueprint • Identify quality assessments as a purposeful part of a quality balanced assessment system, collaborate to complete the missing components