Assessment Basics and Active Student Involvement

1. Assessment Basics and Active Student Involvement Block II

2. Big Ideas & Key Questions • How does assessment fit into the teaching/learning process? • Learning targets - why should I care? • Evidence – what’s that? • Assessment methods - what are my options? • Scoring guides – what are those? • How do I put it all together?

3. Which Ball is the Best Bouncer? Plan a controlled experiment, using the materials in the container, that would allow you to answer this question. Why might I do this in a 5th grade class?

4. Which Ball is the Best Bouncer? Washington Science Standards for Grades 4-5 • EALR 2: Inquiry • Big Idea: Inquiry (INQ) • Core Content: Planning Investigation • 4-5 INQB Investigate Content Standard: Scientists plan and conduct different kinds of investigations, depending on the questions they are trying to answer. Types of investigations include systematic observations and descriptions, field studies, models, and open-ended explorations as well as controlled experiments. Performance expectation: Work collaboratively with other students to carry out a controlled experiment, selecting appropriate tools and demonstrating safe and careful use of equipment. http://www.k12.wa.us/Science/pubdocs/WAScienceStandards.pdf

5. Which Ball is the Best Bouncer? Learning Target:Student will be able to control variables in an experiment or “fair test.” (Skill/Process)   Evidence: Student devises an experiment in which one variable is manipulated while all others are held constant. Assessment: Performance assessment Scoring Guide - Rubric

6. What have been your experiences with assessment? What have been the purposes of assessment in your school career?

7. Assessment • Marv • Teach, test, and hope for the best…. • “It’s not teaching that causes results, it’s adjustments by the learner.” - G. Wiggins • Learners need feedback => Assessment

8. My Learning Targets 1. Students will develop their understanding of the role of assessment in the larger processes of curriculum planning and active learning (ala *UbD). (concept) 2. Students will develop their understanding of the learning target categories: fact, concept, skill and disposition (adopted from *Stiggins). (concept) 3. Students will develop their understanding of basic assessment methods (M.C./short answer, essay, performance assessment, personal communication) and scoring guides (e.g. rubrics) (concept). 4. Students will develop their ability to make reasonable associations between types of learning targets and the four basic assessment methods (skill).

9. Backward Design: Assessment in the curriculum planning process • Know your content! • Develop your learning targets; fact, concept/generalization, skill/process, disposition • Develop your assessments; LT => Evidence => Assessment M.C./Short Answer, Essay, Performance Assessment, Personal Communication • Develop your instructional activities; • Evaluate the quality and equity of the process.

10. Planning with Assessment in Mind

11. Target => Evidence => Assessment • Fact • that which we know • Concept • that which we understand • Skill • that which we can do • Disposition • that which we value, enjoy, appreciate, etc.

12. Learning Targets: Fact • that the capital of Australia is Canberra; • twelve important dates for WWI: • June 28, 1914 - Archduke Ferdinand, is assassinated in Sarajevo, . . . , • June 28, 1919 - Peace Treaty signed in Versailles. • an isosceles triangle has 2 sides of equal length; • the definition of a pun: [ the humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest different meanings or applications.] evidence: state the definition of a pun. assessment: selected response - matching test Students will know….

13. Learning Targets: Concept/Generalization Concept: an abstract idea generalized from particular instances Generalization: statements about relationships between or among concepts • that confronting prejudices and stereotypes is part of building meaningful relationships across differences; • that it takes perseverance to work for justice; • a pun as the humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest different meanings or applications. evidence: identify examples of puns in Shakespeare’s writing. assessment: essay or personal communication Students will understand….

14. Learning Targets: Skill/Process • make inferences about character traits that support characters’ abilities to build relationships across differences; • glean information from primary sources; • use the strategy of “reading-on” to comprehend words and ideas in complex text; • use the text animation feature of Power Point, including “effects,” and “order and timing.” evidence: student produces slides using these features assessment: performance assessment Students will be able to….

15. Learning Targets: Dispositions Students will value, enjoy, appreciate, etc…. • value divergent scientific thinking; • enjoy speaking Spanish; • appreciate the use of history as a tool to understand the present; • value perseverance in mathematical problem solving. evidence: students persist with their own problem solving efforts before consulting the teacher or their peers. assessment: personal communication

16. Target => Evidence => Assessment What does it looklike when students are achieving the following kinds of targets? • Facts • ”Students will know that …” • Concepts/Generalizations • “Students will understand that …” • Skills/Processes • “Students will be able to …” • Dispositions • “Students will enjoy / appreciate / value, etc. …” Write a learning target of your own and then write a statement of evidence for that target.

17. Target => Evidence => Assessment How do we give students a chance to give us the evidence we require of them? • M.C. / Selected Response / Short Answer • Essay • Performance Assessment • Personal Communication

18. A Quiz…. Please select one of the following descriptors to characterize the quality of the match between each target type and assessment method. Excellent - Good - Fair - Poor

19. Target => Evidence => AssessmentNow what? We need a way to keep track of all the evidence we get from these assessment and to provide consistent and directed feedback to learners.

20. Scoring Guides • Answer Keys • Checklists√ • Rating Scales ____|____|____|____|____ • Rubrics 1 2 3 4

21. In order to assess we must elicit, observe, and interpret external indicators of an internal state. Inferences

22. The Valentine Creation Workshop

23. The Valentine Creation Workshop • What are the important outcomes for your graduates? Pick two. (Learning Targets) • How will you know that graduates have achieved these outcomes? (Evidence) • How will you give them a chance to demonstrate their achievement? (Assessment) Create a rubric.

24. The Pumpkin Carving Workshop

25. The Pumpkin Carving Workshop • What are the important outcomes for your graduates? (Learning Targets) • How will you know that graduates have achieved these outcomes? (Evidence) • How will you give them a chance to demonstrate their achievement? (Assessment) Create a learning target, evidence, and a scoring guide

26. Cognitive Processes => Self Monitoring Learners Scoring Guides:Answer Keys, Checklists, Rating Scales & Rubrics Feedback Active Construction of Understanding

27. Checklists • “A checklist is a set of specific key behaviors that represent the competency or activity of interest” • The behaviors should be concrete and observable. • The behaviors are either present or absent. • Checklists may be scored (yes: +1, no: -1) Gredler, M. (1999). Classroom Assessment and Learning. Longman

28. Checklists • Identify your target (e.g., effective paragraph construction) • Construct a list of observable component behaviors • Arrange the components in a logical order • Devise a simple (e.g., present / absent) marking system Item Present Absent Outline of paragraph ____ ____ Topic Sentence ____ ____ Paragraph single topic ____ ____ Content in logical order ____ ____ Conclusion supported ____ ____

29. Rating Scales • “Rating scales are used when characteristics or dimensions of performance or product can be identified and exist to a greater or lesser degree.” • Include only those behaviors that you will teach; • Limit each item to a single dimension of the performance or product; • Avoid judgmental terms. Gredler, M. (1999). Classroom Assessment and Learning. New York: Longman. Chase, C. (1999). Contemporary Assessment for Educators.New York: Longman.

30. Rating scales for essays of literary criticism Gives reasons and specific evidence to support the argument 5 4 3 2 1 0 Exceptional Adequate Limited huh? Achievement Achievement Evidence Identifies and discusses alternatives points of view 5 4 3 2 1 0 Exceptional Adequate Limited huh? Achievement Achievement Evidence

31. Rubrics • A rubric is simply “a hierarchy of standards used to score students’ work.*” • Rubrics generally have 3 - 6 levels of achievement. • Rubrics can be holistic or analytic, general or specific. • Holistic: describes the qualities of the performance as a whole. One score stands for a constellation of descriptors. • Analytic: assigns separate scores to the task’s essential traits. • General: one rubric applies to various instances of the phenomenon. • Specific: the rubric applies to one specific task *Bush & Leinwand. (2000). “Mathematics Assessment:…” Reston, VA. NCTM. McGatha & Darcy. (2010). “Rubrics at Play.” Teaching Mathematics in the Middle School. v. 15 n.6

32. holistic Rubrics

33. Analytic Rubrics