M ike M c K ay June 2011

1. Assessment Literacy: BUILDING CAPACITY Knowing…Doing…Leading Mike McKay June 2011

2. Assessment Literacy: The Leader’s Role in Changing Practice Reframing the narrative and reclaiming the high ground: • Acknowledging “where we are” • Identifying “where we want to be” • Planning “to get from here to there” With thanks to Rick Stiggins, Ruth Sutton and other passionate leaders helping us to do the work of changing assessment practices to support student learning Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

3. Leadership 101: Our Self-Assessment Guide Attributes of successful people and organizations • Brutally honest in self-assessment • Develop a reasonable plan • Relentless follow through (from McREL) How does your learning environment hold up to these standards? Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

4. Our Context: Leadership Focus and Guiding Truths • 5 Guiding Truths • Students First • Results Matter • Count What Counts • We Are All Responsible • Do What’s Right Instructional/ Assessment Strategies Relationships STUDENT SUCCESS Content Knowledge/Context Skill • Is our sacred trust (every child, every chance, every day) • important enough to change current norms? Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

5. Foundational Values and Beliefs for our Leadership Work • There are no throw-away kids and no throw-away schools • The overwhelming majority of the adults in our system come to work wanting to do the best job they can do • We need to work smarter together rather than harder alone • “Skill and Will” are not fixed assets. They can be influenced and increased by strategic action • Each school is in a different place in its development, level of success and sense of efficacy. Leadership is about taking the school from where it is to where it needs to be. Table Talk: Where is your “sweet spot” for action in these value statements? Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

6. Dynamic Tensions and the Leader’s Brain Values Results Pressure Ingenuity Compliance Support Opportunities Rules Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

7. Simple truth about learning “Cramming more content per minute or moving from one piece of learning to the next virtually guarantees that little will be learned or retained” Eric Jensen: Teaching with the Brain in Mind Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

8. The Learner is Ready for the World Today and Tomorrow When…From Tony Wagner – The Global Achievement Gap • We develop students’ 21st~century skills by revolutionizing the curriculum into something that is interdisciplinary, integrated, project-based so that students engage in authentic experiences with: • Critical Thinking and Problem Solving • Collaboration across Networks and Leading by Influence • Agility and Adaptability • Initiative and Entrepreneurialism • Effective Oral and Written Communication • Accessing and Analyzing Information • Curiosity and Imagination • Table Talk: How many of our classrooms achieve this on a daily basis? How do our current assessment practices support development of these skills? Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

9. Where Do Today’s Assessment Practices Take Us? We train the factory workers of tomorrow. Our graduates are very good at following instructions. And we teach the power of consumption as an aid for social approval… or We teach people to take initiative and become remarkable artists, to question the status quo, and to interact with transparency. And our graduates understand that consumption is not the answer to social problems. Seth Godin, Linchpin Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

10. Assessment for Achievement • Provides descriptive feedback. 2. Engages children in their own learning • Provides children with opportunities for self- assessment and feedback for improvement. • Informs and guides instruction. 5. Is sensitive to effects on children’s self-esteem and motivation. Rick Stiggins Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

11. Assessment of learning Checks learning to date Audience beyond the classroom Periodic Uses numbers, scores and grades Criterion/standards referenced No need to involve the learner Assessment for learning Suggests next learning Audience is teachers and learners Continual – conversation and marking Specific feedback, using words Self-referenced, progress over time Must involve the learner – the person most able to improve learning Assessment: 2 Different Purposes Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

12. Distinct Differences Assessment OF AssessmentFOR Measuring Learning Public/Parents Students Descriptive % # Symbols (A,B,etc) Daily Event Coach Judge Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

13. Letter Grades as Feedback NOT Timely – often very removed from learning experience NOT Specific – numbers or letters that provide no useful information to the learner NOT Understood – students are not able to express what the letter grade reflects about their learning Does NOT Allow for Student Self Adjustment – usually summative/final – no opportunity for redos Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

14. How far have we come? Many students don’t “survive” old assessment practices as well as Winston Churchill did.

15. Formative Assessment – Descriptive Feedback (Coaching) These four criteria are key to quality feedback (assessment for learning): 1. Timely 2. Specific 3. Understood by student 4. Able to be acted upon by the student Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

16. Transforming Assessment in a Winnipeg SchoolFrom Ruth Sutton • Teacher is clear about purpose and task • Teacher knows how to ‘State, share and show’ learning expectations • Teacher designs and explains the ‘enabling tasks’ • Teacher and students develop criteria • Students check their work, while the task is in progress • Students say what’s OK and what’s not • Students identify a next step • Students continue, or correct work so far • Students reflect periodically on what they’ve learned, and how they learned it • Students present learning and achievement to an audience Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

17. When We Get It Right!(from Rick Stiggins) 1. We understand the relationship between assessment and student motivation and use assessment to build student confidence rather than failure and defeat. 2. We articulate to our students, in advance of teaching, the achievement standards they are to achieve. 3. We inform our students regularly, in terms they understand, about those achievement standards, by sharing the criteria and samples of high-quality work. 4. Our students can describe what standards they are to hit and what comes next in their learning. Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

18. When We Get It Right! (contd) (from Rick Stiggins) 5. We transform these learning standards into dependable assessments that yield accurate information. 6. We consistently use school assessment information to revise and guide teaching and learning. 7. Our feedback to students is frequent, descriptive, constructive, and immediate, helping students know how to plan and improve. 8. Our students are actively, consistently, and effectively involved in assessment, including learning to manage their own learning through the skills of self-assessment. 9. Our students actively, consistently, and effectively communicate with others about their achievement status and improvement. Table Talk: Where can we build from current successes to consistent, high reliability assessment norms? Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

19. Assessment for Learning: A dramatic shift in long-established norms Six Key Elements • Learning Intentions: how clear are we in planning and sharing? • Criteria: what does “good” look like (and why)? • Descriptive Feedback: intended to guide, not to reward/punish. • Questions: Do our questions promote curiosity, risk taking, growth…? • Self and Peer Assessment: engaging students in the work of critical analysis. • Ownership – is assessment something being “done to” students? Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

20. In your current leadership environment, what strategies can you use to promote greater understanding and ownership of quality AFL for each of the skill/commitment quadrants? Skill High Disengaged Educator Master Educator Commitment High Low Struggling Educator Beginning Educator Low Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

21. Effective and Efficient Assessment Routines • Connect learning activities directly with learning outcomes – multiple learning outcomes if possible – more time spent on fewer assignments • Provide clear criteria, rubrics and high quality student samples – help kids see what “good” looks like • Assess/observe but don’t “mark” all assignments – particularly formative work • Spend your time providing assessment feedback on the most important assignments to the most needy students Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

22. Effective and Efficient Assessment Routines (cont.) • Give quick, clear, specific and supportive feedback to stronger students in the moment and “on your feet” • 6. Move away from letter grades, numbers and scores on assignments – replace with descriptive comments – what’s working, what isn’t, where to from here • Give more efficient formative feedback as you move from desk-to-desk or as you connect on-line • Only summatively mark one or two performance-based assignments per unit - give constructive/formative feedback in between • When will school stop being a place where young people go to watch old people work hard? • . Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

23. Grading Isn’t Going Away! How Does It (Mis)Align With AFL? Rate your current reality from 1: often to 5: never with the following statements (not what you want to believe but what you know is taking place) • Teachers decide on grades based on their own criteria (whatever information and “formulas” they choose to use) 1 2 3 4 5 • Every piece of work done by a student should be given a grade 1 2 3 4 5 • It is fair and effective for teachers to give zeros 1 2 3 4 5 • A percentage grade is more accurate than a letter grade 1 2 3 4 5 • Parents understand the basis on which grades are awarded, and what the grades mean about a student’s work and progress 1 2 3 4 5 • A letter grade factors in attendance/ behavior as well as achievement 1 2 3 4 5 • Grades are used to motivate students to improve their learning 1 2 3 4 5 Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

24. The student is a learner when… • He remembers what he can already do • He knows what he can’t do yet • He can identify one or two next steps that would improve his work • He knows what to do when he doesn’t know what to do • He has some strategies for getting ‘unstuck’ • He is sufficiently confident to take risks These are our learners today – and our leaders tomorrow. What legacy are we choosing to leave? Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity Mike McKay June 2011

25. Post-session reflection/self-assessment