A Focus on Informed Assessment Practices

1. A Focus on Informed Assessment Practices WebCast # 1 October 17, 2007

2. Inquiry – A Starting Point Educators with an inquiry habit of mind do not presume an outcome; instead they allow for a range of outcomes and keep searching for increased understanding and clarity

3. Inquiry – A Starting Point Inquiry mindedness demands engagement in questioning, reflecting and decision-making Helen Timperley and Lorna Earl, Professional Learning Conversations: Challenges in Using evidence (2008, in press)

4. Our Intentions Today • Thinking together… • about deeper forms of learning • how assessment practices influence learning and motivation • Commitment to… • ongoing exploration of new practices

5. Moving From A Sorting System to a Learning System

6. Formative Assessment Researchers Rick Stiggins

7. Formative Assessment Researchers Dylan Wiliam

8. Formative Assessment Researchers Lorna Earl

9. The Research History – Learning More • 1967 – Michael Scriven – distinction between summative and formative assessment • 1998 – Inside the Black Box – Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam

10. The Research History – Learning More • 2002 – Working Inside the Black Box Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam • 2003 – Assessment for Learning – Putting it into Practice Paul Black, Dylan Wiliam and colleagues • 2003 – Assessment AS Learning Lorna Earl

11. The Research History – Learning More • 2004 – Teaching for Deep Understanding Kenneth A. Leithwood • 2006 – Assessment: A Bridge between Teaching and Learning Dylan Wiliam • 2008 – Evidence Informed Conversations Lorna Earl and Helen Timperley

12. Network of Performance Based Schools www.npbs.ca 1999 to 2007

13. Learning Research • Motivation • Emotion • Socially constructed understanding • Learning mindsets • Partnerships • Self-regulated learning • Imaginative learning

14. AssessmentOF Learning Is intended to certify learning and report to parents and students about students’ progress in school, usually by reporting relative position compared to other students

15. Assessment FOR Learning Is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers, to identify where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go, and how best to get there

16. Assessment AS Learning Assessment as learning emphasizes using assessment as a process of developing and supporting meta-cognition for students Assessment as learning focuses on the role of the student as a self coach – making sense of information, relating it to prior knowledge, and using it for new learning

17. For Discussion and Consideration • Assessment OF, FOR and AS learning • What are the purposes of each form?

18. Learners in Charge of Their Own Learning For students to be able to improve, they must develop the capacity to monitor the quality of their own learning while in progress. This requires that students possess an appreciation of what high quality work is, that they have the evaluative skills necessary for them to compare with some objectivity the quality of what they are producing in relationship to the higher standard, and that they develop a store of strategies which can be drawn upon to modify their own work. Adapted from Sadler

19. Learners in Charge of Their Own Learning We must constantly remind ourselves that the ultimate purpose of evaluation is to enable students to evaluate themselves. Educators may have been practicing this skill to the exclusion of the learners. We need to shift part of this responsibility to students. Fostering students’ ability to direct and redirect themselves must be a major goal. Costa

20. Key Belief Learners need to move from being passive recipients of what they are being taught, to develop as independent learners who take responsibility for their own learning and who are empowered to make progress for themselves.

21. Key Belief Learning is accelerated when learners are clear about the success criteria for the intended learning outcomes, and are able to judge the quality of the work, and know how to improve it.

22. The Key Research Findings • Formative assessment leads to • Significant impact on learning rate and depth • Increase in motivation and self- regulation

23. Formative Assessment – 4 Key Ideas • Meta-cognition for learners • Nimble and responsive teaching • Inquiry mindedness as a way of life • Learning for all through networks

24. Formative Assessment – 4 Key Ideas Before: Plan Teach Assess Alone Now: Assess Plan Teach Assess Together

25. Assessment FOR Learning • Six Strategies • Clarify learning intentions • Provide clear criteria for success • Provide regular coaching feedback that moves learning and learners forward

26. Assessment FOR Learning (continued) • Develop classroom discussion, questions, and learning tasks that generate evidence of learning • Self and peer assessment - Activate learners as learning / teaching resources for each other; learners use the criteria to assess their own learning • Develop learners as owners of their own learning

27. Partner Reading Classroom Assessment – A Bridge Connecting Teaching and Learning Handout B

28. A Focus on Learning Intentions • What are learners expected to learn? How does this connect to prior learning, current learning, and to lifelong learning? • Can learners express in their own words what they are learning? • What is the difference between a learning intention and an activity?

29. Questions to Consider • What is the impact on learners when they are clear about the purpose of their learning? • How is this connected with motivation and engagement for the learners with whom you work?

30. Moving To Clarity

31. Moving To Clarity

32. Moving To Clarity

33. Moving To Clarity

34. Checking for Clarity of Intentions • 30 second sharing • Posted intentions • Exit cards • ……… • What are some additional ways that you can determine whether or not your learners are clear about what they are supposed to be learning?

35. Criteria for Success Answer the question – What does quality work look like? • BC performance standards criteria • Samples of work • Student developed criteria based on previous samples at a range of levels • Pre-flight checklist • ………

36. Assess learning Find the patterns Spiral of Inquiry Do engaging learning and teaching Identify a learning challenge Plan with another Pose a question Develop Criteria for success

37. Committing to Action Between now and November 13 With a learning partner complete your personal action plan to apply two new strategies

38. A Focus on Informed Assessment Practices Thank you for your participation Please send comments or questions to Yrsa Jensen at yrsa.jensen@bcelc.ca Next session November 21, 2007 with Faye Brownlie

39. Archives The archive of this webcast will be available in 2 weeks at: http://bcelc.insinc.com/webcastseries/20071017 The raw video only will be available for use on Friday at: http://bcelc.insinc.com/webcastseries/20071017/archives.html