Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice

1. Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice Blankenship & Siller AER 2012 Dr. Karen Blankenship, Ph.D. Mary Ann Siller, M.Ed.

2. Outline for Today • 1. Discuss impact of the essential assessments for children and families. • 2. Resources found in the Essential Assessments Rubric. • 3. Highlight quality and content rubrics for improving instructional practice • 4. Hands-on session with FVA/LMA/ECC reports. Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

3. What do we know? • We have no standards of practice for completing or writing up an Essential Assessment (EA) • QPVI is working on standards at current sites Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

4. Collaborative Study with AER (N=163) Representation from the NE, SE, SW, NW, MW, and 1 Canadian • 54% have taught more than 11 years • Most worked in a school district (38%) • Most had 20 or less students on their caseload (17.2% 5 or less) • When asked if state required Essential Assessment (EA) • 94% FVA • 95% LMA • 68% ECC • Participants were asked about each component of the EA rubric and the majority of participants included all component areas (79.8%-98.2%) with near/distance acuity having the highest ratings. The lowest rated components were ECC screening tool and formal reading/listening skills (79.8% & 81.7% respectively) • 4 teacher efficacy questions were asked • Most participants had the skills necessary to complete a quality EA and interpret the results Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

5. Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice Effective Instructional Continuum Assessments Educational Programming Research-based Instruction Ongoing Evaluation A research-based effective instructional continuum always begins with quality assessment data that drives both educational programming and instruction for all students with varying acuity and ability levels. Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

6. Effective Instructional Continuum Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

7. Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice Essential Assessments (EA) for eligibility, programming, instruction, and ongoing evaluation for children/youth who are blind or visually impaired Functional vision assessment (FVA) Learning media assessment (LMA) Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) assessments in the priority areas: The ECC Screening Tool allows for a strengths-based conversation around each of the 9 areas with the team choosing 2-3 priority areas to assess and address each year. In addition, the ECC screening tool found in the FVLMA (APH) allows for discussion in all 9 areas. Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

8. Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice A rubric is an authentic assessment tool used to measure professional’s work. It is a scoring guide that seeks to evaluate a professional’s performance based on the sum of a full range of criteria rather than a single numerical score. Two Types of Rubrics Holistic Analytic Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

9. Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice • What is a Rubric • Authentic assessment tool • Scoring guide based on a full range of criteria • Working guide for teachers, administrators, & families • Why use a Rubric • Experts believe that rubrics improve professional's practice and end product Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

10. Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice • What are the advantages to using a Rubric? • Rubrics improve professionals’ performance by clearly showing how their work will be evaluated and what is expected of them. • Rubrics help professionals become better judges of the quality of their own work. • Rubrics allow assessments to be more objective and consistent. Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

11. Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice • What are the advantages of using a Rubric continued? • Rubrics force the teacher to clarify his/her criteria in specific terms. • Rubrics promote professional awareness about the criteria used in assessing peer performance. • Rubrics provide useful feedback to the teacher regarding the effectiveness of the assessment. • Rubrics provide professionals with more informative feedback about their strengths and areas in need of improvement. • Rubrics are easy to use and easy to explain. Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

12. Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice • Essential Assessment Rubrics (holistic/analytic) • Adheres to the RIOT model • Review of records • Interviews with families, students, and professionals • Observations in multiple environments over multiple opportunities • Testing both formal and informal • Developed using two extensive literature reviews, input from Dr. Randy Jose, and continued professional dialogue and learning • Includes tips and resources for staff development Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

13. Authentic Assessment Rubrics to Improve Practice • Navigating the Rubric • http://earubric.com/ Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

14. EA Rubric Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

15. Next Steps • With a partner apply the rubric to your sample essential assessment report and complete the scoring sheet Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

16. Blankenship & Siller AER 2012

17. Resources • Essential Assessments for Children with Visual Impairments: Rubric Project found at earubric.com • Karen Blankenship, Nashville, TN Karen.Blankenship@vanderbilt.edu Mary Ann Siller, Dallas, TX dmasiller@sbcglobal.net Jennifer Coy, Jackson, MO jenniferkcoy@hotmail.com Julie Prause, Columbus, TX julprause@hotmail.com • EVALS, www.tsbvi.edu • Resources for the ECC (RECC) at www.tsbvi.edu • www. familyconnect.org (student and parent ECC audio messages @ teen section) Blankenship & Siller AER 2012