Formative assessment: Bridging the gap between high stakes testing and classroom learning

1. Formative assessment: Bridging the gap between high stakes testing and classroom learning Megan Montee Title III Directors Meeting May 5, 2009

2. Purpose • This presentation will discuss how formative assessment can inform high stakes testing and classroom academic language development.

3. Purpose By the end of this presentation, you will be able to: • Identify purposes and uses for formative assessment; • Understand how formative and summative assessment can work together; • Consider ways to make formative assessment systematic and integrated with instruction.

4. Context • What I’ve learned about your roles: • Title III Directors • Other roles you may hold: Federal program director, Special Education coordinator, testing coordinator • ESL Teachers • Types of classes you teach: pull-out, content-based, sheltered approach • Many of you work in multiple schools • What I’ve learned about the challenges you face: • For teaching ESL • For assessing students

5. Overview • Introduction and Overview • Formative and summative assessment • Academic language development • Example: ELDA Standards • Classroom applications • Discussion

6. Assessment and learning culture • Assessment as a part of a learning process (Shepard, 2000) • Learning culture • Training • Classroom impact

7. Assessment and learning culture Instructors must understand language assessment in order to participate in the language learning culture (Shepard, 2000).

8. Definition of assessment (1/2) Assessment = process of planning, collecting, analyzing and reporting information about student learning Adapted from Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1997). Managing the assessment process: A framework for measuring student attainment of the ESL standards. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

9. Definition of assessment (2/2)

10. Background: assessment literacy • Assessment literacy = what instructors need to know about assessment (Stoynoff and Chapelle, 2005; Boyles, 2005; Stiggins, 1997). • Language assessment literacy = what stakeholders need to know about language and assessment in order to conduct reliable, valid and fair assessments of all students • Stakeholders = ALL participants including test developers AND instructors

11. Classroom assessment for learning • Effective Practices Acquired Through a Team Approach, West Virginia Department of Education

12. Formative and summative

13. Formative and summative • Building academic language proficiency Summative Assessment

14. Academic language • BICS / CALP • WESTELL Standards • English Language Arts • Math, Science and Technology • Social Studies • “(1)Language used to convey curriculum based academic content and (2) the language of the social environment of a school.”

15. Challenges

16. Formative assessment • Planning • Collecting • Analyzing • Reporting

17. Planning for formative assessment • Begin with the end in mind • Don’t wait until the end to assess • Integrate assessment and instruction

18. Planning for formative assessment • Re-read your goals • What did you promise? • Can you do it? • Examine your curriculum • What are the big ideas to assess? • What can help with daily, weekly and future planning? • Match assessment to classroom • Domain • Theme

19. Classroom assessment tasks • Assess what’s in the curriculum (academic language) • Communicate what will be assessed • Assess • Short, daily • Longer, weekly • Longest, end of sequence If there’s no time to assess it, there’s no time to teach it.

20. Planning: formative purposes • Planning instruction • Short-term • Long-term • Organizing/grouping students • Supporting learning • Diagnosing student needs • Motivating students • Providing feedback • To students • To parents • To school/district • Assigning grades

21. Planning: determining Your purposes • Validity and classroom assessment

22. A few examples • High and low stakes assessment

23. Planning for positive washback • Washback (Hughes 2003) • Positive • Negative

24. Systematic assessment • How can we plan for systematic formative assessment? • Data collection • Analysis • Reporting

25. Collecting data • Purpose: What is the best way to find out what I need to know? • Use: What is the most appropriate and effective way to collect this information?

26. Methods for collecting data (1/2) • Formative assessment is defined by use, not the assessment method • Some assessment methods are well-suited to formative assessment

27. Methods for collecting data (2/2) • Observations • Checklists • Oral presentations • Essays / written compositions • Traditional tests • Portfolios / work samples • Student self-assessments • Classroom tasks (individual, pairs, group)

28. Developing assessment tasks • Which mode(s) are you testing? • What format is appropriate?

29. Classroom assessment tasks • Characteristics of good classroom assessment tasks: • Standards-based • Proficiency level appropriate • Age/grade-level appropriate • Tied to instructional goals • Purposeful • Clear directions

30. When to assess Prioritization and Sequencing • Prioritization = how to decide which parts to assess • Sequence = the order in which you assess • How do we do this?

31. Setting sequences • Questions to ask • What did I promise? • What goes together? • Themes • Domains • How much is too much? • 15 minutes or fewer rule; AND • Not too choppy rule

32. Analyzing formative assessment data • Thinking beyond grades • Quantitative information • Assessment level • Item/task level • Qualitative information • Looking at assessment data in content • Other formative assessments • Standardized test scores • Other information about your students • Using data to improve assessment and instruction

33. Reporting formative assessment data • Who needs to know the results of your assessments? • Which reporting format is best for a group of stakeholders?

34. Reporting formative assessment data

35. Communicating results with students • How can assessment results be reported to students? • Make sure students know the purpose of the assessment before it’s administered • Provide meaningful feedback to students • When appropriate, review the assessment with students • Ask for student input

36. Testing checklist • The test is appropriate for my student population. • The test’s intended purpose matches my purpose for testing. • The test’s input is appropriate for the skills I am assessing. • I have the necessary resources to administer the test. • I have the necessary resources to score the test and analyze the results. • I understand how to share the results with stakeholders.

37. Applications Some questions I encounter: • How can formative assessment help me prepare my students for a standardized test? • Is it wrong to teach to the test? • Should formative assessments be mini-versions of the summative assessment?

38. Application: performance assessment • Assessing Speaking • Classroom-based • Academic language

39. Application: WESTELL standards Standards for Speaking: 1. Connect: Establish a verbal connection with an interlocutor in order to talk about something 2. Tell: Provide basic information on a relevant topic in a conversation 3. Explain: Provide detailed information on a relevant topic in a conversation 4. Reason: Argue in favor of or against a particular relevant topic Note: Benchmarks are “implied in the soft hierarchy of functions.” (American Institutes for Research (2005))

40. Application: speaking standards Tell: Provide basic information on a relevant topic in a conversation • Amount of language (words, sentences, extended discourse) • Complexity of language • Academic vocabulary • Fluency and comprehensibility

41. Next steps • How could this standard be assessed in the classroom? • Daily • Weekly • End of instructional unit

42. Assessment resources: web-based A collection of brief, accessible CAL digests on assessment and other relevant topics • http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/subject.html Draft of the ILTA Code of Practice • http://www.iltaonline.com/code.htm   Virtual Assessment Center, an introduction to language assessment from CARLA • http://www.carla.umn.edu/assessment/VAC/index.html  National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition & Language Instruction Educational Programs (NCELA) • http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/ Learning Teams for Assessment Literacy by Richard J. Stiggins • http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/orbit/classroom_assess_sample.html Do educators know how to make use of the new avalanche of standardized test data? by Rebecca Zwick • http://www.highereducation.org/crosstalk/ct0404/voices0404-zwick.shtml

43. Assessment resources: print Short, accessible book which introduces basic concepts of language testing and reviews 20 English language tests • Stoynoff, S. & Chapelle, C. (2005). ESOL tests and testing. Alexandria, VA: TESOL. A practical guide to developing your own classroom assessments • Brown, H.D. (2003). Language assessment: principles and classroom practice. New York: Pearson ESL. A book which provides a thorough but accessible overview of foundational concepts in language testing • Hughes, A. (2003). Testing for language teachers (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Handbook which explains the principles of backward design for classroom assessment • McTighe, J. & Wiggins, G. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Article on creating a culture of assessment • Shepard, L. (2000). The role of assessment in learning culture. Educational Researcher, 29.7, 4-17.

44. Possible next steps • Review current practices • Survey • Meet with teachers • Conduct a needs assessment • What do teachers need to know about assessment? • How could formative assessment be improved? • How could analysis and reporting be improved? • What resources are available? • What resources are needed? • Schedule time and support for assessment planning • Review and discuss standardized test scores • How can these be used to inform classroom instruction and assessment • Provide training on formative assessment • Standards expert • Developing assessment tasks

45. Discussion and questions

46. References • American Institutes for Research. (2005). English language proficiency standards and test and item specifications. www.ccsso.org/projects/ELDA/research_studies • Hughes, A. (2003). Testing for language teachers (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Shepard, L. (2000). The role of assessment in learning culture. Educational Researcher, 29.7, 4-17. • Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1997). Managing the assessment process: A framework for measuring student attainment of the ESL standards. Alexandria, VA: TESOL. • West Virginia Department of Education. Classroom assessment for learning: a journey to assessment literacy.

47. Thank you • Meg Montee • mmontee@cal.org