Assessment
Checking for understanding
Objectives for the session
Review the plethora of assessment options available
Reflect on current practices and philosophy
Contrast large scale external assessment with
internal assessment goals
Establish clear definitions for formative, benchmark,
and summative assessment
Discuss the value of CFA
Learn general guidelines for effective item writing
Use a team protocol and checklist to create a CFA
Identify next steps
Guiding Questions for PLCs
Focus on student learning:
What should students know and be able to
do? (Curriculum, GLEs): August PD
How do we know if they have learned
it? (Assessment): today’s focus
What do we do if they don’t understand?
(interventions): future
What do we do if they know it already?
(enrichment): future
Traditional versus PLC lens
T: did the students “get it”
PLC: did the teacher make good instructional choices
T: on to next topic
PLC: how do I have to adjust my plan to assure
learning for all
T: exposure and coverage, teacher puts information
out there, students responsible for learning it
PLC: focus on mastery, make adjustments and
changes on the fly in response to student strengths
and weaknesses, teacher responsibility for learning
T: cover everything, test everything
PLC: power standards & teach key concepts deeply
How do we assess student
understanding?
Activity:
Individually brainstorm a list of all the
ways that you check for understanding
Compare your list with grade level
colleagues
Some common assessment
options
Selected response items: multiple choice, true-false, matching
Constructed response: fill-in word/phrase, short answer, label a
diagram, show work, create a visual representation (web,
concept map, graph, illustration)
Create a product: essay, research paper, log, journal, story,
portfolio, exhibit, project, model
Performance: oral presentation, lab, enactment, game or
competition, debate, recital
Process focused: oral questioning, observation/kid-watching,
interview, conference, description, think-aloud
Sampling: thumbs-up/down, value line, classroom response
unit/”clickers”
White boards
Exit tickets
What are the dominant
assessment options/preferences?
Which formal and informal assessment
options do you use the most to check
for student understanding?
Create a pie graph of the top five
options.
How and why do you vary the
assessment option that you select?
External versus Internal
accountability measures
“physical” versus “autopsy”
Assessment “of learning” based on
established standards versus
assessment “for learning”
What really counts
Proficient, goal, advanced?
Assessments to generate grades?
Assessment to adjust instruction?
External pros and cons
Pro:
Provides general information on groups of students
Culminating activity—snapshot of learning based on grade
level expectations & standards
Can lead to broad changes in curriculum content, sequence,
and delivery/instruction
Clearly summative
Con:
No further action possible—in the books
Minimal impact on current students’ growth
Long turn around time
Internal assessment
Can be specific to individual students
On-going activity—creates a photo
album for learning to guide decision
making
Impacts instructional practice
Feedback helps students grow
Immediate or short turn around
Can be summative or formative
Assessment overload
Formative
“informative”
Benchmark
Progress towards a goal
Summative
Final check of level of understanding
Formative Assessment
Process used by teachers to determine
how to adjust instruction in response to
student needs and by students to
adjust learning strategies. Formative
assessments are used to inform and
adjust instruction and are not used to
evaluate student progress for a grade.
Summative assessment
Student evaluation tool that is
employed mainly to assess cumulative
student learning at a particular point in
time (e.g. unit test, final, CMT, CAPT)
Benchmark assessment
Assessment tool that is used to
measure progress towards a goal or
current level of student proficiency and
mastery of specific content.
Characteristics of formative
For learning
Diagnostic
Ongoing
Feedback to student and teacher
Changes teaching that follows
Results quickly available
Non-graded
Practice
Homework
process
Characteristics of summative
Of learning
Determines if student has met/not met
standard
Student mastery level
Unit test, CMT, CAPT
No further action on data produced
Characteristics of benchmarks
Could be for or of learning, depending
on how data generated is used
Measures progress towards a standard
Predictive value
Might generate feedback
Might be diagnostic
Might be simply interim evaluation
Which type do we need the
most?
Formative: data driven decision
making, good teaching
Benchmark: checking progress and
keeping focused
Summative: how did we do?
What does the research say?
“The Best Value in Formative
Assessment,” by Stephen Chappuis and
Jan Chappuis, Educational Leadership,
December 2007/January 2008.
“(In)formative Assessments,” by Robert
Rothman, Harvard Education Letter,
November/December 2006 Vol. 22, #6
Reading protocol
What is one sentence, phrase, or idea
from the article that resonates with
you?
Agree? Disagree?
Need further clarification
Task definition
Team protocol for developing a common
assessment
Checklist for creating a common assessment
Advantages and Disadvantages of various
test item choices
Team discussion on topic or skill for which an
assessment will be created collaboratively
Work on creating assessment (if time also a
scoring rubric)
We have a common
assessment—now what?
Field test assessment
Collaboratively score
Discuss if assessment needs “tweaks”
Compile data
Analyze data
Apply protocol: what implications does
data generated have for instruction?