Using Assessments Effectively

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Using Assessments Effectively

• Improving Student Learning

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Effective Teaching

• Ensures the alignments of curriculum,
  instruction, assessment

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Test Fact 1

• All tests rely on a relatively small number of
  exercises to permit the user to draw inferences
  about a students mastery of larger domains of
  achievement

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Test Fact 2

• The purpose of any test item is to obtain a
  student response so that you can make an
  inference about the status of a students
  knowledge or skill

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Why test?

• To assign a grade
• To prescribe more appropriate instruction
• To predict how a student will score on a
  standardized test

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Types of Tests
Summative

• To assign a grade
• To prescribe more appropriate instruction
• To predict how a student will score on a
  standardized test

Formative
Predictive
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When do we assess?
Summative

• To assign a grade
• To prescribe more appropriate instruction
• To predict how a student will score on a
  standardized test

Formative
Predictive
Instruction
BeginningDuring...End
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Test Review
Early Warning Summative Assessment

• What do we do when there is a standardized test
  coming?
• How long does it take?
• How do we know what to review?
• When does this occur?
• Is this practice effective?

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The Best Review

• is NO review!

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How is that possible?

• Alignment between curriculum, instruction, and
  assessment
• Rather than review, teach
• Teach only what students dont know
• Base instruction on standards
• Base assessments on standards

No NEED for review theyve got it! (and you
have extra time for instruction!)
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Teaching a Standards-Based Curriculum

• Determine standard(s) to be taught
• Develop pre-assessment
• Administer pre-assessment
• Design instruction
• Administer assessment
• Redesign instruction

What type of assessment are we using?
What type of grades are we recording?
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Have we Forgotten?

• Students are the key assessment users!
• Students use tests to set expectations for
  themselves how high to aim, what their
  likelihood of success is
• On-going assessment offers an opportunity to
  reveal progress, success, and potential

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• When they do not understand what is expected and
  how to succeed, students feel doomed to failure
  and give up.
• Sound assessments links students to their
  constantly emerging sense of academic and
  personal self-efficacy.

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Test Anxiety

• Test anxiety is a learned behavior, compounded
  and created by a lack of information about what
  is expected.
• Some smart students are bad testers.
• Frequent information about expectations can help
  students achieve.

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Motivation

• Assessments can motivate students to learn.
• Provides feedback before the TEST, while there is
  still time to learn
• Gives students information about what is expected
  and helps them gain confidence that they can meet
  the expectations

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The Bottom Line

• What we assess, how we assess, and how we
  communicate the results send a clear message to
  students about what is worth learning, how it
  should be learned, what elements of quality are
  most important, and how well we expect them to
  perform.

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Quality Feedback

• The essence of assessment is feedback to the
  teacher, to the student, and to the parents.
• The value of assessment is in the relevance,
  precision, and accuracy of the information
  extracted.

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How can we improve instruction?

• Find out how many of the standards students have
  already mastered.
• Focus instruction on the standards that have not
  been mastered.
• Offer students timely, relevant feedback.
• Offer students timely, relevant instruction

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The Normal Feedback Cycle

• Too late to reteach A.
• Students who did not master A are struggling on B
  without prerequisite skills.

Instruct A
Test A
Instruct B
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A Better Feedback Cycle
Feedback used to guide instruction so students
master one concept before moving on.
Teach A
Assess A
Teach B
REteach A
Assess A
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Using Formative Assessment to Help Students
Achieve!
Instruct
Assess Feedback
Performance Standards
Plan
Analyze Data
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Ideal Assessments

• Relevant to instruction and standards
• Provides timely feedback to students and teachers
• Used to drive instruction rather than rank
  students

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The Online Assessment System

• Test bank of questions linked to Georgia
  Performance Standards
• Provides immediate feedback to students and
  teachers
• Provides prescriptive instructional data
• Easy to use