Assessment For Learning: Elementary

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Assessment For Learning Elementary
NESA Spring Educators Conference April 2, 2011
Damian Cooper [phone] dcooper3_at_rogers.com
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Session Outcomes

• Review the research base behind current
  assessment directions
• Examine the importance of metacognition,
  feedback, and self and peer assessment.
• Understand the critical role played by
  assessment for learning in providing students
  with the information they need to improve
• Learn about research-based assessment for
  learning strategies that are proving to be
  effective in improving student learning
• Share with colleagues how these strategies may be
  appropriate to my own classroom

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Time to Talk About Assessment

• Identify for yourself your 1 issue or concern
  about classroom assessment at your school.
• Share your concerns at your table.
• Which of these are shared by the majority at your
  table?

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Mission to sift and sort students
Mean
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Mission excellence from ALL
Range of Competent Achievement
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If the new goal of education is success for all,
then we have no choice but toDifferentiate
Instruction Assessment

• Instruction
• Students bring different knowledge experience
  to school
• Students learn at different rates
• Students learn in different ways

• Assessment
• Not all students are able to demonstrate their
  learning in the same way
• Not all students respond the same way to test
  pressure
• Some students need more scaffolding than others

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Research on Effective Assessment

• The provision of effective feedback to students
• The active involvement of students in their own
  learning
• Adjusting teaching to take account of the results
  of assessment
• Recognition of the profound influence assessment
  has on motivation and self-esteem
• The need for students to be able to assess
  themselves and understand how to improve

Crooks, 1988 Black Wiliam, 1998
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The Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment

• Assessment serves different purposes at different
  times it may be used to find out what students
  already know and can do it may be used to help
  students improve their learning or it may be
  used to let students, and their parents, know how
  much they have learned within a prescribed period
  of time.

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Assessment for Learning
Assessment for learning is any assessment for
which the first priority in its design and
practice is to serve the purpose of promoting
students learning. It thus differs from
assessment designed primarily to serve the
purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of
certifying competence. Black, Wiliam et al.
2004
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Assessment of Learning
Assessment of learning includes those tasks that
are designed to determine how much learning has
occurred after a significant period of
instruction. The data from such assessments is
often used to determine report card grades.
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Differing Assessment Purposes

• Assessment for Learning
• Tryouts
• Practices

• Assessment of Learning
• Games
• Playoffs

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But we must begin with the question, What
constitutes essential learning for students in
the 21st. century?
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Backward Design Program Planning
Stage 1 Identify targeted understandings Stage
2 Determine appropriate assessment of those
understandings Stage 3 Plan learning experiences
and instruction that make such understanding
possible
Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design
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Stage 1 Identify targeted understandings
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Assessment of Learning
Assessment of learning includes those tasks that
are designed to determine how much learning has
occurred after a significant period of
instruction. The data from such assessments is
often used to determine report card grades.
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When the classroom culture focuses on rewards,
gold stars, grades, or class ranking, then
(students) look for ways to obtain the best marks
rather than to improve their learning. One
reported consequence is that, when they have any
choice, (students) avoid difficult tasks. They
also spend time and energy looking for clues to
the right answer. Inside the Black Box,
Black Wiliam, 1998
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assessment which is explicitly designed to
promote learning is the single most powerful tool
we have for both raising standards and empowering
lifelong learners.
Assessment for Learning Beyond the Black Box,
1999, University of Cambridge School of Education
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Stage 2 Determine appropriate assessment of
those understandings
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Stage 1 Identify targeted understandings
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Stage 2 Determine appropriate assessment of
those understandings
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Assessment for Learning
Assessment for learning is any assessment for
which the first priority in its design and
practice is to serve the purpose of promoting
students learning. It thus differs from
assessment designed primarily to serve the
purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of
certifying competence. Black, Wiliam et al.
2004
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Diagnostic Assessment

• Engage students with a hook If you won the
  lottery
• Activate prior knowledge
• Assess current skills and understanding in 3
  ways
• -through written work
• -through performance assessment and
  observation
• -through oral assessment questioning,
  conferencing, discussion, etc.

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Grade 1.
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Time to Talk About Assessment

• Discuss this 3-way model for diagnostic
  assessment
• -how closely does it align with your current
  practice?
• -how does it differ?
• -what elements of this model could be adapted to
  your own class?
• -what challenges do you anticipate?
• -how might these be solved?

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Using Assessment Data to Differentiate Instruction

• Examine the data from diagnostic assessments to
  group students according to their strengths and
  needs
• Use mini-lessons followed by practice to address
  these needs
• Identify individual students who are most at
  risk
• Use a combination of groupings to increase
  understanding

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Purposeful Grouping of Students

• Heterogeneous groups to provide support and to
  consolidate new learning
• Homogeneous groups to deepen learning and to
  provide specific instruction to struggling
  learners
• Flexible grouping to ensure all students work in
  their zpd

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Using Assessment Data to Differentiate Instruction

• Schedule time to conference with individuals or
  small groups of students who need the most
  support
• Plan this time strategically as a routine part of
  your instruction

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Differentiating Instruction

• Teachers need to fully understand accommodation,
  modification, and substitution
• To develop skills, simplify the content e.g.
  Simpler texts, less depth/breadth, etc.
• To master content, present using a different mode
  suited to students strengths e.g. Graphics,
  audio, video, manipulatives, etc.

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Differentiating Assessment

• Content standards learning outcomes
• Performance standards rubrics/checklists
• Student products performances
• Assessment conditions

• Must be within students ZPD
• Keep consistent for all students
• May be adapted to be within students ZPD

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Tiered Assessments

• Design task _at_ grade level, to demonstrate
  proficiency, independently
• Adapt or modify task to increase challenge less
  structure, more choice, greater sophistication,
  etc.
• Adapt or modify task to reduce challenge more
  structure, less choice, less sophistication, etc.

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Tiered Assessments
Tiered Assignment Grade 5 Science
Strand Life Science Human Body Enduring
Understandings students will understand how the
different body systems are interconnected Essentia
l Skills research, organization,
communication Overview of Task Students will
select a specific disease of the human body to
research. They will present their findings using
one of several presentation media. The research
and presentation task has been tiered to suit
different strengths and needs of
students Assessment Criteria a common rubric is
provided for all versions of the task. Research
posing questions, locating and using resources to
answer questions, organizing materials to answer
questions Communication selection of appropriate
medium, clarity of material, quality of product
presented, ability to respond to
questions Content accuracy, depth, vocabulary,
level of understanding
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Tiered Assessments
Tier One Task (designed to provide evidence of
proficient achievement at grade level) The
teacher provides a list of possible diseases to
be researched. (alternatively, students may
select their own disease to research). The
teacher provides a list of presentation methods,
including written report, oral report, Powerpoint
presentation, etc. Students are provided with
templates that guide them through the research
process, as well as templates relating to each of
the presentation methods. Students work in
pairs, assigned by the teacher, to support each
other as they conduct research, organize their
findings, and prepare their presentations.
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Tiered Assessments
Tier Two Task (designed to provide an additional
level of challenge) Students work as a group to
brainstorm the following range of diseases they
will research all possible sources of
information range of media they will use to
communicate their findings. They will serve as
resources for each other throughout the project,
collaborating as necessary to accomplish the task.
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Tiered Assessments
Tier Three Task (scaffolded task designed to
provide struggling students with an appropriate
level of challenge) Students work under the
direct supervision of the teacher. Using one
disease, she works closely with students to model
each step in the research process. Following each
modeled step, she has students complete the same
step independently, using a second disease that
she has selected. She repeats the same
modeling/independent work process for each step
in the preparation of students presentations.
The presentation medium is tailored to each
students profile.
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Reporting to Parents

• Grade level at which student is working
• Achievement level at which student is performing
• Degree of support provided

• Learning outcomes
• (incl. IEP ref. if applicable)
• Rubric levels
• Anecdotal comments

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Time to Talk About Assessment

• To what extent are the preceding descriptions of
  instruction, assessment and reporting for diverse
  learners consistent with current practice in your
  school or classroom?

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Time to Talk About Assessment

• What is your assessment of Kims instructional
  assessment practices?
• ?
• -?
• Interesting?

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Components of Assessment for Learning (Black
Wiliam, 2003)

• Oral questioning
• Marking as feedback
• Peer and self-assessment
• Formative use of summative tests

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Components of Assessment for Learning (Wiliam,
2007)

• Clarifying learning intentions and sharing
  criteria for success
• Engineering effective classroom discussions,
  questions, and learning tasks that elicit
  evidence of learning
• Providing feedback that moves learners forward
• Activating students as owners of their own
  learning
• Activating students as instructional sources for
  one another

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Components of Assessment for Learning (Cooper,
2007)

• Do I routinely share learning goals with my
  students so they know where we are heading?
• Do I routinely communicate to students the
  standards they are aiming for before they begin
  work on a task?
• Do I routinely have students self and peer assess
  their work in ways that improve their learning?
• Does my questioning technique include all
  students and promote increased understanding?
• Do I routinely provide individual feedback to
  students that informs them how to improve?
• Do I routinely provide opportunities for students
  to make use of this feedback to improve specific
  pieces of work?

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Time to Talk About Assessment

• To what extent are these 6 Look Fors evident
  in your classroom or school?

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Assessment for Learning am I already doing it?

• Do I routinely share learning goals with my
  students so they know where we are heading?

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Math Class

• Learning Goal You will demonstrate that you
  understand the relationship between the numerator
  and the denominator in a fraction.
• At the end of the lesson, Linda points to the
  poster on the classroom wall and asks her
  students
• What did you learn in this lesson today?
• Their exit slip is to answer on a leaf and post
  it on the knowledge tree
• Linda told me that the most effective AFL
  strategy for her has been to write the learning
  goal for each days lesson on the board.

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Assessment for Learning am I already doing it?

• Do I routinely share learning goals with my
  students so they know where we are heading?
• Do I routinely communicate to students the
  standards they are aiming for before they begin
  work on a task?

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• Most students can hit the target if they can see
  it clearly and it stays still for them.
• Rick Stiggins

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Clear Targets

• Clarity of curriculum standards
• High quality assessment tasks
• Rubrics to describe what quality looks like
• Checklists to enable students to monitor their
  own progress
• Anchors to show students what quality looks like

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Using Rubrics in the Classroom

• Use a rubric analytically to provide feedback to
  students when conducting diagnostic or formative
  assessment
• I.e. focus on the indicators and dont worry
  about the overall level
• Use a rubric holistically for summative
  evaluation purposes
• I.e. Ask, What set of indicators best describes
  the students overall performance at this time?

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Assessment for Learning
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Assessment of Learning
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Time to Talk About Assessment

• As you view Jackies class, consider
• -what are some of the potential pitfalls in
  assessing this task?
• -how is Jackies use of a rubric similar to or
  different from your own practice?

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Assessment for Learning am I already doing it?

• Do I routinely share learning goals with my
  students so they know where we are heading?
• Do I routinely communicate to students the
  standards they are aiming for before they begin
  work on a task?
• Do I routinely have students self and peer assess
  their work in ways that improve their learning?

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Math Class

• Pete has his students use Traffic Light
  signs at the start of a lesson on equivalent
  fractions, decimals and percentages to assess
  prior knowledge.
• Teacher Do you know what the word equivalent
  means?
• Students show either the red or green side of
  the traffic light in response.
• He orally checks a sample of the green
  responses to see if they do, in fact, understand
  the term.

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Music Class

• Students had been practising in groups of 3,
  playing a 3-part jazz composition. At the end of
  the lesson, each group performed and the teacher
  required peers to assess what they heard. Here
  is some of the conversation
• Rachel Holly went too fast.
• Sam You all need to listen more to each other.
• Teacher Now, who hasnt given any feedback yet?
  Tam, tell Emmas group how they did, and
  remember to be specific.
• Tam Emmas fill was really good. Everyone was
  in good time.
• Teacher Are you sure about that, Tam? (Tam
  hesitates.)
• Michael, what did you think about Emmas group?
• Michael They all started out together, then
  Freddy seemed to get lost, but then they finished
  together.
• Teacher Good feedback, Michael. Emmas group, do
  you agree with what Michael said?

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Self and Peer Assessment

• Assessment for learning ONLY
• Requires training
• and modelling
• Focus assessment
• on what was taught
• Begin with short sessions
• Needs to be part of your routine

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Time to Talk About Assessment

• With your colleagues, discuss current use of self
  and/or peer assessment in terms of purpose,
  frequency and design in your classroom or school.

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Assessment for Learningam I already doing it?

• Does my questioning technique include all
  students and promote increased understanding?
• Do I routinely provide individual feedback to
  students that informs them how to improve?
• Do I routinely provide opportunities for students
  to make use of this feedback to improve specific
  pieces of work?

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Provide tons of feedback

• Oral written feedback tell students how to
  improve marks DONT
• Establish classroom routines that create
  opportunities for teacher peer feedback
• Provide feedback ALONE on formative assessments
  do NOT include marks

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Provide tons of feedback

• Needs to cause thinking dont provide the
  answer
• Must not be evaluative
• Must direct students towards improvement
• Must make reference to specific quality
  indicators (a rubric or checklist)
• Must include an expectation that it will be
  implemented
• Must include strategies for checking that it has
  been implemented

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Commitment to Action

• Spend a few moments reflecting on today .
• What was your most significant learning?
• What specific actions do you plan to take
  immediately and/or between now and June 2011?
• Who will be involved?
• What results would you like to see from these
  actions?
• How will you assess the effectiveness of these
  actions?

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