TEKS-Based Assessment

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TEKS-Based Assessment
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In this next session, we will be talking about
assessing the TEKS, and the types of things you
may do in the classroom to measure how well a
child has learned TEKS content.
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As a group, talk about the different types of
assessments currently used in your classrooms.
After everyone has shared the assessments they
use, summarize the types of assessments used by
the collective group on page 12-94 of your
recording sheet.
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Which assessments were identified by your group ?
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Did your group identify

• Before the lesson (diagnostic) assessment?
• During the lesson (formative) assessment?
• After the lesson (summative) assessment?

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This section of the TEKS training will introduce
how diagnostic, formative, and summative
assessments may be used in your classroom.
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Why should we focus on TEKS-based assessment?
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Within Texas Education Code, the Texas
Legislature has identified a common curriculum
(TEKS) for every student in the state, and a
common assessment (TAKS, TAKS-Alt, or TAKS-I)
beginning at grade three.
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28.002. REQUIRED CURRICULUM. (a) Each school
district that offers kindergarten through grade
12 shall offer, as a required curriculum (1) a
foundation curriculum that includes (A) English
language arts (B) mathematics (C) science and
(D) social studies, consisting of Texas, United
States, and world history, government, and
geography and
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TAC 101.3 (a) The goal of the statewide
assessment program is to provide all eligible
Texas students an appropriate statewide
assessment that measures and supports their
achievement of the essential knowledge and skills
of the state-mandated curriculum.
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TEC 39.023. ADOPTION AND ADMINISTRATION OF
INSTRUMENTS. (f) The assessment instruments
shall be designed to include assessment of a
student's problem-solving ability and
complex-thinking skills using a method of
assessing those abilities and skills that is
demonstrated to be highly reliable.
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SECTION I
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Section I Diagnostic Assessment
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The 79th Texas Legislature has appropriated
funding for schools to provide accelerated
reading and math intervention for struggling
students in Grades K-6 during the 2005-2006
school year.
-TEA, 2005
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District-wide mathematics diagnostics, such as
the Texas Math Diagnostic System, should be used
to identify students with mathematics
difficulties.
-TEA, 2005
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So if instruction must meet students needs, how
must we evaluate those needs prior to
instruction?
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Why use diagnostic assessment?

• Required by law, struggling students must be
  identified and served prior to failing the grade
  five mathematics TAKS
• This type of assessment helps us evaluate the
  knowledge students have retained from prior
  instruction, or learned at home
• Diagnostic assessment can help educators tailor
  instruction within a unit based on student need

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Diagnostic assessments should be examined by the
teacher to determine which TEKS student
expectation statements should be emphasized
within a unit of study. A formal grade should not
be given.
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Please note

• Diagnostic assessments should be open-ended in
  nature and allow for many types of student
  responses
• Include items that require students to
  communicate their thinking
• Include items that require students to use
  multiple representations
• Multiple choice questions should NOT be used in
  this type of assessment

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Pretend you are a third grade teacher. What
concepts and skills would you expect your
students to know about 2-D and 3-D geometry prior
to instruction?List these concepts and skills on
your recording sheet, page number 12-94
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Use the TEKS as your Guide

• (2.7) The student uses attributes to identify
  two- and three-dimensional geometric figures.
  The student compares and contrasts two- and
  three-dimensional geometric figures or both. The
  student is expected to
• (A) describe attributes (the number of vertices,
  faces, edges, sides) of two- and
  three-dimensional geometric figures such as
  circles, polygons, spheres, cones, cylinders,
  prisms, and pyramids, etc,

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• (B) use attributes to describe how 2
  two-dimensional figures or 2 three-dimensional
  geometric figures are alike or different
• (C) cut two-dimensional geometric figures apart
  and identify the new geometric figures formed

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What content related to 2-D and 3-D geometric
vocabulary are you required to teach in third
grade?
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Use the TEKS as your Guide

• (3.9) The student uses formal geometric
  vocabulary. The student is expected to
• (A) identify, classify, and describe two- and
  three-dimensional geometric figures by their
  attributes. The student compares two-dimensional
  figures and three-dimensional figures, or both by
  their attributes using formal geometry vocabulary.

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The diagnostic assessment used should require
students to access and communicate prior
learning. This will help the teacher identify
patterns in what students (individual and whole
class) know about 2-D and 3-D geometry prior to
instruction.
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Ideally, the diagnostic assessment created would
also help the teacher identify student readiness
to learn about the identification and
classification of geometric figures using formal
geometric vocabulary.
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A third grade teacher developed the diagnostic
assessment included in your packet. With the
help of your group, evaluate the students work
and be ready to answer the following questions.
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Search for Evidence

• Do these students understand how to identify and
  classify 2-D and 3-D figures?
• Do these students communicate using formal
  geometry vocabulary (vertices, polygons, sides,
  edges, etc.)?

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After answering these questions, what would you
do instructionally to meet the needs of these
students?
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Debrief Instructional Modifications
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SECTION II
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Section II Assessment During the Lesson
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In the past, teachers have relied heavily on
homework to evaluate student learning. This
section will discuss formative assessment methods
teachers may use during the lesson to evaluate
student thinking in real time.
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Knowledge-including mathematical knowledge- is
now being seen as socially constructed.
-Silver, et. All, 1990
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Students learn mathematics through
communication. Students need opportunities not
just to listen, but to speak mathematics
themselves-to discuss what they have observed,
why procedures appear to work, or why they think
their solution is correct.
-Silver, et. All, 1990
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Students must construct their own mathematical
understanding. Teachers have to pose questions
and provide opportunities for students to apply
and communicate what they are learning.
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Posing questions where the answer becomes the
question opens up the social space in the
classroom. This allows all students the
opportunity to participate, and makes them
accountable for the content they are learning.
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Assessing measurement
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Given the changes in the measurement strand of
the elementary TEKS, teachers will now be
responsible for teaching more content to students
in grades 3-5.
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Area is an important concept that will be
developed throughout grades K-5
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Review the TEKS in second, third, fourth and
fifth grade that develop the concept of area.
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Read the following TEKS knowledge and skill and
student expectation statements.
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(4.11) Measurement. The student
appliesmeasurement concepts. The student
isexpected to estimate and measure tosolve
problems involving length(including perimeter)
and area. Thestudent uses measurement tools
tomeasure capacity/volume andweight/mass.
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• The student is expected to(A) estimate and use
  measurement tools to determine length (including
  perimeter),area, capacity and weight/mass
  usingstandard units SI (metric) and
  customary(B) perform simple conversions
  betweendifferent units of length, between
  differentunits of capacity, and between
  differentunits of weight within the
  customarymeasurement system

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Find a partner in the room. Discuss how you
would assess student learning on this topic.
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Share assessment ideas that you and your table
partner discussed.
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Assessment opportunities may be open-ended to
capture multiple responses from students. Think
about the assessment ideas you discussed with
your partner for TEKS statement 4.11 A and B.
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In an open-response assessment, a teacher might
ask students to identify three objects in the
room with an area greater than 15 square inches.
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This task would allow students to participate in
the assessment regardless of their cognitive
level.
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• Review the student work found on pages 12-110
  12-113 of your packet. What do the students
  responses tell you about their understanding of
  area?

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Once students have identified different objects
in the room with an area greater than 15, the
teacher may begin a list of objects found by
students. This will allow many different objects
to be shared with the class and help the teacher
identify students that need additional support.
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• Once a list has been generated by the class, the
  teacher may ask the class if there are any
  objects on the list that they believe have an
  area smaller than 15 square inches. Allow the
  class an opportunity to validate or delete the
  objects on the list.

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Things to keep in mind

• One of the reasons teachers want to use early
  comparison activities with area is to help
  students distinguish between size (area) shape,
  length and other dimensions
• Direct comparisons of two areas is nearly
  impossible, unless the shapes have a common
  dimension or property

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• Develop the idea that area is a measure of
  covering a 2-dimensional surface. Formulas do
  not need to be developed at this grade level. It
  is appropriate for students to use tools such as
  inch tiles to cover the area of an object.
  Listen as they discuss how to determine the area
  when it is impossible to fit the tiles over the
  object.

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Make a station at which students create objects
that have an area greater or less than a given
figure. Have students draw new figures and prove
their solutions.
IDEA Irregular Shapes
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With your table group, identify two other area
assessments that you might use with students.
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SECTION III
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This section will focus on summative assessment
of the TEKS
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Myth

• Students must be given selected response items in
  grades 3-5 to prepare them for TAKS assessments

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Reality

• Students must retain the TEKS content they are
  learning each year, it is longitudinal content
  knowledge that prepares students for TAKS
  assessments, not test-taking strategies.

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Types of Summative Assessment (Stiggins, 1997)

• Selected response
• Essay
• Performance assessment
• Personal communication

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This section will highlight three of the
summative assessments mentioned by Stiggins,
selected response, performance assessment and
personal communication.
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Selected Response

• Questions are developed to determine if a student
  can reason effectively in order to select the
  best or most appropriate answer.
• Examples
• Yes/no
• True/false
• Fill in the blank
• Multiple choice
• Matching
• All of the above/None of the above

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Identify a TEKS statement in 4th Grade that may
be assessed using a selected response method.
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Review the selected-response item provided on
page 12-115 of your packet, what is wrong with
the way this item is constructed?
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Performance Assessment

• With performance assessments, we observe students
  while they are performing or we examine the
  products they create, and judge the level of
  proficiency demonstrated on a given task. We
  compare student performance to predetermined
  measures, usually with the assistance of a
  teacher-created rubric.

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Look at the student work found on pages 12-120
through 12-122. Answer the questions found on
page 12-119 of your packet.
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Performance Assessment, Volume

• Review the 5th grade performance assessment
  related to volume.
• Review the following questions to determine
  students procedural and conceptual knowledge and
  communication related to the concept of volume.

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Student Work is Judged Based on

• Conceptual Knowledge
• Does the student know the content?
• Procedural Knowledge
• Does the student know the process to solve the
  problem?
• Communication
• How does the student communicate what they know
  about the problem and how do they communicate the
  steps used to solve the problem?
• (ESC, Region IV)

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Identify a TEKS statement in 4th grade that could
be assessed using a performance assessment.
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Personal Communication

• Teachers are able to gather a lot of information
  from students by talking to them.
• Teachers may
• Conduct conferences
• Conduct oral exams to assess mastery of content
• Ask students to journal
• Ask students talk or write about content with
  peers

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Identify a TEKS statement in 3rd Grade that may
be assessed using personal communication. With
your group, discuss assessment options.
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Things to remember when designing TEKS-Based
Assessments

• The TEKS should be the focus of the assessment,
  keep the assessment on grade level
• Search for the appropriate rigor and application
  in the assessment items/tasks used with students
• Make sure the assessment created aligns with the
  processes used in instruction
• Never see an assessment as an endpoint, but a
  process that will yield information and inform
  next steps

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A quality assessment provides a clear, accurate,
and timely picture of what a student has learned,
while at the same time spelling out which
achievement expectations have not yet been met.
-Stiggins Knight, 1997
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The Assessment Principle

• Assessment should become a routine part of the
  ongoing classroom activity rather than an
  interruption.
• NCTMs Principles and Standards for School
  Mathematics (2000)