Why Is Assessment Important

1
Why Is Assessment Important?
2

• We may want to assess where a student is.
• We may want to assess where a student isgoing.
• We may want to assess what a student has learned.
• But ultimately we want to know what to do next
  for that students learning.

3
Student Involvement

• When students are involved in the assessment
  process they are required to think about their
  own learning, articulate what they understand,
  and what they still need to learn and
  achievement improves.
• (Black and William, 1998 Young, 2000)

4
Thinking About Assessment

• 80 percent of assessments given in classrooms are
  geared toward low-level thinking.
• Decisions about assessment happen about every
  three to four minutes.
• What do assessments tell us?
• How are we using assessments?

5
Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment

• Key 1 Why assess?
• Whats the purpose?
• Who will use the results?
• Key 2 Assess what?
• What are the learning targets?
• Are they clear?
• Are they good?

6
Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment

• Key 3 Assess how?
• What method?
• Who will use the results?
• Key 4 Communicate how?
• How do we manage information?
• How do we report?

7
Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment

• Additional Notes for Teachers/Assessors
• My students are involved in every part of the
  process.
• My assessment will drive my instruction,
  therefore all of us will know where we are going.
• My goals are focused, easy to understand, and
  attainable.
• My students will have a clear understanding of
  what is expected of them.

8
Research indicates that improving learning
through assessment depends of five, deceptively
simple, key factors

• The provision of effective feedback to the
  students.
• The active involvement of students in their own
  learning.
• Adjusting teaching to take account of the results
  of assessment.
• A recognition of the profound influence
  assessment has on the motivation and self esteem
  of the students, both of which are crucial
  influences in learning.
• The need for students to be able to assess
  themselves and understand how to improve.

9
In action this means

• Sharing learning goals with students.
• Involving students in self assessment.
• Providing feedback which leads to students
  recognizing and taking the next steps.
• Being confident that every student can improve.

10
Inhibiting factors include

• A tendency for teachers to assess quantity and
  presentation of work rather than quality of
  learning.
• Greater attention given to marking and grading,
  much of it tending to lower self esteem of
  students, rather than providing advice for
  improvement.
• A strong emphasis on comparing students with each
  other, which demoralizes the less successful
  learners.

11
Summative and Formative Assessment

• Assessment of Learning (Summative Assessment)
• How much have students learned as of a
• particular point in time?
• Assessment for Learning (Formative Assessment)
• How can we use assessments to help students
  learn more?

12
Assessment of Learning

• The purpose is
• to measure student achievement at a point in time
  for reporting and accountability
• to sort students in rank order and
• to maximize student learning through standardized
  tests.

13
Assessment for Learning

• The purpose is
• to promote further improvement of student
  learning during the learning process and
• to involve students in the ongoing assessment of
  their own achievement.

14
Assessment for Learning

• Results are used primarily by students,
  educators, and parents.
• Results are used for
• helping students see and hit the target/s and
• identifying student needs.

15
Primary Users

• Assessment of
• Learning
• Policy makers
• Program planners
• Supervisors

• Assessment for
• Learning
• Students
• Teachers
• Parents

16
Typical Uses

• Assessment of
• Learning
• Certify competence
• Sort students according to achievement

• Assessment for
• Learning
• Help students see and hit the target
• Help teachers identify and respond to student
  needs

17
Teachers Role

• Assessment of
• Learning
• Follow test administration procedures
• Use results to help students reach standards

• Assessment for
• Learning
• Inform students of targets
• Build assessments
• Adjust instruction
• Involve students in assessment

18
Students Role

• Assessment of
• Learning
• Study to meet standards
• Take the test
• Strive for the highest score possible
• Avoid failure

• Assessment for
• Learning
• Strive to understand the target
• Act on classroom assessment to improve
• Encourage success

19
Our Assessment Goal

• To create and maintain a balanced assessment
  system that includes high quality assessments of
  and for student learning.

20
Our assessment reality is no longer

• Summative
• Summative
• Summative

21
Our new reality is
22
A Balanced Assessment System

• This includes
• a variety of assessments of and for learning
• timely and understandable information
• helping individuals make informed instructional
  decisions and
• maximizing student success.

23
Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning

• Where am I going?
• Provide a clear and understandable vision of the
  learning target.
• Use examples and models of strong and weak work.
• Where am I now?
• 3. Offer regular descriptive feedback.
• 4. Teach students to self-assess and set goals.

24
Seven Strategies (Continued)

• How can I close the gap?
• Design lessons to focus on one aspect of
• quality at a time.
• 6. Teach students focused revision.
• Engage students in self-reflection, and let
• them keep track of and share their learning.

25
Learning Targets
Learning Targets let the students know what we
want them to learn prior to them learning the
content.
26
Learning Targets . . .

• should cover the big idea you want students to
  carry with them over the time.
• should always be posted and easy to find.
• should be very focused.
• should represent the heart of the discipline and
  worth the instructional and assessment time
  devoted to them.
• should target higher-level thinking.

27
Blooms Taxonomy

• Classroom Assessment for Student Learning Page
  63
• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

28
Blooms Taxonomy of Questioning

• Teachers tend to ask questions in the knowledge
  category of Blooms Taxonomy 80-90 percent of the
  time.
• What impact does this have on student learning?

29
Learning Targets

• How are learning targets used?
• Write two or three for each unit of study.
• Examine at the beginning of the unit.
• Post the questions in your classroom so students
  can see them every day.
• Bring them back over and over again. Example
  Does this information help you to understand
  where we are headed?
• Make continuous connections over and over again.
• Connect every activity in the unit to the
  learning targets.

30
Learning Targets

• The best way students remember things is to hook
  it to something they already know.
• How will this connect to something else they
  already learned?
• How can the students have a broader perspective
  over their world?
• Dates are not as important as why it happened or
  what they learned.

31
Tips for Writing Quality Test Questions

• Balanced
• Use distractors, not confusers
• Dont use Which one is NOT, does NOT belong?
  Etc.
• When using Numerical- use in ascending or
  descending order
• Use Student Friendly Language
• Similar to what you used while teaching!

32
Check!

• Does your question
• Align with standards?
• Align with Blooms taxonomy level you want it to?
• Have appropriate distracters?
• Have a correct response that is accurate?

33
What do we need to do to increase the quality of
assessment FOR learning?
ArticleWhat a Difference a Word Makes
34
Human Histogram
35
Human Histogram (cont.)