Assessment to Improve Student Learning

The purpose of Teaching is not to cover the expectations but rather to “uncover understanding”.

Rick Stiggins

Assessment for Learning

A Key to Motivation and Achievement

November 17, 2006

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

This is our Context …

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Vision of the Catholic Graduate

“When our students graduate from a Catholic school system we do not ask merely what they have learned, but more importantly, what they have become.”

Sr. Claire Fitzgerald

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

The Christian vision regarding the value of the human person and his/her journey is passed on through community. Therefore, it is imperative that everyone in the Catholic community shares the responsibility to educate our young people.

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

• All people have dignity

• The primacy of the human person

• A preferential option for the poor

Three Principles of Catholic Social Teaching:

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

• The most important concern is always the child.

• Emphasis should always be placed on the needs of the “poor” in our classrooms.

Principles for Catholic Teachers

• Every child has a right to know he/she is loved and accepted.

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

“The role of schools has changed. Previously schools sorted students from the highest to the lowest achievers – that is, some succeeded at learning while others tumbled into chronic failure.

But schools have evolved into places where all students are expected to meet increasingly rigorous academic standards.”

Rick Stiggins

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Our students have two very basic needs:

The need to feel that they

belong…

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

…and the need to feel competent.

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

What is it that my students must know, understand and be able to do?

Planning with the End in mind

How will I know that they know, understand and are able to do?

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

“If students know what they are to learn,

you increase the chances that they will learn.”

Harry Wong

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

All students will learn these concepts or skills

Most students will learn these concepts or skills

Some students

will learn these concepts or skills

Planning Pyramid

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

“The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is

to improve learning.”“Program Planning and Assessment, 2000” p. 13

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Assessment is the process of gathering information from a variety of sources (including assignments, demonstrations, projects, performances, teacher observation and tests) that accurately reflect how well a student is achieving the curriculum expectations in a course or subject. As part of assessment, teachers provide students with descriptive feedback that guides their efforts towards improvement.

What is ASSESSMENT?

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

#1. 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;

Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Assessment for learning

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

it may be used to let students and parents know how much they have learned within a prescribed period of time

Assessment of learning

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Do I ? R S C Notes1. Do I share learning goals with

my students so they know where we are heading?

2. Do I communicate to students the standards they are aiming for before they begin work on a task?

Assessment for Learning: am I already doing it?

R = Rarely S = Sometimes C = Consistently

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

#7. Performance standards are an essential component of effective assessment.

Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Do I ? R S C Notes3. Do I have self and peer

assess their work in ways that improve their learning?

4. Does my questioning technique include all students and promote?

Assessment for Learning: am I already doing it?

R = Rarely S = Sometimes C = Consistently

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Tips for Improved Questioning• Find alternatives to asking

questions of the whole class

• Try not to always be the quarterback

• Conduct frequent checks for understanding

• Talk to students while they are working

• Regular one on one conferences

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Do I ? R S C Notes5. Do I provide individual

feedback to students that informs them how to improve?

6. Do I provide opportunities for students to make use of this feedback to improve specific pieces of work?

Assessment for Learning: am I already doing it?

R = Rarely S = Sometimes C = Consistently

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

#2. Assessment must be planned and purposeful.

Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

“…assessment which is explicitly designed to promote learning is the single most powerful tool we have for both raising standards and empowering lifelong learners.”

Paul Black & Dylan William

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

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

Paul Black & Dylan William

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Assessment for learning

• Diagnostic

• Self and peer

• Formative

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Diagnostic assessment

Marks the starting point of the assessment journey

• Prior knowledge and skills

• Attitudes

• Personal experience

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment

#6. Assessment is a collaborative process that is most effective when it involves self, peer, and teacher assessment.

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Self and Peer Assessment

Self-assessment by pupils, far from being a luxury is, in fact, an essential component of formative assessment.

Black & William 1998

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Self Assessment is a Learned Process

Students need to:• Know and understand how their teachers define

quality

• Know the expectations with regard to quality

• Be trained in the use of assessment tools

• Be coached in the processes

• Be constantly reminded that the purpose for completing work is to improve learning…

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Peer Assessment is a Learned Process

• Another opportunity for feedback

• Not group work

• Not evaluation

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Formative Assessment

• This is the feedback piece

• This is where the learning happens

• In the teach, reflect/process, practice, feedback LOOP, this is “Form”-ative

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

“Classroom assessment for student learning turns the classroom assessment process and its results into an instructional intervention designed to increase, not merely monitor, student learning, confidence and motivation.”

Rick Stiggins

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

“…if assessments are to support improvements in student learning, their results must inform students how to do better the next time.

Rick Stiggins

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

#5. For assessment to be helpful to students, it must inform them in words, not numerical scores or letter grades, what they have done well, what they have done poorly, and what they need to do next in order to improve.

Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

“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’.”

Paul Black & Dylan William

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

“If we assess to motivate students to try, assessment for learning enables students by helping them watch themselves grow…”

Rick Stiggins

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

“The important lesson is that the student’s emotional reactions to assessment results will determine what the student thinks, feels, and is motivated to do in response to those results.”

Rick Stiggins

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Assessment is not something that we do to kids – assessment is a collaborative and ongoing process that involves students, their teachers, and parents.

Hold students accountable for their part in the process.

Assessment Requires a Team Effort…

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

“To increase student learning and achievement, increase the amount of time the student is working.”

Harry Wong

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

#3. Assessment must be balanced, including oral, performance, and written tasks, and be flexible in order to improve learning for all students.

Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

#4. Assessment and instruction are inseparable because effective assessment informs learning.

Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

Learning has to do with what the students accomplish.”

Harry Wong

“Learning has nothing to do with what a teacher covers.

Assessment to Improve Student Learning

What’s next?

• Today……

• Feb 2……

• Feb 23……

• Subject Council meetings

• School-based meetings

• Next year and beyond……..