Formative assessment: Bridging the gap between high stakes testing and classroom learning

Formative assessment: Bridging the gap between high stakes testing and classroom learning

Megan Montee

Title III Directors Meeting

May 5, 2009

This presentation will discuss how formative assessment can inform high stakes testing and classroom academic language development.

Purpose

By the end of this presentation, you will be able to:Identify purposes and uses for formative

assessment;Understand how formative and summative

assessment can work together;Consider ways to make formative assessment

systematic and integrated with instruction.

Purpose

What I’ve learned about your roles:• Title III Directors

o Other roles you may hold: Federal program director, Special Education coordinator, testing coordinator

• ESL Teacherso Types of classes you teach: pull-out, content-based, sheltered

approacho Many of you work in multiple schools

What I’ve learned about the challenges you face: • For teaching ESL• For assessing students

Context

Introduction and OverviewFormative and summative

assessmentAcademic language development Example: ELDA StandardsClassroom applicationsDiscussion

Overview

Assessment as a part of a learning process (Shepard, 2000)• Learning culture• Training• Classroom impact

Assessment and learning culture

Instructors must understand language assessment in order to

participate in the language learning culture (Shepard, 2000).

Assessment and learning culture

Definition of assessment (1/2)

Assessment = process of planning, collecting, analyzing and reporting information about student learning

Adapted from Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1997). Managing the assessment process: A framework for measuring student attainment of the ESL standards. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

Definition of assessment (2/2)

Assessment literacy = what instructors need to know about assessment (Stoynoff and Chapelle, 2005; Boyles, 2005; Stiggins, 1997).

Language assessment literacy = what stakeholders need to know about language and assessment in order to conduct reliable, valid and fair assessments of all students

Stakeholders = ALL participants including test developers AND instructors

Background: assessment literacy

Effective Practices Acquired Through a Team Approach, West Virginia Department of Education

Classroom assessment for learning

When is it conducted?

What information does it provide?

How can the results be used?

Formative During a course of instruction

Provides feedback to the teacher and the learner about progress toward educational outcomes

Results often used for planning instruction

Summative At the end of a course of instruction

Provides information on outcomes

Results often used for assigning grades, program evaluation, or tracking

Formative and summative

Formative and summative

Summative Assessment

Building academic language proficiency

BICS / CALPWESTELL Standards

• English Language Arts• Math, Science and Technology• Social Studies

“(1)Language used to convey curriculum based academic content and (2) the language of the social environment of a school.”

Academic language

Challenges

Planning CollectingAnalyzingReporting

Formative assessment

Begin with the end in mindDon’t wait until the end to assessIntegrate assessment and instruction

Planning for formative assessment

Re-read your goals• What did you promise?• Can you do it?

Examine your curriculum• What are the big ideas to assess?• What can help with daily, weekly and future planning?

Match assessment to classroom• Domain• Theme

Planning for formative assessment

Assess what’s in the curriculum (academic language)

Communicate what will be assessedAssess

• Short, daily• Longer, weekly• Longest, end of sequence

If there’s no time to assess it, there’s no time to teach it.

Classroom assessment tasks

Planning instruction

• Short-term

• Long-term Organizing/grouping students Supporting learning Diagnosing student needs Motivating students Providing feedback

• To students

• To parents

• To school/district Assigning grades

Planning: formative purposes

Planning: determining Your purposes

What do you want to know?

How will you use this information?

Validity and classroom assessment

A few examples

What do you want to know?

How will you use this information?

Can my students use the vocabulary words we studied last week?

Short-term instructional planning

How well can my students write a research paper about a topic they select?

Long-term instructional planning; assigning grades; diagnosing student needs; providing feedback to students

How well do my students speak English at the beginning of a course?

Long-term instructional planning; grouping students; providing feedback; motivating students

High and low stakes assessment

Washback (Hughes 2003)• Positive• Negative

Planning for positive washback

How can we plan for systematic formative assessment? • Data collection• Analysis• Reporting

Systematic assessment

Purpose: What is the best way to find out what I need to know?

Use: What is the most appropriate and effective way to collect this information?

Collecting data

Methods for collecting data (1/2)

Formative assessment is defined by use, not the assessment method

Some assessment methods are well-suited to formative assessment

ObservationsChecklistsOral presentationsEssays / written compositionsTraditional testsPortfolios / work samplesStudent self-assessmentsClassroom tasks (individual, pairs, group)

Methods for collecting data (2/2)

Which mode(s) are you testing? What format is appropriate?

Developing assessment tasks

Characteristics of good classroom assessment tasks:• Standards-based• Proficiency level appropriate• Age/grade-level appropriate• Tied to instructional goals• Purposeful• Clear directions

Classroom assessment tasks

Prioritization and SequencingPrioritization = how to decide which

parts to assessSequence = the order in which you

assessHow do we do this?

When to assess

Questions to ask• What did I promise?• What goes together?

• Themes• Domains

• How much is too much?• 15 minutes or fewer rule; AND• Not too choppy rule

Setting sequences

Thinking beyond grades• Quantitative information

o Assessment levelo Item/task level

• Qualitative information

Looking at assessment data in content• Other formative assessments

• Standardized test scores

• Other information about your students

Using data to improve assessment and instruction

Analyzing formative assessment data

Reporting formative assessment data

Who needs to know the results of your assessments?

Which reporting format is best for a group of stakeholders?

Reporting formative assessment data

Communicating results with students

How can assessment results be reported to students? • Make sure students know the purpose of the

assessment before it’s administered• Provide meaningful feedback to students• When appropriate, review the assessment with

students• Ask for student input

The test is appropriate for my student population. The test’s intended purpose matches my purpose for

testing. The test’s input is appropriate for the skills I am

assessing. I have the necessary resources to administer the

test. I have the necessary resources to score the test and

analyze the results. I understand how to share the results with stakeholders.

Testing checklist

Applications

Some questions I encounter: How can formative assessment help me

prepare my students for a standardized test?

Is it wrong to teach to the test? Should formative assessments be mini-

versions of the summative assessment?

Assessing Speaking• Classroom-based• Academic language

Application: performance assessment

Standards for Speaking:

Application: WESTELL standards

1. Connect: Establish a verbal connection with an interlocutor in order to talk about something

2. Tell: Provide basic information on a relevant topic in a conversation 3. Explain: Provide detailed information on a relevant topic in a

conversation

4. Reason: Argue in favor of or against a particular relevant topic

Note: Benchmarks are “implied in the soft hierarchy of functions.” (American Institutes for Research (2005))

Tell: Provide basic information on a

relevant topic in a conversation

Application: speaking standards

Amount of language (words, sentences, extended discourse)

Complexity of language Academic vocabularyFluency and comprehensibility

Next steps

How could this standard be assessed in the classroom?• Daily• Weekly• End of instructional unit

A collection of brief, accessible CAL digests on assessment and other relevant topics http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/subject.html

Draft of the ILTA Code of Practice http://www.iltaonline.com/code.htm

  Virtual Assessment Center, an introduction to language assessment from CARLA http://www.carla.umn.edu/assessment/VAC/index.html

 National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition & Language Instruction Educational Programs (NCELA)

http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/

Learning Teams for Assessment Literacy by Richard J. Stiggins http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/orbit/classroom_assess_sample.html

Do educators know how to make use of the new avalanche of standardized test data? by Rebecca Zwick

http://www.highereducation.org/crosstalk/ct0404/voices0404-zwick.shtml

Assessment resources: web-based

Short, accessible book which introduces basic concepts of language testing and

reviews 20 English language tests Stoynoff, S. & Chapelle, C. (2005). ESOL tests and testing. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

A practical guide to developing your own classroom assessments Brown, H.D. (2003). Language assessment: principles and classroom practice. New York: Pearson

ESL.

A book which provides a thorough but accessible overview of foundational concepts

in language testing Hughes, A. (2003). Testing for language teachers (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Handbook which explains the principles of backward design for classroom

assessment McTighe, J. & Wiggins, G. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed). Alexandria, VA: Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Article on creating a culture of assessment Shepard, L. (2000). The role of assessment in learning culture. Educational Researcher, 29.7, 4-17.

Assessment resources: print

Possible next steps Review current practices

• Survey• Meet with teachers

Conduct a needs assessment• What do teachers need to know about assessment?• How could formative assessment be improved?• How could analysis and reporting be improved?• What resources are available?• What resources are needed?

Schedule time and support for assessment planning Review and discuss standardized test scores

• How can these be used to inform classroom instruction and assessment

Provide training on formative assessment• Standards expert• Developing assessment tasks

Discussion and questions

American Institutes for Research. (2005). English language proficiency standards and test and item specifications. www.ccsso.org/projects/ELDA/research_studies

Hughes, A. (2003). Testing for language teachers (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Shepard, L. (2000). The role of assessment in learning culture. Educational Researcher, 29.7, 4-17.

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (1997). Managing the assessment process: A framework for measuring student attainment of the ESL standards. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.

West Virginia Department of Education. Classroom assessment for learning: a journey to assessment literacy.

References

Meg Monteemmontee@cal.org

Thank you