“How Do We Know They Are Learning?”

“How Do We Know They Are Learning?”

ACT MeetingOctober 9, 2007

Ladera Ranch Middle School

ACT MeetingOctober 9, 2007

Ladera Ranch Middle School

Enhancing our Professional Learning Communities…

Enhancing our Professional Learning Communities…

Major District Objective

• Enhancing Professional Learning Communities– Continue implementation and expansion of the

CUSD Professional Learning Community through increased collaboration among school site and district personnel. Increase articulation and support in order to continue to improve learning for all students.

Specific Focus on:

• Expanding the use of data to guide instructional decisions

• Extending the use of formative common assessments and best practices in classroom assessment

• Piloting standards-based report cards• Narrowing the achievement gap through

systematic pyramids of interventions which employ research-based practices

What is our vision for assessment in a Professional Learning Community?

• That all departments, schools, and teams use student learning information to make decisions regarding their instruction, interventions, and program design– Having on-demand, user-friendly access to

meaningful data regarding their students

What is our vision for assessment in a Professional Learning Community?

• That all teams design and use frequent common assessments to formatively monitor student learning– Designing them collaboratively with collective

agreement about essential standards– Allowing all students to have access to the same

essential curriculum – Going beyond typical paper/pencil tests to

examine student work and performance tasks

What is our vision for assessment in a Professional Learning Community?

• That teachers meet regularly to analyze the results of their common assessments, and based on these results…

• …figure out ways to provide additional opportunities for learning essential skills and differentiate for individual student needs

• That students receive meaningful feedback and specific strategies to help them “close the gap.”

Corollary Question #2:

How Do We Know they are learning? Corollary Question #2:

How Do We Know they are learning?

High Stakes TestingBenchmark Testing

High Stakes TestingBenchmark Testing

SummativeCommon Assessments

External AssessmentsDid they reach the bar?

Learning AssessmentsAre the students

“getting it?”

Local AssessmentsDid they attain a certain level of

learning?Formative Common

Assessments

Learning AssessmentsAre the students

“getting it?”

Formative Common

Assessments

Crucial Distinction

• Assessment OF Learning– How much have students learned at a

particular point in time?• Assessment FOR Learning

– How can we use assessment information to help students learn more?

Formative Assessment

• Those activities undertaken by teachers and students that provide information to be used as FEEDBACK to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged.– Research consistently shows that regular, high-quality

formative assessment increases student achievement• Black & Williams, 1998

Research on Effects of using Formative Assessments:

• .5 to 1.0 Standard Deviation Score Gain– Largest Gain for Low Achievers

• 1.0 Standard Deviation Equals– 30+ percentile points on state testing– 4 Grade equivalents– 100 SAT Score Points– 6 ACT Score Points– U.S. TIMSS Rank from 23rd to Top 5

Our moral, professional, and ethical imperatives:

• “ While those (NCLB, etc.) are clearly sources of pressure for many schools, I would argue that the purpose of formative assessment is far more important. In fact, if No Child Left Behind were repealed tomorrow, if every state standard and testing requirement were terminated, and if teachers and school leaders were told simply, “Do the right thing,” then I would nevertheless be an advocate of common formative assessment.”– Doug Reeves

• Found in Common Formative Assessments by Larry Ainsworth and Donald Viegut Corwin Press 2006

Guiding Questions for Schools to Consider

• Are teachers/teams using data to identify specific areas of need for groups and individual students along clearly defined and agreed upon concepts and skills?– How often?

• Are meaningful benchmark measures developed and used to monitor progress?

Guiding Questions for Schools to Consider

• Do students receive meaningful, descriptive, and timely feedback about their progress?

• Are students provided additional opportunities to learn the information based on these results? – Are they aware of how they can close the gap?

• Are the results of these measures used to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies, interventions, and curriculum?

A Shift in the Use of Assessments(from Learning by Doing – DuFour, DuFour, Eaker & Many)

• From focusing on average scores

• From an over-reliance on one kind of assessment

• From each teacher determining the criteria to be used in assessing student work

• From individual teacher assessments

• From assessing many things frequently

• From assessments used to reward and punish students

• From assessments to determine which students failed to learn by the deadline

• From infrequent, summative assessments…

• To monitoring each students’ proficiency in every essential skill

• To balanced assessments

• To collaborative teams clarifying the criteria and ensuring consistency among team members when assessing student work

• To assessments developed jointly by collaborative teams

• To assessing a few things frequently

• To assessments used to inform and motivate students

• To assessments to identify students who need additional time and support

• To frequent common assessments

School Reflection TimeSelf Study in Assessment Practice

What can leaders do this year to support this MDO?

• Using the Self Study in Assessment Practice rubric, examine your school’s practices relative to Question 2.

• Thread a focus on assessments throughout your efforts this year. – For example, if you’re focusing on writing, be sure to

examine the formative assessment of writing. Embed conversations at your school during ACE time, team meetings, etc.

• Guide teachers toward the development, implementation and analysis of common assessments

Resources, Information and Support

• Resources/Bibliographies– Books– Articles– Videos/DVDs

• Training in online reports• Continued exploration of tools to assist the process• Professional Development

– Understanding by Design– Various RIC classes– Embedded (site-based) professional development

Education Division Website

What can leaders do this year to support this MDO?

• Using the Self Study in Assessment Practice rubric, examine your school’s practices relative to Question 2.

• Thread a focus on assessments throughout your efforts this year. – For example, if you’re focusing on writing, be sure to

examine the formative assessment of writing. Embed conversations at your school during ACE time, team meetings, etc.

• Guide teachers toward the development, implementation and analysis of common assessments

• Participate in an assessment study group/cadre

How will we enhance our own practice in the area of effective assessment this year?

October 9October 9ACT Mtg.ACT Mtg.

April 2April 2ACT Mtg.ACT Mtg.

Interest-basedStudy Groups/Cadres

What might happen in the cadres?•Book shares•Conference attendance•School visits•Discussion Groups•Practice protocols/facilitation•Sharing of resources/ideas

Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Developing common

assessments Possible guiding questions:

What processes can be used to guide teams toward the development of common assessments?

What guidelines exist for developing quality assessments?

How can leadership monitor and support the implementation of common assessments?

Are there successful practices/ideas/’resources that we can share with each other?

Strategies for examining data from common assessments

Possible guiding questions: Now that we’re conducting common assessments, how do we go about analyzing the data?

How do we make the connections between our data and what happens in the classroom?

How do we proceed through the “tough” conversations without fostering competition or resentment?

Are there successful practices/ideas/’resources that we can share with each other?

I’ve DIBEL’d, now what? Possible guiding questions:

How can we guide teachers toward using the data derived from DIBELs in the most meaningful way?

How can the process embed progress monitoring throughout the year?

Are there successful practices/ideas/’resources that we can share with each other?

Enhancing Classroom Assessment for Learning

Possible guiding questions: How do we begin changing our assessment practices from assessments used to reward and punish students to assessments used to inform and motivate?

How does a school or team shift from assessments used to determine which students fail to learn to students who need additional time and support?

How do we involve students in the process?

Are there successful practices/ideas/’resources that we can share with each other?

Looking at Student Work: Protocols for Structured

Conversations around Student Learning

Possible guiding questions: What processes can school leaders do to facilitate the examination of student work?

How does the learning that takes place during protocols transfer to changes in classroom practice?

Are there successful practices/ideas/’resources that we can share with each other?

Table 6 Table 7 Table 8 Table 9 Table 10 Strategies for Identifying and Analyzing School Systems Data Possible guiding questions:

How can schools look beyond standardized test measures to a more comprehensive and balanced view of schoolwide data (e.g. including discipline, attendance, student engagement, etc.)

What are some strategies and tools for managing schoolwide data collection and analysis?

Are there successful practices/ideas/’resources that we can share with each other?

Examination of Grading in Professional Learning

Communities Possible guiding questions:

How can we enhance the type of feedback that students receive so that they are empowered to improve?

How do you build consensus within a school regarding grading practices in a PLC?

Are there successful practices/ideas/’resources that we can share with each other?

Classroom Performance Assessments/Understanding by

Design Possible guiding questions:

How do we move toward more balance in our assessments (rather than relying exclusively on one kind of assessment?)?

How do we help teachers design performance assessments that measure student progress toward the desired end result? What are some beginning steps?

Are there successful practices/ideas/’resources that we can share with each other?

Assessment in Elementary Math

Possible guiding questions: How can school leaders support the meaningful use of data from the new PMAS, the draft EMCs (Essential Math Concepts), and common assessments?

How can teachers take formative assessment information and translate it to changes in classroom practice?

Are there successful practices/ideas/’resources that we can share with each other?

Assessment in Writing Possible guiding questions:

How do you guide teams toward the development of common assessments in writing?

How do teams build agreement regarding the quality of written work?

How can schools utilize existing resources in support of assessment in writing?

Are there successful practices/ideas/’resources that we can share with each other?

Assessment Cadres

Cadre Conversations

• Join a table group that addresses your interest• Participate in a conversation that helps identify the

following:– The focus of the group (e.g. guiding questions,

actions, outcomes) based on input from each table member (use a “once around” approach)

– Possible first activities in support of that focus– A plan to meet on November 6th; facilitator will

notify you of the location and specific time