Valerie Henry, NBCT, Ed.D.UC Irvine -vhenry@uci.edu

November 14, 2008

GoalsEvidence from our candidates’ Teaching

EventsModifying instructionOngoing teaching-assessment-revision Applying what we’re learning to our

Embedded Assessments

Two years into the Teaching EventRealized that students were struggling in the

Assessment and Reflection categoriesWe tweaked the daily reflection prompts on the

daily lesson planner to help students with the Reflection commentary

Started thinking about how to scaffold an experience with whole-class assessment to organize and analyze data

First InterventionIdentified fractions and decimals as a key

topicWe developed a sample fraction/decimal

assessment – 4th gradeCreated a set of mock student assessments,

with a range of performance levelsCreated a spreadsheet/graphic organizer to

organize and display assessment dataUsed TE commentary prompts

Next StepsEvidence from students’ “practice”

commentariesWeak analysis; students weren’t able to create

language to identify groups of students, and support with evidence

Added sentence starters as samples of the kind of language students need

We now provide responses for questions 1, 2, and 3

Next Steps (cont.)#4 and 7

We reworded the prompts to help students organize their responses

We also give original promptsDeleted question 5 because they have no

student context, and we are conscious of workload

ResultsSuccess rate on assessment task has

improvedStudents are also talking about how they can

see using this process in their classrooms!

This Fall (4 years in)We provide standards, then match problems to standards,

and create categories for chartRecord one student’s work as a class

Then have students practice with one or two more students Then we provide the completed chart online

Introduce the assessment chart grid Whole class/subgroup/individuals Understandings/misunderstandings What questions do you see that everyone understands What misunderstandings do you see?

What’s the problem/concept? What’s the error? What’s the misunderstanding?

Using one of the 6 categories, look at the prompts Emphasize need to support with student evidence Expectation – write about two different math issues per cell –

probably six different paragraphs

Question 7 – Next StepsIf they use analysis chart, they can go back to

the 6 cells and then provides a focus area for considering next stepsReminder to consider next steps for students

who have mastered content, as well as students who need extra support

FeedbackStudents will give written feedback for the

three students they will return with write-upWe’ll take a look at this after TEs completed

in the spring.

Multiple subject math – practice for TESecondary math – practice for TEMultiple subject literacy – embedded

assessment

Literacy Embedded Signature AssessmentFirst year (2007-2008) students brought in class sets of

student workESA prompts come directly from the assessment

commentary prompts for the Elementary Literacy Teaching Event.

Used same graphic organizer strategySpecific criteria for evaluating writing

Content Main idea Using descriptive detail Supporting evidence from the story/essay

Grammar/mechanics Sentence structure Spelling, punctuation, capitalization

Literacy Embedded Signature AssessmentProblematic because:

No common ground for discussion and building understanding of the process

This year, requested and received class sets of writing from master teachers

May use two sets of writings this year: One for in-class practice One for independent, individual Embedded Signature

Assessment (ESA)This year, may provide student context; students will

have to do #1-4, 6, 7 on their ownStill thinking about question 5 – whether to include or not#6 is a new prompt this year – will have students attempt

without specific scaffolding and will adjust next year as needed

Literacy Embedded Signature Assessment

First year (2007-2008)Went from whole-class graphic summary

straight to commentary writingDifficult to transition graphic summary into text

in organized, comprehensive mannerThis year, planning to add the analysis chart

Insert completed graphic organizer

What instructional materials are effective in supporting candidates to learn how to assess student learning? 

1.  I thought that I had another presenter lined up, but he is unable to come after all, so you’ll be the sole presenter.  So I’d appreciate it if you can share the entire story about how the UCI instructors/supervisors identified assessment as an area for program improvement, got together, and planned the changes in instruction in the math methods course.  And then describe the materials and how they are designed to support candidate learning about assessing students.  And since you’ve had 1-2 years of subsequent candidate performance, did you make additional changes in the course after you saw the candidate work?  (I’m trying to drive home that the Teaching Event can be useful for program improvement.)  If you finish early, that’s okay.  Often, though, there are people in the audience with their own pedagogical strategies. 

 2.  The purpose is to make us all smarter about the issue on which you are presenting, so it should be practitioner-oriented and not like a research conference presentation.  You can’t go wrong by asking yourself what you know now that would have been useful to know when you began implementing PACT.

 3.  I’m asking you to prepare a handout with key points from your presentation (see #2) and/or useful documents that programs can use as a model.  (Examples might be a syllabus for the math methods course.)  Bring 40 copies and if they run out, refer people to the website (www.pacttpa.org).  Don’t share anything that you wouldn’t want to see widely circulated.  I’m also asking you to send me a copy of what you share; this can be after the conference if you run short of time, but I promise to keep asking until I get it.  I will add the institution, and the date as a footer to all documents you give me before we upload them.  Jeanne already gave me a copy of the spreadsheet to share on our website (see attached document), and it is up there as an example.

Four Years InWe provide standards, then match problems to standards,

and create categories for chartRecord one student’s work as a class

Then have students practice with one or two more students Then we provide the completed chart online

Introduce the assessment chart grid Whole class/subgroup/individuals Understandings/misunderstandings What questions do you see that everyone understands What misunderstandings do you see?

What’s the problem/concept? What’s the error? What’s the misunderstanding?

Using one of the 6 categories, look at the prompts Emphasize need to support with student evidence Expectation – write about two different math issues per cell –

probably six different paragraphs