Welcome

New Concepts

to Consider in

Classroom Assessments1

Let’s Get Acquainted

Today’s Agenda

• Understanding how assessment improves student learning• How teacher teams develop formative

assessments• How teachers link essential learning standards

with assessment items• How teachers use assessments to provide

interventions and enrichments3

On assessment…

With a partner, discuss these two questions:•What has been the traditional use of

assessment in schools?•How can assessment in classrooms

improve student learning?

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Smartest Kid in Class• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbH-Q7-DuJE

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The Big Ideas1. The fundamental purpose of

schools is to ensure that all students learn

With a partner, discuss these three components:

a. What is the difference?—”all students learn” v. “all students are taught”

b. If we accept learning as the fundamental purpose of our schools, are we willing to examine all practices in light of their impact on learning? What would that look like?

c. To ensure that all students will learn requires all teachers to be involved with all students in the school and not only with those in their classes. What would this look like?

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The Five Big Questions

1. What is it we want all students to learn—by grade level, by course, and by unit of instruction?

2. How will we know when each student has learned—that is, has acquired the knowledge, skills, and dispositions deemed essential?

3. What are the best ways to teach what all students need to know and be able to do?

4. How will we respond when students experience initial difficulty in their learning?

5. How will we enrich and extend the learning for students who are already proficient?

(Matthews, Williams, & Stewart adapted from DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Karhanek, 2010)

.

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The Big Ideas of a PLC

2. Helping all students learn requires a collaborative culture and a collective effort.

a. Teachers cultivate a collaborative culture through development of high performing teams in which they work interdependently to achieve high learning for all students.

b. Teachers work together rather than in isolation to address the five questions.

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The Power of Teams• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgGrjEzvkhA

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On Collaboration

Research suggests that the schools with the greatest student learning are those which do not isolate teachers, but instead encourage professional dialogue and collaboration. Teaching in effective schools is a collective, rather than individual enterprise (Freiberg and

Knight, 1987, p. 3).

The Big Ideas

3. Teachers will be unable to monitor their effectiveness in helping all students learn unless they create a results orientation.

a. Teachers assess their effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions.

b. Individuals, teams, and schools seek relevant data and information and use that information to promote continuous improvement.

c. Teachers use formative assessments to improve their own teaching which, of course, leads to improved student learning.

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Teachers also use results to identify students who are struggling.

In the past, the variable was student

learning and the constants were time

and support.

The right variables are time and support, and the constant is student

learning.

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Teachers need to identify those students who already know it

• Too often, students who already know the concept or the skill are subjected to going through it over again.• Likewise, some students get the concept or

skill quickly and have to wait until others get it.• Teachers need to differentiate their

practices so that all students continue to progress.• Discuss as a group: Share a time when this happened to you.

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What is the difference?

Formative Assessmen

t

Summativ

e Assessmen

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Summative Assessments

Summative assessments, or high stakes tests and projects, are what the eagle eye of our profession is fixated on right now, so teachers often find themselves in the tough position of racing, racing, racing through curricula. 15

If we must use summative assessments, then we need to know how to help students perform better on these assessments.

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Sometimes we have to slow down in order to go quickly.

• The only way to drive cattle fast is ….

….slowly

Losing Students—This We Know

• The fastest way to lose our students is to drive them too fast.• If teachers are not routinely checking for understanding then they are not in touch with students learning. •Perhaps students are already far, far behind. 18

Scenario

After an instructional lesson, the teacher asks :

"Are there any questions, students?" 

Teacher pauses for three seconds. Silence. 

"No? Okay, let's move on."

This kind of

assessment does

not help! 19

Formative Assessments

• Formative assessments are about checking “for understanding” and “for learning” in an effective way in order to guide teacher instruction. • They are used during instruction rather

than at the end of a unit or course of study. • Teachers use formative assessment to

improve and not just monitor and check on student learning 20

Teachers can use formative assessments to . . .

• identify student understanding, • clarify what comes next in their learning,• intervene for struggling students,• Improve instructional practices of teachers, • help students track their own progress toward attainment of

standards, • motivate students by building confidence in themselves as

learners, • fuel continuous improvements with teachers, and• drive a school’s improvement efforts 21

Formative assessments are not about ”gotcha-ing” students but about guiding where instruction needs to go next. Teachers should use them frequently, and when students learn a new idea, concept, or process.

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Formative Assessment: A Process, Not a Test

Moreover, it is a planned process.

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The Key to Formative Assessments is Making

Adjustments in Teaching24

Using Formative Assessments to Improve Summative Assessments

Monday formative

assessment

Tuesday formative

assessment

Wednesday formative

assessment

Summativeassessment

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Using Formative Assessments to Improve Summative Assessments

Monday formative

assessmentTuesday

formative assessment

Wednesday formative

assessment

ThursdaySummativeassessment

What goes on here? 26

Using Formative Assessments to Improve Summative Assessments

Monday formative assess-ment

TeachReteach

Intervene Extend Enrich

Tuesday formative

assessment

Wednes-day

formative assess-ment

ThursSumm-

ativeAssess-ment

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Maximizing Learning through Assessment

Formative assessment, done well, represents one of the most powerful instructional tools available to a teacher or a school for promoting student achievement.

Rick Stiggins & Rick DuFour

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A Conversation

Reflect as to your response to parents who ask this question:

“Your school says that it is committed to helping all students learn at high levels. What specifically happens at your school when a student does not learn?”

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Traditional Instructional Design(Instruction Influenced)

Curriculum standards

Instruction Assessment

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Our Commitment (Assessment Influenced)

Curriculum Standards

Assessment Instruction

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Each Assessment Item is Aligned with a Curriculum Standard

Curriculum Standard

Assessment Item

Assessment Item

Assessment Item

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Teachers Also Need to Use Various Types of

Assessment ItemsSelected-response assessment (e.g.,

multiple choice, true or false, matching)

Constructed-response assessment (response to open-ended questions: Short or long (e.g., fill in the blank, short answer, essay)

Performance assessment

Different Assessment Items are Aligned with Each Curriculum Standard

Curriculum Standard

Assessment Item

Assessment Item

Assessment Item

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Each Curriculum Standard has Multiple Assessments Items

Assessment Item Assessment Item

Assessment Item Assessment Item

Curriculum Standard

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To make strong assessments, teachers need to use . . .

•numerous assessments•a variety of types of assessments

Review: The Big Ideas

1.The fundamental purpose of schools is to ensure that all students learn

2.Helping all students learn requires a collaborative culture and a collective effort.

3.Teachers will be unable to monitor their effectiveness in helping all students learn unless they create a results orientation.

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Review: Formative Assessments Help Teachers Make These Choices

• Go on with the next lesson• Re-teach the previous lesson or part of it• Clarify some aspects that are not quite

understood• Intervene with certain groups or individuals• Offer enrichment or extensions to certain

groups or individuals

The Future

What are the possibilities? As you watch the video, think of what your school’s possibilities are this year?

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