the children “do science.”
83More
Implementation in an Elementary Classroom (Articles) - 0 views
-
-
Will the students be taught how theorize, test, analyze, or experiment? Or without telling the students this is what they are already doing? Is there any pre-teaching to the unit about rocks or exploring on their own?
-
It seems like in large group sharing, the teacher would want to introduce those important terms. I wonder, too, if the rocks unit was in the curriculum or if it came up in classroom discussion as a new area to explore. When a band listening example led to a lot of student questions about African drums, I made sure to change some of my concert plans and found a new piece of music and utilized the expertise of one of our other band staff members to build on the kids' enthusiasm and inquiry.
-
-
nvite women
-
I think this is a great idea to invite scientists who are women! It makes the nation's stereotypes decrease and women in the science field increase.
-
I also think this is a great idea. It is interesting in my classroom this past year as we were talking about community helpers.. we had a discussion of can a garbage man be a garbage woman and talked about different roles. It was so interesting that even at a young age some students have already stereotyped different jobs to different genders. I think that the more that students see the more they will be able to be interested in a subject and career. Science is something that is slowly fading and becoming less important in classrooms. It is important as educators to give our students these opportunities.
-
-
thinking about thinking
- ...26 more annotations...
-
helping children gain active control over the process of thinking so they learn how to learn, which will serve them well throughout their lives.
-
I think Personalized learning is easier to do in a classroom with science and social studies because they are more exploratory subjects compared to reading and math. Anybody have good ideas on how to make reading and math personalized without using technology?
-
I like this idea also. I feel like this is a skill that students will use all throughout their lives- at college, in real life, and in their careers.
-
I love this. I believe that if students learn how to love the process of learning that they will continue on to be life long learners!!
-
I love it, too! If kids are enjoying the process of learning, I think they're more willing to try new things and learn more even in areas that may not be their strengths.
-
-
Ms. Moore understands the reluctance of many other teachers of early grade students to employ this method because it requires “unlearning” many of the lessons of traditional teacher-preparation programs. She must, she says, continually resist the temptation to lead her students through lessons.
-
She is exactly right. Teachers have been taught to lead their students through lessons. This process is very uncomfortable for many of us as we have not been taught how to "teach" or "facilitate" this way.
-
I think about this when we're always asked to post our learning targets for students. It seems counter productive to tell kids we're going to learn a certain skill when we want our students to discover the skill through the lesson we created... I have found that instead of telling kids fingerings on their instruments for new notes, if I lead them to the fingering chart, they get so excited about using their fingering chart to learn more than that one new note.
-
-
During this first instructional phase, noise and activity levels sometimes reach eardrum-piercing levels and
-
Many of us are not used to a lot of noise in the classroom either. Some students may struggle with a classroom that is overly loud. How do we ensure the noise level is comfortable for all to learn?
-
The noise level during this phase should be stated in the rubric during discussion. I agree not everyone is immune to loud voices.
-
This is something that I know I would/will struggle with when implementing personalized learning. I completely agree and believe that students should be conversing with one another...however, I struggle with all of them doing this at the same time. 25 voices going all at once is sometimes a lot to handle!..and something that I would learn to get used to :)
-
-
Most teachers know the classroom is the perfect place for children to play, but opportunities to provide those benefits are on the decline. Reduced recess, cuts to physical education
-
This really hits home for me as I have a daughter who was in PRE K (transitional kindergarten) last year and the preschool teachers are now required to implement so many minutes of reading/guided reading into their curriculum. Are these preschool aged children getting enough play/social time?
-
It is scary that we are asking you're asking if preschool is getting enough time.. I hope so!!! They aren't even to elementary school yet. I am told time and time again that kindergarten is the new 1st grade. It seems that the more demands that are put on us as educators, the more play time we have to cut. I am lucky in a way that I have a team of teachers who refuses to give up that free time play at the end of the day. We believe it is so important. I am not sure how many more years we will get away with it but for now, we will let our students be little so that they can play and explore like they should!
-
I always laugh when I share with parents that I learn so much from observing their kiddos playing games (either at recess or indoors). It is truly where they have more authentic experiences learning how to communicate and solve differences.
-
What about developing the small muscles thru play-dough? In the last few years I have noticed that 3rd graders can barely hold a scissor properly and much less cut a simple figure.
-
What about developing small motor skills thru play-dough? I have 3rd graders who can barely hold a scissor properly much less cut a simple figure.
-
I firmly believe that students learn by playing!! There are ways to set-up classroom situations where students are playing but also digging into concepts as well!!
-
-
tudents who miss time to play miss opportunities to let their minds soar and connect the dots between what they do at their desks and what surrounds them in the world
-
As a kindergarten teacher, I believe that that play is key to learning! This past year I was amazed at what my students were able to connect through play to what we were learning in the classroom. In my classroom, it is key to provide students with those opportunities to play and explore.
-
Play IS key to learning! Especially when we can't assume our students are given opportunity to play and create and imagine with other kids outside of the school day.
-
-
But when you're staring out at 20 or 30 students as individual as snowflakes, you may find yourself asking that ever-daunting question: "How?"
-
As good educators, we want to make sure that each of our students needs are met. The daunting question that we all ask is HOW?! How do we make each of our student feel cared for, important, and set them up for success? I continue to find it interesting how students have so many things that are similar and different about them. I think this article does a nice job of laying it out and showing what we can do between five minutes and five years!
-
-
when she answers students’ questions straightforwardly instead of asking questions to help the students find the answers themselves, she’s actually interfering with the learning process.
-
Yes!! I must remember this always! It's so easy to answer questions for students. However, if I keep questioning them, it will allow them to learn on their own.
-
This is something that I am continually trying to work on. It is so easy to help a struggling student but your really are doing them a disservice.
-
-
encouraging and allowing students to discover fundamental principles on their own.
-
I'm a visual person and I know I like to "see" things for myself. Allowing our students to discover conclusions will be something that they will remember longer than if a teacher "told" them what happens.
-
Yes! I agree! As I read this I remember learning about gravity as Billy Nye threw objects off the top of a building... watching this video was better than listening to the fact ... but participating in the activity would be even better than the video.
-
-
free play is how children learn about themselves and the world around them. And, if they’re not playing, they’re not learning in all the ways that count most.
-
A simple take-home survey can give you quick insights about a child's hobbies, interests, strengths, or struggles. Arts and electives teachers in your school could offer insight on certain students, as well.
-
I loved receiving a parent survey from our child's teacher at the beginning of the year. It was a great way to introduce our child with details he may have never shared with his teacher. What a great way to set up some personalization at the start of the year.
-
I have been doing this since my first year and I love it! It gives me so much valuable information before I start to learn about them but I also feel like if gives the parent a space to let me know things they may not feel comfortable sharing in front of other people or their child.
-
I do a parent survey at the beginning of band, and it really helps me get a feel for a family's background experience with band, and also what they're hoping for their kids for the year.
-
-
If you add and master just one at a time, refining the best techniques as you go, eventually you'll have a big arsenal.
-
Thinking Maps, which help children categorize information in visually coherent ways
-
I remember in junior high being required to answer the essay/critical thinking questions of our science tests through the use of thinking maps. I didn't realize at the time how much it helped me organize my thoughts. I wonder how I can be begin applying them in my reading and math courses at the elementary level. Graphic organizers are so important to consolidate and organize information.
-
I have never heard about Thinking Maps before. I explored the website and definitely see how this can be beneficial for children of all ages.
-
Thinking maps! Kids love them and they're great tools for brainstorming and digging in to new learning
-
-
Share planning duties with a fellow teacher
-
This is so important! I love planning with gen. ed. teachers because often there are more students than just my IEP students that need the lower level differentiation in the gen. ed. setting. We don't need to reinvent the wheel, but work together to create shared resources. Our problem is, how do we create time to plan together on a weekly basis?
-
We run into these same issues! We are five gen. ed. teachers but one of us coteaches with sped. and one of us with ELP. We also cluster group our students...and this is where we hit the wall. Our classroom make-ups are so different and our kids move at different paces. How do we work divide up the work and still respect the pacing in each others' rooms?
-
-
a unique item of jewelry
-
What a fun conclusion to the unit!! I wonder how the teacher completes her summative assessment for the unit? The students have their journals but what does she use to prove that students have retained the information and met the state standards?
-
As a 4th grade teacher, we work with rocks and minerals as well. It would be fun to create videos of their learning as a summative assessment. Students could also share the videos with their parents when they are finished!
-
-
when I supply an answer or even suggest a method for finding an answer, I’m not truly helping.”
-
It's so tempting to scaffold them to the right answer, but I realize that's not helping them be independent thinkers. I find that my students then rely on me to always be there to help them figure out the challenge.
-
I agree but others need prompting to be able to focus on the right direction therefore differentiation is needed.
-
-
“Kids are not blank slates.”
-
It's easy to assume this, but they've had years of being influenced by their peers already and are soaking in the information they hear. This might be from daycare/preschool or home.
-
Agreed...not to mention home life, family make-up, and outside influences. They have preconceived notions when they walk through the door.
-
Yes! What a simple, yet profound way to put it. I agree. No matter where a student comes from they do have a background. There is always something to build upon and connect with!
-
-
in their hearts they may not believe it.
-
“The first thing we do is begin an ‘I see — I wonder’ exercise,
-
I teach in a school with a lot of focus on inquiry based learning, and it's amazing how the kids gain confidence with this kind of thinking and growing as the year goes on. When I play new music, I have kids record what they hear, what they think, and what they wonder. The class discussion leads us to a wonder that we can explore together, and modeling this as a teacher is important.
-
-
Plan assignments with choices.
-
her trust in the inquiry process is tested, when she must practice patience and restraint.
-
Thinking Maps, she explains, help students gain control of the process by offering them eight distinct ways to organize their inquiries
-
“I introduce one Thinking Map per week during the first eight weeks
-
Play is, after all, the way children are wired to learn, especially in the preschool and kindergarten years.
-
guided play is a good alternative.
-
each procedure needs to be practiced 28 times to stick. When you introduce a new activity, such as independently listening to an audio book, give students enough practice to become adept at it
25More
Implementation in an Elementary Classroom (Articles) - 0 views
-
-
traditional teaching methods be characterized as obstructing learning?
-
because they’re so used to being spoon-fed information that they can barely critically think
- ...10 more annotations...
-
Playful, teacher-led learning activities tap into the brain’s multisensory engagement, making content more memorable
-
the Class Learning Snapshot that guides what a teacher anticipates their learners strengths, challenges, aptitudes, interests, preferences, and needs. We introduce the Personal Learner Profile.
-
Using the Class Learning Snapshot (CLS), we guide you in how to select and integrate tools, apps, and resources to universally-design instruction and learning strategies. Considering the learners in your CLS, you will outline the learning strategies and skills in the lesson along with the skills from NETS (National Educational Technology Standards) for Students to create a Class Learning Toolkit (CLT). Personal Learner Profiles (PLP) of two learners will be used to demonstrate how to develop a Personal Learning Backpack (PLB) that will support the learners in achieving their learning goals in this lesson.
-
Although her natural inclination is “to help my students when they’re stumped or confused, I need constantly to remind myself that when I supply an answer or even suggest a method for finding an answer, I’m not truly helping.” In terms of the tenets of inquiry-based instruction, she explains, when she answers students’ questions straightforwardly instead of asking questions to help the students find the answers themselves, she’s actually interfering with the learning process.
-
This whole thinking is exactly how I feel when students need or want help. I want to help and I need to remember that I need for them to help themselves by also asking a question to help their learning process. I also have an old mindset though of feeling like I've let my student/class down by not helping.
-
-
Thinking Maps, she explains, help students gain control of the process by offering them eight distinct ways to organize their inquiries — a circle map for defining in context, for example, or a bubble map for describing with adjectives, etc.
-
I looked into these Thinking Maps and I love them! So much that I would like to use them, however you have to go through a whole school process. Does anyone know how to get these without doing that?
-
In my opinion, any graphic organizer would be beneficial to use for those visual thinkers. It looked like to me that it was exactly as you said...a whole school process, but you can still see the eight maps and possibly tailor it to your student learning.
-
-
“helping children gain active control over the process of thinking so they learn how to learn, which will serve them well throughout their lives.”
-
it requires “unlearning” many of the lessons of traditional teacher-preparation programs.
-
graphic organizers known as Thinking Maps,
-
Marcon tracked children from preschool through the third and fourth grades and found that those with “overly academic” preschool experiences struggled in their later elementary years when they were expected to “think more independently and take on greater responsibility for their own learning process.”
43More
Implementation in an Elementary Classroom (Articles) - 1 views
-
Step Three: Develop a Universally-Designed Lesson Referring to the Class Learning Snapshot, you will transform an existing lesson using the Personalized Learning (PL) Lesson template. You will use the model and examples to assist you in establishing a learning goal for this lesson, how to unpack the Common Core State Standards with your learners, design a warm-up activity that will engage specific learners based on the Class Learning Snapshot. You will also universally-design the new vocabulary along with guided and independent activities as the framework of the lesson
-
I like how it mentions using an existing lesson. This might make it easier for teachers just to start. Taking something they already know and tweaking it a bit to make is a PL lesson. I also like how it talks about models and examples to assist; when starting something new I ALWAYS need lots of examples and models for understanding.
-
Yes, I agree! I like how all throughout these 6 steps it talks about models and examples to help us along. I'm one that needs visuals or templates to go off of to help guide me when doing something new too :) Although in the article, I wish it would show us what they mean by the templates and examples so we can get more of an idea of what they mean. (-Alison Ruebel)
-
I agree with you both! Models are important to students, so why wouldn't they be important for teachers to get the idea! I'm at ease knowing that we can take the lessons we have and then move them toward personal learning. Why reinvent the wheel?
-
I also like how it talks about one lesson, I personally dive into new ideas head first and then can't figure out why I am drowning! I like the idea of one lesson at a time.
-
^^Yes go slow, I like anything that tells me to do that! I also like the idea of having steps to take as a guide and I agree it would be nice to have an actual template to see.
-
Like you all said, models are important not only to students but teachers as well. Teachers need to be shown how to do something right the first way before we expect our students to do the same.
-
-
We review how each generation processes information differently and how digital information has changed teaching and learning. We discuss the how and why people approach life depending on their mindset, the importance of failure to learn, unlearn, and relearn, and the skills needed to be college and career ready.
-
This reminds me of a title of a book I read, "If they don't learn the way you teach, then teach the way they learn." So true!
-
Good point! It is interesting to think about how learners have changed from one generation to another. When I was in elementary school, we were just starting to use computers more. Nowadays, almost every classroom has access to computer, iPads, or other types of technology. Digital information has definitely changed teaching and learning over the years, and it is going to continue to change! It is so important for educators to continue to do professional learning to prepare for these changing learners.
-
-
You will develop a rationale why assessment as learning creates independent, expert and self-regulated learners. Expert learners and assessment as learning is the key for learners taking responsibility for their learning.
-
Exactly! Students taking charge of their learning. That is exactly what we need to create. It will be neat to see once this is statewide after 10 years of implementation.
-
Assessment as learning, or assessment for learning, has been a major focus in my school district for the past 5 years or so. Within the structure of personalized learning, it makes complete sense that students would be able to take responsibility for their learning through self and peer assessment. Students are often more aware of their strengths and areas for improvement than we teachers are, because they know which parts of the assignment/project were more difficult for them.
-
Assessment for learning drives our curriculum and lessons. I agree that if we expect our students to guide their own learning, they need to be able to tell us what it is they are learning about through questioning by teachers and peers.
-
- ...12 more annotations...
-
Although her natural inclination is “to help my students when they’re stumped or confused, I need constantly to remind myself that when I supply an answer or even suggest a method for finding an answer, I’m not truly helping.” In terms of the tenets of inquiry-based instruction, she explains, when she answers students’ questions straightforwardly instead of asking questions to help the students find the answers themselves, she’s actually interfering with the learning process.
-
This is interesting. This would be so hard for many teachers to do, because we are just so used to helping our students, it's natural to us. We need to get into a different mindset and let our students figure things out and question. This would be difficult to change, but knowing it's not helping our students to help them out, tell them answers or suggest how to find an answer, that we are just interfering with our student's learning.
-
I agree! I think teachers naturally want to nurture students but in the end it is hurting more than helping.
-
I also fear that when teachers stand back students may just give up. I also feel that many teachers have so many things to get done in a day they don't have enough time for this type of learning.
-
Letting students figure things out for themselves (in a supportive classroom environment where there are resources available for them to find the answers to their questions) is crucial for true learning. For this reason, it is so important that teachers are skilled at using guiding and probing questions to move students' thinking forward without giving them the answer or telling them how to find it.
-
-
“Many teachers mistakenly assume kids know how to think,” she says. In most cases, though, children — many adults, too — experience thought as Zen masters describe it: a drunken monkey swinging haphazardly in a mind-forest, from thought-branch to thought-branch and idea-tree to idea-tree. Thinking Maps, she explains, help students gain control of the process by offering them eight distinct ways to organize their inquiries — a circle map for defining in context, for example, or a bubble map for describing with adjectives, etc. Thinking Maps, she continues, introduce students to the notion of thinking about thinking —
-
Most teachers know the classroom is the perfect place for children to play, but opportunities to provide those benefits are on the decline. Reduced recess, cuts to physical education courses and limited free time in the classroom coupled with an increasing emphasis on testing are propelling this decline all over the country.
-
So true :( It's very sad to think all of the time that kids were allowed to "play" is being taken away. I fully agree younger students learn to much through play! I worked at a daycare during my college years, and was able to see how important play was to kids and how much they actually do learn.
-
I agree! Ironically my 5th grade students did a compare and contrast paper after reading recent articles about the decline of recess and the pros and cons. I think recess or "free play" allows for character development and social development as well; something many educators struggle to find time to incorporate anymore with the demands of the academics now of days.
-
-
We will share examples of teachers using questions, display questions, and how to incorporate inquiry throughout teaching and learning no matter what grade or subject
-
To me it seems reasonable to begin the year with the meaning of question and inquiry and it's importance to learning. I think if students can connect to this (even at a young age), then their learning might make more sense to them. They already question and are inquisitive by many things that they learn on their own, so connecting that to the learning environment might spark more interest and help them realize this type of learning is really what we do in our daily lives. For example, I've been curious about raising some cattle, so I have been doing a lot of research about this topic. Same idea of personal learning. We just need to share examples of what they may have done at their level already so they don't feel so foreign to this learning style.
-
Great connection! I agree that questioning is SO important when it comes to personalized learning. There has been a lot of research about higher-level questioning and its positive impact on academics. To me, it makes a lot of sense why traditional classrooms typically use lower-level questions (Who, What, Where) and personalized/project-based/inquiry/etc. classrooms typically use higher-level questions (How, Why).
-
-
Start with just one lesson, Reed and Blaydes suggest, and modify it to suit your students’ needs.
-
For example, common sense seems to dictate that a five-pound object dropped from a given height will fall faster than a five-ounce object dropped from the same height. A traditional teacher may tell her class that’s not true and the kids might remember the correct answer if subsequently quizzed, but in their hearts they may not believe it. If employed properly, though, Ms. Moore contends, inquiry-based instruction stands a better chance of demolishing the misconceptions — eliminating them completely — by encouraging and allowing students to discover fundamental principles on their own.
-
Next, Ms. Moore asks the students what they wonder about their specimens. At this juncture, she explains, she knows which aspects of the material the Standard Course of Study requires her to cover and admits to becoming anxious if the students do not focus on them quickly. This is when her trust in the inquiry process is tested, when she must practice patience and restraint.
-
“Everything I do should contribute to students’ success outside of class,” she says, “and it’s never too early for kids to learn how to get along in the world.”
-
Marcon tracked children from preschool through the third and fourth grades and found that those with “overly academic” preschool experiences struggled in their later elementary years when they were expected to “think more independently and take on greater responsibility for their own learning process.”
-
Wow!!! this makes me sick I feel that we try and play a lot in the preschool classroom but maybe we don't play enough.
-
This is such interesting research. When I taught preschool we were doing the creative curriculum. I got a chance to have those same students again in third grade and they love turn and talk (getting and giving ideas and answers for comprehension questions) and creating projects together because they know how to communicate with each other and learn from each other. I wish the government and adminstrators would pay attention to this research...it is so vital that children get a chance to be explorers and creators in those early years!
-
-
They started small, and they've grown and honed their strategies each year.
-
Look, Ms. Daugherty, these dinosaurs have open mouths, and these dinosaurs have closed mouths. I can sort things!” He’s taken Daugherty’s lessons on sorting by color a step further—and he’s done it while playing.
-
A-HA. Play time is HUGE, yet it is being taking away and forced out of the classroom. This is exactly what I see and hear in my kindergarten classroom during, SHORT, periods of play. When it is "free choice" children are learning MORE than when I have them in their seats or at the carpet "preaching" and "teaching". If they can handle the reigns with their personal learning, they feel more in control and will be more comfortable talking to an audience about what it is they want to share.
-
-
Blaydes recommends activities that link learning and movement. An example activity for teaching punctuation asks students to first come up with motions and sounds for punctuation marks (for instance, jumping into the air and yelling, “Yes!” for exclamation points), then act out those movements at appropriate moments during a text read-aloud. These playful activities are fun—and memorable.
-
I LOVE this because I have taught end punctuation like this to my large and small groups. It is funny to see everyone get excited about finding an exclamation point in a text and jumping up and acting excited. When kids will be reading to themselves, sometimes they will jump up on their own because they have come across an exclamation point in their book. You know you have reached them when they do it on their own! :)
-
75More
ollie-afe-2021: Educational Leadership: The Quest for Quality--article - 3 views
-
department or grade-level common assessments
-
The purpose is to inform others—policymakers, program planners, supervisors, teachers, parents, and the students themselves—about the overall level of students' performance.
-
I believe clear criteria is going to be the most helpful for when my courses are switched over to standards based. I want my students to know exactly what they are expected to learn and assessed on. In doing this they then can effectively reflect back on their learning and assess their own learning.
-
This seems like a common sense approach and students won't have to guess what you're looking for.
-
SBG is a targeted form of assessment that can be effective if expectations are both clear and concise. It is important that learning targets and objectives are delivered in a "student friendly" language. "I can" statements work well as do other objectives as long as students know what they need to be able to do.
-
-
igure 1
-
I like how this figure shows what test questions link to specific learning targets and points awarded. If a student were to pass 3 of the 4 learning targets then we know that they need more time with one specific learning target. We can then spend time relearn concepts so they can reassess and show their learning again.
-
I agree, this is useful in determinig language barries that may have gotten in the way rather than not understanding the content
-
- ...25 more annotations...
-
A grade of D+
-
When it comes to grades and feedback, I believe their needs to also be a mindset change in students and parents. A lot of time students ask me what grade they received, and they determine if they are okay with that percentage before taking time to look at feedback and look at the learning that has happened. I will need to change the conversation from "What grade did I get" to "Did I sufficiently meet the learning target and provide evidence of my learning"
-
-
Teachers should design the assessment so students can use the results to self-assess and set goals.
-
We are currently doing a book study on assessments and they stated that your classroom should be 80/20. 80% reflection and 20% concepts. I am not sure if I agree with this breakdown but I do know I will need to take time to teach my students how to properly self assess and reflect.
-
Wow 80% does seem very high. I would imagine it will take some time to shift the thinking of both teachers and students
-
I've never seen/heard that breakdown before but it does make logical sense. Reflection/metacognition is a key component to creating a deeper connection to anything. I have asked students to reflect upon their understanding of content by checking boxes next to learning targets as we progress through a unit and to assess themselves on learning targets after a summative. I feel that students completed reflections as something that just needed to be done instead of a means to better understand themselves, so I totally agree that it will take time to shift the mindset...my big question is how do we set up a plan to do that?
-
-
NCLB
-
the assessor should organize the learning targets represented in the assessment into a written test plan that matches the learning targets represented in the curriculum.
-
I feel like this is something that would take a long time to set up, but would ultimately make evaluating an assessment easier.
-
From experience, it does take an adequate amount of time...and it can be quite humbling. I began this process several years ago after an Assessment for Learning training. Analyzing an assessment that you have curated over several years (thinking you've created something that justly assesses students), and finding misrepresentation of learning targets is an eye-opening experience.
-
-
if students will be the users of the results because the assessment is formative, then teachers must provide the results in a way that helps students move forward.
-
It's important that students see formative assessments as something that will help them
-
Most definitely, formative can be a great tool not only for the teacher but also for the student. It can be a great focus of communication to enable a student to become an independent learner.
-
This reminds me of a session with John Hattie that I attended on feedback. He talked about the purpose of feedback is to show the student where to go next. Feedback is an essential element in formative assessment. If there is no feedback then it isn't really formative.
-
-
Assessment literacy is the foundation for a system that can take advantage of a wider use of multiple measures.
-
clear picture of what achievement he or she intends to measure.
-
This is definitely important in properly assessing and supporting students. This is where I begin when a teacher asks for help I'm accommodating a student.
-
I remember in the first grade classroom having to record myself reading word problems for students to listen to because I wanted to assess their application of the math and not their ability to read and decode a word problem. Life changing.
-
@mcairiney - this makes a ton of sense. We see built in screen readers now in the ISASP's for 7-12 students on the reading exam because what is being tested is not necessarily decoding, but rather comprehension.
-
-
This key ensures that the assessor has translated the learning targets into assessments that will yield accurate results.
-
benchmark,
-
We have used MAP testing in the past as a measure of student academic progress and growth. MAP testing allows for periodic benchmarks that is student specific, providing a snapshot of where they are at compared to their peers.
-
MAP gave great information. Its great downfall was the amount of time required to administer it. Wish they had a "lite" version
-
I do like the the MAP tests better because they adjust to the students better. It seems like they see improvement and that is usually a motivator for them. However, it does take awhile to administer. But I appreciate the reports more because I can see growth for each student.
-
I always thought MAPs was a powerful assessment tool as well. I thought the resources that provided guidelines of where to take students next or how to strengthen skills that were challenging was helpful!
-
-
including students
-
plan
-
This Math Test Plan is helpful. It breaks the test down into an item analysis chart by question number. Individual questions are weighted (with point totals) and linked to learning targets. This plan would be a nice tool to give to students as well to help them guide them in their studying for assessments.
-
I love this idea! "...assign the appropriate balance of points in relation to the importance of each target." I think this example would really help teachers look at their assessments a little differently than just taking the test right from the book.
-
I think being very clear with students what each question is assessing is also helpful to make sure that an answer is given to PROVE their understanding instead of trying to figure out exactly what a teacher is looking for. Takes the guessing out of the game.
-
-
the instructional hours sacrificed to testing will return dividends in the form of better instructional decisions
-
assessor must begin with a clear picture of why he or she is conducting the assessment
-
Figure 2 clarifies which assessment methods are most likely to produce accurate results for different learning targets.
-
students to track their own progress
-
develop coordinated plans
-
decisions
-
Not to mention the amount of instructional time we lose while administering more in-depth testing. If we are using up instructional time, we need to make sure that the results of the assessment are providing powerful data that will help us move teachers and students forward.
-
I really agree with this statement. Sometimes the assessments that we give do not tell us the whole picture. They might flag us to know that something is wrong, but they don't tell us exactly what is wrong. That is when we have to dig deeper. We need to look at different types of information to make valid decisions.
-
-
the use of multiple measures does not, by itself, translate into high-quality evidence.
-
it's important to know the learning targets represented in the written curriculum
-
The goal of a balanced assessment system is to ensure that all assessment users have access to the data they want when they need it, which in turn directly serves the effective use of multiple measures.
-
This is very true. I've seen some good ideas for diagnostics or screener tests that were not properly utilized because the user interface/database was so hard to use; or it was confusing; or it was a mess of data that scared people away. The ability to access the data, when needed, in a manner that is easy to utilize, is very important. But not necessarily easy to accomplish.
-
-
Use a reading score from a state accountability test as a diagnostic instrument for reading group placement. Use SAT scores to determine instructional effectiveness. Rely solely on performance assessments to test factual knowledge and recall. Assess learning targets requiring the "doing" of science with a multiple-choice test.
-
I think this is a pretty solid list of "don't do's" . Unfortunately I think I've seen each one used in the past. The first bullet -- using reading scores as a diagnostic. I could maybe see a state test used as a "screener" -- it can give an initial idea of which students are strong or weak in reading -- but not as a "diagnostic" -- the state test will tell you that *something* is wrong, but it can't diagnose the difficulty that the student is having (decoding? dyslexia? etc...)
-
-
testing
-
Performance skill targets
-
Teachers have choices in the assessment methods they use,
-
Students learn best when they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning.
25More
Implementation in an Elementary Classroom (Articles) - 1 views
-
Throughout the remainder of the unit, they theorize, test, analyze, experiment, and share and review results at various work stations Ms. Moore establishes in the classroom. They also receive visits from and ask questions of representatives from some of the many local businesses engaged in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction in the mountains in and around Mitchell County.
-
District driven curriculum can make a teacher feel there isn't time for doing this type of learning. Teachers feel an urgency to get through all the skills they are expected to teach, as well as showing that year's growth in students they are responsible for. Taking time to cross curricular skill instruction gives greater allowance to doing lessons that move with student pace of inquiry. A reoccurring topic I often hear when collaborating with grade level PLCs is they just don't have time and feel frustrated that so much curriculum is getting in the way of those teachable "a-ha!" moments.
-
-
local companies,” says Ms. Moore, “because I feel it’s important for young girls to see that science isn’t for guys only.”
-
This is getting more difficult to make happen as I found out last fall. I invited a professional into my class to share about an area we were investigating, when I found out it required a background check prior to meeting with my students. This doesn't stop me from having guest speakers, and I respect the reason our district has enforced this, but it does put a damper on reaching out in a timely manner. Just had to share a personal experience.
-
-
using, for example, a “double bubble” Thinking Map for comparing and contrasting — and the information does not cohere, he or she can discard that approach and try another way. “When kids use Thinking Maps, they tend not to become frustrated when things don’t work out immediately,” says Ms. Moore.
- ...10 more annotations...
-
Students who miss time to play miss opportunities to let their minds soar and connect the dots between what they do at their desks and what surrounds them in the world
-
Reminds me of the Google theory for their employees! That much needed time to explore and imagine in order to gain insight should be seen more in elementary, as well as secondary education. This year's Philosophy Slam topic is, "Knowledge or Imagination - which has the greater impact on society?" My students have "respectfully" agreed to disagree on this topic the past few days.
-
-
Go Fish, a card game that requires students to apply their knowledge of place values. “They’re more apt to … think things through and connect them with their prior knowledge if they can play a game and it’s fun,” she says. “They don’t realize that they’re learning.”
-
Noise and lots of student movement within the classroom can be confused with mismanagement if one doesn't understand the importance "play" can have on learning. The current generation of student is used to more animated entertainment and learning is more successful and fun when it plugs into a similar format. Learning should be fun!
-
-
Continue building your strategies and tools. If you add and master just one at a time, refining the best techniques as you go, eventually you'll have a big arsenal.
-
Although the notion of thinking about thinking may seem difficult, “I’ve been surprised at how quickly the kids grasp it,” says Ms. Moore.
-
Sometimes teachers are too quick to help students and provide them the answers and we don't allow students the time to process the deeper meaning they get when they try to figure ideas out for themselves. It would be truly amazing to see students achieve the level of discovery rather than asking the question and the teacher providing the answer.
-
-
helping children gain active control over the process of thinking so they learn how to learn, which will serve them well throughout their lives.”
-
By teaching children the steps they need to use in learning, students are able to reach all levels of Bloom's taxonomy within their own experiences. Inquiry-based learning allows students to become active learners their whole lives rather than observers of a screen of information. They can "get their hands dirty" and ask the questions we expect scientists to ask and work their way through to discover the answer.
-
This statement is the true meaning of education. Spoon feeding concepts to students will not benefit them in the long run. Showing students how to gain active control over the process of thinking will open many doors for students and will carry over to outside the school walls.
-
-
“The reason that children have this incredibly strong drive to play with other children is because, over the course of evolutionary history, those people who did that were the people who grew up knowing how to get along with other people, knowing how to cooperate, knowing how to see things from the other person’s point of view.”
-
This is a unique idea because I had previously felt that birth order and size of a family had more to do with social drive in children. For example, a child who is an only child (like myself) doesn't have as much experience cooperating and sharing in the home setting compared to a family with six or seven children (my friends when I was growing up). In the large families, I thought they had more chores to do and less time for play. I didn't think of it from the the perspective that it revolved around the amount of play time children had. (Maybe I had less play time than I thought!) Interesting!
-
-
Establish a regular meeting time for collaborative planning. Aim to create one or two robust, differentiated units of study by the end of the year.
-
Collaboration is such a rewarding way to share ideas and build on the strengths of each member of the collaborating team. When everyone brings something to the table, the buffet is so much tastier. In education, we can present a more well rounded lesson when we see it through someone else's eyes. Another educator will share points we never thought of.
-
-
You will use your Class Learning Snapshot to determine the physical redesign of your classroom based on different examples of learning zones and flexible learning spaces
-
I love the comment about different learning zones and flexible learning spaces. I agree that having different learning areas is a must for classrooms. Even though I am in the learning stage of personalized learning, there are some things including room lay out that I already have in place. Looking forward to the next steps.
-
-
Inquiry-based instruction, a teaching technique rooted in questioning — both students’ questions about the material under investigation and the interrogation of students by teachers to elicit understanding — is not new; its provenance may be traced back to John Dewey.
-
A traditional teacher may tell her class that’s not true and the kids might remember the correct answer if subsequently quizzed, but in their hearts they may not believe it.
182More
ollie-afe-2018: Article: Attributes from Effective Formative Assessment (CCSSO) - 4 views
-
there are a number of formative assessment strategies that can be implemented during classroom instruction
-
technology has made access to formative assessments easier (in my opinion) because once they are created.... they are usually there forever
-
There are so many strategies that teachers can use to formatively assess. Some can be more informal than others, but they provide great insight into supporting teachers with the planning of their next steps.
-
-
The students must be actively involved in the systematic process intended to improve their learning.
-
This can be a challenging concept to teach, especially to high schoolers--- that they need to take part of their own responsibility in learning
-
I agree that students do need to take responsibility in their own learning. Many times high school students don't do this, they just do the work asked and it is up to the teacher to do all the work in order for them to learn or understand.
-
I have not personally done this, but data notebooks are a great example of this. I have students reflect on scores but I have not asked them to keep a notebook or journal.
-
Yes! We struggle so much getting students to self edit their papers. However, it is important for them to review what they have written and improve their skills. The more we can encourage students to do this the better.
-
-
With this kind of descriptive feedback and collaboration, the teacher clarifies the goal for the student, provides specific information about where the student is in relation to meeting the criteria, and offers enough substantive information to allow the student an opportunity to identify ways to move learning forward
-
I know that often times teacher build in stepping-stones (formative feedback) to give students feedback on larger writings or projects along the way. What happens when kids don't turn these rough drafts in on time, though?
-
That is a great point. Some of my LA teachers "assign" a copy to every student in Google Classroom - this way they can monitor the student work as it is being completed. Many give feedback throughout the process and are able to catch issues and help students to fix them before the rough draft is turned in. Is it perfect - far from it - but students are getting more timely feedback.
-
- ...64 more annotations...
-
To support both self- and peer-assessment, the teacher must provide structure and support so students learn to be reflective of their own work and that of their peers, allowing them to provide meaningful and constructive feedback.
-
In this type of classroom culture, students will more likely feel they are collaborators with their teacher and peers in the learning process.
-
I worry about creating this type of collaborative culture online... I know there are plenty of tools, but I'm worried it won't "feel" the same.
-
In my opinion, a key part of creating this collaborative feel is to make sure students feel like part owners in the process. They need to feel like the learning is something they are doing instead of being done to them. The potential for handing off control in the online class is greater because a student is independent, however the challenge for the teacher is to make sure the student doesn't feel along.
-
-
classroom culture
-
This is one of the most important aspects of teaching to me after knowledge of content. Students and staff should feel safe, respect for others, acknowledge and celebrate our diversity, consistency, and honesty. Falsifying test results, assessments with purposeful trick questions, and threats over scores is very disturbing. These things should not happen if the classroom culture matters to the teacher.
-
-
A further benefit of providing feedback to a peer is that it can help deepen the student’s own learning.
-
A further benefit of providing feedback to a peer is that it can help deepen the student’s own learning.
-
A further benefit of providing feedback to a peer is that it can help deepen the student’s own learning.
-
constructive feedback
-
Constructive feedback needs to be modeled by the teacher for students to do this successfully. Professional development refreshers and training may need to be provided for teachers to attend.
-
I do like that there are many ways to do this now. Google Docs has made this easy with commenting. Of course we can use Diigo to. There are also several voice and video tools to use too.
-
I agree that refreshers and training needs to happen for this time of constructive feedback. This would be a great PD for curricular area professional developments.
-
-
It should help the student answer three basic questions: Where am I going? Where am I now? How can I close the gap?
-
I appreciate McManus' statement that descriptive feedback should relate to these three questions. Rubrics can also help the student know where they are going. Learning progressions can help the teacher assess where the student is presently. Descriptive feedback can be given frequently to help the student know how to close the gap.
-
This is a great way to break down the process. Sometimes with time constraints of classes and the school day it can be tough to do effectively with students. But for the really important "stuff" this is a great process.
-
I really appreciate these three basic questions. They can be used for teachers as they look at student work and plan and they can also be used for students in their reflection process.
-
-
It should avoid comparisons with other pupils
-
One key feature of this definition is its requirement that formative assessment be regarded as a process rather than a particular kind of assessment.
-
I think at first many times formative assessment was looked at as having to have some type of quiz or quizzes during the unit to say that they were given to the students. I think more teachers are now realizing that it is a "process" to help the students learn and understand and not just something the teacher has to give during the unit.
-
I agree with Bryan. At first, I believed that formative assessment was referring to quizzes given during a unit to determine a final grade. I now understand that it is a process for teachers and students to reflect on their instruction or work during the learning process. It is a tool that is a more powerful indicator of the learning that is or isn't taking place and allows for adjustments in instruction.
-
-
the teacher listens for the rules or properties in the explanations, and this becomes the focus of her feedback.
-
Listening to students or discussing with them is a good way to assess whether a student knows the information, concept or procedure. Formative assessment doesn't always have to be a quiz that is graded, it can be talking to the student and discussing their progress.
-
I huge mindshift as a math teacher is that sometimes it's not about actually solving the problem but being able to explain how to solve the problem. When you get into high level math basic computation errors can mess up a whole problem. It the problem were adjusted to explain the process the basic mathematical computations would be eliminated from assessing student understanding.
-
I love this. Art standards and instruction is also being focused more on the process rather than solely on the product. Totally different set of values and viewpoints.
-
-
students can work in pairs to review each other’s work to give feedback. A teacher needs to have modeled good feedback with students and talked about what acceptable and unacceptable comments look like in order to have created a safe learning environment.
-
Peer review using a rubric or guidelines will help in showing both students what is important and that the student that is reviewing isn't just making things up and trying to be critical. Having the teacher model the behavior and show what is acceptable and unacceptable is important because students don't necessarily know how to do this and might not feel their is a safe learning environment.
-
This is a great way to use peer review. If the students know the rubric expectations and then can break off into smaller groups to do the more specific peer reviews. Having the teacher go over the rubric first and then modeling what the peer review looks like gives the students a sound foundation.
-
-
nstruction so that necessary instructional adjustments can be made to close the gap between students’ current understanding and the desired goals
-
provide opportunities for students to monitor their ongoing progress.
-
I have seen teachers use student monitored formative assessments where students will rate their own learning from a 1 -10. One teacher used different colored cups to rate their own learning. Students would put a green cup out if they understand and a red cup if they did not
-
I commented on this above. Simply telling the students where they are in the learning process, while important, is not enough. The students need to take ownership of their learning. i used a similar activity Noel, where students rated their learning 1-4 on a google form and i used that data to form small groups the next day. I experienced mixed results as the students eventually just started giving themselves 3s and 4s to avoid small group work.
-
I have not done this very well as an educator and appreciate the feedback. The key to me would be would students be truly honest with their self evaluations. Sometimes it seems the kids that struggle the most for me are looking for the easy way out.
-
That's interesting, but it makes sense that most students knowing that their rating would mean small work instruction would start claiming they were fine. So, it makes me think that actual checks on the skill itself are needed to really determine understanding.
-
I think as teachers we need to use a combination of student self reflection and teacher evidence as our guide for helping students to move forward.
-
I still struggle with this element when assessing students. I may giv the may give them a quick exit ticket to see what I need to change but never give them feedback on how they did. In our learning about rubric it might actually help the kids set some personal goals to improve and I need to be better about this. I think it's important that the students be involved in determine what are the appropriate next steps whenever possible.
-
-
instructional goal to students.
-
Students should always know the objective of the lesson and why it is important for them to learn it. They cannot monitor their progress if they do not know the goal.
-
This is a reason why learning targets are so important and need to be explained and up for students to see in the classroom.
-
Agreed to both! Do parents ever see these learning targets? That again would be helpful with communication so that everyone is on the same page.
-
One of my favorite things to do in a classroom is ask a student what he/she is learning at that time. You know right away whether a teacher is identifying/posting/reiterating/supporting learning targets if the student can articulate the goals of their learning.
-
-
They are able to connect formative assessment opportunities to the short-term goals to keep track of how well their students’ learning is moving forward.
-
Teachers might also discover they forgot a step in their learning progression. Sometimes I think students will have certain background knowledge and then discover they do not.
-
A focus in our collaborative teams is to write out learning targets for upcoming cylces, it we could add the element of a matching common formative assessment it would help the teachers see the students learning and the unit or cylce is progressing.
-
-
peers are involved there are many more opportunities to share and receive feedback.
-
You have to teach students how to do peer reviews, or they do not work. Sometimes I find students will be immature when reviewing other students work if you do not set up the ground rules.
-
Teaching the students the process of doing peer reviews is critical. The students can't do the process if they don't understand the process.
-
-
teachers and students receiving frequent feedback.
-
This is so important to provide feedback in any form not only to students but I also feel its important for teachers to use it as feedback for ourselves. In addition, especially with older students, it may be impactful to have students provide you with feedback to the formative assessment - did it work, how could it be modified to make more sense or meet their learning styles, etc.
-
Feedback is critical. It doesn't matter whether it is at the k-12 or higher ed. level or even life, feedback helps us to learn and to grow.
-
-
criteria
-
I truly feel that this is essential in having students really understand and give them the best chance for proficiency from the start. From the get-go, students need to know what it is they are trying to achieve and perhaps a road map of how they may get there. That road map may not be specific to induce problem-solving and creativity but it will prompt their direct. In addition, I feel it is important to model examples for students that have used the criteria well, not so well and middle ground.
-
-
timely feedback
-
I would also include contains academic language that derives from the content area, unit and lesson objectives.
-
Timely feedback is important. Too often we as learners have felt frustration if we do not receive feedback in a timely manner. We have to move forward uncertainly in these instances and do not know what the outcome will be moving forward. Most of us have faced this at some point. I often keep that in mind when working with students. If my students were working on a lengthy essay, then I would walk around the room and read a paragraph and provide feedback for each student during every class. Then, they can make adjustments during the writing process versus waiting to provide feedback at the end of the unit. If formative checks are not completed along the way with descriptive feedback, then students can feel frustrated when they think they were on the right track and receive a low score because they did not meet all the expectations of the teacher.
-
I see this with teacher now that they give assessments but don't give the results back in a timely fashion. It is detrimental to the student learning and growth.
-
I would rewrite the title of this section descriptive and timely feedback. I think it's that important. As Leigh points out, a little bit along the way helps avoid the big logjam at the end of a learning unit. Finding ways to accelerate feedback cycles helps students adjust faster and progress further.
-
probably the most important thing in assessment...giving feedback quickly and not weeks down the line.
-
So true, this is one of the most important parts to the assessment, if the feedback is not timely, it is not anywhere near as effective!
-
-
provide structure and support so students learn to be reflective of their own work and that of their peers
-
constructive feedback to each other,
-
I feel like this can be the most challenging for students. They sometimes don't want to feel like they are "judging" or being "judged". It is important for them to realize what constructive criticism is and that is ok to give and receive feedback.
-
Teaching students how to provide constructive feedback is essential. We have been working on this with students during substantive conversations taking place. Teachers can provide conversations starters and prompts to assist students when they are first learning how to build on another students idea or to challenge an idea, etc.
-
Agree with both of you. It is critical that we teach students how to give constructive feedback. This can be done through teacher modeling of the process along with students practicing how to do it.
-
-
used by teachers and students
-
I think this is the most overlooked part of formative assessments. These are of course for the teacher to form instruction moving forward, but the students should use it as well Teaching students to formatively assess their own work is very powerful and discourages 'making the same mistake twice.'
-
Agreed. It can and should be used by both teachers and students to reflect on their work.
-
I agree we need to use them as teachers and students. Students need to be a part of the assessment process
-
I also agree. Formative assessments are powerful tools for both teachers and students to use to improve instruction and learning.
-
Agreed to both. Dont' forget that this information (especially in an elementary settying) is perfect to show parents,especially those who want to know specifics.
-
-
a step that is neither too large nor too small
-
Differentiated instruction at its best right here! "One size fits all" might work for an initial learning progression, but through formative assessments you might find some are ready to move on to the next progressions while some may need some reteaching, or at least a slower pace through the progressions. Two of our district's guiding questions are "What to do when they don't learn it?" and "What to do when they do learn it?" Unfortunately these two questions and answers might be happening at the same time in your classroom. A good teacher is prepared to do both!
-
Nicely stated Shawn. Formative assessments provide a teacher with a real time snapshot of where students are with their learning. Ideally, all students would be at the same place in their learning of a concept or topic. However, experienced teachers know that in reality that rarely happens and adjust their instruction to improve all students' achievement.
-
-
Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes.
-
I really like this definition. I think when someone hears the word assessment that it automatically means they are getting a grade - when in reality it is a check for understanding to adjust teaching/learning.
-
I agree that I really like the definition. I think it is something that has meaning, but those that aren't educators can still understand. Sometimes in education we tend to get a little to "fancy" with our definitions and in the end no one knows what it really means.
-
My takeaway from this definition is that it is a process used by teachers and students. The only thing I would add to this definition is that formative assessment is something that not only happens during instruction, it should also be happening before and after instruction.
-
I really appreciate the words to improve student learning. Isn't that what we are all about. It is not a show where teachers are in front just dictating information for students to regurgitate but to synthesis and hold on to for future use.
-
I zeroed in on the word "process." Formative assessment is not a single event or a series of events. it is a process designed to provide feedback and adjust along the way...exactly what a process is.
-
The "during instruction" is a huge mindshift for some teachers. Every time the assess the students they get hung up on how much teaching they have given. I give assessments just to see how much further I need to go before the class masters the concept.
-
Many aspects of this definition provided me with a clearer vision of a formative assessment. A "process" describes the relationship between teachers and students during instruction. "Provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching" describes the need for teachers to check for understanding and adjust instruction accordingly. Finally, "to improve students' achievement" describes what teachers strive to do daily.
-
-
Learning Progressions: Learning progressions should clearly articulate the sub-goals of the ultimate learning goal.
-
accompanied
-
Trying to piggyback on a couple of highlights already in this paragraph, communicating the goal and providing criteria. This has been an extreme challenge for me this year switching to standards based grading. I mean it's easy to tell the kids what the standard is, but making them understand what proficient work looks like ahead of time is the challenge. I (and our district) am trying to use rubrics to do this.
-
-
While evidence exists in varying degrees to support the five attributes presented, there is clearly no one best way to carry out formative assessment. The way these attributes are implemented depends on the particular instructional context, the individual teacher, and—perhaps most importantly—the individual students.
-
Students should be provided with evidence-based feedback that is linked to the intended instructional outcomes and criteria for success.
-
I totally agree with this attribute ... eventually. In my intervention process I make 'awareness' the first step. In other words, I just let the student know their work was wrong, or didn't meet proficiency. This is usually marked with a simple mark, checkmark, x, etc. If the student can then self asses their own mistakes and resubmit work with an explanation of what they did wrong and how they fixed it, I don't intervene any more. If they can't, I begin the formal RTI process, where this statement comes into play heavily.
-
-
Collaboration
-
Big educational buzz word, collaboration. But we primarily hear of it in regards to just teacher collaboration (CTT, PLC, etc.) or student collaboration (small groups, peer-evaluation, etc.). For effective formative assessment to work, there needs to be this third layer, teacher-student collaboration, beyond just instruction from the teacher and assessment by the student. The five points in this article should be a must read for all teachers to become more effective!
-
Agreed. Students are often left out of the conversation where they could be a part of the instructional design. Student goal setting has a really high effect size, and if they know how they will be measured, they are more likely to move toward those goals.
-
-
realistic examples
-
This is a tricky one for me as well. I do this sometimes to make sure students understand what I'm looking for. At times I decide not to as I don't want students to look at a model and think "ok, if it looks just like this then I've done what I need to do". At times I think showing examples can hinder a students creative mindset.
-
-
d make adjustments to instruction accordingly
-
I have struggled with the idea of adjusting instruction on the fly or overnight especially when there are 125 kids to adjust for. But, I did appreciate the ideas in the lessons of this week that talked about having a bank of activities, videos, etc. at my fingertips to use just at the right time.
-
I agree that sometimes we need to do this...I have actually done this while teaching a digital citizenship lesson when I realized they had no idea what I was talking about and adjusted it right then and there.
-
Lisa, one thing to consider is looking at the learning targets a head of time and trying to anticipate the pitfalls students might find themselves in and how you would correct those misconceptions. That way when it comes time for that quick check/daily data, you are able to adjust instruction without throwing out the playbook.
-
Making sure that we, as teachers, are constantly adjusting our instruction based on formative assessments, observation, to best meet their student's needs.
-
-
explicit learning progressions
-
on a classroom culture characterized by a sense of trust between and among students and their teachers; by norms of respect, transparency, and appreciation of differences; and by a non-threatening environment.
-
I would add that it actually needs to be a school culture for students to become involved in their learning, not just a class culture. I think the annotations to this article about most students do not act responsible for their own learning support this. For students to become partners, they need much practice and opportunities to do so in numerous classes in different formats and structures as described in the first four attributes of assessments. Plus, the affective attributes of a school as described in #5 . .. respect, transparency, appreciation of differences have to also be present for students to feel like partners. That is so hard to get a whole school to exhibit these qualities. But, I submit that one classroom cannot do it on their own.
-
I've been thinking a lot about the student's experience throughout the school day in terms of technology. That is, most of the teachers at our school have a Google Classroom, but not all. There are differences between how Classroom is used between teachers. Point being, without a overall school culture, students experience 7 cultures a day when they change classes. In one period, they have the trust and transparency thing going on and then classes change and a student finds themselves in a more restrictive culture of sharing and learning. This is a tough task for teenagers to navigate on a daily basis. We should be mindful of this and aspire to bring our classroom cultures closer together in terms of look and feel.
-
I wholeheartedly agree! This can't be something that is taught or used in isolation. Students need to learn the process of being involved in their learning. This is most easier said than done. Students have been conditioned to sit and learn - thinking that the learning just happens from what the teacher is doing in class. This whole process is a mindshift that takes some time to grab hold to be successful.
-
-
Formative assessment is not an adjunct to teaching but, rather, integrated into instruction
-
It is promising that teachers are beginning to discuss their formative assessments more frequently in my building, and one teacher asked for resources to assist her in varying the methods of formative assessment she uses. Recently, the importance of formative assessments was emphasized during a Science PD that I attended as well. There should be formative (ungraded) checkpoints along the way to monitor student understanding.
-
LOve love love! we need to use assessment to drive further instruction...not just move on because the pacing guide says so. and create goals so the students know what they need to get to
-
-
Creating such a culture requires teachers to model these behaviors during interactions with students, to actively teach the classroom norms, and to build the students’ skills in constructive self- and peer-assessment.
-
Creating an environment of safety and trust is important. The article mentions modeling by the teacher of the behaviors when interacting with students, and this cannot be emphasized enough. Students need reminders and modeling. Protocols for discussions should be in place, and students should be encouraged to interact with peers frequently with these in mind. The more students practice these skills the less time one needs to spend covering these expectations, but reminders are still necessary.
-
Agree!! Safety and trust is very important as students are working together. The teacher may want to consider what project(s) they start with during the school year (or semester) to build that collaboration among peers. We can learn so much from each other and that includes the teacher.
-
-
students’ ability to reason in increasingly complex ways
-
This jumps out at me. The purpose of scaffolding and modeling along with high rigor for all allow students to reasons increasingly concept text. Let us not forget that teaching is incredibly difficult, and it truly is this that makes it challenging to do it well. But when done well, the results are amazing.
-
-
formative assessment process involve both teachers and students
-
Often, teachers use informal data to drive instruction or make quick decisions. I think in the last 10 years there has been much more focus on metacognition. Teachers should and will formulate ideas informally. I think the key is goal setting and kids truly identifying where he/she is and communicate it in some way.
-
-
two stars and a wish
-
I like this terminology. Through the years, we would read others writings and give feedback or other activities. I would say give at least 2 positives and one idea for improvement. I think this terminology is excellent! This definitely takes a lot of modeling as this is difficult for many. Modeling with the rubric is a way to explain how to use a rubric. This must be practiced often.
-
I have actually planned a lesson with a teacher who used this type of feedback in art with her fifth grade students. It was a great way for students to work together and it gave them a great framework for discussion.
-
I like the idea of this strategy two stars and a wish. This allows for some guidance to be utilized while working with other students work.
-
-
involving students in decisions about how to move learning forward are illustrations of students and teachers working together in the teaching and learning process.
-
This truly only works in a growth mindset classroom vs. a fixed mindset. For the students or teachers who do things just to get done or just to get the "A", this is tough and often time rushed through. It think it takes a lot of discussions about why we learn. The focus on the learning process and not the final "grade" has to be key. This is much, much harder than it sounds. It goes full circle on how to create the formative and summative assessments. Are we focusing on just the final product or the process? This is hard.
-
-
Learning progressions describe how concepts and skills build in a domain
-
Many schools and districts are working on creating unit organizers for instruction based around standards. This piece of that planning is so important. The creation of the progression based around the standard is valuable work for classroom teachers to help develop and plan around learning targets. Another piece of learning progressions though is looking at the work students have done with that standard in the grade level before and also looking ahead to the grade level to come.
-
-
inform instruction and learning during the teaching/learning process
-
unequivocal
-
sufficient detail for planning instruction
-
Both self- and peer-assessment are important for providing students an opportunity to think meta-cognitively about their learning.
-
peer-assessment, students analyze each others’ work using guidelines or rubrics and provide descriptive feedback that supports continued improvement.
-
they must feel that they are bona fide partners in the learning process
-
teachers have the big picture
-
In working more with the concept of learning progressions, I think the biggest benefit is the emphasis on the big picture. As I reflect on some projects that didn't work out quite right, I think had I shared more of the big picture, students would have performed better. I could see where they didn't understand how the part related to the whole. As this section discusses, you have to provide other details and goals to support the big picture.
-
Agree! The big picture is important for not only the teacher to have, but also the students. When you can provide the big picture with details and goals to support it to students, hopefully the results of the learning will be better.
-
-
Effective formative assessment
-
I think there is a significant jump (especially at the HS level) to move from formative assessment to effective formative assessment. Often, it is simply about the grade and not about the learning or responsive instruction.
-
I agree with you. I think sometimes teachers seem less willing to carry out more effective formative assessment because it is more work.
-
-
a teacher could identify the “just right gap”
-
Learning goals and criteria for success should be clearly identified and communicated to students.
-
I think the criteria for success is too often simply the score on the quiz or test. A letter grade or % is not descriptive feedback for most students. As teachers we need to clearly articulate what success means and what the goals are.
-
This makes me think of the rubrics and how they could make the student's progress be communicated with them. If you gave an an assessment that has multiple learning targets a rubric might better show them where they did well, and where they could improve on. A percentage grade would not communicated how they did on each "section" of the assessment.
-
-
communicated using language readily understood by students
-
particular qualities of student learning with discussion or suggestions about what the student can do to improve.
-
but also to increase student scores on significant achievement examinations.
-
A further benefit of providing feedback to a peer is that it can help deepen the student’s own learning.
-
In this particular lesson, students have been asked to write an opening paragraph to their speech with the success criteria of introducing their topic in a way that engages the audience. The feedback the teacher gives to one student is, “The opening paragraph does not capture the audience’s attention because it does not clearly state what the speech is about. However, the opening sentence of the second paragraph states you
-
formative assessment as a way not only to improve student learning, but also to increase student scores on significant achievement examinations.
-
teachers and students receiving frequent feedback.
-
formative assessment as a way not only to improve student learning, but also to increase student scores on significant achievement examinations.
Time Maps - 0 views
149More
ollie_4-fall14: Educational Leadership: The Quest for Quality--article - 13 views
-
Student Involvement in the Assessment ProcessStudents learn best when they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning. This means that teachers need to write learning targets in terms that students will understand.
-
This seems to be to be a critical component to engaging students in their learning.
-
Writing learning targets in tersm that students will understand can be a challenge...especially with younger children.
-
Having I can statements make a huge difference in what the learning will be. All students need this!
-
I think goal setting and tracking is way students can take responsibility for their own learning.
-
Learning targets and "I can" statements reach all students and guide them in their learning, but even more so help to maintain attention for students that get off task easily or loose focus. Having these short-term goals posted in the classroom can aide in self-guidance of the students. A quick gesture to the poster or board with these goals can redirect without too much effort.
-
Student involvement in assessment always produces deeper understanding. When students can create their own learning targets (when guided by the educator), this is deeply beneficial because they've created a mini road map to help them navigate through the content. They won't have any surprises, only answers to the learning targets they hoped to gain.
-
-
Clear Learning TargetsThe assessor needs to have a clear picture of what achievement he or she intends to measure. If we don't begin with clear statements of the intended learning—clear and understandable to everyone, including students—we won't end up with sound assessments.
-
I feel we often assess for the sake of assessing without keeping our focus on what it is we want the student to gain from it in the long run.
-
I completely agree. I was constantly assessing formatively, but I hate to admit that summative assessments that I created for my units were more assessment for the sake of assessment. I should have approached it more big-picture
-
Also, I think that clearly communicated learning targets are so important. How many times have I taken classess or sat through PD and was doing what was asked of me, but I wasn't sure why.
-
I agree, having clear learning targets is helpful for students. It gives them an idea of what is most important in a lesson and gives students a guide for learning.
-
I agree with Deb and Kristina that students need to have clearly defined learning targets which will guide students as to the area of focus. Assessment should be done for a purpose and an outcomes.
-
I also agree that we can't keep what we are teaching a mystery to the students. They need to know the learning targets so they know what is expected of them. Then they will be able to connect with the content and engage in the learning.
-
I think it's important to have a road map that is constantly being referred to- and instructors that ask the question, are we getting there? If the assessment can't answer that question, maybe the instruction needs to be adjusted, or the assessment needs to be thrown out.
-
-
Keys to BalanceThe goal of a balanced assessment system is to ensure that all assessment users have access to the data they want when they need it, which in turn directly serves the effective use of multiple measures.
-
I like the use of the tern balance. It implies we need to USE assessments for information instead of just because we feel we need to assess everything. The issue of access is also critical because if we do not give teachers access to the data directly they cannot effectively use it!
-
Direct access to data provides teachers with feedback as to whether further instruction is needed in a specific area or if students understand and you can move forward. I often question why we start another unit immediately after a test when there may be a need to step back and review an application before moving forward.
-
If we respond to what the assessment data is telling us we won't always be doing the same things with the same children. Planning for individual and small group instruction becomes necessary if we truly want to scaffold learning.
-
Balance as a whole is essential in any learning environment- especially in assessment. Students need to have ample time spent in learning environments that allows them the success they earn in an assessment environment. After that time is used in assessment- students need to know that those assessments will drive the instruction in the future, and they see the value in assessment.
-
- ...74 more annotations...
-
What decisions will the assessment inform?
-
This is a good question we should ask before each assessment! Why are we assessing this? What will we do as a result?
-
Yes, and the answer to the question of why we do assessment can't be "because we have to".
-
-
Great question. I think we often assess because we feel we should and we always do; it's just part of a routine. This question forces more of a big-picture plan for assessment.
-
-
begin with a clear picture of why he or she is conducting the assessment.
-
I believe that this statement is so true. The teacher and students must have a clear picture of why the assessment is happening. I am afraid that many times it is because the curriculum says that it is time for a particular test or the district has said it is time. But, then the assessments are only being used to give a letter grade or to get stats for a certain audience like the school board.
-
I completely agree. We can't let pacing guides dictate when an assessment is necessary or what we use it for.
-
-
Are results communicated in time to inform the intended decisions?
-
-
Specific, descriptive feedback linked to the targets of instruction and arising from the assessment items or rubrics communicates to students in ways that enable them to immediately take action, thereby promoting further learning.
-
This statement really ties into what we learned in unit 1 about rubrics. Having a rubric helps you to be able to give specific descriptive feedback that make continuous improvemnt more likely.
-
I agree. This is really a biggie. Tmely, specific feedback that is linked to specific learning goals is so important. It takes time, but it sure has an impact on learning.
-
In starting to teach a course online for the first time this fall being able to easily provide written feedback to each and every student has been a positive of the online format. Yes, it takes time and I don't know exactly how soon the students view the comments that I make but it has the potential to make a real impact on student performance and learning.
-
-
next steps in learning
-
Next steps in learning--teachers quickly understand that they must provide this, but don't always see it's connection to how we assess.
-
It might be helpful to look at ourselves as coaches, a coach would give feedback to help an athlete improve. They wouldn't say, "that's average" and move on. Our assessments shouldn't do this either.
-
-
-
it's important to know the learning targets represented in the written curriculum.
-
This is a challenge for many of us with the new Iowa Core which has process and content targets. Knowing how to assess processes is new to many of us.
-
-
For me, as an art teacher, I have had experience assessing the process. However, I don't always include it in the final assessment like I should. It is always interesting to hear the student's perspective in the process they went through when learning.
-
-
Most assessments developed beyond the classroom rely largely on selected-response or short-answer formats and are not designed to meet the daily, ongoing information needs of teachers and student
-
-
Educators are more likely to attend to issues of quality and serve the best interests of students when we build balanced systems, with assessment-literate user
-
-
inform students about their own progress
-
I think it is always important to keep in mind the value of students taking ownership in their learning and being aware of their own progress toward standards.
-
Yes, when students take ownership of their own learning they are more successful. It is important to keep in mind when designing assessments.
-
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
Examples of bias include poorly printed test forms, noise distractions, vague directions, and cultural insensitivity.
-
This was a good reminder to me that many variables impact assessment results in addition to the just the assessment methods.
-
The vague directions reference is key. It is so critical that directions are clear, but that is easier said than done at times.
-
It is easier said than done. I have written directions that I thought were very clear but evidently were not as I had several questions from students. I'm trying to get better at this.
-
It's interesting that assessment result inacuracies are connected to external factors. So true!
-
So many kids don't have any idea what the instructions are, but are too afraid to ask for clarification because they don't want to stick out. It's essential for teachers to make sure that all students know what is expected of them.
-
-
A mechanism should be in place for students to track their own progress on learning targets and communicate their status to others.
-
I consider data binders a great tool for helping students track their own progress on learning targets. They can also use it to communicate their progress to parents at conferences.
-
Teachers being able to organize the grade book or other assessment scores in an online classroom environment might be a powerful tool in allowing students to easily see the progress they are making towards a learning target throughout a particular online course.
-
Students having access to the progress they are making would help give students the motivation to keep improving and a sense of accomplishment.
-
It seems like a lot of work up front getting things set up for students to be able to track their progress but it is much more meaningful when they are taking responsibility for their learning and have that internal motivation.
-
-
Ongoing classroom assessments serve both formative and summative purposes and meet students' as well as teachers' information needs.
-
students can use the results to self-assess and set goals
-
Students have got to be given time for metacognition and reflection to maximize current learning as well as future learning.
-
I believe that it is important for students to be involved in setting goals for their learning and monitoring their own progress. The research has been available for years on this topic.
-
I agree. It is so important to have students involved in their own learning and in monitoring their progress. I know for me it would have been beneficial to have those options when I was in school. "in the olden days" when I was in school, we weren't given options. Would have been nice!
-
-
written test plan
-
This works for some subjects, but not all. I don't know that I would give my students in drawing a written test. The written test is a product in my case.
-
Kristina, The way I read this is that it wouldn't have to be a written test for the students but that we as instructors should have a written plan that shows how our assessments are assessing the various learning targets we are trying to hit.
-
-
Clear Purpose
-
While in the classroom this was a constant struggle when working with many of the assessments that we were being asked to give to students. Often we as teachers were not sure of the purpose of the assessments we were being asked to give. While this did not mean that the assessments were not worthwhile, the lack of communication and development of teacher understanding was a big problem. On some levels I think we are currently seeing similar miscommunication in schools that are for the first time implementing FAST or another DE approved assessment with their students. I have spoken with teachers that have little or no context to the different tests within the FAST program and therefore are unaware of the purpose. This does not mean that they are poor assessments or not worth the time - we know differently. However, without a clear purpose the information gained from the assessment might easily be lost.
-
-
Who is the decision maker?
-
This is another area of confusion that I have experienced in the classroom. As schools started to implement IDM, then RTI, and now MTSS many assessments and interventions started popping up at the elementary level. Often there was confusion as to what the results of these assessments and interventions would mean, and who would make the decisions. Having a clear understanding of who will be making the decisions and insuring that those individuals have the background knowledge and understanding to make these decisions is crucial.
-
This is another area of confusion that I have experienced in the classroom. As schools started to implement IDM, then RTI, and now MTSS many assessments and interventions started popping up at the elementary level. Often there was confusion as to what the results of these assessments and interventions would mean, and who would make the decisions. Having a clear understanding of who will be making the decisions and insuring that those individuals have the background knowledge and understanding to make these decisions is crucial.
-
-
At the level of annual state/district standardized assessments, they involve where and how teachers can improve instruction—next year.
-
Our Social Studies department at our school requested the Social Studies test data from lasts years Iowa Tests from our district. We were told that even though all of our students had taken the test that we would not be given any breakdown of the data. Needless to say we were more than a little frustrated by this decision. Unfortunately, even though all of our students took the test it costs money to get a breakdown of the data and the district wasn't willing to pay for that at this time. Why give the assessment if you aren't going to use the data from it to try to improve??
-
-
Reasoning targets, which require students to use their knowledge to reason and problem solve.
-
I see this directly relating to higher order thinking skills where are students are being encouraged to think at a much deeper level and not settle for a single answer. We need to be questioning how and why certain things take place and this would be one way that students are being held accountable for their own learning.
-
-
Performance skill targets, which ask students to use knowledge to perform or demonstrate a specific skill, such as reading aloud with fluency.
-
Product targets, which specify that students will create something, such as a personal health-related fitness plan
-
What a great way to differeniate instruction. Learning styles vary and its important to provide students with multiple options in completing an assignment.
-
I agree with you. Giving students choice in how to express what they have learned is so important. That's a key component in Universal Design for Learning.
-
-
A Solid Foundation for a Balanced System
-
I absolutely agree: balanced systems for assessing learning with assessment-literate users. When a district has many teachers, an implementation plan on how to have all teachers assessment-literate is crucial. Then how is a district going to measure the success? It needs to be included in the teacher evaluation process. (Lynn
-
Many schools are using DuFour's PLC framework to drive teacher collaboration around data points. Wonderful work!
-
-
Because classroom teachers can effectively use all available assessment methods, including the more labor-intensive methods of performance assessment and personal communication, they can provide information about student progress not typically available from student information systems or standardized test results.
-
The assessment methods utilized by teachers in the classrooms can have the greatest impact on student learning IF the teachers know how to use assessments to impact instruction. Hence, the need for good professional development concerning assessment. (Lynn)
-
You raise an interesting point Lynn, "the need for good professional development concerning assessment" (Helmke, L. 2014). I wonder how such a professional development would be received- both at the different building levels (elementary, middle and high schools) as well as looking at different parts of the state.
-
The teacher is the most powerful player when it comes to assessment. The teacher who sees that child day after day has a more accurate understanding of the performance of the student than a standardized test. This should be a taken into consideration more than the standardized test.
-
-
Teachers can minimize bias in a number of ways. For example, to ensure accuracy in selected-response assessment formats, they should keep wording simple and focused, aim for the lowest possible reading level, avoid providing clues or making the correct answer obvious, and highlight crucial words (for instance, most, least, except, not).
-
Bias can also creep into assessments and erode accurate results
-
Will the users of the results understand them and see the connection to learning?
-
The idea of people understanding the results really speaks to me. My wife is an "Instructional Design Strategist" (read Coach) for an elementary school. She knows a lot. She especially knows a lot about assessing at the elementary level, and whenever we would go into a parent-teacher conference for our daughters, she would make sure that the teacher explained the data to me, as she already knew what the score meant. If I just went on what I understood, well my kids were way off the A-D grade charts because they were scoring M and E- little did I know that those meant Meeting and Exceeding...
-
-
Who will use the results to inform what decisions?
-
having more assessments will mean we are more accurately estimating student achievement
-
Using misinformation to triangulate on student needs defeats the purpose of bringing in more results to inform our decisions.
-
Effectively planning for the use of multiple measures means providing assessment balance throughout these three levels, meeting student, teacher, and district information needs.
-
What Assessments Can—and Cannot—Tell Us
-
This is a component of assessments that I think has flown under the radar for too long. In my experience in the classroom, we were often inundated with mounds of data that we had been given very little training or time to understand what it could or could not tell us about our students. Rather than data bing used for decisions for which they were not suited, it was more common for the data to be collected and never used.
-
-
Effective Communication of Result
-
This was something that we often struggled with as classroom teachers. We were collecting more and more data that had the potential to tell us great things about our students, however, the format or system in place did not allow great opportunities to communicate this information with parents. If we had better system processes in place I think that many of the parents in the community would have been thrilled with the work we were doing. However, some of our systems limited the communication of results in a timely manner. While the teachers saw the connection to learning, their were times where I felt the parents did not understand the work we had been doing with their students.
-
Since I'm about a week late, I've read through most of these points and my "notes" that I was going to post have all been addressed. This is the one that was most important as a take home to me. I think that assessing without feedback is a huge issue in education. I understand that as teachers, we get busy. But what is the point of giving a grade if there is no learning behind why the grade was assigned?
-
137More
ollie4: Educational Leadership: The Quest for Quality - 5 views
-
Five keys to assessment quality provide the larger picture
-
The Clear Purpose paragraph resonated with me since I just finished reading an article in Education Leadership called Know Your Target. It is all about knowing the purpose and sharing that with students and how student achievement goes up as a result.
-
I would agree with you that it is important to give the students a clear idea of the purpose of the lesson and how it would impact their life or daily skills.
-
-
Five keys to assessment quality provide the larger picture into which our multiple measures must fit
-
Are results communicated in time to inform the intended decisions
-
One of the "What Works in the Classroom" strategies from Marzano is: Setting objectives and providing feedback. Research shows that giving feedback improves student achievement. This statement about results being communicated in time to inform the intended decisions reminds me of the Marzano work.
-
I have seen positive results in my own classroom when I have provided feedback in a timely manner that is directly to the specifics that were taught.
-
This is one of the benefits of educational games if they are created well... instant feedback and another level to conquer!
-
Did you read Evan's blog about gaming? I was interested in his perspective to making it synonomus with using literature to teach content.
-
I completely agree! I have around 600 kids and try my best to comment more than just "good job" but with meaty feedback for my older kids in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade and I've seen many kids work and rework their challenges out until they get it. It shows the kids they're not just a number. :)
-
Teachers are becoming more data driven than ever before. Teachers will need to have a condensed curriculum if they want to provide enrichment opportunities in their classroom. Currently, there is not enough time within the school year for teachers to assess, analyze, and enrich for each and every child unless some of the content they are expected to teach is removed. This is a situation where it looks great on paper but right now doesn't work in the classroom. If we really are stressing Quality than quantity needs to be reduced.
-
The time factor and choosing the right assessments is a daily struggle for teaching. I wish that there was more time in the day, week, month to evaluate past assessments and determine the effectiveness of them.
-
I agree with all your comments on the value of feedback. That's what I really like about some of the online assessments I've seen - kids get the feedback right away and then are pointed to extra help or a different type of explanation if they need it.
-
- ...42 more annotations...
-
Who will use the results to inform what decisions?
-
and...is there already and assessment in place that give you this information? Do I need to duplicate? Not only is the why important, but also the what-does it get to what I need to know for future instruction?
-
Your last statement is very importatn, Barb! That question should be asked prior to giving each assessment--how will this help my students and how will this help me to change my instruction to help my students.
-
-
four categories of learning targets
-
which assessment methods are most likely to produce accurate results for different learning targets.
-
It's always about working smarter, not harder and this leads us toward that.
-
I agree--and I really like this chart! It really helped to enhance my understanding of this information.
-
The chart is very helpful. I like how it shows that perfomance assessments aren't always the best, it depends on what you are assessing. I am glad selected response is still acceptable for knowledge mastery.
-
I am always looking for "filters" that I can use when developing a course. This is a great filter when reviewing the assessments used in the course.
-
-
more assessments
-
If the additional assessments were mostly formative, I do believe that we would be more accurately estimating student achievement.
-
And...if those formative assessments are linked directly to the learning of the skill, it wouldn't take time away from the learning to assess.
-
Currently I think the students feel like they are being assessed all day long. Think about how many classes they have in a day. If those teachers are being asked to provide data showing progress/mastery in each of their subject areas they will be overwhelmed with assessments. A balance is key but at the same time we need to think about our students and think about what it might be like to be assessed this much.
-
Balance being the operative word here...assessment for assessment sake is not time efficient or effective. Assessment for adjusting instruction is highly valuable.
-
I think more assessments can help teachers estimcate student achievement, but only if it is not taking away teaching time. We need to assess in ways that don't interupt class time. I know there are times that I have had to spend assessing my students when I felt I could of been giving them more by teaching....
-
-
The assessor needs to have a clear picture of what achievement he or she intends to measure. If we don't begin with clear statements of the intended learning—clear and understandable to everyone, including students—we won't end up with sound assessments.
-
Clear learning targets are so important--and so often not understood by teachers. I still work with so many teachers who don't question learning targets, as they just go from page to page in the textbook and teach what is next regardless if students already know the information or would need background knowledge in order to understand the concepts.
-
So often we assess and we truly don't know what our learning targets were. Often our assessment doesn't even match what we thought our learning targets were.
-
I would agree that many of us do not take the time or effort to evaluate if the assessments actually measure what we are teaching in the classroom.
-
The alignment between curriculum, instruction, and assessment is critical. If we don't take the time to clarify our intended outcomes, how can we expect students to perform to expectations?
-
-
Or, you can highlight the phrases on the rubric that describe the hypothesis's strengths and areas for improvement and return the rubric with the work.
-
In the first class I took towards my Master's in Educational Technology, the professor did this--not just for our assignments, but also for our participation in our forums. Since then, I have "borrowed" this strategy for my own students. It definitely encouraged me to work on improving my responses in the weekly forums!
-
Might we be suggesting the end of grades and the beginning of standards based assessment? How would that affect colleges and universities? Would they be willing to accept a student who met all the standards at a school over a student who got a 4.0?
-
I think it depends on the discipline. Art and graphic design--and perhaps music--are probably going to be much farther ahead here. Students have to prepare portfolios of their work and that is what is looked at, at least at Morningside College. They also look at GPA, but there is more weight put on the portfolio.
-
More and more former students are telling me they needed to submit a portfolio of past work for colleges. Whether it be for scholaraships or acceptance into a certain program.
-
-
assessment literate
-
I'm finding the sessions I've attended in Des Moines by Margaret Heritage to be very helpful in understanding what "assessment literate" means!
-
That is a term I've not heard before. It makes sense, however. Data used inappropriately can have disastrous results.
-
The state will need to spend a lot of money and time training teachers how to assess, use the data, and enrich students. As my district begins its transition into this new data-driven age, I am noticing more and more teachers struggling to analyze data. They are also struggling to find enough time to check assessments, analyze data, and provide meaningful enrichment activities to help students reach proficiency.
-
Stiggins has a great plan to move a district and a school toward assessment literacy. He calls it the 7 actions for school leaders.
-
-
four assessment methods (selected-response, extended written response, performance assessment, and personal communication
-
I'm not sure I've seen these four assessment methods listed like this. This is good information to have and to help in creating assessments.
-
I have used all of these methods in my art class room, but not on a regular basis. Our 4th grade assessment assignment includes two methods. Students answer a written test with true/false and multiple choice answers to identify concepts the children know. Students make a drawing of a landscape and then go pack to paint the landscape. Teachers keep wanting to add the personal communication componant where the students discuss the choices they made in their landscape painting.
-
-
Selecting an assessment method that is incapable of reflecting the intended learning will compromise the accuracy of the results.
-
Selecting the best assessment method makes a difference. If we are using the data to guide our instruction, it's imperative we use the right assessment tool.
-
I agree, Pam! So is ITBS or ITED ever the "right assessment tool"? Can they truly reflect the intended learning?
-
We are told at my school that, at minimum, they are going to be better than what they were as the ITEDs are now supposed to be aligned with the Common/Iowa Core. We shall see how this will end up.
-
We are so messed up on our standardized tests when it comes to 21st century skills and their measurement.
-
So much seems to be a matter of alignment. A misalignment between assessment method and intended learning leads to inaccuracy of results.
-
-
What decisions will the assessment inform?
-
Use SAT scores to determine instructional effectiveness
-
Just a sidebar....could this mean we need to be very careful when we use ITBS scores to measure teacher effectiveness?
-
-
Why doesn't NCLB consider the many other "X" factors that could influence ITBS scores when they make the SINA list or use data like this to determine teacher pay? Great on paper but not in practice.
-
-
For instance, if students will be the users of the results because the assessment is formative, then teachers must provide the results in a way that helps students move forward. Specific, descriptive feedback linked to the targets of instruction and arising from the assessment items or rubrics communicates to students in ways that enable them to immediately take action, thereby promoting further learning.
-
I am going to play devil's advocate here.....how can we motivate students to take action in order to promote learning if that is not within their goals? I agree that descriptive feedback linked to targets will give more meaning to the assessment, but in all reality, don't we often deal with students who can't see the reason for the writing?
-
Why do you think that is? How many K-2 students are not excited about coming to school and learning? What happens that kills thier love and devotion to learning?
-
Do you see this attitude of "this doesn't fit my goals/needs" as more prevalent at the secondary level or the elementary level? I know I have seen this with adult learners until they understand they tune to WII-FM (What In It For Me?). Once they do, then the learning "takes off" like gangbusters when provided the specific type of feedback described here.
-
-
Teachers should design the assessment so students can use the results to self-assess and set goals. A mechanism should be in place for students to track their own progress on learning targets and communicate their status to others.
-
Self-assessment is a vital step in setting personal goals. How many of our students have actually been asked to look deeply into their skill set? Would many students willingly "communicate their status to others?" Hmmmmm
-
I think this is a great reason why students should have input into what is being assessed in a rubric... what is important and how will you know what you know?
-
Well-designed rubrics not only set targets but also help students monitor their progress. It has been my experience that middle school students are quite honest and perceptive in self-evaluations when "communicate their status to others" means sharing the self-assessment exclusively with me (their instructor) or with me and their parents or guardians.
-
-
-
data from these assessments
-
-
The caution about data is using it appropriately. It is an intensely powerful tool if used to make decisions about instruction and assessment. The more data, the better!
-
The more data, the better....this makes sense to me. We need to make sure we are using the right data in making decisions; making decisions based upon poor or incomplete data leads to poor decisions. Here lies another challenge...it sometimes seems like we are "drowning in data." How do we choose the data we use?
-
It seems obvious...the data you get from assessing should show you what your students are learning and what you need to work on more. I like your comment Cheryl...it does seem like sometimes I have more data than I know how to organize or what to do with it!
-
-
Assess learning targets requiring the "doing" of science with a multiple-choice tes
-
a reading score from a state accountability test as a diagnostic instrument for reading group placement.
-
his means that teachers need to write learning targets in terms that students will understand.
-
Parent involvement is an important component when children are young. Parents help a child budget time. If they are not aware of what the child is involved in, or needs to set aside time for, then the child will not accomplish much. parents also need to be able to understand the terms involved and the intended outcome.
-
-
all assessment users have access to the data
-
groups of students
-
unprecedented overflow of testing
-
Our department had to create a math assessment that would test what the average 10th grader should know. Then we were told the test should be about what all 10th graders should know. We have spent countless hours debating, rewriting and trying to come up with methods on how to help our students that are not proficient on the test.
-
Today on the radio, I hear Jason Glass say that all 11th graders need to take the ACT and the state needs to help pay for this. I don't think I agree with adding another required assessment for our students...I do agree we need to provide a rigorous curriculum for our secondary students, but do they need to demonstrate their knowledge by taking the ACT??
-
In response to Deena, I have struggled as the leader of the curriculum and assesment efforts on WHAT to ask people to do. I have hesitated developing any local assessments due to the movement from local standards...to Iowa Core and not the common core. Hope we have stopped changing because up to now it has been a moving target!
-
-
In math
-
A grade of D+, on the other hand, may be sufficient to inform a decision about a student's athletic eligibility, but it is not capable of informing the student about the next steps in learning.
-
Teachers have choices in the assessment methods they use, including selected-response formats, extended written response, performance assessment, and personal communication.
-
which require students to use their knowledge to reason and problem solve
-
This is an area that I am currently working on. I am trying to come up with more projects so that students can apply what they are learning.
-
When I took my first college stat class, I could follow the directions just fine and get the right answer, but I had no idea why we were using the particular statistic or what it actually meant. When I asked my stat lab instructor, he looked up my grade and said, "What do you care, you're getting an A." I cared because I wanted to know how to use the stuff, not just get through the class!
-
-
What information do the decision makers need
-
This paragraph makes a distinction between decision makers that we might forget when edited our assessments. There is a definite difference in level and approach between classroom and school or community assessments.
-
Agreed. I think not recognizing that distinction can lead to misuse of the data. For example, a school or community use of classroom level data when they don't know the circumstances or environment under which the data is collected can lead to some inappropriate conclusions.
-
-
use of clear curriculum maps for each standard
-
instructional hours sacrificed to testing will return dividends in the form of better instructional decisions and improved high-stakes test scores.
-
Ongoing classroom assessments serve both formative and summative purposes and meet students' as well as teachers' information needs.
-
provide information about student progress not typically available from student information systems
-
high-stakes tests were common in schools
-
if the teacher wants to assess knowledge mastery of a certain item, both selected-response and extended written response methods are good matches
-
At muy school our science assessment is of this variety with both extended response and multiple choice answers for teh questions asked.
-
I agree that a variety should be used in accurate assessment. Students respond differently to different assesment methods. Some students have a very anxious response to timed tests, or written tests, but may do fine in showing their knowledge on multiple choice or matching.
-
-
Students learn best when they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning.
-
Best parent teacher conference I ever attended was a student-led one for my 5th grader. Each student built their portfolio and was in charge of explaning it to their parents. Most honesty and responsibility I've ever seen in kids!
-
I have been to the same kind of Open House led by students in the class. It really gives the students ownership to what happens in that classroom.
-
-
to triangulate on student needs defeats the purpose of bringing in more results to inform our decisions.
-
For example, suppose we are preparing to teach 7th graders how to make inferences. After defining inference as "a conclusion drawn from the information available," we might put the learning target in student-friendly language: "I can make good inferences. This means I can use information from what I read to draw a reasonable conclusion." If we were working with 2nd graders, the student-friendly language might look like this: "I can make good inferences. This means I can make a guess that is based on clues."
-
Bias can also creep into assessments and erode accurate results. Examples of bias include poorly printed test forms, noise distractions, vague directions, and cultural insensitivity.
-
I believe we are OK at reviewing materials with a "traditional" sense of bias but when it comes to cultural sensitivity...I'm not sure my district has a handle on the work.
-
I agree. Some cultural sensitivity can't be easily understood by other people. I've been surprised often by what kids say about the way their family opperates.
-
-
What are the essential assessment conditions?
-
When we do our annual assessment for 4th grade artists effort is made to provide clear instructions and visuals, with the same materials available to all teachers. The other factors that enter into a student's performance vary widely. Some teachers deliver the test in their own art room, others in the classroom because they teach there. There are many factors that affect performance.
-
-
The assessor must plan to manage information from the assessment appropriately and report it in ways that will meet the needs of the intended users,
1More
ClassZone - 1 views
-
Classzone.com is an interactive website that our textbook provides to enrich students' understanding. The website has an online textbook with audio that struggling readers can use. It also has section quizzes, crosswords puzzles, click and drag games, section notes, interactive maps, animated maps, and all kinds of other things. I think it also increases student engagement because students enjoy completing the various activities. .
Educational Technology and Mobile Learning: Some Handy Google Maps Tutorials for Teachers - 0 views
51More
Implementation in an Elementary Classroom (Articles) - 1 views
-
physical redesign of your classroom based on different examples of learning zones and flexible learning spaces
-
We introduce the different types of classroom learning environments.
-
When trying to introduce different classroom environments we must sometimes deal with less enlightened administrators. We can not always get what we want/need.
-
I agree - more flexible learning environments is not always ideal in some situations. The resources needed to make Personalized Learning effective are not always available to us. What do we do then?
-
-
Inquiry-based instruction, a teaching technique rooted in questioning —
- ...18 more annotations...
-
Marcon tracked children from preschool through the third and fourth grades and found that those with “overly academic” preschool experiences struggled in their later elementary years when they were expected to “think more independently and take on greater responsibility for their own learning process.
-
Agree, but we must be careful that academics are not forgotten completely. I have encountered students who have come into kindergarten very independent and lacking the ability to spell their pwn names.
-
Definitely something to be wary of...guided play might be a better term that would make me more comfortable in this case. I think with the right prompts they can have freedom to play with an end in mind, as well.
-
-
In an ideal world, someone would tell you any important details from a child's school record before she arrives in your class. But in reality, you may need to do the research yourself.
-
In an ideal world, someone would do the appropriate assessments and then include them in the student's file. Research is key, I try to observe my future students in their current class room whenever possible.
-
Student PEP's (personalized education plans are a great tool to ensure the next teacher or school knows the most important things about a student. This means the teacher can better meet the needs of the student quickly instead of re-learning what another has already discovered. Unfortunately, it is rare to receive that kind of information and we must dig further which sometimes requires a lot of work and time to get answers.
-
This is especially true for students with IEP's already in place from another district. Reading it before can give you background and an idea of how to approach the student to assess where they are.
-
-
Read students' files. In an ideal world, someone would tell you any important details from a child's school record before she arrives in your class. But in reality, you may need to do the research yourself.
-
Creating personalized education plans for students or some sort of information that passes on from one school or teacher helps us get a better start with students. If we can start with a student knowing they do better in certain environments or with accommodations we do not need to re-learn over weeks what someone else has discovered. This allows us to meet students needs quickly. Unfortunately it is rare that we see that information without spending time digging for it.
-
-
inventory assessment of existing resources and from a repository of tools and apps that support learners in your classroom.
-
Although her natural inclination is “to help my students when they’re stumped or confused, I need constantly to remind myself that when I supply an answer or even suggest a method for finding an answer, I’m not truly helping.”
-
“Giving them directions all the time takes away from the creative process and imagination, which a lot of my kids are lacking,” she says, “because they’re so used to being spoon-fed information that they can barely critically think.”
-
Sadly, our traditional education system does take out this play time and creativity. I've been a teacher for 7 years and I started during the beginning implementation of the Common Core Standards. There has been such focus on rigor and DOK that learning experiences have become so bland and structured. Students have almost been trained to wait for instruction to do anything.
-
I agree! When I began to let my students select some of their learning they had no idea how to approach it, they wanted me to tell them what to do. In a world with so many opportunities our students lack the ability to really begin outside the box thinking.
-
I taught kindergarten for six years. Over that short amount of time, I saw a decline in critical thinking as we constantly pushed content on students. As a first grade teacher, I continue to see this decline, as well as a major lack of social/coping skills.
-
-
Practice procedures for independent and collaborative work. Forest Lake's rule of thumb is that each procedure needs to be practiced 28 times to stick. When you introduce a new activity, such as independently listening to an audio book, give students enough practice to become adept at it. Then add another. Eventually, you'll be able to work with a small group while the other children learn without your constant supervision.
-
This really emphasizes how long it takes to establish a learning environment that works for personalized learning. Especially in elementary everything needs to be pre-taught and prepared.
-
I'm still going back and forth on how I could even begin to structure my own classroom environment to implement personalized learning. It seems like so much work, not that it wouldn't be worth it, time and energy to teach expectations with no definite outcome. I don't know how my students will handle it. Will they take it and run with it? Will they struggle being self-directed learners and make it seem like I've restructured my classroom for nothing?!
-
I'm also struggling on where to start. I'm trying to decide which "baby steps" will be the most beneficial for my students. Like you mentioned, it will be a lot of work, so you want to make sure that it will be beneficial.
-
-
Arrange desks into collaborative clusters or stations. The key is to give your classroom flexibility and enable varied work to go on at once. Include options for sitting on the floor, which is better for kids who don't learn as well while sitting still in a chair.
-
This is something that really changes how students work. We have different types of learning areas and the kids can work together or in a quiet space if that is there preference. We also have a variety of flexible seating, students love having choices and seem to be more focused when they are comfortable. Days are long when sitting in a chair all day and they get squirmy.
-
Absolutely agree! Sometimes (especially with special education students in my experience) they just need to refocus and moving to a different area with different seating works so well!
-
-
continually resist the temptation to lead her students through lessons
-
I feel like this would be the hardest part of personalized learning for teachers new to the implementation process. Stepping back from leading students through how to do something and letting them explore/learn on their own. The teacher part of me would want to constantly interject to see where they need help or how they are doing!
-
-
If we don't give kids a chance to experiment, they may not know they're good at something or like it
-
This statement is very interesting to me and I feel like this has happened to me several times before. For example, I've had several experiences when a student struggles with place value but then excels when we get to our multiplication unit. In place value I don't tend to use a lot of manipulatives but when we get to multiplication it is taught very visually to begin with. Maybe that's what a child needs in order to excel - a chance to manipulate and experiment. I need to look into ways other than base-ten blocks on how I can add in manipulatives with my place value unit.
-
-
s Thinking Maps,
-
if there’s no place for play in the classroom, “then there’s no place for children in the classroom
-
With young children, you can have them draw a smiley or sad face in response to questions like, "Do you like drawing pictures?" Then you'll be better armed to play to their passions and strengths.
-
You can check instantly using a simple thumbs-up/thumbs-down question-and-answer or, if you have them, electronic remote clickers. Forest Lake curriculum coordinator Marian Scullion suggests using an exit slip; after a lesson, have students write their answers to a quick question about what they've learned. Then, use that feedback to plan for the next day.
-
Share planning duties with a fellow teacher. Find someone at your school who shares your passion for differentiated instruction and join forces. Divide up the work; each of you can devise different versions of a lesson for different learning styles and abilities. Plus, once you get a few people excited about this effort, it can be contagious.
-
Such a great idea! I see so much competition in some teacher relationships, when if they would work together it would benefit the both of them! I also feel students can better collaborate when grade levels do similar activities, so even when friends or siblings are in different sections, they can still support one another because they are doing similar or the same skills. Grade level sections who work together seem to be happier and have greater success with students. Two heads are better than one!
-
-
This is a simple chart on which each student writes what she already knows ("K") about a given topic, what she wants to know ("W"), and then -- to be filled out at the end of the lesson -- what she actually learned ("L"). You can use these charts like cheat sheets to spot strengths or gaps in students' base knowledge.
-
You can also provide struggling students with leveled text -- less difficult reading that contains the same content."
-
gives them a lot more than what I can give them teaching straight from a textbook all day.”
186More
ollie-afe-2018: Educational Leadership: The Quest for Quality--article - 14 views
-
overflow of testing
-
I couldn't agree more with this statement. I feel like every other week we are testing our students through MAP, Iowa Assessments, etc. I am also from a TAP school so we are doing Pre/Post/Strategy testing in our rooms, as well.
-
I would love to learn more about a TAP school as that is a new term to me. I would agree with this statement too about doing testing overload.
-
This is still a very true statement eight years after this article is written! The movement/shift is to move to more project based learning etc. but our testing systems have yet to make any changes. Very frustrating for teachers and students.
-
Progress monitoring for intervention students comes to mind when I read this. These kids generally struggle enough as it is, so rather than use instructional time to help them learn more, we test tehm instead.
-
This is one of my biggest pet peeves with education today. We get kids for only so long and so much of it is sucked away by standardized testing.
-
I also agree with this statement and others comments. I wish we could find a good balance of testing and actual hands-on learning. Testing is stressful on everyone and takes the fun out of learning.
-
-
The four categories of learning targets are
-
This is the main goal of our current district. I find this information to be really important as there are so many items and content areas being assessed. I feel it is important to look and asses in all of these areas for our students to really make sure they are learning the items we are giving them.
-
-
Are results communicated in time to inform the intended decisions?
- ...63 more annotations...
-
performance assessment and personal communication,
-
I agree that we should see more performance based assessments with much for feedback for students. As we know each student is different this type of assessment create and opportunity for a student to create something to showcase their learning. Many times they will become more engaged and will retain much more information in the long gun. I am curious if some teachers stray away from these assessments?
-
You ask a very good question. I was trained in project-based learning. Students can benefit so much from it but it can be overwhelming for the teacher without training. I would guess many teachers shy away from performance based assessments for the same reason. Putting forth more time in feedback to students could be a deterrent also. Especially in middle school or high school due to the number of students. Time for grading and to write feedback for performance based assessments would be necessary to do it with fidelity.
-
-
grouping the assessments into levels
-
Who will use the results to inform what decisions?
-
I think this is an important question. Who are the results for? The teacher? The student? The parent? Administrators? Legislators? I'm not sure the right answer, but it's an important question to consider.
-
I feel that everyone uses that results differently too to meet their needs and can construe them to fit their agenda.
-
Totally agree with this! Who actually sees the results and how are they using it? Every teacher uses it differently for sure. And they need to be used to best benefit the student.
-
Many districts are moving to standard based grading. After more explanations and understanding to students, families, community, staff, and legislators occurs, I think this will help. The focus on the standard and after breaking it down many ways and with much thought, the results are shared. I agree that people can construe the results to look better or gain something, but we have to focus on who matters. It is for the students and those doing the teaching to really make decisions where to go next. Let the data talk.
-
-
Creating a plan like this for each assessment helps assessors sync what they taught with what they're assessing
-
descriptive feedback linked to the targets of instruction and arising from the assessment items or rubrics communicates to students in ways that enable them to immediately take action, thereby promoting further learning.
-
This is time-consuming... every teacher knows this is helpful, but we don't always have the time to provide the immediate feedback. Aghhhh...
-
Right… and we are now a society with expectation of immediate feedback on many aspects of life that waiting can cause great frustration. Technology has provided many ways for teachers to provide immediate feedback, but without trainings many educators don't have knowledge of support tools.
-
I really like using Google Docs in my classroom to provide immediate feedback to students, especially when typing an essay. For example, this week I had students "finish" their memoirs much faster than their peers. With the use of Google Docs, I was able to provide them with immediate feedback about what they can do to improve their paper. Immediate feedback is hard, but I try to get papers back with clear feedback to my students as quickly as possible.
-
-
self-assess and set goals.
-
I'm trying to understand this better as I'm creating an online class for students to take. I'm trying to understand how students can take some ownership of their assessment and learning, but also struggling a bit to wrap my mind around it.
-
There is a huge effect size for student goal setting. So essentially, huge ROI if students understand what is the goal and where they are in relation to the goal and how they are going to move closer to the goal. So if you can create the opportunity for students to self asses, it will be time worth spent.
-
-
formative point of view
-
The assessor needs to have a clear picture of what achievement he or she intends to measure.
-
These targets should be the criteria on your rubric or the focus of your questions. It can be challenging to create questions that directly relate to the targets.
-
I agree. Rubrics can help students and the teacher stay focused on the expected outcome. I appreciate the suggestion that the teacher should use rubric verbiage in the feedback to the student. Which also means the vocabulary in the rubric needs to be clear and understandable.
-
I think rubrics are critical for assignments/projects. We are letting the students know what the expectations are for the assignment.
-
-
not
-
Students learn best when they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning.
-
I have been trying to have my students use a rubric to evaluate their own progress. If i have time to talk to the student and compare our scores and provide oral feedback it works better. Online meeting with the student might be more difficult.
-
I think when any human does self-reflection their is more meaning behind it and we carry those skills with us longer and they are personalized.
-
I tried to do this through Google Forms and share results with parents at conferences, hopefully to show correlation between what their kid thinks they understand versus what they demonstarte they understand. I have to admmit, it failed. Kids ranked themselves high almost everytime as if they thought it would affect their grade. it ended up having no impact on achievement. Perhaps I will try a different approach at a later time.
-
When a student takes responsibility for their own learning, then when they understand or meet the standard, then they know they have learned something and did it they feel good and have accomplished something.
-
-
ongoing information needs of teachers and students.
-
We're betting that the instructional hours sacrificed to testing will return dividends in the form of better instructional decisions and improved high-stakes test scores.
-
I find this interesting. Authors are betting that giving up instructional time in favor of testing will pay off in terms of better decisions about students and what seems to be for some, the ultimate goal of improved standardized test scores. Assuming assessment structure and frequency is balanced as the paper outlines, that's a good bet.
-
what is interesting is that most teachers are doing formal assessment throughout their teaching, using RTI (response to intervention) time etc.
-
See my comments on the 'overflow of testing' highlight. Guess I should have read a little further. This is like betting on giving up one hour of instructional time every Wednesday for professional development will increase student achievement.
-
We also need to find a balance of instruction and assessment. How can we expect students to perform well on assessments when there is little or no time for instruction on the concepts being assessed because of all the testing.
-
I'm interested to know what they are basing this on. So, if I test my students more, they will learn more?
-
-
Figure 2 clarifies which assessment methods are most likely to produce accurate results for different learning targets.
-
This is an excellent visual to help assessors think carefully about the learning target and in turn selecting a proper assessment method. It even has some flexibility supporting a multiple measures type of approach. Accuracy is important and this matrix can help serve that goal.
-
Well said Mike. I think this would be a helpful document for teachers to keep in a ready reference file. I hadn't considered some of the reasons why certain assessments would not be a good match with the learning targets. The explanations whether good matches or not are quite helpful.
-
I, too, really like this chart. It is a nice, simple thing for teachers to use when they are in their teams coming up with Common Formative Assessments.
-
As eveyone has stated, this chart really does a good job of breaking down quality ways to look at learning targets. It keeps it simple yet you get some quality information.
-
-
Will the users of the results understand them and see the connection to learning?
-
Assessment, as a science, can be tough to comprehend for professional educators, let alone a 8 year old, a parent, a school board member or some guy reading an article in the Des Moines Register. Ask ten people to explain validity and reliability and you might be surprised at the results. What I like about the concept in this article is that it emphasizes the "context" of the assessment. Do users of results truly understand what they are looking at and most importantly connect to a big picture and take the next step? Communication is important but so is education and review of assessment principles for all users of results to understand.
-
Great observation Mike! You summed up this article perfectly. All of the focus and discussion on assessments doesn't do any good if the people involved aren't truly understanding the information that is being shared with them. People can't comprehend next steps if they don't understand the information in the first place.
-
-
Educators are more likely to attend to issues of quality and serve the best interests of students when we build balanced systems, with assessment-literate users.
-
Great conclusion and mission. After reading this, I have definitely been challenged to take a closer look at how I view assessment, its purpose and what to do with the results. Seeking balance in the manner in which we conduct assessment and committing to improve assessment literacy for myself and others is a key take-away for me.
-
Seeking balance in assessment is something I gained from this article too. I will be looking at assessment differently.
-
Agreed! Balance is the key to anything. We need to show the students that assessment is important in any form. It is how we grow not only academically, but personally.
-
-
results that point student and teacher clearly to next steps
-
Over the years I've observed increase in doing constructive lessons due to results of assessment. When I was new to this profession the assessment was the focus. Now I see more emphasis on helping close gaps in learning located through assessments. However, time for assessments to be evaluated and locate those areas that need review or to reteach (possibly in a different method) is mandatory. Allocating the time needed for teachers to evaluate results should be a priority for administration.
-
I agree. I think following the PLC framework helps teachers collaborate about the learning needs based on assessments.
-
Hi Lisa! I completely agree with adding stock to the PLC framework so that teachers have intentional and regular time to have these conversations when there is plenty of time to act up on results and adjust instruction.
-
-
Assessment quality and assessment balance
-
I believe we need both quality and balance. I believe we were on the right step with Smarter Balance when the decision was made to halt that process and put it on hold for various reasons.
-
I couldn't agree more. Smarter Balanced is the most standards based assessment available and instead of top quality for our kids and teachers, the legislature chose to spend less for lesser quality for our kids. You can see it's a hot topic for me.
-
-
basis of a single measure
-
This is a sad day when we as educators take one single measure and make life long decisions.
-
I totally agree! Basing decisions on one assessment is like interviewing someone for a job and only asking one question. We need to look at multiple artifacts when making decisions that are best for students including any social/emotional needs of the student.
-
Agreed! a single measure should not dictate what our students know and how they learn. Students learn many different ways...visual, auditory. and test many different ways...
-
So true! One test, or one event, should not define a student. That goes against us teaching our students to be life long learners and having a growth mindset.
-
-
including students
-
The learning targets and reason for the assessment needs to be first and foremost clear to the students. Teachers need to take the assessment before hand to assure it aligns with the teaching standards that they intended to be taught.
-
Our district has made a strong push to write all learning targets in student friendly language, often times utilizing "I can" statements
-
-
learning targets
-
choices in the assessment methods
-
noise distractions
-
I was in a classroom the other day and she had the radio playing in the background and it was a distraction for me. I was trying to work with a special ed student on a science assignment and has a hard time concentrating.
-
If a student focuses better with music, why wouldn't a teacher have that student use ear buds? There are many students that would be distracted by the music/radio and may not say anything to the teacher.
-
-
Feedback to students can use the language of the rubric
-
Using the same wording from the rubric is another way to enforce the students' learning and reinforce skills.
-
Again, I should continue to read before commenting. I just said the same thing in a previous post :-)
-
I agree, using the same language helps to reinforce for students that this is important.
-
-
Ongoing classroom assessments serve both formative and summative purposes and meet students' as well as teachers' information needs.
-
The goal of a balanced assessment system is to ensure that all assessment users have access to the data they want when they need it, which in turn directly serves the effective use of multiple measures.
-
Effectively planning for the use of multiple measures means providing assessment balance throughout these three levels, meeting student, teacher, and district information needs. This is done using both formative and summative assessments, large-group and individual testing, assessing a range of relevant learning targets using a range of appropriate assessment methods.
-
he decision makers might be students and teachers at the classroom level; instructional leaders, learning teams, and teachers at the periodic level; or curriculum and instructional leaders and school and community leaders at the annual testing level.
-
(selected-response, extended written response, performance assessment, and personal communication)
-
Making decisions that affect individuals and groups of students
-
I have always disliked the notion of adults thinking a test score will determine a child's future, and then impacting that future by giving that child the message that their test scores are who they are.
-
I agree with your dislike of the notion of adults thinking a test score will determine a child's future. I feel that puts too much pressure on student's when they are testing and increases their anxieties. Single test scores cannot accurately measure one's thinking and abilities. I wish that society would change their thinking and listen to educators who are actually in the classrooms.
-
-
organize the learning targets represented in the assessment into a written test plan that matches the learning targets represented in the curriculum.
-
This is difficult but important work. In my experience teachers are not well trained in creating assessments that are aligned in this way. I have attended some trainings in this, and as an instructional coach, I try to support quality assessment creation by teachers. However, in the long run, I think that it is better if schools adopt materials that include assessments that are aligned to common core and are already vetted by organizations such as EdReports to be of high quality. It saves times, and the models from these materials actual teach the teachers along the way of how to create tests aligned to learning targets
-
-
stable estimates of student achievement
-
A major challenge we are confronting at JHS is that assessments (and by that I really mean evaluations/grades) are 'dead'. They aren't about growth, they are entered as numerical grades into Infinite Campus. This has made 'assessment' a dirty word (like the overflow idea below).
-
I know what you mean. This year with some SBAR transition work, the teachers did not have to enter the district end of term assessments for math (and maybe other content areas?), but the teachers were told they could still use the assessments. It was interesting to listen to conversations when teachers could actually assess and then just use the info to inform their instruction rather than just to perform a function in Campus.
-
I love the word stable in this sentence. We have CTT that arent giving enough CFA's to catch kids before it's too late. We have the flipside though the some CTT's are giving almost to much assessment that the kids aren't getting a chance to struggle (which is not the correct tern). I think with practice teachers will get better at it, but it definately needs to be a quality good balance. Too much or too little can be harmful both ways.
-
-
Clear Purpose
-
Too often the purpose of the assessment is to see if a student knows the content or not at the end of a unit or chapter. This article would be good to share to change that idea.
-
Exactly. We need to think about the final product or big idea of what we want them to know even before creating a test/assessment.
-
-
Sound Assessment Design
-
This is a major challenge! Teachers need support in learning about and reflecting on assessment design.
-
Agree! I believe teachers not only need the support but also the time. To write a sound assessment takes time. For many subjects, there may be quality assessments included with textbooks. For other classes, all assessments must be written by the teacher. This takes time to produce a quality assessment.
-
-
Student Involvement in the Assessment Process
-
selected-response formats, extended written response, performance assessment, and personal communication
-
teachers must provide the results in a way that helps students
-
taking advantage of dependable data
-
common assessments
-
Common assessments are a focus now during our Professional Learning Communities (PLC) work. There have been concerns expressed by educators that students are asked to complete too many assessments now. However, I have also observed when additional assessments can allow students more flexibility in terms of movement based on individual growth. If a student is tested only once per year and this one piece of data is used to guide decisions throughout the year that would not be in the best interest of the student either.
-
I know common assessments can be terrifying to teachers because of what it actually showing. The results are a reflection of how well your students did, but it is also a reflection of how well you did teaching the concepts. It's hard to be in "competition" with another teacher. When teams develop that true collaborative mindset they are less likely to see it as a competition but with the wrong dynamic sadly that's exactly what it could seem like. I think the common assessments also hold the teams accountable to each other because it's what they are agreeing to teach their kids.
-
-
formatively
-
For example, if the teacher wants to assess knowledge mastery of a certain item, both selected-response and extended written response methods are good matches, whereas performance assessment or personal communication may be less effective and too time-consuming
-
It is an important point to consider whether we are choosing the right assessment. I have observed previously when personal communication was chosen as the assessment method, which was not the best use of the student or teacher's time. Though opportunities should be provided for personal communication, we need to consider when it will have the most impact.
-
Performance assessment can be time consuming but can be a big picture look and communication between student to student, student to teacher, student to expert can help grow as well. Earlier the article pointed out the need to have multiple measures. I see the need to really focus on what the goals are and use the table below to help people make decisions based on the current need.
-
-
A mechanism should be in place for students to track their own progress on learning targets and communicate their status to others.
-
Only assessments that satisfy these standards—whether teachers' classroom assessments, department or grade-level common assessments, or benchmark or interim tests—will be capable of informing sound decisions.
-
Do the results provide clear direction for what to do next?
-
This statement is so important. When we are analyzing the results of assessment we should not just looking at how many points a student got. Digging deeper into what they were successful at, where they had any misconceptions and then planning from there is so important.
-
so important. They need to know where to go next and what they can do to improve.
-
-
current practice
-
I'm going to push back on "current" here. I know that in Davenport teachers are working HARD to look at common formative assessments and daily quick checks to inform instruction so that kids are ready when they reach the common summative assessment. It's a work in progress, and not everything is perfection yet. However, conversations about learning in real time are happening, and it's awesome.
-
-
Most assumed that a low score or grade was probably justly assigned and that a decision made about a student as a result was as defensible as the evidence on which it was based
-
-
I have heard adults remember the testing as a child and parents say, "My child just isn't a good tester." I don't test very well. I avoided getting a masters from some schools because they required the GRE to get into the program. NO WAY! I often wonder why a GRE score determines who can take the courses and pay anyway? How should our colleges/universities look at the biases of testing and/or knowing some people haven't taken certain courses in 20 years?
-
-
multiple measures
-
-
-
I think the multiple measures really help us see the whole kid. What if I am artistic in nature and don't show what I know on the basic tests? What if I am ultra creative in writing? What if my strength is technology, and I disengage because all I want to do is create. Multiple measures is imperative, and we need to look at different ways as well.
-
-
t also helps them assign the appropriate balance of points in relation to the importance of each target as well as the number of items for each assessed target.
-
wealth of data
-
There definitely is a wealth of data with all of the testing students have to go through. Sometimes it seems that nothing is really done with it or that there is so much that it is hard to understand or interpret the data.
-
On the other hand, right now, our district only has the FAST test for reading and there are no other consistent assessments across the district.
-
-
NCLB has exposed students to an unprecedented overflow of testing.
-
quality and balance
-
I think the key here is quality and balance, but because of all of the Standards that have to be taught in a year, sometimes the quality isn't what you would like and there really isn't a balance with all of the types of assessments students have to take.
-
This is critical. We, and I really mean the state/districts go overboard at times and do too many assessments. Students and teachers need a balance - otherwise it is just another case of teaching to the "test'>
-
-
such as "Focuses on one specific aspect of the subject" or "Makes an assertion that can be argued."
-
I would be fine with this as long as the student also explains how their assignment "Focuses on one specific aspect of the subject." If we just as them to apply a piece of the rubric to their assignment, they are going to often just pick something that sounds pretty good and copy/paste it into the reflection.
-
-
The classroom is also a practical location to give students multiple opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do, adding to the accuracy of the information available from that level of assessment.
-
This is a good point. Performance assessment and personal communication are great ways to measure a student's learning and/or knowledge. I think sometimes we forget about this because we are so used to preparing students for a selected-response test.
-
I know giving multiple assessments over the same learning target can seem time consuming for teachers, and makes it less likely to happen. If teachers had training or ideas of how to assess in a fast or effective way they might be able to take advantage of this concepts, which most know is a valuable but hard to do with time constraints.
-
Great idea. I like the idea of practical use. It goes back to the saying "when am I ever going to use this" statement. Its good to have students know or understand how, when or why they need to know.
-
-
clear statements of the intended learning
-
I think of the clear learning targets as the lessons that the teachers are promising to teach. In my district we have pacing guides as well as end of the quarter assessments that are the same district wide. All the teachers are expected to teach these concepts. The style may be different but the outcome or learning targets still need align. It holds teachers accountable but also is promising the students fair curriculum district wide.
-
-
-
I've never see this term before but I think it truly applies to the process of our CTT process in our district. We have the question to ask what do we do if the don't know it, and then the follow up question what do we do if they still don't know it. It's important for teams to understand what information will be obtained from the results and what the plan is for kids that are proficient or successful at the assessment the first or even second time around.
-
-
formative applications involve what students have mastered and what they still need to learn
-
effective feedback
-
teachers can choose among the four assessment methods
-
Assessment literacy is the foundation for a system that can take advantage of a wider use of multiple measures
-
vague directions,
-
self-assess and set goals.
-
It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
cultural insensitivity
-
I think this is often overlooked. It is not intended and most are unaware. As our schools become more diversified, I think this is a huge part we need to address. We have to learn more about our students' lives and cultures. Then evaluate language or cultural expectations. Some cultures don't want students to look at people in their eye when talking. How does this work when they present? Are we thinking through what their thoughts are when presenting?
-
175More
ollie-afe-2019: Educational Leadership: The Quest for Quality--article - 6 views
-
-
I thought this quote was interesting. I always believe that having more than one data point helps a teacher see more of a rounded picture of that student. Relying on just one assessment isn't fair to the student. I believe we should look at multiple assessments, formative assessments, check points to help our students grow. JN
-
-
assessor needs to have a clear picture of what achievement he or she intends to measure. I
-
- ...66 more annotations...
-
-
Students learn best when they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning
-
I really like this idea of having students take responsibility for their own learning, and putting the learning target in language they can understand would definitely help!
-
I agree that students do learn best when they take on the responsibility but I also think this is the ideal situation and often does not happen. How do we motivate more students to do this?
-
I agree with this, but it seems so foreign to students. I think we need to plan on a lot of modeling to shift the responsibility to them.
-
-
-
f we don't begin with clear statements of the intended learning—clear and understandable to everyone, including students—we won't end up with sound assessments.
-
While this seems like a straightforward idea, in reality, making a learning purpose clear and understandable to everyone - students included - can be difficult. Especially in English, the skill were teaching is not clear cut. CCSS Reading Literature 11-12.6 asks students to "Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant." However, there's no "right" answer to this skill. Student analysis of "what is really meant" could encompass a huge range of ideas. Crafting an assessment and teaching/learning opportunities that clearly delineate "proficient" analysis from "poor" analysis can't always be put into clear and understandable language. How can you quantify the qualitative?
-
There is truth in the challenge. But I know I have been guilty of knowing what I was looking for but not clearly communicating it to students. Then they are left to guess...which means they are likely to guess in at least some ways incorrectly. I think the more modeling we do, the more "anchor papers" we provide, the better students achieve our expectations. Putting those expectations into words and examples is its own challenge, but a worthy one.
-
It is nice to hear from other high school English teachers about the difficulty of measuring such subjective skills. I always struggled. One strategy I did find helpful was assigning paragraph writing as an assessment and scoring them 1-5, with a 3 being adequate and a 5 outstanding Then we would do several together and discuss what constituted a 3 and the differences between 3-4-5. That did seem to help, and students personalized the challenge of getting at least a 3 to show competency and reaching for outstanding.
-
-
t also helps them assign the appropriate balance of points in relation to the importance of each target as well as the number of items for each assessed target.
-
minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
This is where I know as an English teacher, I can get bogged down in the details. All of my writing assignments have an assessment category for "M.U.G.S." as we call them (mechanics, usage, grammar, spelling), but those aren't actively taught and retaught every unit. We just expect students to have a certain level of proficiency at this point. However, that isn't always the case. There are MANY students who have not internalized the "rules" of writing. Their mechanics (punctuation) seems haphazard, grammar atrocious, usage nonexistent, and spelling like they fell asleep on their keyboard. However, a complete lack of those skills might not prevent them from being able to distinguish "what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant." I have to be careful to not allow my internal bias against poor writing ability to distort an accurate estimate of a student's learning and demonstration of the skill.
-
When I read through this about minimizing bias it made me think of the old ITBS/ITED tests and a student we had that was new to this country. The student was very bright but he did not perform well on the test because of bias. One example I recall was he had no idea what a fir tree was as where he was from there was no such thing.
-
-
Will the users of the results understand them and see the connection to learning?
-
This is also where I struggle. Our department uses the online program Turnitin.com to give students feedback on written assessments and grade almost all work. This is partially to alleviate issues with plagiarism, but mostly because it gives students and teachers a one access point to communicate feedback. The program allows users to submit rubrics that students can see. We've started assessing rough draft using the final rubric so students can see where their work is in the rough draft stage so they know which paper criteria need work. They also can view my feedback on the paper that tells them how to fix what they need to fix. My frustration is when students aren't willing to go back and look at the feedback on the paper or rubric so they know what learning skills they still need to work on. How can we motivate them to look at the results, see the connections, and make the progress in learning?
-
That is a great point! How do we motivate kids to go back and look at the feedback and make changes. Many of our kids just want to know what do I need to know to pass the test or assignment and once they pass that's all that matters.
-
You have mentioned before that kids always want to know what they have to do in order to get an A or pass...but that's what I want to know when I take a course. I want/need to know what the expected outcomes are. I feel that kids have so many classes, tests, and assignments that if they don't ask those questions or think in that kind of a structured fashion that they will crash and burn. I get that we want them to LEARN and be passionate, but especially in required courses, the passion just isn't always there and the class literally is a box to check off.
-
-
From a formative point of view, decision makers at the classroom assessment level need evidence of where students are on the learning continuum toward each standard
-
This is another area where I personally struggle. The time and flexibility needed to be truly responsive is astronomical. I currently teach 4 of the 10 sections of English 10 at Indianola High School. As a class cohort, we try to be within a day or two of each other in content delivery. However, if my students don't get a concept, it's difficult to take a day to reteach since that throws off my alignment with the other teachers. It also means that I would have would have different periods at different places. I'm hoping the flipped and blended learning opportunities will help with the time and organization issues I currently have. If I can break groups up into smaller cohorts based on skill, then use flipped/blended methods for each group, I can (hopefully) accomplish more within the time frame. It makes organization more complicated, but allows more flexibility.
-
This is why common formative assessments can be so helpful. If some of your students aren't getting something, it's likely that others aren't either. If you look at the whole team's formative data, it could be that everyone needs to adjust rather than just you.
-
And if your class is doing more poorly than another class, you can have conversations about the different instructional practices being used. We all do our best but it's ok to not be the best. Together we can do what is best for our students.
-
-
Do the results provide clear direction for what to do next?
-
A grade of D+, on the other hand, may be sufficient to inform a decision about a student's athletic eligibility, but it is not capable of informing the student about the next steps in learning.
-
SBL and transitioning from all letter grades is a lengthy process but very beneficial for feedback purposes. MG
-
I agree with you about the SBL and how it shows a student exactly what they know or what they need to improve on. A letter grade just give them a percentage of the time they have a correct answer. Doesn't give them any information at what they know or don't know.
-
-
-
aim for the lowest possible reading level,
-
-
I think this is also interesting because I know there are some tests that do this purposefully to "increase the rigor" of the test. For instance, AP exams notoriously use vocabulary to make the questions harder. This is saying it could be not just separating those who know less about the content, but also those who have different background, cultural knowledge, or just English as a first language. I, too, wonder how the ISASP will do with this.
-
Are we challenging our top students and preparing them for their futures when we use low reading levels? Seems to contradict what we are trying to accomplish.
-
This is so very important as we are seeing a dramatic increase in student populations that are not fluent in English.
-
I have developed a system where I always read math tests out loud. That way students are not missing information due to not understanding the vocabulary.
-
Jenn that's an interesting concept of reading the tests outloud....have never thought of doing that in a HS classroom but might help!
-
-
The classroom is also a practical location to give students multiple opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do, adding to the accuracy of the information available from that level of assessment.
-
Most assessments developed beyond the classroom rely largely on selected-response or short-answer formats and are not designed to meet the daily, ongoing information needs of teachers and students.
-
Five keys to assessment quality
-
To summarize, the 5 keys to assessment quality are: 1. clear purpose 2. clear learning targets 3. sound assessment design 4. effective communication of results 5. student involvement in the assessment process
-
Great idea on how to use an annotation tool. I can see this being very beneficial to high school students
-
thats a really cool usage! Could see teaching my kids to do this when doing technical reading
-
-
grouping the assessments
-
Grouping assessments into levels: ongoing classroom assessment (daily work/observation), periodic interim/benchmark assessment (weekly quizzes/ group work), and annual state/district standardized assessments. I would add summative unit assessments (tests/projects) here also.
-
Grouping assessments should give us a better picture of where students are at and help to identify where they need help.
-
-
cannot measure more complex learning targets at the heart of instruction
-
Our school district is doing the ISASP this year for the first time. This is a computer based test based on the Iowa Core. I worry how these results will be used to evaluate student mastery of content specific standards. How much effort will students put into the test and are there too many distractors that will bias the results?
-
Those are legitimate concerns. On the other hand, what this quote makes me think of regarding the ISASP is that at least the types of questions are not only selected response. So many of the standards in the Core can not be measured by the only multi-choice questions in the previous test.
-
-
Bias can also creep into assessments and erode accurate results.
-
descriptive feedback
-
We do need to make sure that our feedback is helpful. Telling students "fix this" or "revise this paragraph" doesn't help them learn, the feedback needs to be more specific and point to the learning target.
-
I totally agree with giving feedback about why they missed a question or problem. If you just count it wrong the student might now have any idea why they got the question wrong.
-
-
The assessor must begin with a clear picture of why he or she is conducting the assessment.
-
I think a lot of times we default to "for a grade" but there are lots of other reasons to consider.
-
I think this is very important sentence. I know I don't do the greatest job of outlining learning goals everyday and explaining value in each. It's same thing for test. Are testing because its end of chapter or because you want to assess learning goals from the chapter that were the most important from the chapter and meet the standards for your class.
-
I agree Tom, I am not the best at covering learning targets with students. And maybe standards based learning will help focus my lesson designing and improve student learning.
-
I think it is very important that we focus on the learning that is taking place within our classrooms and not on grading. Our assessments should be an avenue to strengthen learning and to inform the teacher what they need to do for learning to continue to occur.
-
This reminds me of UBD, or working backwards. The teacher knows the outcome first, and then builds the learning and assessments.
-
-
Selecting an assessment method that is incapable of reflecting the intended learning will compromise the accuracy of the results.
-
I thought the assessment brainstorming we did at the end of last week with ways to assess face-to-face vs. online was an interesting way to think of all the ways we can assess. I think as teachers we often default to a couple content-specific norms and it would be good to open up to other alternatives on occasion.
-
Many years ago I remember assessing my math students at the end of the year with a multiple choice test. None of my tests during the year were multiple choice, but finals were required and it was the most efficient way to get my grades done :( I'm sure it did compromise the accuracy of the results.
-
-
This means that teachers need to write learning targets in terms that students will understand.
-
common assessments.
-
Teachers have choices in the assessment methods they use
-
inform what decisions?
-
This has been a large debate that we have been having at our district. We need some sort of feedback roll out that will say how we have managed the data and what the data is and will be used for.
-
I think is important part for a teacher after each assessment to use results to maybe modify teaching topics that students performed poorly on. Maybe need an extra day to cover certain topics more in depth if students struggled with it on test or maybe we have a poorly written question on the test causing students to miss points.
-
-
communicated
-
This has been another large debate that we have had. We want to make sure that our assessments are given back in a timely manner but we also want to make sure that they have correct and accurate feedback as well as to help the student know what they did well and where to improve and all of that takes time.
-
TIME! It's a four-letter word in teaching! The feedback we give students is WAY more important than the grade, and way more time consuming. How do we effectively give the feedback necessary for student growth in a timely manner? I'd love to hear strategies from others here.
-
-
Summative applications
-
Periodic interim/benchmark assessments can also serve program evaluation purposes, as well as inform instructional improvement and identify struggling students and the areas in which they struggle.
-
Our math department has been looking at the AAIMS tests for Algebra students which could be used as data to support the learning taking place.
-
This makes me think of the concept of scaffolding. Which I have used in my classroom when lesson designing. Now I need to do the same thing with assessing. Assess students periodically both formative and summative.
-
-
minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
-
As teachers we do have to be careful of bias and making assumptions. When I read through this about minimizing bias it made me think of the old ITBS/ITED tests and a student we had that was new to this country. The student was very bright but he did not perform well on the test because of bias. One example I recall was he had no idea what a fir tree was as where he was from there was no such thing.
-
I completely understand this. Teaching writing and reading at the secondary level is so very difficult.
-
-
Creating a plan like this for each assessment helps assessors sync what they taught with what they're assessing
-
Knowledge targets, which are the facts and concepts we want students to know.
-
As our district moves toward standards based grading, understanding our knowledge targets is naturally happening during this process.
-
We are working on Power Standards in our buildings. I think this would fit with those too.
-
It all goes back to 1) what do we want them to know and 2) how will we know when they know it. We are working hard on choosing power standards. It is a long and exhausting process but a necessary one. Even after power standards are chosen, we need to break them down into learning targets our students can understand.
-
-
students to track their own progress on learning targets
-
I have seen this done throughout a unit of student with a Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light rating for students to self assess their percieved understading of a learning target. This self assessment was revisited frequently and used to drive student to specific learning activities that they needed to work on.
-
I think allowing the students to self-assess and set goals is really beneficial. I like the idea of using red light, green light, and yellow light for students to show the teacher their understanding.
-
-
performance assessment or personal communication may be less effective and too time-consuming
-
One dilema that teacher face is the factor of time which we all know. I have worked with teacher who have over 200 students in their classes and often default to a selected response assessment item even when a performance based would be more appropriate. It is challenging to assess and provide feedback in timely manner with this many students. This is not an excuse, but a barrier that needs to be explored.
-
-
or making the correct answer obvious
-
dependable data generated at every level of assessment.
-
I wonder how much professional develoment or preservice teacher training is spent on looking at data to make decisions. There is most likely a range of understanding of what data should be used to design instruction. This is why is it good to have a strong PLC for teachers to work through data and assessment creation (which is really challenging in itself).
-
-
It is amazing to me that data acquisition/analysis and student feedback/scores are largely two separate endeavors. In this day and age, these should be the same step. Without some automation, I don't think this can actually be done. At least not in a meaningful manner.
-
-
track their own progress on learning targets
-
I have seen this done throughout a unit of student with a Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light rating for students to self-assess their perceived understanding of a learning target. This self-assessment was revisited frequently and used to drive student to specific learning activities that they needed to work on.
-
-
if students will be the users of the results because the assessment is formative
-
n the past, few educators, policymakers, or parents would have considered questioning the accuracy of these tests.
-
Assessment literacy is the foundation for a system that can take advantage of a wider use of multiple measures.
-
inform students about their own progress
-
clear curriculum maps for each standard, accurate assessment results, effective feedback, and results that point student and teacher clearly to next step
-
I believe that this is important because highlights the role feedback plays in the assessment process. I think we often forget feedback.
-
I agree, feedback is really important. It also needs to be provided as quickly as possible.
-
Feedback is most certainly key for something that can be so subjective like writing, but I also think providing feedback on LOT can also improve students understanding. I know that is something I struggle with - leaving the necessary feedback. There's always a time crunch, and sometime students that assessed well receive little feedback even though they could use it too.
-
-
students can use the results to self-assess and set goals.
-
learning targets represented in the assessment into a written test plan that matches the learning targets represented in the curriculum.
-
-
-
-
Making decisions that affect individuals and groups of students on the basis of a single measure
-
We're betting that the instructional hours sacrificed to testing will return dividends in the form of better instructional decisions and improved high-stakes test scores
-
The goal of a balanced assessment system is to ensure that all assessment users have access to the data they want when they need it, which in turn directly serves the effective use of multiple measures.
-
From a summative point of view, users at the classroom and periodic assessment levels want evidence of mastery of particular standards; at the annual testing level, decision makers want the percentage of students meeting each standard.
-
assessment formatively
-
I feel like we could do a better job of formatively assessing students. When students hear the word assessment, they think quiz or test and they get apprehensive. We need to change their mindset and show them how they can use formative assessments (exit tickets, class polls, one-minute papers, etc) to help them take control of their own learning.
-
-
the use of multiple measures does not, by itself, translate into high-quality evidence
-
At the level of annual state/district standardized assessments, they involve where and how teachers can improve instruction—next year.
-
Who is the decision maker?This will vary. The decision makers might be students and teachers at the classroom level; instructional leaders, learning teams, and teachers at the periodic level; or curriculum and instructional leaders and school and community leaders at the annual testing level.
-
or summatively—to feed results into the grade book.
-
Effectively planning for the use of multiple measures means providing assessment balance throughout these three levels, meeting student, teacher, and district information needs.
-
Reasoning targets, which require students to use their knowledge to reason and problem solve. A reasoning target in math might be to use statistical methods to describe, analyze, and evaluate data. Performance skill targets, which ask students to use knowledge to perform or demonstrate a specific skill, such as reading aloud with fluency. Product targets, which specify that students will create something, such as a personal health-related fitness plan.
-
balanced system
-
overflow of testing
-
Yes. There is a lot of testing these days One of my friends mentioned that between testing and snow days she hadn't "taught" from MLK day to almost President's day. Needless to say she was anxious about how well students wee going to demonstrate learning when they hadn't had much instruction for over a month.
-
-
schools now make decisions about individual students, groups of students, instructional programs, resource allocation, and more.
-
We're betting that the instructional hours sacrificed to testing will return dividends in the form of better instructional decisions and improved high-stakes test scores
-
about the overall level of students' performance.
49More
Implementation in an Elementary Classroom (Articles) - 1 views
-
observing or engaging in an event,
-
Inquiry-based instruction
-
The first thing we do is begin an ‘I see — I wonder’ exercise,”
-
Love this idea...seeing what they want to learn and developing activities from there. Very personalized. Great idea
-
Each of my students were given a clipboard to do this activity during every field trip. If I was coordinating field trips today I would give choice between writing it out with a clipboard or using a mobile device. The field trip then because a true educational experience with expectations of sharing their experience/learning with classmates, blogs, and/or school social sites.
-
- ...18 more annotations...
-
one of two key benefits of playing: promoting academic learning. The building of social emotional skills is the other. Play is, after all, the way children are wired to learn
-
If only we promoted this more and allowed the littler kids to play and learn and develop at their own pace. Sorting on their own by just playing is great. My daughter does the same thing at 3 years old and I am amazed by things she knows...just from playing and watching...
-
Early childhood classrooms usually include a discovery zone. Theme of items are changed out weekly, giving children exposure and ways to manipulate sand, water, snow, etc. It's amazing to watch their understanding of the world around them develop when given opportunities to explore.
-
Play time is a great place for kids to also get away from using a device all of the time. They have to think for themselves, learn to communicate and use their imagination. All of the things that they might not be getting at home.
-
-
Start a faculty book club
-
I have done this in different ways based on staff choice. Meeting in person once a week (during lunch, prep, or outside of school) with one specific title of a book for fun; professional development book; or everyone sharing about the book they read individually. Some staff have little to no time to meet outside of school so I created a staff book club on Google Classroom.
-
-
A modern educational tool Ms. Moore considers indispensable for effective inquiry-based instruction is the set of graphic organizers known as Thinking Maps, which help children categorize information in visually coherent ways. “Many teachers mistakenly assume kids know how to think,” she say
-
Thinking maps are a great way for children and adults to categorize information. I agree with the statement that teachers mistakenly assume that kids know how to think. Thinking is a very complex task that requires practice. Children need guidance in how to stay focused and concentrate on categorizing information.
-
And through modeling and scaffolding with students, they will eventually learn how to do this skill more independently.
-
-
“Giving them directions all the time takes away from the creative process and imagination, which a lot of my kids are lacking,” she says, “because they’re so used to being spoon-fed information that they can barely critically think.”
-
Incorporating free play, guided play or something in between may require some creativity on the part of educators, but the academic and social emotional learning benefits inherent in play are too vital to overlook.
-
Introduce one new tech tool. Digital tools -- such as video cameras, drawing software, or Web applications like Google Earth -- can really expand students' options for learning and showing their knowledge (here's what this looks like at Forest Lake). Pick just one new thing at a time, and experiment with it for yourself before introducing it in class.
-
They started small, and they've grown and honed their strategies each year.
-
Stay current. Keep the discussion alive with colleagues in your school and in social networks (such as Twitter, Edutopia, and others) to find fresh ideas and avoid stagnating.
-
Free or unguided play is the most natural way to forge these connections.
-
but opportunities to provide those benefits are on the decline.
-
Sad but true. With our school schedule this year, there is no wiggle room for anything like play...other than their 10 minute recess. It's no wonder that I have so many behavior issues (over the silliest things), students haven't learned how to work things out on their own.
-
I completely agree! Sometimes the most important skills of collaboration can be practiced and applied in play.
-
-
In 5 minutes you can
-
Make a scaffolding toolkit.
-
A Stage One PLE is teacher-centered with learner voice and choice
-
how to unpack the Common Core State Standards with your learners,
-
Expert learners and assessment as learning is the key for learners taking responsibility for their learning.
-
In terms of the tenets of inquiry-based instruction, she explains, when she answers students’ questions straightforwardly instead of asking questions to help the students find the answers themselves, she’s actually interfering with the learning process.
-
Practice procedures for independent and collaborative work
140More
ollie-afe-2020: Educational Leadership: The Quest for Quality--article - 7 views
-
The assessor must begin with a clear picture of why he or she is conducting the assessment.
-
The assessor needs to have a clear picture of what achievement he or she intends to measure.
-
-
I'm not sure that this works for science classes. In these classes, students are to be figuring out. They are not supposed to know what they are learning about until they have discovered it. I thinking that making the assessment clear at the beginning would ruin this. Now I will say that you could be clear on how students will be assessed. For example, you will have to support your claims using reasoning and evidence.
-
I often wonder where this argument fits with discovery learning, and other forms of self-directed methods. Are we constraining ourselves too much here?
-
- ...51 more annotations...
-
"I can make good inferences.
-
Student-friendly language has been a huge part of our school district. Especially when dealing with many ELL and Sp.Ed students. Also, referring to the learning target multiple times throughout the lesson. One thing I could do in my class is to put the learning target on my quizzes.
-
I could also do this more/better. It does get challenging when you teach multiple classes if you want them posted on your board etc.
-
I agree. I started adding hyperlinks to vocabulary.com for any words I thought they might struggle with.
-
-
identify struggling students and the areas in which they struggle.
-
This is a huge part for me in my teaching. I use our three question quizzes to allow myself to better understand misconceptions that I have over seen and to see what I need to do to better my students.
-
Agree! In my economics class I do periodic checkpoint quizzes. These formative assessments have two purposes. One to check how well my students are understanding the content. And secondly, how well am I teaching the material. Sometimes the students are not getting the content, because my teaching was ineffective.
-
-
As a "big picture" beginning point in planning for the use of multiple measures, assessors need to consider each assessment level in light of four key questions, along with their formative and summative applications1 :
-
But NCLB has exposed students to an unprecedented overflow of testing.
-
-
I agree! Testing not only causes anxiety, but it can give students the wrong impression of their abilities.
-
Unfortunately over testing takes away from quality instructional time and student learning. What's really sad but all too true is that we are seeing over testing being pushed down on even our youngest learners, our 3 and 4 year old preschoolers.
-
The concern of all my Special Ed students is testing. I teach them test-taking strategies, but they get to a test and can't use them.
-
I don't think the act of retrieving information is bad, in fact, research says it is good. It is the importance and finality that is often attached to it that can be detrimental.
-
-
the use of multiple measures does not, by itself, translate into high-quality evidence.
-
Students learn best when they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning.
-
Education has to make this happen more. I'd like to find a good way for them to monitor their learning.
-
Yes, agreed! We know that this true but we need to help build this in our students. The internal motivation is hard to build!
-
Taking responsibility is the key to learning. The best years to help students understand and take responsibility is middle school. They want to be in charge and they need support to do it well.
-
-
assessment-literate teachers
-
Clear Purpose
-
The purpose is so important! I feel like sometimes we test just to test...and then send the results off to someone else. The kids need to understand the purpose as internal motivation is not always there.
-
So important! I think about myself and the hoops we need to jump through in our lives without understanding the purpose. That purpose definitely leads to motivation.
-
The purpose has to be tied to helping the students discover information about himself. How to improve? What has been learned? Then move forward.
-
-
Teachers have choices in the assessment methods they use, including selected-response formats, extended written response, performance assessment, and personal communication. Selecting an assessment method that is incapable of reflecting the intended learning will compromise the accuracy of the results.
-
This key relates directly back to the purpose of the assessment.
-
From a formative point of view, decision makers at the classroom assessment level need evidence of where students are on the learning continuum toward each standard,
-
This would go along with students taking ownership for their own learning....we would WANT them to want to know where they are at for individual purposes!
-
Most of my formative assessments have been multiple choice or short answer quizzes. After learning more about rubrics, I would like to start using rubrics in two ways for formative assessments. One the students will do a self assessment on where they feel they are at. Then a teacher to student-conference with the rubric to see where they are at. With the end goal of making the assessment portion less stressful for my students, because they know where they are at.
-
-
I was thinking the same thing about rubrics that you wrote here. Students would hopefully see themselves moving on the rubric as they improve their skills /learn. This should be motivating and students would know exactly what is expected.
-
-
not only are they limited in key formative uses, but they also cannot measure more complex learning targets at the heart of instruction.
-
Given the rise in testing, especially in light of a heightened focus on using multiple measures
-
Although I would say this is definitely still true in the courses we teach (we still emphasize bigger, summative assessments), I think we have changed how we view student progress. Our summative assessments aren't all tests, some of them are projects or performance assessments. Those assessments are also no longer considered "one-and-done" opportunities. Students can retake assessments or make corrections, etc. to show progress in their learning even if they didn't get it right the first time. It's less focused on the final grade and instead, assessing what students have learned.
-
This is great. However, when juxtaposed with having 200 students like I do, it is not always feasible to have numerous projects and reassessments. How do we change the change the way that teachers spend their day so this is possible?
-
-
the assessment formatively—as practice or to inform students about their own progress
-
I find this distinction between summative and formative assessment interesting. In our freshman group of teachers, we have a category for both formative and summative assessment. Formative is weighted at 20% and summative is weighted at 80%. So although in my courses we were taught not to grade formatives, we still assign a score to it and put it into the gradebook. Also, if formatives weren't graded, I wonder how much of them would actually be completed by students?
-
This has been a goal of mine this year, to use formative assessments to help make instructional decisions in my class. It has been a work in progress, but I have seen some success. I use the information from the formative assessment to decide is it a small group that needs reteaching or is it an entire class that needs reteaching. I don't normally grade my formative assessments, but I go give them completion points. For the most part if a student sees they are not getting something, they appreciate the reteaching opportunity.
-
Too often I see teachers not fully use the formative assessment data they have to intentionally inform instruction. If done properly formative assessment is very powerful. I also like the idea of giving participation points for formative assessments.
-
Some teachers give 0% for formative assessments at my school. The Science department has figured out a way to have labs count as a way to assess a standard. I think practice is important and should have some weight.
-
-
it's important to know the learning targets represented in the written curriculum.
-
My school has increased its emphasis on learning targets this year. We are all using a 5D+ template to write unit plans and the learning targets are similarly broken down into knowledge targets, academic targets (transferable skills), and performance targets. I think that writing unit plans and sitting down and thinking about the individual types of targets has really strengthened the types of instruction teachers are carrying out in their classrooms. They are more familiar with the targets they want students to meet, and in turn, students are also more familiar with what's expected of them.
-
I like the specific targets here. I guess I have been generalizing them for awhile. My plans would be better defined for myself and students if I focused on them more.
-
Our middle school is beginning this work as well. We are trying to get a system wide learning plan template developed and going. Our goal is to help all teachers fully understand their learning targets and how they relate to student understanding. I know that all teachers look at them, but I'm not sure how many break them down to fully understand them and what students outcomes should be.
-
-
highlight crucial words (for instance, most, least, except, not).
-
I also do this on other assessment types such as short answer. I've gotten into the habit of bolding things that I want to make sure students don't forget to do. For example, they may be required to answer a question but then they need to follow that with explanation or justification. I often bold the second half so that they don't forget to include the explanation, which often highlights their thinking, which can be more important than the first half of the answer.
-
I do this too. I find this is very helpful for kids. Sometimes in rubrics when going through them, I'll have kids underline or circle key words instead just to force their attention a bit. It does help.
-
-
it is not capable of informing the student about the next steps in learning.
-
It is SO important that our feedback is more than a score or letter grade if we want to emphasize progress and the ability to improve for our students.
-
Agreed! And if the targets are clear and communicated to students, they should know what steps they need to take to grow! It shouldn't be a mystery!
-
-
-
The purpose is to inform others—policymakers, program planners, supervisors, teachers, parents, and the students themselves—about the overall level of students' performance.
-
Wouldn't that be interesting if the "we" mentioned here were all actually on the same page, wanting and assessing the same things. A common purpose. Nothing like focusing on the negative here, but all of these people are being informed in different ways and gathering different data for a different endpoint.
-
The piece of policymakers is the most frustrating to me (and most likely all educators). I have always struggled with the notion that the people making the majority of decisions are not the ones in the trenches, nor do they have the background to make those. I have been pleased with the direction PLC work has gone as of late; I think this gives more valid work to inform decision making on part of the teachers.
-
-
Do the results provide clear direction for what to do next?
-
Sometimes an assessment is just an end. Information is used in the next unit, but the assessment doesn't always tell the student they are ready for what is coming next.
-
Yes, and it makes me wonder why so many of us provide copious amounts of feedback on summative assessments when students do not have the opportunity to do anything with the learning and provide less feedback on formative assessments along the way when students could actually do something with that feedback.
-
In the SBG system we use, which seems to evolve constantly, we don't really every get to a summative assessment. Kids are (supposed to be) constantly re-learning and re-assessing. Their results on assessment give the kids, and the teacher for that matter, a path on how to proceed.
-
Our students are allowed to re-take summative assessments, so notes and conversations can assist in their learning (I guess they are not really summative then are they?)
-
-
Using data from these assessments, schools now make decisions about individual students, groups of students, instructional programs, resource allocation, and more.
-
better instructional decisions and improved high-stakes test scores.
-
I see some teachers more hopeful that ISASP, with its better alignment to state standards, will be a truer indicator of success. Other teachers, however, are still so jaded toward standardized testing.
-
Good point! ISASP should be a better indicator of student achievement.Some of the best indicators are teacher formative and summative tests. These are still the most useful for teachers.
-
-
four categories of learning targets
-
This is a helpful breakdown of learning targets for me. In a core discipline area like history, it's easy to forget about performance skill and product targets. But there are definitely areas where these type of learning targets are present, and knowing those areas can help me decide how best to assess.
-
-
erode accurate results
-
Annual state and local district standardized tests serve annual accountability purposes, provide comparable data, and serve functions related to student placement and selection, guidance, progress monitoring, and program evaluation
-
One of our school's frustrations with the new ISASP format is that no itemization or further guidance is provided at the building/district level as to how our students performed on specific components of the test. Perhaps this will change, or maybe we're missing it, but it's difficult to program evaluate without this breakdown.
-
-
will be capable of informing sound decisions.
-
I think this is an important thing to think about. How often do we really use assessments to make changes in our instruction. When I was a student I was thankful for tests. I could cram the material into my head and once the test was over, I could forget it and move on; clearing the way for new information. As a teacher, I realize that isn't the intent, but I wonder how often we still get caught up the type of thinking. Are we assessing so we feel better about moving on or are we assessing so we can make course corrections to support student learning and understanding?
-
-
Teachers should design the assessment so students can use the results to self-assess and set goals.
-
all available assessment methods
-
enable them to immediately take action
-
One of the easiest ways to ensure that students respond to feedback is to design opportunities that require them to engage with the feedback and do something with the feedback, but this is frequently dismissed due to the quantity of standards and learning required of students at each grade level. Many teachers feel like they need to prioritize "covering" all the standards over students truly engaging in their learning.
-
-
Are results communicated in time to inform the intended decisions
-
I have 140 students so it can take a while to get results back to them. I know the quicker I can get the results back in their hands, the more they care about their score and the assessment. They are more likely to want to fix mistakes and learn from it. If I take too long it has a negative impact on motivation. We have to correct quickly but correctly.
-
-
affect individuals and groups of students on the basis of a single measure is part of our past and current practice.
-
assessments
-
cultural insensitivity.
-
clear and understandable to everyone, including students
-
It is especially important that students know what the intended learning is! Unfortunately, too many students think grades are given to them by their teacher instead of earned by their work. When they don't know what is being assessed, this adds to that narrative.
-
This is where it is important to have a clear rubric with student language. Students, even learning adults, need to have guidance on why they are learning so they can be assessed accurately.
-
-
Reasoning targets
-
appropriate balance of points in relation to the importance of each target
-
Figure 2 clarifies which assessment methods are most likely to produce accurate results for different learning targets.
-
Specific, descriptive feedback
-
This is so important. Feedback that is too general, not clear and/or not descriptive enough to lead to concrete actions on the students part limit their effectiveness as an instructional tool.
-
I agree. Providing complete and clear feedback in language the student can comprehend is key to helping them move forward.
-
-
Inherent in its design is the need for all assessors and users of assessment results to be assessment literate—to know what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate uses of assessment results—thereby reducing the risk of applying data to decisions for which they aren't suited.
-
For each assessment, regardless of purpose, the assessor should organize the learning targets represented in the assessment into a written test plan that matches the learning targets represented in the curriculum.
-
This is something that I have been improving on and is not something I knew about when I first started teaching. I actually used to think that a good test was a simple repeat of information that I told the students during the unit. I wrote tests over the "facts" that I taught them. Wow, have I learned a lot. Now in my PLC we take the time to organize the learning targets and make sure that our assessments match the learning targets in our curriculum.
-
-
The classroom is also a practical location to give students multiple opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do, adding to the accuracy of the information available from that level of assessment.
-
My administrator and I were just talking about something similar. We are trying to work on grading practices in our building. We both agree that students need multiple opportunities to show what they know and that assessments shouldn't be viewed as a one a done item that is checked off. We even got into the idea if a student is assessed once and gets a 58%, a second time and gets a 78% and third time and gets a 98% do you average all those scores, or do you think to yourself, "It took them three times but they finally go it, let's celebrate, here's your A"?
-
-
If we don't begin with clear statements of the intended learning
-
In our district, there has been a major focus on writing clear, concise learning targets as "I CAN" statements to introduce learning. These are posted throughout the lesson, and are written out on the assessment for our kids. In my own teaching, it has really focused my attention to the task at hand, and I've eliminated a lot of the fluff I had in there previously. I'm only assessing the things I want them to learn/do...not the extra stuff that just kind of happened.
-
-
Performance skill targets, which ask students to use knowledge to perform or demonstrate a specific skill
-
This is 75% of grading in PhysEd (well, at least our PhysEd program). We have gone away from sport-ed, and moved to almost completely fitness-based education. We grade on heart rate data, specifically time spent in the Target Heart Rate Zone. Our goal is to make competent movers to enhance health beyond the school setting.
-
-
they involve where and how teachers can improve instruction—next year
-
This has been tough to do when results from assessments don't come back to us in a timely matter. Side note: Not that PhysEd is targeted area, but I'm so glad Iowa isn't a high-stakes testing state. I cannot imagine having that pressure on top of balancing all of the other things asked of us. I cannot imagine teacher morale being high.
-
I agree - it is so tough to improve instruction - next time when the data arrives after instruction has begun. This makes the need for multiple types of assessment an vital part of the educational setting.
-
-
quality and balance
-
through the use of clear curriculum maps for each standard
-
The assessor must begin with a clear picture of why he or she is conducting the assessment.
-
e assessor must begin with a clear picture of why he or she is conducting the assessment. Who will use the results to inform what decisions? The assessor might use the assessment formatively
-
Do the results provide clear direction for what to do next?
-
At the level of annual state/district standardized assessments, they involve where and how teachers can improve instruction—next year.
-
Inherent in its design is the need for all assessors and users of assessment results to be assessment literate—to know what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate uses of assessment results—thereby reducing the risk of applying data to decisions for which they aren't suited.
38More
ollie1reppert: Iowa Online Course Standards - 0 views
-
Sufficient learning resources and materials to increase student success are available to students
-
Having an online presence really makes this possible because you can easily increase the resources and materials available to students. For instance, on my Google site, I have links to other resources where students can go for help if they do not understand a concept, such as the textbook site, writing skills sites, and study skills sites.
-
-
Academic integrity and netiquette (Internet etiquette) expectations regarding lesson activities, discussions, e-mail communications and plagiarism are clearly stated • Privacy policies are clearly stated. • The self-introduction by the instructor is appropriate and available online, and students are likewise asked to introduce themselves to the class. (CP) • The course provider offers orientation training.
-
All four of these are very important, but I have to say that my course currently lacks each of these. I'm wondering if since my course is partially online and partially in person if all of these are necessary to have in the online component, or if it counts as long as it is covered at one point, whether it be online or in person.
-
This is an area that often gets overlooked. It is a skill just like any of the technical skills--knowing the online etiquette, etc.
-
-
The course makes maximum appropriate use of online tools outside of the CMS (including email, web 2.0, chat, videoconferencing, and whiteboard) to enhance learning
-
So many times, you see schools that have their teachers use a CMS like Moodle and that is the extent of their technology use--it is only one way to utilize. There are many ways to deeply integrate these types of tools in the classroom.
-
I have really started to think this year how to connect with students using my Promethean board at school.
-
- ...17 more annotations...
-
The course instructions articulate or link to a clear description of the technical support offered.
-
The course is easy and logical to navigate, including self-describing links
-
Technologies are chosen that are accessible to students
-
Specific and descriptive criteria, including rubrics, are provided for the evaluation of students’ work and participation
-
A clear, complete course overview and syllabus are included in the course
-
Ongoing and frequent assessments are conducted to verify each student’s readiness for the next lesson.
-
The course content and assignments are of sufficient rigor, depth, and breadth to teach the standards being addressed
-
clearly state what the participants will know or be able to do at the end of the course
-
Course instructions answer basic questions related to research, writing, technology, etc., or link to tutorials or other resources that provide the information.
-
The course provides opportunities for appropriate student interaction with the content to foster mastery and application of the material.
-
The course provides opportunities for appropriate instructor-student and student-student interaction to foster mastery and application of the material and a plan for monitoring that interaction.
-
The course instruction includes activities that engage students in active learning.
-
Instructions make clear how to get started and where to find various course components.
-
This is one reason I truly enjoy utilizing a moodle with in my classroom. It limits handouts and creates a great opportunity for me to provide very detailed instructions about assigments, activities or projects. When students are absent they can access this information in order to be prepared for the next class.
-
-
The course provides opportunities for students to engage in higher-order thinking, critical-reasoning activities and thinking in increasingly complex ways.
-
-
47More
ollie_4: Educational Leadership: The Quest for Quality--article - 1 views
-
We're betting that the instructional hours sacrificed to testing will return dividends in the form of better instructional decisions and improved high-stakes test scores.
-
Only assessments that satisfy these standards—whether teachers' classroom assessments, department or grade-level common assessments, or benchmark or interim tests—will be capable of informing sound decisions.
-
If we don't begin with clear statements of the intended learning—clear and understandable to everyone, including students—we won't end up with sound assessments.
- ...27 more annotations...
-
Figure 2 clarifies which assessment methods are most likely to produce accurate results for different learning targets.
-
-
The table in the article is really helpful. You can find it at http://tinyurl.com/44woaj
-
-
vague directions
-
I find that students really get confused by directions, even ones I think are clear. It is probably good to test out the directions on a couple of people to be sure they are clear to others.
-
I find that most students don't read directions:)! Many times I will do a practice test in class that mimic the test so that they will know what they need to show me for that section.
-
-
Will the users of the results understand them and see the connection to learning? Do the results provide clear direction for what to do next?
-
Feedback to students can use the language of the rubric: "What you have written is a hypothesis because it is a prediction about what will happen. You can improve it by explaining why you think that will happen."
-
Use a reading score from a state accountability test as a diagnostic instrument for reading group placement.
-
The assessor needs to have a clear picture of what achievement he or she intends to measure.
-
Sounds like such a simple concept to have clear learning targets but until recently, many teachers would not line up their assessments (tests/quizzes) with what they were teaching in the classroom. They might have spent 10-25 minutes on a concept but assess that for 75% of a test. Clear learning targets and lining them up with assessments keeps teachers accountable for what they are doing in the classroom.
-
-
A mechanism should be in place for students to track their own progress on learning targets and communicate their status to others
-
Many times the rubric or learning target checklist can be given to students before, during or after (if there are multiple goals) their learning/formative assessments to gadge how they are progressing.
-
If there were a checklist, it could be done in 3 columns so they could see the progress in one place.
-
-
Periodic interim/benchmark assessments can also serve program evaluation purposes, as well as inform instructional improvement and identify struggling students and the areas in which they struggle.
-
teachers can choose among the four assessment methods (selected-response, extended written response, performance assessment, and personal communication)
-
Although it may seem as though having more assessments will mean we are more accurately estimating student achievement, the use of multiple measures does not, by itself, translate into high-quality evidence.
-
nherent in its design is the need for all assessors and users of assessment results to be assessment literate—to know what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate uses of assessment results
-
Assessment literate - that is the key to all of "assessment" problems with education. Very few people are trained in teacher training to become literate in the use of data, interpreting data correctly, and using data to assess learning needs and teaching goals. SP
-
I see this all the time. I started learning things the minute I started on topic 1 of this course!
-
-
Are results communicated in time to inform the intended decisions?
-
Time - this is my biggest issue with Iowa Testing. This year districts had to wait months to get their results back. By the time they arrived teachers were a bit dismissive because they felt the measure of student performance had already changed too much. Districts I work with that were Spring testers will not even be sharing results until the end of August or Sept. because they did not have time at the end of the last school year.
-
-
Given the rise in testing, especially in light of a heightened focus on using multiple measures, it's increasingly important to address two essential components of reliable assessments: quality and balance.
-
But how are we to attain quality and balance in our state testing in Iowa. The tests are predetermined for us and they keep changing -- ITEDs, Iowa Assessment, and soon Smarter Balance, if the rumors are true. I would love to see schools using their own assessments based on the standards, but our students are judged by the BIG tests, not district tests. Balance is also questionable. Who determines how much and when, in addition to what?
-
-
Students learn best when they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning. This means that teachers need to write learning targets in terms that students will understand.