ollie-afe-2018: Educational Leadership: The Quest for Quality--article - 14 views
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overflow of testing
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nickol11 on 21 Jan 18I 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.
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stephlindmark on 25 Jan 18I 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.
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Kim Foley-Sharp on 25 Jan 18This 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.
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dykstras on 25 Jan 18Progress 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.
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staudtt on 29 Jan 18This 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.
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jwalt15 on 30 Jan 18I 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.
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The four categories of learning targets are
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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.
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Are results communicated in time to inform the intended decisions?
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performance assessment and personal communication,
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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?
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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.
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grouping the assessments into levels
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Who will use the results to inform what decisions?
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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.
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I feel that everyone uses that results differently too to meet their needs and can construe them to fit their agenda.
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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.
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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.
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Creating a plan like this for each assessment helps assessors sync what they taught with what they're assessing
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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.
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This is time-consuming... every teacher knows this is helpful, but we don't always have the time to provide the immediate feedback. Aghhhh...
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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.
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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.
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self-assess and set goals.
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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.
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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.
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formative point of view
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The assessor needs to have a clear picture of what achievement he or she intends to measure.
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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.
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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.
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I think rubrics are critical for assignments/projects. We are letting the students know what the expectations are for the assignment.
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not
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Students learn best when they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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ongoing information needs of teachers and students.
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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.
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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.
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what is interesting is that most teachers are doing formal assessment throughout their teaching, using RTI (response to intervention) time etc.
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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.
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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.
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I'm interested to know what they are basing this on. So, if I test my students more, they will learn more?
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Figure 2 clarifies which assessment methods are most likely to produce accurate results for different learning targets.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Will the users of the results understand them and see the connection to learning?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Seeking balance in assessment is something I gained from this article too. I will be looking at assessment differently.
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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.
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results that point student and teacher clearly to next steps
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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.
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I agree. I think following the PLC framework helps teachers collaborate about the learning needs based on assessments.
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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.
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Assessment quality and assessment balance
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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.
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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.
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basis of a single measure
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This is a sad day when we as educators take one single measure and make life long decisions.
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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.
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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...
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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.
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including students
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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.
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Our district has made a strong push to write all learning targets in student friendly language, often times utilizing "I can" statements
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learning targets
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choices in the assessment methods
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noise distractions
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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.
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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.
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Feedback to students can use the language of the rubric
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Using the same wording from the rubric is another way to enforce the students' learning and reinforce skills.
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Again, I should continue to read before commenting. I just said the same thing in a previous post :-)
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I agree, using the same language helps to reinforce for students that this is important.
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Ongoing classroom assessments serve both formative and summative purposes and meet students' as well as teachers' information needs.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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(selected-response, extended written response, performance assessment, and personal communication)
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Making decisions that affect individuals and groups of students
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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.
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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.
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organize the learning targets represented in the assessment into a written test plan that matches the learning targets represented in the curriculum.
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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
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stable estimates of student achievement
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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).
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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.
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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.
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Clear Purpose
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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.
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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.
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Sound Assessment Design
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This is a major challenge! Teachers need support in learning about and reflecting on assessment design.
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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.
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Student Involvement in the Assessment Process
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selected-response formats, extended written response, performance assessment, and personal communication
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teachers must provide the results in a way that helps students
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taking advantage of dependable data
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common assessments
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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.
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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.
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formatively
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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
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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.
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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.
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A mechanism should be in place for students to track their own progress on learning targets and communicate their status to others.
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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.
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Do the results provide clear direction for what to do next?
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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.
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so important. They need to know where to go next and what they can do to improve.
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current practice
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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.
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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
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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?
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multiple measures
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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.
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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.
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wealth of data
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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.
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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.
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NCLB has exposed students to an unprecedented overflow of testing.
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quality and balance
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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.
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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'>
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such as "Focuses on one specific aspect of the subject" or "Makes an assertion that can be argued."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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clear statements of the intended learning
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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.
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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.
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formative applications involve what students have mastered and what they still need to learn
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effective feedback
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teachers can choose among the four assessment methods
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Assessment literacy is the foundation for a system that can take advantage of a wider use of multiple measures
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vague directions,
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self-assess and set goals.
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It calls attention to the proper assessment method and to the importance of minimizing any bias that might distort estimates of student learning.
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cultural insensitivity
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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?
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