Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting for Learning

For the Student Success Teachers by Tom Macartney

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Confidence: How Winning and Losing Streaks Begin and End.

Crown Press, 2004

Why

assess

FOR

learn

ing?

People on Winning Streaks:

ConfidenceOptimism, expect a positive resultStrong desire to succeedSelf analysis in failureHigh level of effortRisk taking-stretching

People on Losing Streaks:

Pessimism, expect a negative resultSense of futility, hopelessness,

fatalismSelf criticism in failureWaning effortDenial, cover up.Fear of risk taking, defensive

The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is to improve student learning.

We want to put our students on winning streaks and end losing streaks quickly.

“It is not sufficient for learning to be hands on.

To understand anything, the activity must be minds on.”

Grant Wiggins

What do we mean by “learning”?

A learner is someone who Knows what they know and can do Knows what they can’t do, yet Knows what to do next to reach the next stage

AND Knows what to do when they don’t know what to

do.

Adapted from Ruth Sutton

Our Goal as Educators in 2007Our Goal as Educators in 2007

Improved meta-cognition

Learning how to learn Life-long learning, to equip our students for

the rest of their lives, not just the next test

University

College

Apprenticeship

Work

OR…..

University

College

Apprenticeship

Work

Knowing Our Student Population

30% of students do not graduate after five years

33% of students go to university26% of university students do not complete their

program

19 % of students go to college43% of college students do not complete their program

18% of students go directly to work

42% of students in applied programs get all of their grade 9/10 credits

29% of students in essential programs get all of their grade 9/10 credits Alan King

Assessment FOR Learning

is the highest yield school

reform strategy available.

Michael Fullan, OISE U of T.

Why assess

FOR

learning?

Past Present

Assess Evaluate Assess Evaluate

Research – Five Key Factors

1. The provision of effective feedback to students.

2. The active involvement of students in their own learning.

3. Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment.

4. Recognition of the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem of pupils, both of which are crucial influences on learning.

5. The need for students to be able assess themselves and understand how to improve.

Assessment for Learning Assessment of Learning

•Checks what has been learned to date

•Designed for those not directly involved in daily teaching/learning

•Is presented in a periodic report

•Summarizes information into numbers, letter grades

•Compares students with a standard

•Need not involve the student

•Checks learning to decide what to do next

•Designed to assist teachers &

students

•Used in conferencing

•Detailed, specific, descriptive feedback in words, not scores

•Focussed on improvement of student’s previous best

•Needs to involve the student – the person most able to improve learning

Adapted from Ruth Sutton

““Working Inside the Black Box”Working Inside the Black Box”

FeedbackQuestioningSelf and Peer AssessmentsUse of Summative Tasks

Formatively

Four “Best Practices” to improve student learning

http://131.193.130.213/media//blackwrkblbox.pdf

Why assess FOR

learning?

IMPACT ON STUDENTS Largest gains for low achievers “Gap Closer”

Spec ed to non-Spec Ed male to female

Rivals 1-1 tutorial instruction Profound achievement gains for all

students. 2 – 4 Grade Equivalents 35 Percentile Point gains

Solid foundation for life-long learning. Equal opportunity to succeed.

Why assess FOR learning?

Effective Feedback for Learning Positive first

Specific (not ambiguous)

Frequent

Constructive

Connected to clear criteria

Timely (self and peer)

Helps identify next steps

Followed through

Why assess FOR

learning?

Philosophical ShiftToo often, educational tests, grades and report cards are treated as autopsies when they should be viewed as physicals.

(Reeves; from HTGFL. p112)

Why assess FOR

learning?

Focus on priorities.

Worth being familiar with

Important to know and do

Enduring understanding

From Understanding by Design. Wiggins and McTighe

Worth being familiar with

Important to know and do

Enduring understanding

Developing Effective Tools 3 Key Questions What is ...?

Assessment Methodstraditional quizzes and tests• paper/pencil• multiple choice• constructed responseperformance tasks, projects, personal communication• open-ended• complex• authentic• learning in context• student choice

Worth being familiar with

Important to know and do

Enduring understanding

Focus on priorities.

From Understanding by Design. Wiggins and McTighe

With a mark of 44% represented by the box, is this student ready to move on?

Worth being familiar with

Important to know and do

Enduring understanding

Focus on priorities.

From Understanding by Design. Wiggins and McTighe

With a mark of 44% represented by the box, is this student ready to move on?

Planning assessments around the Achievement Chart helps to ensure clear targets and that teachers do not confuse targets with methods.

Properly used, achievement charts provide a framework for planning assessments and curriculum.

G. Gini-Newman, 2005

Evaluation ToolsEvaluation Tools

Methods

Pen and Paper

Performance assessment

Personal communication

ToolsTools

Marking scheme

Rubric

Checklist

Rating scale

Anecdotal records

Target – Method – Tool matchTarget – Method – Tool match

Targets

•Knowledge / •Understanding

•Thinking

•Communication

•Application

5 questions with which to begin…

1. What knowledge and skills do I want students to learn?

2. How will I provide students with feedback, guidance and an opportunity to improve their demonstrations of learning?

3. How will I use the evidence I gather to determine the student’s final grade?

4. How will I calculate the student’s grade if they do not provide a complete body of evidence?

5. How will I clearly communicate grading practices to parents and students?

Haim Ginott wrote in 1972,

“I have come to a frightening conclusion. I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.”