1. CHAPTER 2 CLEAR PURPOSE: ASSESSMENT FOR AND OF LEARNING Emily Spira Michelle Renn IF we can do something with assessment information beyond using it to figure grades, we can improve learning.

2. Formative assessment has gained great attention over its impact on achievement, how to create, etc. Reality most assessments used in schools remain summative most count towards the grade. 3. A BALANCED ASSESSMENT SYSTEM Who uses assessment information? Teachers Parents Students Administrators The public No one assessment can fill everyones informational needs. Key forms of assessment are formative and summative. A balanced assessment system used in districts promote student success. 4. A BALANCED ASSESSMENT SYSTEM 5. IMPACT OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT ON ACHIEVEMENT British researchers Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam have found that use if formative assessment practices increased achievement if low performing students on standardized tests. Black and Wiliam make the following observations: Opportunities for students to express their understanding should be designed into any piece of teaching, for this will initiate the interaction through which formative assessment aids learning. The dialogue between pupils and teachers should be thoughtful, reflective, focused to evoke and explore understanding, and conduction so that all pupils have an opportunity to think and express their ideas. Feedback to any pupil should be about the particular qualities of his or her work, with advice on what they can do to improve, and should avoid comparisons to other pupils. If formative assessment is to be productive, pupils should be trained in self-assessment so that they can understand the main purpose of their learning and thereby grasp what they need to do to achieve. 6. IMPACT OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT ON ACHIEVEMENT Suggested practices necessary to achieve the gains by formative assessment. Use of classroom discussions, classroom tasks, and homework to determine the current state of student learning/understanding, with action taken to improve learning/correct misunderstanding. Provision of descriptive feedback, with guidance on how to improve, during the learning. Development of student self- and peer-assessment skills. These are all practices, not instruments. There is no magic test or tool. Unfortunately, because of the accountability-saturated environment, we may have left a few good teaching and assessment practices behind along with some children. 7. IMPACT OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT ON ACHIEVEMENT Distinguishing Between Formative and Summative Assessment Why the distinction Is Important Formative Assessment: Formal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather evidence for the purpose of improving learning. Assessment for learning Summative Assessment: Assessment information used to provide evidence of student achievement for the purpose of making a judgment about student competence or program effectiveness. Assessment of learning. Pivotal to realizing gains in student achievement. Following conditions need to be met for gains to be made: The assessment instrument is designed so that it aligns directly with the content standards learned. All instruments match what has been or will be taught. The instrument provides information to pinpoint specific problems, such as misunderstandings, so teachers can make good decisions on what tasks to take. The results are available in time to take action with the students who generate them. Teachers and students do indeed take action based on the results. 8. IMPACT OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT ON ACHIEVEMENT What This Has To Do with Clear Purpose What Clear Purpose Has To Do With Achievement Establishing the purpose for an assessment is the first key assessment quality. To ensure high quality assessment practices, ask these 3 questions: Who is going to use the information? How will they use it? What information, in what detail, do they need? Until we acknowledge the students crucial role-if they would only show up/try/do their work-we will continue to change everything but the student. (p.27) Formative assessment practices works because it changes the students interaction with assessment. 9. SEVEN STRATEGIES OF ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING Formative assessment is essentially feedback. The 7 strategies are structured around around 3 formative assessment questions. Where am I going? Where am I now? Where can I close the gab? 10. SEVEN STRATEGIES OF ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING WHERE AM I GOING? Strategy 1: Provide students with a clear and understandable vision of the learning target. Share learning targets, objectives, or goals, either at the outset of instruction or before they begin an independent practice activity. Use student-friendly language by defining key words in terms students understand. Strategy 2: Use examples and models of strong and weak work. Use to demonstrate strengths and weaknesses related to problems students commonly experience. Ask students to analyze these examples for quality and justify their judgments. Model the creating process. 11. SEVEN STRATEGIES OF ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING WHERE AM I NOW? Strategy 3: Offer regular descriptive feedback. Grades do not function as effective feedback. 5 Characteristics of effective feedback: Directs attention to the intended learning, pointing out strengths and offering specific information to guide improvement. Occurs during learning, while there is still time act on it. Addresses partial understanding. Does not do the thinking for the student Limits corrective information to amount of advice the student can act on. 12. SEVEN STRATEGIES OF ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING WHERE AM I NOW? Strategy 4: Teach students to self-assess and set goals. Self-assessment is a necessary part of learning. . Self assessment includes having the students do the following: Identifying their own strengths and areas of improvements Write in a response log at the end of class, recording key points they have learned and questions they still have. Using established criteria, select a work sample for their portfolio that proves a certain level of proficiency, explaining why the piece qualifies. Offer descriptive feedback to classmates. Use your feedback, feedback from other students, or their own self-assessment to identify what they need to work on and set goals for the future. 13. SEVEN STRATEGIES OF ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING HOW CAN I CLOSE THE GAP? Strategy 5: Design lessons to focus on one learning target or aspect of quality at a time. When assessment information identifies a need, adjust instruction to target that need. Strategy 6: Teach students focused revisions. Some ways to help students practice revision include the following: Have students work in pairs to critique an anonymous sample and revise it using their own advice. Ask students to write a letter to the creator of an anonymous sample they have just critiqued, suggesting how to make it stronger for the aspect of quality discussed. Ask students to analyze your won work for quality and make suggestions for improvements. Revise your work using their advice. Ask them again to review it for quality. 14. SEVEN STRATEGIES OF ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING HOW CAN I CLOSE THE GAP? Strategy 7: Engage students in self-reflection, and let them keep track of and share their learning. This reinforces the learning and helps them develop insights into themselves as learners. Some examples: Students write a process paper, detailing how they solved a problem or created a product or performance. This encourages them to think like professionals. Students write a letter to their parents about a piece of work, explaining where they are now with it and what they are trying to do next. Students track their own progress toward mastery of learning targets. Students help plan and participate in conferences with parents and/or teachers to share their learning. 15. THE SEVEN STRATEGIES AS A PROGRESSION. It enables students to take control of their own learning by providing a clear vision of the learning targets they are to attain, teaching them to assess where they are with respect to the target, and offering strategies they can use to close the gap between where they are and where they need to be. (p.35) 16. ACTIVITY Activity 2.4 After reading through the Seven Strategies of Assessment for learning, think about the extent to which each of the characteristics of effective feedback is part of your regular classroom practice. Complete this personal inventory. If you are working with a partner or a team, discuss your results. 17. CHAPTER 3 CLEAR TARGETS Emily Spira Michelle Renn Students can hit any target they see and that holds still for them. 18. LEARNING TARGETS Learning targets are statements of intended learning Curriculum documents are the roadmap and assessment is the GPS Effective formative and summative assessments depend on a good curriculum and clear learning targets If the curriculum side is in disarray, the assessment side will be equally messy 19. TYPES OF LEARNING TARGETS You must understand the type of learning target in order to: 1. Examine the target in your own curriculum and determine if it is clear enough 2. Understand if you need to break a target into smaller teachable parts 3. Select the appropriate assessment method Learning Target Types: 1. Knowledge Targets 2. Reasoning Targets 3. Skill Targets 4. Product Targets 5. Disposition Targets 20. KNOWLEDGE TARGETS Knowledge targets include factual information, procedural knowledge, and conceptual understandings. Knowledge targets form the foundation for each other type of target. Factual: knows, lists, names, recalls, identifies Procedural: knows how to, uses Conceptual: understands, explain the concept Knowing via Reference: Not everything we know needs to be learned by heart. 21. REASONING TARGETS Mastering content knowledge is not the sole aim of education today; we want students to develop the ability to apply knowledge. All subject area curriculum includes reasoning processes, such as predict, infer, classify, hypothesize, compare, draw conclusions, summarize, estimate, analyze, justify. 22. Six Patterns of Reasoning Inference Analysis Comparison Classification Evaluation Synthesis There is not a hierarchy of difficulty in the patterns of reasoning. However, some depend on other to be carried out effectively. 23. SKILL TARGETS Skill Targets refer to learning targets where a real demonstration or physical performance is at the heart of the learning. Examples: Performing Arts P.E. Word Languages Oral fluency in reading Giving an oral presentation 24. PRODUCT TARGETS Some content standards specify the creation of a project. For product targets, the specifications for qualities of a good product are the focus of teaching and learning. Product examples include: Create tables, graphs, scatter plots Lab reports Create a personal wellness plan Research report Assessment Unit plan 25. DISPOSITION TARGETS Disposition targets may not be written in the curriculum; however, they represent the byproducts of students educational experience Sometimes they are overarching goals of schools, often found in mission statements Examples: I look forward to coming to school each day! I like reading. Wants to participate in reading club, community theatre, sports Views themselves as capable of doing math 26. THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLE IS WHICH TYPE OF LEARNING TARGET? Knowledge Reasoning Skill Product Disposition Compares and contrasts points of view from a historical event. 27. REASONING TARGET 28. THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLE IS WHICH TYPE OF LEARNING TARGET? Knowledge Reasoning Skill Product Disposition Capitalizes appropriate words in titles. 29. KNOWLEDGE TARGET 30. THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLE IS WHICH TYPE OF LEARNING TARGET? Knowledge Reasoning Skill Product Disposition Measures properties of objects using balances and thermometers. 31. SKILL TARGET 32. THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLE IS WHICH TYPE OF LEARNING TARGET? Knowledge Reasoning Skill Product Disposition Creates a timeline to show the order of early explorations and settlements. 33. PRODUCT TARGET 34. GOOD CURRICULUM GUIDES All teachers should have assess to a practical curriculum guide that provides a clear vision of intended learning. A good curriculum map will link each years learning targets to the previous and following years targets. A good curriculum will also link to whatever standards form the basis for your accountability testing. Learning targets in the curriculum should be stated so that everyone who teaches a subject interprets them the same way. 35. PROCESS FOR DECONSTRUCTING STANDARDS Check your work for accuracy and reasonableness. Identify the prerequisite or underlying knowledge, reasoning, and/or skills. Determine the ultimate target type represented in the standard. 36. COMMUNICATING LEARNING TARGETS TO STUDENTS Once the learning target is clear to you, you need to make sure it is clear to your students! Without an understanding of the learning targets, students lack the information they need to self-assess, set goals, and act on descriptive feedback. 37. CONVERTING KNOWLEDGE AND REASONING LEARNING TARGETS TO STUDENT-FRIENDLY LANGUAGE 1. Define the word or words representing the pattern of reasoning. 2. Convert the definition into language your students will understand. 3. Rewrite the definition as an I or We statement. 4. Try the definition out with students. Note their response and refine if needed. 5. Let students try this process occasionally. 38. WHEN THE WRITTEN CURRICULUM IS NOT THE TAUGHT CURRICULUM Your curriculum is your first assessment guide. Without an easily understood curriculum, many teachers rely on the textbook, a list of activities or projects to fill its role. Many problems arise: 1. Textbooks contain too much content to teach in one year 2. Textbooks dont provide guidance on which information is most important 3. If activities are not carefully designed, we may not be teaching what is most important to learn 39. THE BENEFITS OF CLEAR LEARNING TARGETS TO TEACHERS 1. Knowing what to teach 2. Knowing what to assess 3. Knowing what instructional activities to plan 4. Avoiding coverage at the expense of learning 5. Ability to interpret and use assessment results 6. System for tracking and reporting information. 7. Common ground for working collaboratively with other teachers. 40. THE BENEFITS OF CLEAR LEARNING TARGETS TO STUDENTS 1. Understanding what they are responsible for learning. 2. Understanding and acting on feedback. 3. Being prepared to self-assess and set goals. 4. Being able to track, reflect on, and share their own progress. 41. THE BENEFITS OF CLEAR LEARNING TARGETS TO PARENTS 1. Helping children at home. 2. Understanding grades. 3. Focusing discussions at conferences. 42. WITHOUT CLEAR LEARNING TARGETS We cant Know if the assessment adequately covers what we taught Correctly identify what students know and dont know and their level of achievment Plan next steps in instruction Give detailed descriptive feedback to students Have students self-assess or set goals Keep track of student learning Complete a standards based report card 43. ACTIVITY 1- CLASSIFYING LEARNING TARGETS In partners look at the third grade content standards (or you can look your grade level up online). Classify standards by their learning target- knowledge, reasoning, skill or product. 44. ACTIVITY 2- IDENTIFY CLEAR LEARNING TARGETS Using the third grade standards, find learning targets that are clearly written. Find learning targets that need clarification. These are targets that are too vague or dont make sense. Find learning targets that need to be deconstructed. There may be several learning targets in one standard. 45. ACTIVITY 3- CREATE STUDENT FRIENDLY LEARNING TARGETS Select a learning target that could benefit from being rephrased for students. In partners, rephrase the standard using kid- friendly language.