Network for New Science/Math Teachers

May 26, 2010Meeting 5

Lexington, KYUniversity of Kentucky

Partnership Institute for Math & Science Education ReformKentucky Department of Education

Welcome!Help yourself to some

refreshments and networking

Let’s Breakout First!

Group Norms

• Start and end on time• Put cell phones on silent• Be respectful of all

comments• Everyone participates• Exercise the rule of “two

feet”• Come prepared for the

meeting

Review from March

Break Outs

CASL WorkBalanced Assessment

Users and Uses

Formative Assessment:Questioning

Roadmap for Today

Break-Outs

StudentEngagement

Balanced Assessment:Learning Targets

ResearchedBased

Strategies

Classroom Assessment for Student Learning (CASL)

• Learning Goal– To deepen understanding

of Classroom Assessment for Learning.

• Learning Targets– I can identify the 4 types of

learning targets.– I can explain the role

learning targets play in instruction.

SPIDER Strategy

Balanced Assessment

Balanced Assessment Goal of SB 1

SummativeSummativeProvides evidence achievement to certify student competence or program effectiveness

Assessment Assessment forfor learning learning

Use assessments to help students assess and adjust their own learning

Formative uses of Formative uses of summative datasummative dataUse of summative evidence to inform what comes next for individuals or groups of students

FormativeFormativeFormal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather evidence to directly improve the learning of students assessed

Assessment Assessment forfor learning learning

Use classroom Use classroom assessments to assessments to inform teacher’s inform teacher’s decisionsdecisions

Crucial Distinction

Assessment OF Learning:

How much have students learned as of a particular point in time?

Assessment FOR Learning:

How can we use assessment to help students learn more?

Assessment is REALLY formative when:

• Its purpose is to support—not merely monitor--learning

• It points up the scaffolding

• It provides descriptive feedback

• It builds self-confidence, self-efficacy

• It’s “Assessment FOR Learning”.

We ASSESS to:

• INFORM instructional decisions

• ENCOURAGE students to try to learn

PURPOSE

TARGET

ACCURACY EFFECTIVE USE

STUDENTINVOLVEMENT

DESIGN

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Keys to Quality AssessmentCASL, 2004

The Critical Nature of Learning Targets

Research-based Strategies

5 Research-based strategies that significantly improve student learning:Sharing criteria (clear learning targets

with success criteria)– Questioning– Feedback– Peer assessment– Self-assessment

Black and Wilam, 1998

Students who can identify what they are learning

significantly outscore those who cannot.

Robert J. Marzano

Clear Learning Targets

• Individually, draw the front of a penny.

• Include as many details as you can without looking at one.

• Do not compare with a partner until instructed.

What’s the Target?

Learning/Achievement Targets

Statements of what we want students to learn and be able to

do.

“Teachers who truly understand what they want their students to accomplish will almost surely be more instructionally successful

than teachers whose understanding of hoped-for student

accomplishments are murky.”-W. James Popham

How do Learning Targets connect to our assessment

practices?

PURPOSE

TARGET

ACCURACY EFFECTIVE USE

STUDENTINVOLVEMENT

DESIGN

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Siggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment TrainingInstitute, 2004

The Challenge….

How can we use assessments to help the student believe that the target is within reach?

CLEAR TARGETSAssess what?

What are the learning targets?Are they clear?Are they good?

Are the student learning targets stated and easy to find?

Are the student learning targets focused—are there too many?

Are they clear?

Are they appropriate?

Do the stated learning targets reflect a bigger plan to cover all important learning targets over time?

Siggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Educators & Students must be able to answer……

• Where am I going?• Where am I now?• How can I close the gap?• How will I know I’m getting

there?• How can I keep it going?Adapted from Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Is this a Target?

What do you think?

• Complete a senior project

• Build a bird Feeder

• Use a band saw safely

• Analyze a lab report

• Construct a diorama

Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

A Math Example• Math• Decimals

• Page 152 in the book• Going on a decimal hunt

• Read decimals and put them in order

Subject

Topic

Assignment

Activity

Learning Target

Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

The single most common barrier to sound classroom

assessment is the teachers’ lack of vision of appropriate

achievement targets within the subjects they are supposed to

teach.

Rick Stiggins

Learning Targets

• Knowledge

• Reasoning

• Performance/ skills

• Products

Adapted from Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Knowledge Targets

Mastery of substantive subject content where mastery includes both

knowing and understanding it.

Adapted from Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Knowledge Examples

• Identify metaphors and similes

• Read and write quadratic equations

• Describe the function of a cell membrane

• Know the multiplication tables

• Explain the effects of an acid on a base

Adapted from Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Reasoning Targets

The ability to use knowledge and understanding to figure things out and to solve problems.

Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Reasoning Examples

• Use statistical methods to describe, analyze, evaluate, and make decisions.

• Make a prediction based on evidence.

• Examine data/results and propose a meaningful interpretation.

• Distinguish between historical fact and opinion.

Adapted from Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Performance/Skill Targets

The development of proficiency in doing something where the process is most important.

Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Performance/Skill Examples

• Measure mass in metric and SI units

• Use simple equipment and tools to gather data

• Read aloud with fluency and expression

• Participates in civic discussions with the aim of solving current problems

• Dribbles to keep the ball away from an opponent

Adapted from Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Product Targets

The ability to create tangible products that meet certain standards of quality and present concrete evidence of academic proficiency.

Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Product Examples

• Construct a bar graph

• Develop a personal health-related fitness plan

• Construct a physical model of an object

• Write a term paper to support a thesis

Adapted from Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Clear Targets

Clear targets help us:• Recognize if the formative assessment

adequately covers and samples what we taught.

• Correctly identify what students know/don’t know, and their level of achievement.

• Plan the next steps in instruction.• Give meaningful descriptive feedback to

students.

Clear Targets (continued)

• Have students self-assess or set goals likely to help them learn more.

• Keep track of student learning target by target or standard by standard.

• Complete a standards-based report card.

Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Classifying Learning Targets

• Lay out the four learning target category cards—Knowledge, Reasoning, Performance/Skill, and Product—in a row in that order.

• Sort the learning target example cards according to which kind of learning target it is. Lay these cards in columns under the appropriate category.

• When you have finished, walk around and look at what other groups have done and discuss any differences that you notice.

Classifying Learning Targets

• What were some considerations for how you classified the samples you had?

• Is it always clear how to classify a statement from the standards? Why or why not?

QUESTION

What is the difference between a

STANDARD

and a

TARGET?

An Example

• STANDARD: An excellent golf swing

• TARGETS:– Proper placement for feet (stance)– Proper grip while maintaining stance– Swing A, B, C (3-parts to swing)

• ACTIVITIES:– Watch videos of great golfers and imitate their

stance

When should these be added and/or developed?

“By setting out clearly in their own minds what they wanted the students to learn, the teachers would be in a position to find out what the ‘gap’ was between the state of students’ current learning and the learning goal and to be able to monitor that ‘gap’ as it closed.”

--Assessment for Learning: Putting it into Practice, 2003

Without Clear Targets We Can’t Do Any of the Following…

• Know if the assessment adequately covers and samples what we taught.

• Correctly identify what students know and don’t know and their level of achievement.

• Plan next steps in instruction.• Give detailed, descriptive feedback to students.• Have students self-assess or set goals likely to help them

learn more.• Keep track of student learning target by target or

standard by standard.• Complete a standards-based report card.

Stiggins et al, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment Training Institute, 2004

Classroom Instruction That Works

LEADERSHIP

LEADERSHIPLEADERSHIP

LEADERSHIP

Variables

School

Guaranteed and Viable CurriculumChallenging Goals and Effective FeedbackParent and Community InvolvementSafe and Orderly EnvironmentCollegiality and Professionalism

Teacher Instructional StrategiesClassroom ManagementCurriculum Design

Student Home EnvironmentLearned Intelligence and Background KnowledgeStudent Motivation

What Works in Schools, Robert J. Marzano

For Next TimeFor Next Time

• Our next meeting will be: June 1st

• Please bring: – Your multiple choice

question with next steps identified from March mtg.

– Classroom Instruction that Works book