Why Common Assessments?

Differences in Instruction

“Our research indicates that there is a 15% variability difference in student achievement between teachers within the same schools.”

Deborah Loewenberg Ball, Dean of Education, University of Michigan

“What Matters Very Much is Which Classroom?”

“If a student is in one of the most effective classrooms he or she will learn in 6 months what those in an average classroom will take a year to learn. And if a student is in one of the least effective classrooms in that school, the same amount of learning take 2 years.”

Research has indicated that... “teacher quality trumps virtually all other influences on student achievement.”

(e.g., Darling-Hammond, 1999; Hamre and Pianta,2005; Hanushek, Kain, O'Brien and Rivken, 2005;Wright, Horn and Sanders, 1997)

Guiding Questions to Guide Common Assessments for Increased Achievement

• What do we want students to learn?– Are the essential learning expectations aligned to

Montana Common Core Standards for Mathematics?

– Will the identified essential learning expectations ensure that students are prepared to demonstrate proficiency?

– Will assessments provide timely and specific information and be used to form instruction to meet individual student’s needs?

Guiding Questions to Guide Student Achievement

• How will we know when students have learned?– Have we created a specific minimum number of

common grade level and course level assessments?– How is each item on the assessment aligned to an

essential learning expectation?– Has a common proficiency standard been established

through depth of knowledge frameworks?– How will the assessment be administered consistently?– Are the proficiency standards aligned with the

common core and Smarter Balanced Assessments?

Guiding Questions to Guide Student Achievement

• What will we do if student’s don’t learn it?– How will student receive interventions in a timely

fashion—at the first indication of difficulty?– Are there structures in place at the building and

classroom level to prevent students from “falling through the cracks”?

– Is there a process for reviewing proficiency and moving students on?

Guiding Questions to Guide Student Achievement

• What will students do if they have mastered the material?– How will students extend their learning in a timely

manner?– Are there structures in place at the building and

classroom level to prevent students from “falling through the cracks”?

– Is there a process for reviewing proficiency and moving students on?

Definition of Common Assessments

• Common Assessments are:– Given by two or more teachers with the intention

of collaboratively examining the results for the purpose of:

• Shared learning• Modifying instructional practices• Designing a plan for intervention• Reflecting on individual or collective practice• Changes to the curriculum, pacing or assessment

• (Steven Edwards, 2011)

Advantages of Common Assessments

• More efficient than assessments made by individual teachers

• More equitable for students• Effective strategy for determining learning

proficiency• Informs the practice of teachers• Helps teacher teams improve instruction• Facilitates interventions for struggling student and

those who have mastered standards.

Purposes of Assessments

• Be very clear about why you give an assessment– Change instruction– Group for intervention– Policy– Teacher Evaluation– Community Report Card—Annual Report to the

community on achievement in each content area

Cognitive Demand• The kind and level of thinking required of students to successfully engage with and solve a task • Ways in which students interact with content

Why Depth of Knowledge?• Focuses on complexity of

content standards in order to successfully complete an assessment or task. The outcome (product) is the focus of the depth of understanding.

• Depth of Knowledge framework is used to build complex and targeted assessments.

Bloom’s VS DOK

• Bloom’s Taxonomy is used to focus instruction and build instructional tasks.

• DOK framework is used to build assessment items.

Why Depth of Knowledge (DOK)?

Mechanism to ensure that the intent of the standard and the level of student demonstration required by that standard matches the assessment items (required under NCLB)

To ensure that teachers are teaching to a level that will promote student achievement

Depth of Knowledge• DOK 1—Recall

• Recall information—fact, definition, simple procedure.• One step, well defined, and straight algorithmic procedures

• DOK 2—Skills and Concepts• Mental process beyond habitual response, content knowledge and process that

are more complex• Interpreting Information from a simple graph

• DOK 3—Strategic Thinking• Use of reasoning, justifying planning, using evidence• Making conjectures, drawing conclusions, citing evidence, constructing viable

arguments, non-routine problems

• DOK 4—Extended Thinking• High Cognitive Demand, making connections, relating concepts within and among

concepts, choosing between many alternatives

DOK is NOT...• a taxonomy (Bloom’s)• the same as difficulty• about using “verbs”

It’s NOT about the verb... The Depth of Knowledge is NOT

determined by the verb (Bloom’s Taxonomy), but by the context in which the verb is used and the depth of thinking required.

Verbs are not always used appropriately...

Words like explain or analyze have to be considered in context.

•“Explain to me where you live” does not raise the DOK of a simple rote response.

• Even if the student has to use addresses or landmarks, the student is doing nothing more than recalling and reciting.

DOK is about what follows the verb...

What comes after the verb is more important than the verb itself.

“Analyze this sentence to decide if the commas have been used correctly” does not meet the criteria for high cognitive processing.”

The student who has been taught the rule for using commas is merely using the rule.

Same Verb—Three Different DOK Levels

DOK 1- Describe three characteristics of metamorphic rocks. (Requires simple recall)

DOK 2- Describe the difference between metamorphic and igneous rocks. (Requires cognitive processing to determine the differences in the two rock types)

DOK 3- Describe a model that you might use to represent the relationships that exist within the rock cycle. (Requires deep understanding of rock cycle and a determination of how best to represent it)

DOK is about intended outcome, not difficulty

DOK is a reference to the complexity of mental processing that must occur to answer a question, perform a task, or generate a product.

• Adding is a mental process.• Knowing the rule for adding is the intended

outcome that influences the DOK.• Once someone learns the “rule” of how to

add, 4 + 4 is DOK 1 and is also easy.• Adding 4,678,895 + 9,578,885 is still a DOK 1

but may be more “difficult.”

DOK is not about difficulty...

• Difficulty is a reference to how many students answer a question correctly.“How many of you know the definition of exaggerate?” DOK 1 – recall If all of you know the definition, this question is an easy question.

“How many of you know the definition of prescient?” DOK 1 – recall If most of you do not know the definition, this question is a difficult question.

DOK is about complexity• The intended student learning outcome determines the DOK level.

• Every objective in the science and mathematics frameworks has been assigned a DOK level.

• Instruction and classroom assessments must reflect the DOK level of the objective or intended learning outcome.

Quick Quiz1) Give an example of a statement

that uses a verb that “sounds” like a high DOK but is used inappropriately.

2) Fill in the blanks: What _____ the verb is more _____ than the verb itself when deciding the DOK level.

3) What is the difference between difficulty and complexity?

4) What really determines the DOK level?

Quick Quiz Answers1) Give an example of a statement that uses a

verb that “sounds” like a high DOK but is used inappropriately. answers vary

2) Fill in the blanks: What follows the verb is more important than the verb itself when deciding the DOK level.

3) What is the difference between difficulty and complexity? answers vary, but do not rely on the verb

4) What really determines the DOK level? the intended learning outcomes

What is Depth of Knowledge (DOK)?• A scale of cognitive demand (thinking) to

align standards with assessments• Based on the research of Norman Webb,

University of Wisconsin Center for Education Research and the National Institute for Science Education

• Guides item development for assessments

• Level 1: Recall and Reproduction

• Level 2: Skills & Concepts• Level 3: Strategic Thinking• Level 4: Extended Thinking

Webb’s Four Levels of Cognitive Complexity

DOK Level 1: Recall and Reproduction

• Requires recall of information, such as a fact, definition, term, or performance of a simple process or procedure

• Answering a Level 1 item can involve following a simple, well-known procedure or formula

Recall and Reproduction DOK Level 1Examples:

• List animals that survive by eating other animals• Locate or recall facts found in text• Describe physical features of places• Determine the perimeter or area of rectangles given a drawing or labels• Identify elements of music using music terminology• Identify basic rules for participating in simple games and activities

Skills/Concepts: DOK Level 2• Includes the engagement of some mental processing beyond recalling or reproducing a response• Items require students to make some decisions as to how to approach the question or problem• Actions imply more than one mental or cognitive process/step

Skills/Concepts: DOK 2 Examples• Compare desert and tropical environments

• Identify and summarize the major events, problems, solutions, conflicts in literary text• Explain the cause-effect of historical events• Predict a logical outcome based on information in a reading selection• Explain how good work habits are important at home, school, and on the job• Classify plane and three dimensional figures• Describe various styles of music

Strategic Thinking: Level 3• Requires deep understanding exhibited through planning, using evidence, and more demanding cognitive reasoning• The cognitive demands are complex and abstract• An assessment item that has more than one possible answer and requires students to justify the response would most likely be a Level 3

DOK Level 3: Strategic Thinking Examples:

• Compare consumer actions and analyze how these actions impact the environment• Analyze or evaluate the effectiveness of literary elements (e.g., characterization, setting, point of view, conflict and resolution, plot structures)• Solve a multiple-step problem and provide support with a mathematical explanation that justifies the answer

DOK Level 3 Examples

• Develop a scientific model for a complex idea• Propose and evaluate solutions for an economic problem• Explain, generalize or connect ideas, using supporting evidence from a text or source• Create a dance that represents the characteristics of a culture

Extended Thinking: Level 4

• Requires high cognitive demand and is very complex• Students are expected to make connections, relate ideas within the content or among content areas, and select or devise one approach among many alternatives on how the situation can be solved• Due to the complexity of cognitive demand, DOK 4 often requires an extended period of time

Extended Thinking: DOK 4 Examples• Gather, analyze, organize, and interpret information from multiple (print and non print) sources to draft a reasoned report

• Analyzing author’s craft (e.g., style, bias, literary techniques, point of view)

• Create an exercise plan applying the “FITT (Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type) Principle”

“Extending the length of an activity alone does not necessarily create rigor!”

How to build a common assessment using the DOK framework.

Six Item Types

• Selected Response• Constructed Response• Extended Response• Performance Tasks• Technology-Enabled• Technology-Enhanced

Selected ResponseSingle Response – Multiple Choice

Many experts will tell you that television is bad for you. Yet this is an exaggeration. Many television programs today are specifically geared towards improving physical fitness, making people smarter, or teaching them important things about the world. The days of limited programming with little interaction are gone. Public television and other stations have shows about science, history, and technical topics.

Which sentence should be added to the paragraph to state the author’s main claim?

A. Watching television makes a person healthy. B. Watching television can be a sign of intelligence.

C. Television can be a positive influence on people.

D. Television has more varied programs than ever before.

Selected ResponseMultiple Correct Options

Which of the following statements is a property of a rectangle? Select all that apply.

☐ Contains three sides

☐ Contains four sides

☐ Contains eight sides

☐ Contains two sets of parallel lines

☐ Contains at least one interior angle that is acute

☐ Contains at least one interior angle that is obtuse

☐ All interior angles are right angles

☐ All sides have the same length

☐ All sides are of different length

Constructed ResponseThe table below shows the number of students in each third-grade class at Lincoln School.

There are 105 fourth-grade students at Lincoln School. How many more fourth-grade students than third-grade students are at Lincoln School? Show or explain how you found your answer.

Students in Third-Grade

Class Number of Students

Mrs. Roy 24

Mr. Grant 21

Mr. Harrison 22

Ms. Mack 25

Constructed ResponseExtended Response

Ms. McCrary wants to make a rabbit pen in a section of her lawn. Her plan for the rabbit pen includes the following:

• It will be in the shape of a rectangle.• It will take 24 feet of fence material to make.• Each side will be longer than 1 foot.• The length and width will measure whole feet.

Part ADraw 3 different rectangles that can each represent Ms. McCrary’s rabbit pen. Be sure to use all 24 feet of fence material for each pen.

Use the grid below. Click the places where you want the corners of your rectangle to be. Draw one rectangle at a time. If you make a mistake, click on your rectangle to delete it. Continue as many times as necessary.

Use your keyboard to type the length and width of each rabbit pen you draw. Then type the area of each rabbit pen. Be sure to select the correct unit for each answer.

[Students will input length, width, and area for each rabbit pen. Students will choose unit from drop down menu.]

Pen 1: Length: (feet, square feet) Width: (feet, square feet) Area: (feet, square feet)

Part BMs. McCrary wants her rabbit to have more than 60 square feet of ground area inside the pen. She finds that if she uses the side of her house as one of the sides of the rabbit pen, she can make the rabbit pen larger.

• Draw another rectangular rabbit pen. • Use all 24 feet of fencing for 3 sides of the pen.• Use one side of the house for the other side of the pen. • Make sure the ground area inside the pen is greater than 60 square feet.

Use the grid below. Click the places where you want the corners of your rectangle to be. If you make a mistake, click on your rectangle to delete it.

Pen 2: Length: (feet, square feet) Width: (feet, square feet) Area: (feet, square feet) Pen 3:

Length: (feet, square feet) Width: (feet, square feet) Area: (feet, square feet)

Use your keyboard to type the length and width of each rabbit pen you draw. Then type the area of each rabbit pen. Be sure to select the correct unit for each answer.

Length: (feet, square feet) Width: (feet, square feet) Area: (feet, square feet)

Performance TaskStudent Directions:

Part 1 (35 minutes)Your assignment: You will read a short story and article, watch a video, review research statistics, and then write an argumentative essay about your opinion on virtual schools. Steps you will be following:In order to plan and compose your essay, you will do all of the following: 1. Read a short story and article, watch a

video, and review research statistics.2. Answer three questions about the

sources.3. Plan and write your essay. Directions for beginning:You will now read the sources and watch a video. Take notes, because you may want to refer back to your notes while writing your essay. You can refer back to any of the sources as often as you like.• (short story)• (article 1)• (video)• (research statistics)

QuestionsUse your remaining time to answer the questions below. Your answers to these questions will be scored. Also, they will help you think about the sources you’ve read and viewed, which should help you write your essay. You may click on the appropriate buttons to refer back to the sources when you think it would be helpful. You may also refer to your notes. Answer the questions in the spaces provided below them. 1. Analyze the different opinions

expressed in “The Fun They Had” and the “Virtual High School Interview” video. Use details from the story and the video to support your answer.

2. What do the statistics from “Keeping Pace with K–12 Online Learning” suggest about the current trends of virtual schools in the U.S.? Use details from the charts to support your answer.

3. Explain how the information presented

in the “Virtual High School Interview” video and the article “Virtual Schools Not for Everyone” differs from the information in the research statistics? Support your answers with details from the video and the articles.

Part 2 (85 minutes)You will now have 85 minutes to review your notes and sources, and to plan, draft, and revise your essay. You may also refer to the answers you wrote to the questions in part 1, but you cannot change those answers. Now read your assignment and the information about how your essay will be scored, then begin your work. Your AssignmentYour parents are considering having you attend a virtual high school. Write an argumentative essay explaining why you agree or disagree with this idea. Support your claim with evidence from what you have read and viewed.

Technology-Enabled

Brianna is running for class president. She needs to give a speech to the 4th grade class. Listen to the draft of her speech and then answer the questions that follow.

(Test-takers listen to an audio version of the following speech.)“Hi, My name is Brianna. I am running for class president, and I hope you will vote for me. You know many of my friends said they would. I am involved in many activities, including track and theater. If I am elected, I will hold several fundraisers so that all students in the 4th grade can go on a trip at the end of the year. Also, we can donate a portion of the money to a charity of our choice. If you want a class president who will work hard for you and listen to your needs, please vote for me next week!”

This speech needs to be revised before the student presents it. Which sentence should be omitted to improve the speech.

A. I am running for class president, and I hope you will vote for me.B. You know many of my friends said they would.C. If I am elected, I will hold several fundraisers so that all students in the 4th grade can go on a trip at the end of the year.D. If you want a class president who will work hard for you and listen to your needs, please vote for me next week!”

Selected or Constructed Responses that include Multimedia

Technology-EnhancedBelow is a poem, a sonnet, in which the speaker discusses her feelings about a relationship. Read the poem and answer the question that follows.

Rememberby Christina RossettiRemember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand,Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.Remember me when no more day by day 5 You tell me of our future that you plann'd: Only remember me; you understandIt will be late to counsel then or pray.Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: 10 For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige* of the thoughts that once I had,Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad.

In the sonnet “Remember,” which two lines reveals a change in the speaker’s message to her subject?

Collects Evidence through a Non-Traditional Response

The value of y is proportional the the value of x. The constant of proportionality for this relationship is 1. On the grid below, graph this proportional relationship.

Technology-EnhancedCollects Evidence through a Non-Traditional Response

How to write constructed response questions

Performance Task Resources

• http://balancedassessments.concord.org/• http://www.illustrativemathematics.org/• http://insidemathematics.org• http://www.nctm.org/rsmtasks/

Achievement Level Descriptors

• Achievement Level Descriptors describe performance on a standardized test in terms of levels or categories of performance.

• Text descriptions of the knowledge, skills, and processes

• ALD’s are cumulative—lower levels build to higher levels.

What to Do?

Using one of your units----• Write Constructed Response Items• Write a Performance Task• Use DOK format to construct Level 3 tasks• Build a scoring rubric 1-4 that describes what

a student should know and be able to do on the task.