ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING MOTIVATING - ENGAGING - PURPOSEFUL

1. ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNINGMOTIVATING - ENGAGING - PURPOSEFUL UBCO Candidate Teacher Session December 2013

2. Life seeks organization, but it uses messes to get there. Organization is a process, not a structure. Margaret Wheatley

3. JOURNALING

4. Margin Notes •  I agree •  A question I have about this • “Aha!” Post-Its

5. Exploring Quality Assessment The teaching practice that ensures greater understanding by placing the student at the heart of their own learning

6. Look at “Quality Assessment” Determine Where We/You Are Now Have a peak at SD 23 Vision Resources Reflect – What are your take-aways? Leave you with question: AFL – How does it fit with 21st Century Attributes of a Learner Goals

7. What Quality Assessment Means to Us?” ASSESSMENT DONEPOORLY DONERIGHT LOOKS LIKE

8. ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING QUOTES

9. What forms does assessment information take in your classroom?

10. Assessment in Your Classroom? • Grade • Symbol • Number • Percent • Raw score • Comment • Other

11. “Innovations that include strengthening the practice of formative assessment produce significant and often substantial learning gains.”—Black & Wiliam, 1998b, p. 140

12. Review of Research on Effects of Formative Assessment • Read the excerpt from the article “Inside the Black Box” by Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam. • Note the reported gains in student achievement. • Note important points about effective formative assessment practices.

13. What were the effect sizes they reported? • .4 to .7 gain • .7 standard deviation score gain = • 25 percentile points on ITBS (middle of score range) • 70 SAT score points • 4 ACT score points Largest Gain for Low Achievers

14. What gives formative assessment its power?What practices do Black & Wiliam recommend as necessary?

15. Provision of descriptive feedback, with guidance on how to improve, during the learning • Development of student self- and peer-assessment skills

16. Use of classroom discussions, classroom tasks, and homework to determine the current state of student learning/understanding, with action taken to improve learning and correct misunderstandings

17. Increase descriptive, reduce evaluative feedback • Increase self- and peer-assessment • Increase opportunities for students to communicate their evolving learning during instruction

18. Refining Our Definition of Formative Assessment • Review the definitions of formative assessment offered by other researchers. • Taking into account these definitions, and the practices Black & Wiliam identified, revisit your own definition. How might you change it?

19. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT Formal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather evidence for the purpose of improving learning SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT Assessments that provide evidence of student achievement for the purpose of making a judgment about student competence or program effectiveness

20. It is the use we make of the assessment information, not the instrument itself, that determines whether it is formative or summative.

22. Assessment for Learning “There are no hard and fast rules, only ideas to be thoughtfully explored and decisions to be made…Just as there are many right ways to teach, no one can tell you exactly how you should assess your students.” Anne Davies

23. Assessment and instruction are inseparable – effective assessment informs learning. Students become central to all aspects of assessment – it is done with them, not to them. To be central, students must be partners in all aspects of the assessment process. The Big Idea

24. “Learners need assessment like fish need water.”Anne Davies Flipping the dynamic - Make your efforts fruitful Fish need water like we need air – assessment needs to be constant; ever present; learning from mistakes

25. Indicators of Student Involvement: Students are able to articulate the learningdestination and understand what success looks like Students have time to learn Students collect evidence of their own learning SD #23 District Vision Quality assessment is the teaching practice that ensures greater understanding by placing students at the heart of their own learning.

26. Effective Feedback Evaluative language is: • judgemental, • value laden, • rewarding or punishing. Descriptive language is: • value neutral, • Directive, pinpoints strengths and weaknesses, • Specific, implies a better way.

27. Have access to samples showing quality work Are able to describe what evidence of learning might look like Set criteria with teachers to define quality Students are able to articulate the learning destination and understand what success looks like, students:

28. Receive and give themselves specific, descriptive feedback as they learn Debrief their learning with peers and others; get feedback for learning Use feedback and self-assess to set goals for future learning Revisit and reset the criteria as they learn more Students have time to learn, students:

29. Present evidence of learning to others and receive feedback Are authentically engaged in the learning/assessment process Students collect evidence of their own learning, students:

30. Students should know as much as us – outcomes, indicators along the way; consider it “like a journey” to Vancouver PLOs (See the destination – e.g., pictures, samples) Steps (Like stops along the way, Merritt) Students can be taught the meaning of PLO’s –caution the use of “kid-friendly” language Asks us to question, “What we are doing because it is a “fun” activity but it does not fit with learning outcomes” (Our reality - we are pressed for time.) Other Thoughts…

31. Learning occurs when we are making mistakes • Feedback is most effective when we are working on the task • Assessment is imperative at the moment of greatest need • Strategies to consider: • Group work, Cooperative Learning (E.g., Kagan • Peer assessment • 3 before me • Silent signals – red light/green light

32. Tests/Quizzes/Grades • Do not place the student at the centre. • Do not tell the whole story • Are easily reduced to a single grade. • Are so seductive !

33. Formative Assessment in Teachers’ Hands • Who is and is not understanding the lesson? • What are this student’s strengths and needs? • What misconceptions do I need to address? • What feedback should I give students? • What adjustments should I make to instruction? • How should I group students? • What differentiation do I need to prepare? —Chappuis, 2009, p. 9

34. Formative Assessment in Students’ HandsWhat are students’ information needs? What formative assessment practices address these needs?

35. Formative Assessment in Students’ Hands The indispensable conditions for improvement are that the student • Comes to hold a concept of quality roughly similar to that held by the teacher • Is able to monitor continuously the quality of what is being produced during the act of production itself • Has a repertoire of alternative moves or strategies from which to draw —Sadler, 1989, p. 121

36. To attain the achievement gains promised by formative assessment, the ultimate user of formative assessment information must be the student.

37. Where are you trying to go? • Identify and communicate the learning goals. • Where are you now? • Assess or help the student to self-assess current levels of understanding. • How can you get there? • Help the student with strategies and skills to reach the goal. • Atkin, Black, & Coffey, 2001, p. 14

38. Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning Where am I going? • Provide students with a clear and understandable statement of the learning target. • Use examples and models of strong and weak work. Where am I now? 3. Offer regular descriptive feedback. 4. Teach students to self-assess and set goals. How can I close the gap? • Design lessons to focus on one learning target or aspect of quality at a time. • Teach students focused revision. 7. Engage students in self-reflection, and let them keep track of and share their learning.

39. Achieving the Dream Who will work hardest this year? You or your students? Dream of Ruth Sutton, AFL advocate: “That I will leave school ready to play 18 holes of golf and the students will go home exhausted.”

40. In a classroom of between 24 – 30 students how can we keep assessment immediate and ever present for every child? The Big Question!

41. Marking does not enhance achievement The first grade given sets the student’s expectations for the course Subsequent grades confirm their expectations Gender influences attitude to grades Research Findings

42. You need criteria before evaluating. You need to communicate it clearly. The purpose or goal must be clear Without criteria personal preference becomes unspoken criteria. More Discussions and Findings

43. Evaluative language is: judgemental, value laden, rewarding or punishing. Descriptive language is: value neutral, Directive, pinpoints strengths and weaknesses, Specific, implies a better way. Effective Feedback

44. Encompassing the 3 R’s - Relevance, Relationship, Rigor • Relevance • purpose of each task is understood • relevant to life • fosters self-reflection and growth • develops skills for independent, life- long learning

45. Rigor • Engaging • Motivating • Relevant to life • Fosters creative thinking and problem solving, • Exploratory • Active

46. Relationship • Learning takes place in an atmosphere of mutual respect and caring • empowering

47. Assessment For Learning is reliable and valid because 3 sources of assessment evidence are used in a process called Triangulation

48. TRIANGULATIONProducts Conversations Observation A KEY COMPONENT OF ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING

49. TRIANGULATION As teachers learn more about various types of intelligence and learning styles they are expanding the ways students can show or represent what they know. This makes it easier for students of all abilities to experience success. Success leads to confidence, enjoyment and empowerment. Learning is enhanced when it evokes a positive emotion. Showing your learning in varied ways is motivating and engaging! tests diagram poster diorama model flyer power point presentation mind map story picture link project web page puzzle video song journal written assignment play map oral presentation timeline... Products

50. TRIANGULATION • Conversations involve listening to what students have to say about their l learning, face-to-face or in writing – student to student, student to teacher, student to parent • Conversations enliven the learning process, making students think about their learning and helping them relate it to personal experience and prior knowledge. The latest brain research states that every encounter with something new requires the brain to fit the new information into an existing category or network of neurons. If a connection cannot be found the information is dropped. Conversations