Tests Quizzes Projects Grades Homework

1. TestsQuizzesProjectsGradesHomework THINKING ABOUT ASSESSMENT

2. From See Me After Class • Some students are so much below grade level that tests don’t show whether they’ve improved • Students who don’t perform well on standardized tests constantly get the message they are stupid • Students who can pass the test feel like they are superstars which is not necessarily true • Real teaching does not equal test prep • Test answers are sometimes ambiguous • Other factors affect test scores • There is often lots of cheating • Test prep = hate school • Performance anxiety turns schools into the twilight zone

3. From The New Teacher Book • Striking a balance is key; can’t test-prep all of the time • Talk with colleagues to agree on a plan • What does progress look like? • Focus on “rigorous, interesting, high-quality curriculum” • What do we do in school when we’re not testing? What will you do in your classes?

4. How to plan for assessments • What are students going to do? • Why will they being doing this? • How will they demonstrate their learning? • What will be the criteria you assess? • Who will assess the outcomes? • Will assessments apply to individuals/groups? • How will the assessment fit into a student’s overall grade for the course?

5. Example • Students will work with a partner to write a magazine article on the changing role of electronic devices in daily life. The article will include two pictures, an interview with a parent/guardian, and a time line. Students will be assessed with a rubric. Each student will receive a grade, which will be equal to a test grade.

6. Backward Design • Identify your objectives, skills, dispositions you want for your students (standards are a place to start, not end) • Select how students will demonstrate their outcomes • Decide the levels of proficiency • Organize the instruction that needs to precede the assessment – NOT “teach to the test”

7. Make sure you include… • Higher-order thinking • Deep knowledge • Substantive conversations • Meaningful connections to the world beyond the classroom Goal: You want your students to show they know the five countries around the world with the largest populations and their economic ties to the United States

8. One possible route… • Ask students what they think are the five countries and their major resources • Form cooperative learning groups to investigate materials you have made available • Students answer key questions about a country, its resources, and how it is linked economically to US • Students will share reports out • Pass out copied outline maps of the world and colored pencils for students to label and code with icons • A quiz or multiple-choice test will be given soon

9. Assessing different times • Entry-level or baseline assessment • You ask your students to brainstorm what they think the five largest countries by population are and what products they produce • Formative assessment • You monitor the progress of the research on the countries and the presentations. You check the maps students create • Summative assessment • You evaluate the maps and score the quizzes/tests

10. Determining Functions & Purposes • Knowledge and understanding: • Who, what, and where • Logic and reasoning: • Why, why not, and how do you know • Skills and demonstration: • How and can you show me • Productivity and creativity: • How might you do this differently? • Outlooks and dispositions: • What is important, how you feel, how someone else might think or feel

11. Vary the Format • Selected responses • Multiple-choice, matching, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, checklists, timelne • Constructed essays • Written words, sentences, and paragraphs originating from the student’s memory • Demonstrated performances • Actions and presentations shown visually • Personal communications • Short oral answers, conversations, explanations

12. Advertisement, artifact replicas, animated stories • Blog, brochure, bulletin board • Collage, children’s books, constitution • Dance, database, debate, demonstration, diorama, drawings • Editorial, essays • Fashion show, fishbowl discussion • Games, graphic organizers • Historical portrayal of a person • Illustrated timeline, interview • Journal entry • K-W-L chart • Legislative hearing, letter, learning log • Maps, mobiles, mock trial, model, museum • Newscast • Obituary, oral history • Photographic essay, play, podcast, poem, political cartoon, poster • Questionnaire and results analysis, quilt • Role play • Simulation, slide show, song, speech, storyboard • Television program script, think-aloud, treaty • Unit summary with illustrations • Video documentary, virtual field trip • Web site, wikis, word wall • X-Rated Video (NO) • Yearbook or other documentary collection • Z to A or A to Z presentations (“We Didn’t Start the Fire”)