Assessments are here to stay.
We need to learn how to use them to the best of our abilities.
We need to learn how to use them to the best of our abilities.
Formative Assessment
Formative (Instructional) Assessment:
Formative assessment occurs during instruction and is carried out in from t of the class. It requires instantaneous decisions. Formative assessment focuses on collecting information to gauge current understanding. It also provides feedback to the student about how to improve work or deepen their understanding. Formative assessment is based on both formal questions and activities and informal student cues and responses.
Formative assessments can take many forms, but they all rely on information collected during the process of instruction. Formal information is collected throughout preplanned questioning and activities that are presented during instruction to help a teacher gauge students' current understanding. Informal information is used to modify instruction based on less direct evidence of student understanding and engagement such as attention, facial expression, posture, eagerness to participate in classroom discussions, and questions raised by students.
Formative (Instructional) Assessment:
Formative assessment occurs during instruction and is carried out in from t of the class. It requires instantaneous decisions. Formative assessment focuses on collecting information to gauge current understanding. It also provides feedback to the student about how to improve work or deepen their understanding. Formative assessment is based on both formal questions and activities and informal student cues and responses.
Formative assessments can take many forms, but they all rely on information collected during the process of instruction. Formal information is collected throughout preplanned questioning and activities that are presented during instruction to help a teacher gauge students' current understanding. Informal information is used to modify instruction based on less direct evidence of student understanding and engagement such as attention, facial expression, posture, eagerness to participate in classroom discussions, and questions raised by students.
What teachers do in the course of formative/instructional assessment
Informal assessment tasks during instruction:
Teachers carry on two tasks:
(1) they initiate the instructional activities that they have planned
(2) they assess the progress and success of these instructional activities in order to modify them if necessary.
During instruction, teachers collect informal assessment data to help monitor factors such as the following:
All these different modes of monitoring are a complicated task. Since instruction, assessment and modification are all simultaneous it makes monitoring difficult. It is easy to tell when things are not running as planned. Students are daydreaming, impatient, fidgeting, blank stares and body language. When the teacher is presenting a good lesson students are actively engaged and are eager to answer questions and be involved.
Level of Tolerance and Practical Knowledge
Assessing abnormal and normal behavior:
Teachers establish a level of tolerance that indicates what is normal student or class behavior. These levels differ from class to class and teacher to teacher. Part of the process of "reading" the class during instruction involves knowing when the class or some students are exhibiting out-of-tolerance behaviors that call for a teacher response. For example, if a student that us usually calm and collected is easily frustrated and turning in sloppy work you know this is not normal behavior. Also, it could be that students are at the frustration level and are turning in bad work. A way to handle this would be to reteach or come up with better ways to explain the concept.
Practical Knowledge:
Teachers have little time to reflect on the information they gather during instruction. Because of this they must make decisions and act on the basis of incomplete and uncertain evidence. The following are issues related to the quality of informal observations and collected information.
Validity of informal assessments - This relates to the accuracy of the inferences teachers make based on informal observations about students' interest levels, their current understanding, the pace of instruction, and the appropriateness of the decisions teachers make about their instruction. A threat to validity is the incompleteness of the evidence used to make decisions about instruction and student learning.
Objectivity of the teacher as an observer - Since a teacher is part of the instructional process, it makes it difficult for the teacher to be an objective, detached observer. Teachers have a strong personal and professional investment in the student. Sometimes teachers see only what they want to see to help feel as if they are rewarding themselves. Making excuses for students by saying an objective is too hard for my students is another way to sweep issues under the rug.
Incompleteness of informal indicators - Informal indicators are things a teacher can tell right away, reactions from students, facial expression, posture, participation, questions, and attention. It is also important to sample broadly from this group.
Problems that affect instructional reliability-This is the concern that the stability or consistency of the assessment data that are collected. Each time the teacher assesses the collection data changes and the teacher learns something new so the assessment is modified.
Formal Formative Assessment Activities
Good teachers can sense the success or failure of their instruction just as a skillful actor can sense the reaction of an audience. Great teachers will always be those who develop a feel for how things are going in the classroom, moment by moment. Teachers should supplement their informal assessments of instruction with formal feedback such as homework, worksheets and lesson reviews.
Effective questioning:
Teachers may ask up to 400 questions per day. Questions are often short and constructed during teaching to gauge a child's learning. Sometimes responses serve as a spring board for new questions. Effective questioning also has "wait time". Wait time is the amount of time you allot for a student response. It is also important to call on a variety of students, instead of the habitual hand raisers. Here is a list of purposes for asking questions.
Higher level divergent and convergent questioning - Bloom's Cognitive Taxonomy:
Divergent questions may have several appropriate answers, whereas convergent questions have a single correct answer. Possible types of questions:
Summative Assessment
Summative assessments are what we obtain as a result of instruction. These would include end of chapter tests, projects, term papers, final exams.
Logic of summatives:
Good teaching refers to what teachers do during instruction, while effective teaching refers to the outcomes of instruction. Effective teaching focuses on whether the student actually learn from instruction.
Planning a summative:
At the time of testing a teacher must decide the following:
Teachers can use a Table of Specifications to help them with content and process. A table of specifications helps construct the main topic of assessment by using the six categories of Bloom's Taxonomy.
Planning a test:
Factors that go into a formal summative might include
Preparation:
Fair and valid assessment involves preparing appropriate objectives, providing good instruction on these objectives, and determining how these objectives are assessed. There is an important difference between teaching to the test and teaching the test itself. Teaching to the test involves teaching general skills, knowledge and processes that they need to master in order to answer questions effectively. Teaching the test forces students to answer specific questions as they would appear on the test. This causes distorted invalid information.
Make sure students review before testing, provide good instruction, ensure familiarity with question formats and give students some information about the test.
Performance Assessments
Performance assessment is a general term used to describe assessments that require students to demonstrate skill and knowledge by producing a formal product. Teachers use performance assessments for many purposes: grading students, constructing portfolios of student work, diagnosing student learning, helping students recognize the important steps in a performance or product. Here are four types of performance assessments:
Performance-Oriented Subjects:
There is a growing emphasis on using performance assessment to determine students' understanding of the concepts they are taught and to measure their ability to apply procedural knowledge. If students grasp a concept a process or process, they should be able to explain and use it to solve real-life problems. Along with measuring cognitive goals, performance assessments are used to assess students' feelings, values, attitudes and emotions. Examples would be checking "satisfactory" on the report under the "works hard" or "works well with others".
Early childhood and special needs students:
Performance assessments are heavily used in this category. Because early childhood students are limited in communication skills and are in the process of being socialized into school culture much assessment is obtained by observation. Here are a few areas that are observed:
Key points in developing performance assessments:
Developing Observable Performance Criteria:
The value of performance assessments depend on the identifying criteria that is observed and judged. It's important this information be clear in the teacher's mind and that the students be taught the criteria. Here are some useful guidlines:
Anecdotal Records, Checklists, and rating scales
Anecdotal Records:
Written accounts of significant, individual student events and behaviors the teacher has observed. Anecdotal records are the most detailed and time consuming. This states events factually and includes strengths and weaknesses of a student performance. These do not include judgment or recommendations to help improve behavior. That is intended to be reviewed at a later time.
Checklist:
This is a written list of performance criteria. As a performance is observed, the scorer determines whether the performance or the product meets each criteria. Checklists are diagnostic, reusable, and capable of charting progress.
Rating Scales:
Similar to checklists rating scales allow an observer to judge a performance along a continuum. There are three types of rating scales:
Teachers carry on two tasks:
(1) they initiate the instructional activities that they have planned
(2) they assess the progress and success of these instructional activities in order to modify them if necessary.
During instruction, teachers collect informal assessment data to help monitor factors such as the following:
- Interest level of individual students and the class as a whole
- apparent or potential behavior problems
- appropriateness of the instructional technique or activity being used
- which student to call on next
- students who become off task
- adequacy of students' answers
- pace of instruction
- confusion or misconceptions students may be developing
- suitability of examples used to explain concepts
- degree of comprehension on the part of individual students and the class as a whole
- desirability of starting or ending a particular activity
All these different modes of monitoring are a complicated task. Since instruction, assessment and modification are all simultaneous it makes monitoring difficult. It is easy to tell when things are not running as planned. Students are daydreaming, impatient, fidgeting, blank stares and body language. When the teacher is presenting a good lesson students are actively engaged and are eager to answer questions and be involved.
Level of Tolerance and Practical Knowledge
Assessing abnormal and normal behavior:
Teachers establish a level of tolerance that indicates what is normal student or class behavior. These levels differ from class to class and teacher to teacher. Part of the process of "reading" the class during instruction involves knowing when the class or some students are exhibiting out-of-tolerance behaviors that call for a teacher response. For example, if a student that us usually calm and collected is easily frustrated and turning in sloppy work you know this is not normal behavior. Also, it could be that students are at the frustration level and are turning in bad work. A way to handle this would be to reteach or come up with better ways to explain the concept.
Practical Knowledge:
Teachers have little time to reflect on the information they gather during instruction. Because of this they must make decisions and act on the basis of incomplete and uncertain evidence. The following are issues related to the quality of informal observations and collected information.
Validity of informal assessments - This relates to the accuracy of the inferences teachers make based on informal observations about students' interest levels, their current understanding, the pace of instruction, and the appropriateness of the decisions teachers make about their instruction. A threat to validity is the incompleteness of the evidence used to make decisions about instruction and student learning.
Objectivity of the teacher as an observer - Since a teacher is part of the instructional process, it makes it difficult for the teacher to be an objective, detached observer. Teachers have a strong personal and professional investment in the student. Sometimes teachers see only what they want to see to help feel as if they are rewarding themselves. Making excuses for students by saying an objective is too hard for my students is another way to sweep issues under the rug.
Incompleteness of informal indicators - Informal indicators are things a teacher can tell right away, reactions from students, facial expression, posture, participation, questions, and attention. It is also important to sample broadly from this group.
Problems that affect instructional reliability-This is the concern that the stability or consistency of the assessment data that are collected. Each time the teacher assesses the collection data changes and the teacher learns something new so the assessment is modified.
Formal Formative Assessment Activities
Good teachers can sense the success or failure of their instruction just as a skillful actor can sense the reaction of an audience. Great teachers will always be those who develop a feel for how things are going in the classroom, moment by moment. Teachers should supplement their informal assessments of instruction with formal feedback such as homework, worksheets and lesson reviews.
Effective questioning:
Teachers may ask up to 400 questions per day. Questions are often short and constructed during teaching to gauge a child's learning. Sometimes responses serve as a spring board for new questions. Effective questioning also has "wait time". Wait time is the amount of time you allot for a student response. It is also important to call on a variety of students, instead of the habitual hand raisers. Here is a list of purposes for asking questions.
- To promote attention
- To promote deeper processing
- To promote learning from peers
- To promote reinforcement
- To provide pace and control
- To provide diagnostic information
Higher level divergent and convergent questioning - Bloom's Cognitive Taxonomy:
Divergent questions may have several appropriate answers, whereas convergent questions have a single correct answer. Possible types of questions:
- Open-ended questions
- Diagnostic questions
- Information questions
- Challenge questions
- Action questions
- Sequence questions
- Prediction questions
- Extension questions
- Generalization questions
- Probe responses for follow up questions
- Allow appropriate wait time
- Avoid yes or no responses
- Recognize good questions involve good listening and responses
Summative Assessment
Summative assessments are what we obtain as a result of instruction. These would include end of chapter tests, projects, term papers, final exams.
Logic of summatives:
Good teaching refers to what teachers do during instruction, while effective teaching refers to the outcomes of instruction. Effective teaching focuses on whether the student actually learn from instruction.
Planning a summative:
At the time of testing a teacher must decide the following:
- What should I test?
- What type of assessment items or tasks should be given?
- How long should the test take?
- Should a teacher-made test or textbook assessment be used?
Teachers can use a Table of Specifications to help them with content and process. A table of specifications helps construct the main topic of assessment by using the six categories of Bloom's Taxonomy.
Planning a test:
Factors that go into a formal summative might include
- What should I test
- what type of assessment items or tasks should be given - essays, multiple choice, fill in the blank, etc.
- How long should the test take
- Should it be teacher made or textbook test
Preparation:
Fair and valid assessment involves preparing appropriate objectives, providing good instruction on these objectives, and determining how these objectives are assessed. There is an important difference between teaching to the test and teaching the test itself. Teaching to the test involves teaching general skills, knowledge and processes that they need to master in order to answer questions effectively. Teaching the test forces students to answer specific questions as they would appear on the test. This causes distorted invalid information.
Make sure students review before testing, provide good instruction, ensure familiarity with question formats and give students some information about the test.
Performance Assessments
Performance assessment is a general term used to describe assessments that require students to demonstrate skill and knowledge by producing a formal product. Teachers use performance assessments for many purposes: grading students, constructing portfolios of student work, diagnosing student learning, helping students recognize the important steps in a performance or product. Here are four types of performance assessments:
- Selection - multiple choice, true-false, matching
- Supply - Completion, label a diagram, short answer, concept map
- Product - essay or short story, research report, writing portfolio
- Performance - musical or dance, science lab demo, athletic competition, competitions
Performance-Oriented Subjects:
There is a growing emphasis on using performance assessment to determine students' understanding of the concepts they are taught and to measure their ability to apply procedural knowledge. If students grasp a concept a process or process, they should be able to explain and use it to solve real-life problems. Along with measuring cognitive goals, performance assessments are used to assess students' feelings, values, attitudes and emotions. Examples would be checking "satisfactory" on the report under the "works hard" or "works well with others".
Early childhood and special needs students:
Performance assessments are heavily used in this category. Because early childhood students are limited in communication skills and are in the process of being socialized into school culture much assessment is obtained by observation. Here are a few areas that are observed:
- Gross motor skills - walk, throw a ball, jump, skip
- Fine motor skills - hold a pencil, cut with scissors, trace objects, color inside the lines, legible penmanship
- Verbal and auditory acuity - identify sounds, tune out distractions, discriminate between words that sound similar "fix" and "fish"
- Visual development - letter recognition, numbers, shapes, differentiate objects by sorting
- Social acclimation - listen to teacher, follow a time schedule, share, wait one's turn, respect others
Key points in developing performance assessments:
- Have a clear purpose that identifies the decision to be made based on the assessment.
- Identify observable aspects of the student's performance or product that can be judged.
- Provide an appropriate setting for eliciting and judging the performance or product.
- Provide a judgment or score to describe performance
Developing Observable Performance Criteria:
The value of performance assessments depend on the identifying criteria that is observed and judged. It's important this information be clear in the teacher's mind and that the students be taught the criteria. Here are some useful guidlines:
- Select the performance or product to be assessed and either perform it yourself or imagine yourself performing it.
- List the important aspects of the performance or product
- Try to limit the number of performance criteria, so they all can be observed during a student's performance
- If possible, have groups of teachers think through the important criteria included in a task
- Express the performance criteria in terms of observable student behaviors or product characteristics
- Do not use ambiguous words that cloud the meaning of the performance criteria
- Arrange the performance criteria in the order in which they are likely to be observed
- Check for existing performance criteria before defining your own
Anecdotal Records, Checklists, and rating scales
Anecdotal Records:
Written accounts of significant, individual student events and behaviors the teacher has observed. Anecdotal records are the most detailed and time consuming. This states events factually and includes strengths and weaknesses of a student performance. These do not include judgment or recommendations to help improve behavior. That is intended to be reviewed at a later time.
Checklist:
This is a written list of performance criteria. As a performance is observed, the scorer determines whether the performance or the product meets each criteria. Checklists are diagnostic, reusable, and capable of charting progress.
Rating Scales:
Similar to checklists rating scales allow an observer to judge a performance along a continuum. There are three types of rating scales:
- Numerical rating scale
- Graphic rating scale
- Descriptive rating scale