Transcript Using Assessment to Inform Instruction

Using Assessment to
Inform Instruction
Dominie Training
Laurens 55
May 29, 2008
Patti Hunnicutt
Is it informative assessment?
Formative assessment, on the other hand,
delivers information during the instructional
process, before the summative assessment. Both
the teacher and the student use formative
assessment results to make decisions about what
actions to take to promote further learning. It is
an ongoing, dynamic process that involves far
more than frequent testing, and measurement of
student learning is just one of its components.
Language Arts December 2007 Vol 65
Why Dominie?
“Assessment must serve the learner. This
is of the utmost importance. Assessment
must promote learning, not just measure
it. That is, when learners are well served,
assessment becomes a part of the
learning experience that supports and
improves instruction. The learners are
not just the students, but also the
teachers, who learn something about
their students.”
Conversations Regie Routman p. 559
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What to teach…
What is appropriate to teach…
How students’ learn…
How to engage students in effective
learning…
How to connect what students know, to
what they need to know to be more
effective readers and writers…
Teacher Knowledge
Using data from a lengthy study of first- and
fourth grade teachers in six states, Mr.
Allington concludes that enhanced reading
proficiency rests largely on the capacity of
classroom teachers to provide expert,
exemplary reading instruction — instruction
that cannot be packaged or regurgitated from
a common script because it is responsive to
children's needs.
What I've Learned About Effective Reading Instruction from a
Decade of Studying Exemplary Elementary Classroom
Teachers
By Richard L. Allington
A series of studies have confirmed what was
probably obvious from the beginning. Good
teachers, effective teachers, matter much
more than particular curriculum materials,
pedagogical approaches, or "proven
programs.” It has become clearer that
investing in good teaching — whether
through making sound hiring decisions or
planning effective professional development
— is the most "research-based" strategy
available. If we truly hope to attain the goal
of "no child left behind," we must focus on
creating a substantially larger number of
effective, expert teachers.
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These teachers maintained a "reading and
writing versus stuff" ratio that was far better
balanced than is typically found in elementary
classrooms. In other words, these teachers
routinely had children actually reading and
writing for as much as half of the school day —
around a 50/50 ratio of reading and writing to
stuff (stuff is all the other things teachers have
children do instead of reading and writing). In
typical classrooms it is not unusual to find that
children read and write for as little as 10% of the
day(30 minutes of reading and writing activity in
a 300-minute— five-hour — school day).
Time
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The exemplary elementary teachers we
studied recognized this critical aspect of
instructional planning. Their students did
more guided reading, more independent
reading, more social studies and science
reading than students in less effective
classrooms. But the teachers' instructional
planning involved much more than simply
allocating lots of time for reading and
writing.
If children are to read a lot throughout the
school day, they will need a rich supply of
books they can actually read. This seems a
simple statement of fact. But there also
exists a large and potent research base that
supports supplying children with books of
appropriate complexity.
In the classrooms of exemplary teachers,
lower-achieving students spent their days
with books they could successfully read. This
has not typically been the case in less
effective classrooms.
Text
The exemplary teachers in our study
routinely gave direct, explicit demonstrations
of the cognitive strategies that good readers
use when they read. In other words, they
modeled the thinking that skilled readers
engage in as they attempt to decode a word,
self-monitor for understanding, summarize
while reading, or edit when composing. The
"watch me" or "let me demonstrate" stance
they took seems quite different from the
"assign and assess" stance that dominates in
less effective classrooms.
Teaching
We observed the exemplary teachers
fostering much more student talk —
teacher/student and student/student —
than has previously been reported. In
other words, these exemplary teachers
encouraged, modeled, and supported lots
of talk across the school day. This talk
was purposeful talk, though, not simply
chatter. It was problem-posing, problemsolving talk related to curricular topics.
Talk
The classroom talk we observed was more
often conversational than
interrogational. Teachers and students
discussed ideas, concepts, hypotheses,
strategies, and responses with one another.
Teachers posed more "open" questions, to
which multiple responses would be
appropriate.
Question 1: How was Ruby Bridges like
the other freedom heroes mentioned in
the timeline?
Question 2: So, what other story have we
read that had an ending like this one?
Question 3. Has anyone had a problem
with a pet like the boy in the story?
Examples of questions
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Another characteristic of these exemplary teachers'
classrooms was greater use of longer assignments
and less emphasis on filling the day with multiple,
shorter tasks. In these classrooms students often
worked on a writing task for 10 days or more. They
read whole books, completed individual and smallgroup research projects, and worked on tasks that
integrated several content areas (reading, writing,
and social studies). The work the children in these
classrooms completed was more substantive and
challenging and required more self-regulation than
the work that has commonly been observed in
elementary classrooms.
Tasks
The exemplary teachers often used a
rubric-based evaluation scheme to assign
grades. Improvement was noted based on
where students started and where they
ended up, rather than on the latter alone.
 We observed almost no test-preparation
activity in these classrooms. Instead,
these teachers believed that good
instruction would lead to enhanced test
performance.
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Testing
In order to think about using assessment
to inform instruction , we must think
about our expectations for teachers and
teaching.
 Our study of these exemplary teachers
suggests that such teaching cannot be
packaged. Exemplary teaching is not
regurgitation of a common script but is
responsive to children's needs.
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Summary
What is your primary
responsibility as a coach?
Are we creating classrooms in
which every year every teacher
becomes more expert?
The Question
How do we work toward
improving instruction?
Being aware of what good teaching looks like
and sounds like.
 Giving explicit feedback.
 Providing relevant ongoing staff
 development.
 Giving explicit feedback.
 Providing teachers with time to talk and
reflect with colleagues.
 Giving explicit feedback.
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Formal assessment
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Informal assessment
Ways of Knowing
PACT
MAP
Test
Quiz
Written exam
Oral exam
Performance assessment task
Project
Portfolio
Formal Assessments
Observation (“kid-watching”)
Questioning
Learning log
Reviewing student work
Interview/conference with learner
Informal Assessment
Modify the Instructional
Plan/Implementation
Plan and Implement
Continuous
Assessment
Evaluate and inform
using Protocols
Informal and
Formal
Assessment
EMERGENT
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Inconsistently use early strategies:
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Read easy patterned text with picture support with
fluency
Practice skills acquired on easy materials
Link known initial and final sound symbols to new
words
Get "mouth ready" for an unknown word
Have limited sight vocabularies
Retell text with simple/interchangeable storyline
Respond to text at a literal level
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◦ one-on-one matching
◦ Monitoring (repeating; self-correcting)
◦ cross-checking
The Reading Process
EARLY/DEVELOPING
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Search for and use cues with increasing
independence
Self-monitor and self-correct when prompted
Read familiar text fluently
Lack stamina needed for chapter books/novels
Read longer text with smaller print
Read with good phrasing and expression
Hear/use some medial sounds to identify new
words
Identify "chunks" and analyze longer words on their
own or with support
Increase sight vocabulary
Retell text with story structure to capture story
elements
Respond to reading content with inconsistent
comprehension
FLUENT
 Use cues flexibly and effectively
 Integrate use of cues/strategies
 Self-monitor
 Problem-solve independently
 Read smoothly using appropriate speeds
 Able to scan ahead/predict
 Transfer known information to unknown words
independently
 Able to visually analyze words in text "on the run"
 Have control of multi-syllable words
 Read longer books with more complex written style
 Have an extensive sight vocabulary
 Retell complex storyline to include plot and some
detail
 Respond to a variety of reading genre with
comprehension
Emergent Readers and Writers
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Usually kindergarten or beginning of 1st
grade
Learning about purposes of reading and
writing
Understanding concepts of words and letters
Learning one to one matching
Using known words to learn new words
Dominie Reading Categories
Early Readers and Writers
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End of kindergarten beginning of 1st grade
Beginning to establish foundational concepts
about written language
Using what they know to begin strategic
problem solving
Voice and print matching and concepts of
directionality
Visual searches for info in print
Developing Readers and Writers
Middle of first grade
 Gained strategic control
 Refining problem solving abilities
 When reading familiar text they exhibit
phrasing and fluent reading tendencies
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Self-Extending Readers and Writers
 Second and third grade students
 Established a wide range of strategies
 Tend to read with greater accuracy
 Developing deeper levels of comprehension
 More able to discuss what they have read
 Need to learn to be more flexible and have a
range of strategies for attacking new words
 Are more comfortable with silent reading and
read for longer periods of time
Independent Readers and Writers
Usually fourth grade and beyond
Engage in independent exploration
Must become effective and analytical about
what they read and write
 Encountering a greater range of vocabulary
when reading different genres
 Need to gain in fluency and flexibility
reading both fiction and non fiction text
 Constructing meaning through independent,
small group and large group experiences
with reading and writing
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Marie Clay defines reading as:
I define reading as a message-getting,
problem-solving activity which increases
in power and flexibility the more it is
practiced. My definition states that within
the directional constraints of the printer’s
code, language and visual perception
responses are purposefully directed by the
reader in some integrated way to the
problem of extracting meaning from cues
in a text, in sequence, so that the reader
brings a maximum of understanding to
the author’s message.
What is Reading?
We ask questions all the time as we read and our
theories of what might occur work so well that we
are scarcely aware that they exist. We only
become aware of our questioning when our
answers fail to match the information before us.
Asking questions is a means of eliminating
alternatives. We can encourage children to ask
themselves questions and develop their strategies
for improving predictions. All this applies to
reading and writing. We must read by asking and
answering questions if we are to understand what
we are reading.
Marie Clay
Becoming Literate, page 6
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Meaning cues are the sources of
information which a reader uses to make
sense of a text.
Meaning is the most important part of
reading.
It is the interaction between reader and
text.
Prior knowledge
Story sense
Illustrations
Meaning Cues
 Structure
cues are the
sources of grammatical
information which allow the
child to construct sentences
and predict how will sentence
will unfold.
 Natural language
 Knowledge of English
Structure Cues
 Visual
cues are the attention
to print details, directionality,
letter/sound relationships,
punctuation marks, word
configuration, print size, and
other concepts of print.
Visual Cues
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Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Vocabulary
Fluency
Comprehension
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What else is involved in the reading
process?
What about the Essential Five
Components?
Hints for beginning
Text Reading Levels
After scoring the Sentence Writing and Spelling
record the stanines for the phonemes and the
spelling
Average the two stanines
Stanines 1, 2 or 3 begin with a benchmark or
bridging book that is one or two levels below
the child’s grade level
Stanine 4, 5 or 6 begin with a benchmark or
bridging book that is on the grade level
Stanine 7, 8 or 9 begin with a benchmark or
bridging book that is a level or two above their
grade level.
Effective assessment must be a
continuous process.
 It must provide teachers with data that
can be used to enhance learning
opportunities.
 Assessment is more than the traditional
test; it is more a process of reaction,
refection, and redirection.
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Summary of Assessment
Assessment provides opportunities for
students to assume a sense of
responsibility for their own learning.
When actively engaged in the assessment
process, students become less teacher
dependent and more independent.
 Assessment respects the child and
preserves and enhances his or her selfesteem.
 Assessment should be used to improve
instruction and gauge progress; it does
Summary
of Assessment
not simply assign
numerical scores to
reading achievement.
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Assessment provides opportunities for
teachers and students to work toward
common curricular goals, both short-term
and long-term.
 It is important to consider assessment as
a positive feature of literacy learning.
 Assessment is a cooperative activity
between teachers and students. It is not
something done to students, but rather an
activity done with students.
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Summary of Assessment
In general, when the child is hard to accelerate he is
finding some part or parts of the reading process
difficult. Oftentimes he has learned to do something,
which is interfering with his progress, and he may
have learned it from the way you have been teaching.
(Teaching Struggling Readers, Lyons quoting
Guidebook, Clay, pg. 57)
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Observe the idiosyncratic way the child
interacts while reading and writing;
Describe the child’s reading and writing
strengths behaviorally and specifically;\
Analyze the behaviors in relation to the
entire complex processing system needed
to read and write;
Think about problem behaviors in relation
to cognitive and emotional development;
Determine when problem behaviors occur
and how often they are repeated
throughout the lesson;
Observation
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Think about what the teacher does or
does not do in response to the child’s
affective and cognitive processing;
 Think about what the child does in
response to the teacher’s actions and
verbal non-verbal responses;
 Decide which affective behaviors to
address an/or prevent;
 Prioritize actions and responses and
determine what needs to be done first;
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Observation
Decide under what circumstances, when,
and how to intervene;
 Determine the affective and cognitive
behavioral indicators to watch for to
suggest children are gaining control and
becoming self-regulated;
 Record on the lesson record what children
do and say in response to the teacher’s
actions.
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From: Teaching Struggling Readers, Lyons. Pg. 97
Observation