Transcript Assessing Grade Level Rigor

Assessing Academic Rigor to
Ensure Grade-Level Proficiency
September 29, 2009
Moderator: Diana Rogers, Regional Coordinator
Presenter: Cindy Wheeler, HSTW/MMGW Coach
School Improvement Webinar Series www.acteonline.org/multimedia.aspx
Your moderator and presenter
Diana Rogers


9 years HSTW/MMGW
Regional Coordinator/Coach
30 years educational
consultant
Cindy Wheeler



5 years HSTW/MMGW Coach
30 years educator/administrator
State Praxis III Evaluator
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Webinar Outcomes

Describe what is meant by academic rigor

Understand the gaps in state standards and students
meeting proficiency on high stake tests.
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Demonstrate how to use the Revised Bloom’s
Taxonomy (RBT)
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Describe a few collaborative processes for analyzing
student assignments, assessments and student work
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Explain classroom and school-wide practices that
increase academic rigor
Poll: What is academic rigor?
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a) Additional homework assignments
b) Increasing honors, gifted and AP courses
c) Difficult content
d) Grading policies that narrow the range for an A from
90-100 to 93-100
e) All of the above
f) None of the above
Academic rigor is…
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…the expectation that students will be able
to perform at levels of cognitive complexity
necessary for proficiency at each grade
level, and readiness for college and the
workplace.
Why do we need to improve rigor?
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Grade inflation in classrooms
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Widening gaps between assignments,
assessments and standards in schools
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Proficiency gaps between states on high
stake tests
How do states assess academic rigor?
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Results of high-stakes tests provide little help
in understanding current levels of rigor
experienced by students.
What are the gaps in state standards?
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Most state standards fall below the
“proficient” standard, and many are below
the “basic” standard as measured by
NAEP.
NAEP score equivalents of states’ proficiency standards for
reading, grade 8:
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for
Education Statistics, June 2007.
NAEP score equivalents of states’ proficiency standards for
mathematics, grade 8:
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for
Source: National
Center
for2007.
Education Statistics (2007, June).
Education
Statistics,
June
What are states doing?
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School leaders are correct in looking to rigor
to improve learning and performance on
state tests.
How do we begin to look at increasing
academic rigor?
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
Increasing the complexity of thinking.
Move students beyond simple recall to think
using more challenging cognitive processes.
Applying
Analyzing
Evaluating
Creating
Revised Blooms Taxonomy (RBT)
Cognitive Process Dimension
Basic
Knowledge
Dimension
Proficient
Advanced
1.
Remember
2.
Understand
3.
Apply
4.
Analyze
5.
Evaluate
6.
Create
A. Factual
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
B. Conceptual
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
C. Procedural
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
D. Metacognitive
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
Here’s a Geometry Standard
Analyze the characteristics and properties of
two- and three-dimensional geometric
shapes.
Source: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Standard: Where does it go on the RBT?
GEOMETRY Analyze characteristics and properties of
two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes (B4).
Cognitive Process Dimension
Basic
Proficient
Advanced
Knowledge
Dimension
1.
Remember
2.
Understand
3.
Apply
4.
Analyze
5.
Evaluate
6.
Create
A. Factual
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
B. Conceptual
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
C. Procedural
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
D. Metacognitive
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
Here’s one student Assignment for
the Geometry Standard
Students will identify three-dimensional
shapes.
Assignment: Where does it go on the RBT?
GEOMETRY Students will identify three-dimensional
shapes (B2).
Cognitive Process Dimension
Basic
2.
Understand
Proficient
Advanced
3.
Apply
4.
Analyze
5.
Evaluate
6.
Create
Knowledge
Dimension
1.
Remember
A. Factual
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
B. Conceptual
B1
B2
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
C. Procedural
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
D. Metacognitive
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
Here’s a summative student Assessment
for the Geometry Standard
Calculate the area of the given two- dimensional
geometric shapes.
Assessment: Where does it go on the RBT?
GEOMETRY Calculate the area of the given twodimensional geometric shapes (C3) .
Cognitive Process Dimension
Basic
Proficient
Advanced
Knowledge
Dimension
1.
Remember
2.
Understand
3.
Apply
4.
Analyze
5.
Evaluate
6.
Create
A. Factual
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
B. Conceptual
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
C. Procedural
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
D. Metacognitive
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
Lack of Alignment
Cognitive Process Dimension
Basic
Knowledge
Dimension
1.
Remember
Proficient
2.
Understand
3.
Apply
Advanced
4.
Analyze
A.
Factual
B.
Conceptual
C.
Procedural
D.
Metacognitiv
e
Assignment
Standard
B2
B4
Assessment
C3
C3
5.
Evaluate
6.
Create
Poll:
Have you used any of these collaborative processes
for examining student assignments, assessments and
student work using the RBT?
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a) Critical Friends Groups (CFG)
b) Professional Learning Communities (PLC)
c) Work Faculty Study Groups (WFSG)
d) Not at this time
What collaborative processes do high
performing sites use with the RBT?
 Critical Friends Groups (CFG)
 Professional Learning Communities (PLC)
 Work Faculty Study Groups (WFSG)
How would a school begin…
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First, provide teachers with training and practice in
using the RBT.
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Second, monitor the use of the RBT to align the
curriculum to the standards at each grade level.
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Third, adopt school-wide practices to increase
academic rigor and monitor the implementation K-12.
School-wide practices to increase
academic rigor:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Assessment in the Classroom
Collaboration
Coursetaking Patterns
Curriculum Coherence
Expectations for Student Work
Grading Practices
Instructional Strategies
Student Support
Resources available
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Book:
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A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing,
(2001) Anderson & Krathwohl
Websites:
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National School Reform Faculty (Critical Friends)
www.nsrfharmony.org
Southern Regional Education Board www.sreb.org
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
To ask about the content,
type a question in the Q&A
panel and send to All
Panelists.
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addressed at this time
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be sent to you after the
webinar.
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Question

How can I find out about professional
development opportunities on Critical
Friends or other protocols for examining
student assignments, assessments and
student work?
Question

Are there any rubrics or tools for assessing
the school-wide practice mentioned during
the webinar?
More Q & A
 Questions and responses
Contact Us
If you have questions or would like to learn more
about assessing academic rigor, please contact us:
Diana Rogers, Moderator
 [email protected]
Cindy Wheeler, Presenter
 [email protected]
Next webinar in the series
Developing Effective Leadership Teams

Don Washburn, HSTW/MMGW Coach

October 20, 2009 from 11:30 – 12:30 ET
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