Transcript Document 7129792

SEMINAR
ON
ASSESSMENT
Practices for the Classroom
GOOD EDUCATION PRACTICES
1. Maximizes student/faculty contact.
2. Develops student cooperation.
3. Uses active learning techniques.
4. Gives feedback promptly.
5. Emphasizes time on task.
6. Communicates high expectations.
7. Respects learners’ diversity.
Principles of Learning
Learning requires the active participation of the
student.
People learn in a variety of ways and at different
rates.
Learning is both an individual and a group process.
Learning is most effective when students reflect on
the process of learning and set goals for
improvement.
What is Assessment?
The word ‘assess’ comes from the Latin
verb ‘assidere’ meaning ‘to sit with’.
In assessment one is supposed to sit with
the learner. This implies it is something we
do ‘with’ and ‘for’ students and not ‘to’
students (Green, 1999).
Why assess students?
• To gather evidence of student learning
• To inform instruction
• To motivate students and increase student
achievement
Assessment in education is the process of
gathering, interpreting, recording, and
using information about pupils’ responses
to an educational task. (Harlen, Gipps, Broadfoot, Nuttal,1992)
Values and Attitudes about Assessment
1.
2.
3.
4.
Teachers value and believe in students.
Sharing learning goals with the students.
Involving students in self-assessment.
Providing feedback that helps students
recognize their next steps and how to take
them.
5. Being confident that every student can
improve.
6. Providing students with examples of what we
expect from them.
3 types of Assessment
• Assessment FOR Learning
– Formative Assessment
– Informs students and teachers
• Assessment AS Learning
– Student’s Metacognition
• Assessment OF Learning
– Summative/Final/Official Assessment
– Evaluation of students by teachers
What Is Assessment for Learning?
Assessment for learning occurs throughout the learning process.
It is designed to make each student’s understanding visible, so that
teachers can decide what they can do to help students progress.
Students learn in individual and idiosyncratic ways, yet, at the same time,
there are predictable patterns of connections and preconceptions that
some students may experience as they move along the continuum from
emergent to proficient.
In assessment for learning, teachers use assessment as an investigative
tool to find out as much as they can about what their students know and
can do, and what confusions, preconceptions, or gaps they might have.
The wide variety of information that teachers collect about their students’
learning processes provides the basis for determining what they need to
do next to move student learning forward. It provides the basis for
providing descriptive feedback for students and deciding on groupings,
instructional strategies, and resources.
What Is Assessment as Learning?
Assessment as learning focusses on students and emphasizes assessment as a
process of metacognition (knowledge of one’s own thought processes) for
students.
Assessment as learning emerges from the idea that learning is not just a matter
of transferring ideas from someone who is knowledgeable to someone who is not,
but is an active process of cognitive restructuring that occurs when individuals
interact with new ideas.
Within this view of learning, students are the critical connectors between
assessment and learning. For students to be actively engaged in creating their
own understanding, they must learn to be critical assessors who make sense of
information, relate it to prior knowledge, and use it for new learning.
This is the regulatory process in metacognition; that is, students become adept at
personally monitoring what they are learning, and use what they discover from
the monitoring to make adjustments, adaptations, and even major changes in
their thinking.
What Is Assessment of Learning?
Assessment of learning refers to strategies designed to confirm what
students know, demonstrate whether or not they have met curriculum
outcomes or the goals of their individualized programs, or to certify
proficiency and make decisions about students’ future programs or
placements.
It is designed to provide evidence of achievement to parents, other
educators, the students themselves, and sometimes to outside groups
(e.g., employers, other educational institutions).
Assessment of learning is the assessment that becomes public and
results in statements or symbols about how well students are learning. It
often contributes to pivotal decisions that will affect students’ futures. It is
important, then, that the underlying logic and measurement of assessment
of learning be credible and defensible.
The Garden Analogy
If we think of our children as plants …
Summative assessment of the plants is the process of
simply measuring them. It might be interesting to
compare and analyze measurements but, in themselves,
these do not affect the growth of the plants.
Formative assessment, on the other hand, is the
equivalent of feeding and watering the plants appropriate
to their needs - directly affecting their growth.
Teachers, students and parents
Teachers, principals, supervisors,
are the primary users
program planners, and policy makers
are the primary users
During learning
After learning
Used to provide information on
what and how to improve
achievement
Used to certify student
competence
Used by teachers to identify
and respond to student needs
Used to rank and sort students
Purpose: improve learning
Purpose: document achievement of
standards
Primary motivator: belief that
success is achievable
Primary motivator: threat of
punishment, promise of reward
Continuous
Periodic
Examples: peer assessment,
using rubrics with students,
descriptive feedback
Examples: final exams, placement
tests, state assessments, unit tests
Factors Inhibiting Assessment
 A tendency for teachers to assess quantity and
presentation of work rather than quality of
learning.
 Greater attention given to marking and grading,
much of it tending to lower self esteem of
students, rather than providing advice for
improvement.
 A strong emphasis on comparing students with
each other, which demoralizes the less
successful learners.
Shifts in Assessment
From assessing to
learn what students
do not know
To assessing to
learn what students
understand
From using results to
calculate grades
To using results to
inform instruction
From end-of-term
assessments by
teachers
To students
engaged in ongoing
assessment of their
work and others
From judgmental
feedback that may
harm student
motivation
To descriptive
feedback that
empowers and
motivates students
Why these shifts in assessment?
A change in the mission of schools:
A shift from a focus on sorting and ranking
students to a focus on leaving no child behind.
A strong research base:
Evidence of the substantial impact on student
achievement
Self-Evaluation
Where would you place your assessment practice on the
following continuum?
The main focus is on:
Quantity of work/Presentation
Marking/Grading
Comparing students
Quality of learning
Advice for improvement
Identifying individual
progress
Implications for classroom practice
 Share learning goals with students.
 Involve students in self-assessment.
 Provide feedback that helps students recognize their next
steps and how to take them.
 Be confident that every student can improve.
Assessment AS Learning.
Develops students’:
• skills of metacognition
• critical thinking skills
• communication and interpersonal skills
Assessment n Evaluation
(various sources, but especially Dan Apple 1998)
Reflective: Internally
Defined Criteria/Goals
Diagnostic: Identify
Areas for Improvement
Flexible: Adjust As
Problems Are Clarified
Absolute: Strive for
Ideal Outcomes
Coöperative: Learn
from Each Other
Prescriptive:Externally Imposed Standards
Judgmental: Arrive at
an Overall Grade/Score
Fixed: To Reward
Success, Punish Failure
Comparative: Divide
Better from Worse
Competitive: Beat
Each Other Out
Summary of Differences
Dimension of Difference
Assessment
Evaluation
Timing
Formative
Summative
Focus of Measurement
Process-Oriented
Product-Oriented
Relationship Between
Administrator and Recipient
Reflective
Prescriptive
Findings, Uses Thereof
Diagnostic
Judgmental
Ongoing Modifiability of Criteria,
Measures Thereof
Flexible
Fixed
Standards of Measurement
Absolute
Comparative
Relation Between Objects of A/E
Coöperative
Competitive
Five Keys
to
Quality
Assessment
Identify
the
Purpose
Clarify
the
Targets
Where Am
I Going?
Use
Sound
Design
Provide
Effective
Feedback
Where Am
I Now?
Involve
Students
How Do I
Close the
Gap?
How to Answer the Three Guiding Questions
Seven Strategies of Formative Assessment
Where am I
going?
1. Provide a clear and understandable
version of the learning targets.
Where am I
now?
3. Offer regular descriptive feedback.
How can I close
the gap?
5. Design lessons to focus on one
aspect of quality at a time.
2. Use examples of strong and weak
work.
4. Teach students to self-assess and
set goals.
6. Teach students focused revision.
7. Engage students in self-reflection
and let them document and share
their learning.
GENERALIZATION:
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.
-
Promotion and Retention
The test of a good teacher is not how many questions
he can ask his pupils that they will answer readily, but
how many questions he inspires them to ask him which
he finds it hard to answer.
Alice Wellington Rollins