AssessmentAssessmentExamining its Impact on Student

Learning

ASDW Aug. 28, 2012

Ray WilliamsRay Williams

1972 – 1986 Teacher – Secondary Math, Science, Physics

1986 – 1995 Vice Principal, SSHS

1995 – 2000 Principal, SSHS

2000 – 2012 Associate Professor Education, STU

2005 – 2012 Graduate Course Instructor - Shared Leadership

- Professional Learning Community - Assessment as an Instructional

Practice

2005 – 2012 Research on PLCs, Student Achievement

PurposePurposeEncourage reflection on assessment practices

Update participants on current research on assessment

Discuss types of assessment

Examine various assessment practices

Set the stage for school projects on assessment

Help prepare schools to develop assessment policies

Mission, Vision, & GoalsMission, Vision, & Goals MISSION STATEMENT: To encourage the development of accountable and confident critical thinkers and life-long learners

VISION: To promote a safe, caring environment that enhances student success and individual needs.

MISSION STATEMENT: Provide dynamic teaching that empowers, inspires and challenges all students in a safe and respectful learning environment

GOALS: - Use Professional Learning Community initiatives

to improve instructional practices and academic results

- To increase student achievement levels- Develop a community of learners

Four Types of Assessment

Summative Assessment – “of learning”  Final grades of tests, exams, projects.

Used to generate report card grades . Embedded Formative Assessment – “for learning in class”  Day to day measures (homework, exit slips, quizzes, portfolio entries, embedded measures).

Used to monitor and support daily progress . Common Formative Assessment – “for learning across classes”

Monthly measures conducted by teams of teachers.

Used to monitor outcome achievement and to improve teacher instructional techniques.  Instructional Assessment – “as learning”

Instructional use of self assessment, peer assessment, student generated assessments.

Used to enhance student meta-learning and motivation.

Assessment and Motivation

MOST students view high grades as positive recognition of their success, and SOME work hard to avoid the consequences of low grades – Haladyna, 1999.

NO research supports the idea that low grades prompt students to try harder. More often they prompt students to withdraw from learning and make students feel helpless. Selby & Murphy, 1992.

Students are motivated when tasks are well-defined and achievable, when assessment is clear and based on classroom activities, and when evaluation strategies reflect a variety of ways for students to show what they have learned. Williams, 2011

What Are We Measuring

There are three common aspects that teachers measure:

1.Product – what students know and are able to do at a point in time. This is closely tied to learning outcomes.

2.Process – how students get to their current level of performance.

This includes effort, work habits, and responsibility.

3.Progress – how much students improve. This is referred to as value-added learning,

educational growth, learning gains, or improvement

Each communicates something valuable but very different!

Each can be assessed but they must be reported separately!

Measuring Your Physical Condition

Height: ________

Weight: ________

Number of workouts per week: __________

Average hours of sleep per night: ___________

Total: ________

Every day teachers combine aspects of students achievement, attitude, responsibility, effort, and behaviour into a single grade that’s recorded on a report card – and no one questions it.

In determining students’ grades teachers typically merge scores from major exams, compositions, quizzes, projects and reports, along with evidence from homework,, punctuality in turning in assignments, class participation, work habits, and effort.

The result is a ‘hodgepodge grade’ that is confounded and impossible to interpret. It holds little more meaning than your ‘Physical Condition’ score.

The ‘Physical Condition’ of Your Assessment Practices

Classifying Assessment Measures

Product Process Progress

Other Common Assessment Strategies

Incompletes –

Zeros –

Redos –

Group work grades -