EVALUATE – Assessing Student Learning (connects primarily with Rubric 8 in Assessment)Purpose: To assess student achievement, diagnose student learning strengths and needs, and inform instruction. Provide evidence of your ability to 1) develop evaluation criteria aligned with your main idea, standards, and learning objectives; 2) analyze student performance on an assessment in relation to student needs and the learning objectives; 3) provide feedback to students; and 4) use the analysis to identify next steps in instruction for the whole class and individual students.

A. Evaluation Criteria (connects primarily with Rubric 8 in Assessment)1. Communicate your criteria for student performance. How did you determine proficiency levels in student learning?

I determined proficiency levels in student learning in a number of ways throughout the course of the unit. Each day the students would hand in the specific “task” that they had for the day, so every four days the students would have turned in a journal entry, a postcard, a project, and completed the Captain’s Log with latitude and longitude. By assessing these after our simulation each day, I could see where my students were at in their proficiency of the unit and standards. By supplying them with feedback on each of these different activities, I saw growth in their work by the next time they had that specific task. When I evaluated these tasks there were various items that I looked for to determine their level of understanding. For example, the postcard needed to include information about the Native American tribe that we were near on our expedition along with information about that region of the United States and by evaluating the information they included I could gauge whether they were utilizing their resources correctly and synthesizing the information they were finding. This was similar to how I assessed their journal entries and the other tasks, but with other specific information needed. Another major way I determined proficiency levels in student learning was through the use of a pre-test and post-test. The students began this unit with little to no knowledge of Lewis and Clark or the expedition and I hoped to drastically change that by the end of the unit. The post-test allowed me to test their growth.

2. Analyze student performance across the class from one assessment completed during the learning segment. (Provide a copy of the assessment.) Explain how you measured students’ progress toward learning the main idea, the targeted standards, and the learning objectives. Describe class trends.

1. Communicate how assessment guided your decision-making as you adjusted your daily lesson plans.

By assessing my students’ work each day, I could evaluate whether they were grasping the information and the procedures. Based upon this, I could decide if we needed to discuss any portion of our simulation the following day. There were multiple days when we needed to go over the expectations for the postcards because they were not grasping everything that needed to be included to receive full credit. This is when students were given an example of a postcard so they could have a hard copy of what they needed to include and the layout of a postcard. I failed to realize right away that these students may have never seen a postcard before because of our advanced technology! There were also instances, such as with the latitude and longitude activity, where I had students come see me the next day during work time to provide additional support.

Through observations I also observed my students and whether they were reaching the standards that are centered around the use of resources. I found that students did not understand that the use of the index would aid them in finding certain information and so I guided them through this process.

2. Communicate what you have learned about assessing student learning and the role of feedback in teacher effectiveness.

I have learned even more about how valuable assessment is. I believe that the word assessment has a negative connotation that has started to go hand and hand with it, but when assessment is used correctly it is a wonderful thing. Without assessing our students we would be unaware of their skills and areas that are developing. We need to consistently assess our students to know where to direct our teaching and to continue to grow in our effectiveness. This, in turn, will help our students be more and more successful. Feedback is an essential piece of assessment. As learners, students need to see where they made their errors and how to correct them. If we do not provide feedback, we take away a huge aspect of learning. Throughout our lives we learn from feedback, even as adults. By hearing what we did well and what we can improve on, we can continue learning and growing in any area of education or life.