Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

MODULE 3: ASSESSMENT

Adolescent Literacy – Professional DevelopmentUnit 2, Session 1

Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Session 1 Questions & ObjectivesSession 1 Key Questions

In what ways do we need to shift our thinking about the purpose of assessment?

How can we design assessments that better measure disciplinary literacy?

What steps can we take to include our students in the assessment process?

Session 1 ObjectivesParticipants will understand the foundational concepts related to

formative assessment in the classroom.Participants will generate and try out teaching ideas related to

incorporating formative assessment in classroom teaching.

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Opening Activity

Think •Take a few moments to reflect on your testing experience as a middle and high school student. What good and bad experiences did you have?

Talk •Turn to your neighbor and share an example of a good experience with assessment and a bad experience with assessment. Explain what made them so.

Write •If you could have changed three things about your experience of assessment when you were in school, what would they be?

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Thinking About School

FRO

MSome succeed; others fail

TOAll meet pre-specified academic achievement standards

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Thinking About Assessment

FRO

MAssessments separate the successful students from those who are unsuccessful

TOAssessments are part of practices that support all students toward standards mastery

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Thinking About Testing

Assessment Types

From summative & large-scale To formative & classroom-based

Assessment Questions

From “How do they rank?” To “Who has met standards?”

Assessment Interpretation

From norm-referenced To criterion-referenced

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Balancing Assessment

Achievement Assessments• Judging after learning• Valid and reliable• Isolated & periodic• Aimed at decision making by teachers and school

leaders

Learning Assessments• Guiding during learning• Richly descriptive of performance• Inter-related & ongoing• Aimed at decision making by students

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Activity

Review the reading, “Assessment Manifesto: A Call for the Development of Balanced Assessment Systems.”

Engage in the Text Rendering Experience to address important ideas in Stiggins’ work.

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Knowledge AND Skills

We must distinguish between knowledge and skill:Disciplinary Knowledge

Essential information and ideas from the discipline that are being taught

Disciplinary SkillThe use of disciplinary knowledge in listening,

speaking, reading, and writing activities

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

ActivityWork with a partner and exchange the sample

assessments you brought with you to the session.What is it measuring?

a. Content area knowledge b. Content area skill c. Both content knowledge AND skill

Discuss ways in which the assessments might be enhanced to provide clearer data about student strengths and needs in the subject.

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Three Literacy Goals

1. Increase overall language proficiency to prepare students for the high-level literacy skills expected in college and the workplace.

2. Challenge students who are already language-proficient to meet increasingly difficult standards.

3. Assist students who are not language-proficient to acquire necessary skills and knowledge.

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Understand the Elements of Literacy

Listening(Input)

Reading(Input)

Speaking(Output)

Writing(Output)

Executive Function (Regulates Input and Output)12

Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Language-Based Goals: ListeningOverall Listening Goal Students will comprehend vocabulary, semantics, and

syntax within oral discourse, as well as pragmatic language skills such as tone-of-voice and other non-verbal communication that inflects listening comprehension.

Example Disciplinary Literacy Listening SkillStudents will comprehend the vocabulary, main ideas,

and supporting points or examples from a lecture or other oral presentation.

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Language-Based Goals: SpeakingOverall Speaking Goal

Students will express their knowledge and ideas in discourse that uses specific vocabulary, correct syntax, discipline specific modes of discourse, and appropriate pragmatic language skills.

Example of Disciplinary Literacy Speaking SkillStudents will structure an oral presentation that reflects

the habits of thinking of a given discipline (e.g., scientific method; mathematical question and explanation of approach to solving it; comparison of interpretations of an historical event).

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Language-Based Goals: Reading

Overall Reading GoalStudents will fluently read and comprehend texts

of many types with complexity appropriate to their age/grade level.

Example of Disciplinary Literacy Reading SkillStudents will comprehend the main ideas and

supporting points or examples from a text at their reading level.

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Language-Based Goals: WritingOverall Writing Goal

Students will write clearly about what they know using specific vocabulary, correct syntax, and following accepted conventions for grammar, mechanics, and spelling, as well as for specific modes of discourse.

Example of Disciplinary Literacy Writing SkillStudents will produce a piece of writing that reflects both the

habits of thinking and the writing conventions of a given discipline (e.g., argument about a literary character with a quotation supporting the point, an explication of the quote, and commentary about how this interpretation affects understanding of the text as a whole).

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

How Goals Lead to Assessment

Set learning goal

• Write a well-developed 3–5 page essay independently.

Identify pre-requisite knowledge and sub-skills

• Knowledge of topic• Knowledge of text

structure required• Skill at distinguishing

arguments, main ideas, and supports

• Skill at organizing ideas and supports

• Skill at writing theses/introductions,

• Etc.

Choose or design assessment

• Formative assessments to ensure students are achieving proficiency in the prerequisite sub-skills prior to assessing proficiency at the overall learning goal

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Grading vs. Assessment of Learning

Grad

ing Overall

scores on assessments(quizzes, homework, tests, projects) As

sess

ing

Lear

ning

Out

com

esSub-score for each element of knowledge and skill included in the assessment

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

ActivityExamine the sample assessments in the Participant’s

Resource Packet.Work with a partner to:

Identify what proficiency standards the sample assessments/questions are assessing. (Keep in mind the ideas from the reading “Grading vs. Assessment of Learning Outcomes: What’s the Difference?”).

Identify some of the pre-requisite sub-skills required to perform successfully on the assessment.

Discuss: How could this assessment be used to guide future instruction:

For students who performed poorly?For students who performed proficiently?

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Including Students in the Process

“Assessments must move beyond merely informing the instructional decisions of teachers and school leaders to informing decisions made by students too.”

--Stiggins, 2008

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

If Assessments Guide Instruction Then

Who Needs to Know What?

Students What is my goal?How am I doing on the way to meeting my goal? What should I do next to make sure I get there?

Teachers What is my goal?Are my students on the way to meeting the goal?What should I do next for those who aren’t?What should I do to challenge those who have met it?

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Goal Setting with Students

Include students in the conversation about disciplinary literacy goals for knowledge and skills.1. What the goals are 2. Why the goals are important3. How students will be taught to reach them4. How students will be assessed along the way

(formatively) and at the end (summatively)22

Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

Activity

Think about what you currently do AND what you could do in your class to include students in the assessment process.1. At the goal setting level2. During instruction (formative assessment)3. After summative assessment

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Module 3: Unit 2, Session 1

For Next Time Try redesigning one of your current assessments following the

ideas discussed in the Carnegie Mellon resource “Grading vs. Assessment of Learning Outcomes: What’s the Difference?”, and come to the next session prepared to talk about what you did and how it went.

Take some time to write down your goals for one of your classes in terms of the knowledge and skills you expect students to achieve by the end of the year.

Take 10 minutes in one of your classes to ask your students to brainstorm what they think are the goals they are expected to achieve in your class. Collect the brainstorms and read them over.

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