Welcome to: The Power of Assessment in

Guiding Student Learning

Warm up: In groups of 3 or 4, please use the blank chart paper to brainstorm these questions:• What assessments do you use in your classroom?• What are your purposes for these assessments?• What do you do with the results from

assessments?Be prepared to share your ideas with the group!

Learning Objectives

• Content Objective: Teachers will explore a variety of types and purposes of assessment strategies.

• Language Objective: Teachers will be able to explain how they can use assessment to identify and respond to student understanding throughout the instructional process.

Types and Purposes of Assessment

• “We plan. We develop. We deliver. We assess and evaluate the results of the assessment. We revise, deliver the revised material, and assess and evaluate again. Perfection is always just out of reach; but continually striving for perfection contributes to keeping both our instruction fresh and our interest in teaching piqued."

-E.S. Grassian

Visual Assessment Overview

Sequential Instructional Block Assessment Overview

Interim Assessments

“Teachers and district personnel have created four interim assessments per grade level, each aligned to an instructional block. These are intended to be given as pre- and post-assessments. The purpose of these is to assess student progress toward mastery of the Utah Core Standards, determine when intervention is necessary, and inform instructional practice.”

Common Check for Understanding Strategies

Quick Check for Understanding Strategies

Strategy Description

3-2-1 Students use their fingers to indicate their level of understanding

Every Pupil Response Give students a two-color coded card. Students hold up the color to show that they understand or don’t understand.

Quick WritesShare Outs

Use timed writing prompts to have students respond to a math question. Can be used before, during, or after a lesson. Choose specific students to share their response.

Math Talk Think-pair-share, Turn to a partner, A-B Partners, Inner-Outer Circles, etc.

Partner/GroupSolving

Students are put in pairs or groups to solve a problem together. This allows teachers to do a quick walk about to see who understands the concepts.

White Boards(page protectors)

Give students a math problem to solve on their own. Have them hold the whiteboard in FRONT of their chest instead of up in the air, prevents most copying.

Daily Check for Understanding Strategies

Daily Check for Understanding StrategiesStrategy Description

R,G,Y or 4-3-2-1 Quick scale to check for on a written assignment. Students self-assess their understanding.Circle, Triangle, Square

Something still going around in your head (circle), A pointed idea that stood out (triangle), and An idea you agreed or “squared” with (square).

Entrance/Exit Tickets Give students a ticket when they enter the room with review (2 or 3) questions from the previous day’s lesson. Students are given a ticket at the end of the lesson with (2 or 3) questions that can be quickly checked by the teacher to assess who needs tier 2 instruction.

Example/Non-Example

Have students work a problem and then give a non-example of the same problem.

Sentence Frames Give students a fill-in-the blank task, question, or problem.Flag It/Star It Give students colored sticky notes or stickers so that they can flag concepts that they are not

quite clear on or they can put a star next to things that stuck out or are important.Quick Writes-DailyMath Journals

Use writing prompts from Expressions or come up with your own writing prompt. Students answer the prompt in their math journal. Collect a few journals every week to read and respond to students.

Mini Rubric Scoring guide using a 3-2-1 rating to see where students are on a concept.Word Sort Students use vocabulary words to sort with definitions or categories.White Boards-Daily Have students solve work on mini white boards so teacher can walk around to check work.

Exit Ticket with Red, Yellow, Green Light

Expressions Formative Assessment

4-Square for Story Problems

Unit Quick Quiz

Performance Assessments

• Rubrics… importance of having them prior to giving performance assess

Expressions Performance Assessment

Unit Test

Ongoing Check for Understanding Strategies

Student Data Sheets

Assessment Review

Assessment Analysis and Re-Teaching

Assessment in Action

• Situation 1• You are in the middle of teaching a

lesson on properties of operations. It seems like some students are getting it and some aren’t. How can you check for understanding? How might you respond during the lesson after you check for understanding?

Assessment in Action

• Situation 2

• You taught a lesson on fractions. It seemed like most students were engaged and getting the concept throughout the lesson as you checked for understanding. What type of assessments could you use at the end of the lesson to be sure exactly which students understand the objective for the day? How might you respond to the assessment?

Assessment in Action• Situation 3

• You just finished a unit on measurement. Throughout the unit your students seemed to grasp the concepts. You administered several formative assessments throughout the unit and met with small groups of students when they didn’t understand concepts. You gave the unit test and overall your students averaged a score of 80%. There were three questions on the assessment that less than 50% of the students answered correctly. There were also four students who scored less than 50% on the test. How might you respond to the assessment?

Reflection

• Please complete the Exit Ticket for today’s session and be prepared to share.

• Something new I learned about using assessment to identify student understanding is…

• Something I might like to try as a way to respond to student understanding is…

• A question I still have is…