Assessment and Grading

A student gets a “B” in Chemistry 11. What does this mean?

BC Ministry of Education

• A = The student demonstrates excellent or outstanding performance in relation to expected learning outcomes for the course or subject and grade.

• B = The student demonstrates very good performance in relation to expected learning outcomes for the course or subject and grade.

Mark bookStudent HW #1

/5HW #2/5

Quiz #1/10

Quiz #2/10

Lab #1/20

Group present/20

Unit Test/50

Meg 0 0 5 6 nhi 12 48

Kathy 5 5 6 7 19 18 27

Cam 0 3 abs 8 12 14 40

• Assign a letter grade for each student.• Look at each entry in the mark book and describe the effect it has on the overall letter grade.

Outcomes Based Education

• Assessment tools designed to measure prescribed learning outcomes for the course

• Student behaviors not related to PLO’s have limited impact on grade (ie. Late assignments, absents, NHI ..)

Mastery Learning

• Teacher plans lesson objectives in line with the PLO’s

• Students know what the PLO’s are• Assessment tools measure mastery of PLO’s,

and student reporting is done by PLO• Students are able to improve and demonstrate

their mastery of individual PLO’s

Mastery Learning

Authentic Assessment

• Formative – Assessment FOR learning– Assignments require students to follow prescribed

steps– May include behaviors (hw completed, lates..)– Gives feedback to student about what to re-learn,

and to teacher about what to re-teach.

Authentic Assessment

• Summative – assessment OF learning– A measure of knowledge of skills developed by the

end of the learning process– Assignments or tests are not prescriptive– Assignments or tests reflect multiple PLO’s at a

variety of levels: K, U, H

Robert Stake:

• “When the cook tastes the soup it is formative, when the guest tastes the soup it is summative..”

Formative & Summative Assessment

• 1st Case: even though each student demonstrated a different level of mastery by the end of the learning process - if all of their marks were entered in a Gradebook without the formative/summative distinction, all three students would have the same final grade: 50%.

Case 1:

• The 3 students demonstrate a different level of mastery by the end of the unit.

• If there is no distinction between formative and summative, each student will achieve 50%

Case 2:

• All 3 students demonstrate the same level of mastery by the end of the unit.

• If there is no distinction between formative and summative, Ken = 88%, Leo = 70% and Pam = 58%.

Assessment Tools

• May include tests, quizzes, labs, reports, essays, presentations, checklists, demonstrated skills…..

• Must reflect PLO’s• Must be – Valid: measures what it is intended to measure– Reliable: similar results with similar cohorts

Questions for Discussion

• Give examples of formative and summative assessment tools you use in your class.

• Do you give students the opportunity to demonstrate an improved mastery of PLO’s? If so, how?

• Practically, how can you adapt your methods of assessment to reflect the ideals of mastery learning, outcome-based education and formative and summative evaluation?

• How do you set up your grade book and arrive at a final letter grade for a student?

• How do you evaluate lab reports?