Building Assessment Literacy in Michigan

through Quality Common Assessment Development

Our Mission

…is to improve student learning and achievement through a system of coherent curriculum, balanced assessment and effective instruction. We do this by collaboratively:

Promoting assessment knowledge and practice.

Providing professional development. Providing and sharing assessment tools

and products.

The Trick

…create a balanced assessment system

A Balanced Assessment System

Assessment of… Summative Norm referenced,

standardized, often teacher created

A snapshot in time

Essential Question:What have students already

learned?

Assessment for… Formative Teacher-created A ongoing picture Informs classroom

practice continually

Essential Question:

How can we help students learn more?

Our Beliefs

We believe…

Collaboratives and consortia advance the work Balanced assessment is a valued enterprise Students are the most important users of

classroom assessment data Teachers and administrators must engage

students in the assessment process

Our Beliefs

We believe…

All educators can learn to implement a balanced assessment system

Teachers and principals and central office must be assessment literate

Development and use of a coherent system (CIA) ensures quality for each student

An effective assessment system includes a balance of school, district, and state measures and uses a variety of methods

MAISA Instructional Services Committee

2012-13 Assessment Goal

"In cooperation with the Michigan Assessment Consortium and other statewide related projects,

contribute to a high quality, comprehensive assessment system in the state of Michigan."

Assessment for Learning…

…when done well, is one of the most powerful, high-leverage strategies for improving student learning that we know of.

Educators collectively become more skilled and focused at assessing, disaggregating, and using student achievement as a tool for ongoing improvement.

~ Michael Fullan

Accurate assessments

+

Appropriate uses resulting in productive reactions

STUDENT SUCCESS

Vision of Excellence in Assessment

Balanced Assessment System

There is a balance of formative and summative assessments.

The assessments are of high quality.

Students are actively engaged in the assessment process.

Common Assessment Development Series

What is a Common Assessment?

Common Assessment Module Content

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1. Introduction and Overview of the MAC CADS Series

2. What Are Common Assessments?3. Determining the Outcome of

Assessment4. Determining the Targets of Assessment5. Matching the Assessment Methods to

the Learning Targets6. Assessing Students with Special Needs7. Writing the Test Blueprint8. Writing the Selected-Response Items9. Writing Constructed Response Items10. Writing Performance Assessment Items11. Using Portfolios to Assess Students12. Developing and Using Scoring Guides

and Rubrics

13. Editing the Draft Assessment Items14. Detecting and Eliminating Bias and

Distortion15. Assembling the Assessment

Instrument16. Field Testing17. Looking at Field Test Data18. Reliability19. Test Validity20. Assembling the Final Common

Assessment21. Assessment Administration,

Scoring and Reporting22. Standard Setting23. Presenting the Results24. Using Data to Improve Instruction

St. Joseph CountyCommon

Assessment Project

Beginning at the BeginningWhy did we begin this journey?

LEA’s desire to: conduct Professional Learning Communities

(PLC’s) implement a multi-tiered system of support (RtI) provide effective feedback to students around

learning goals fully implement a standards-based model of

instruction/assessment

Beginning at the BeginningOur challenges:

“Faulty” data at PLC’s Ineffective data to target the interventions for RtI Ineffective feedback practices around

data/grading and reporting Assessments not designed for a standards

based system

The “Vision”

Began simply…. Just pick the items from the CD with our text and

use that! Just find the best one and use it countywide! Someone has to have one to buy! There’s lots of software that has items we can

use! Let’s just get that. Teachers can just go online and find one to use! Let’s just wait for Smarter Balanced!

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Critical First Step

Do you have a clear and appropriate purpose(s) for your assessment?

How will the assessment be used? Who will use the results?

Which partners will help you?

What learning targets will you measure? Local State Other

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What Makes an Assessment “Common”?

It is more than an assessment given by one teacher

This is an insufficient definition It is a method for creating a

community of shared practice in a school, district, across districts, even across the state

The Power of the Common Assessment

The use of common assessment results by two or more teachers in a PLC…

Provides data to inform interventions Allows teachers to see how changes in

instructional practice can lead to higher achievement

Look deeply at their own and others’ practice to ultimately improve student achievement

Common Assessments

are built on the same learning targets/goals, whether they were developed at the school, district or state levels

these targets needed to be those contained within the mathematics common core standards for Algebra I and Algebra II

This was the first challenge –

could they agree???

The Decisions

Create benchmark assessments (25 – 30 per course)

Use the traditional Algebra I and II course “outline” defined in the CC

Build the assessments by “standards cluster” – explicitly key each item

“Unpack” each standard within a cluster to determine appropriate cognitive demand and ensure alignment

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CONTENT

ASSESSMENTINSTRUCTION

Unpacked Document

Identification of key vocabulary within each standard

Determination of learning goals in the format of: I know statements I can statements

These statements determined the types of items to include on each assessment

Direct link to standards Prerequisite skills yet to be filled in

Vetting of Content

Teams of 2-3 unpacked Another team reviewed An outside math consultant

reviewed/edited Final was used to develop assessment

items Assessments assess only one cluster

and no more than 2 – 3 standards

25

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CONTENT

ASSESSMENTINSTRUCTION

Cognitive Demand

It is critical to be sure that assessments measure the correct cognitive demand of the learning goals represented in the standards.

It is critical that whoever is ‘building assessments’ understands this concept process and applies it in their work

The majority of classroom teachers have not received sufficient training in assessment design

Target/Method Match

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The Outcomes of Quality Assessments

Clear, concise data being used in collaborative groups

Powerful data to provide feedback to teachers and students and parents

The ability to accurately inform curriculum and instructional changes

Closer alignment between grades/scores and actual proficiency levels of the students

The Pilot Test – 2012 / 2013Agreements for Pilot Teachers Assessments are to remain “intact” Assessments assess only one cluster and no more

than 2 – 3 standards and will be given whenever that content has been taught

Data is not to be used to determine grades or for teacher evaluation. These are draft!

Item level data will be collected and analyzed to determine edits needed at follow up sessions next year

Lessons Learned

This work takes a team! Content area specialists Assessment specialists Data specialists

This work takes time! This work takes commitment! This work takes patience! This work takes trust! This work will help increase achievement if done

well.

Thank you!