Learning Progressions to Support the CCSS: The Case of ......Social Networking Question # Timer...

Copyright © 2013 by Educational Testing Service.

Learning Progressions to Support the CCSS: The Case of Argumentation

Paul Deane

Educational Testing Service

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Argument is a Key Skill under the CCSS

• Argument is part of the CCSS for both reading and writing.

• It is closely linked to other key CCSS reading and writing skills (research, use of textual evidence)

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Linking Reading, Writing and Thinking

• Argument is a complex skill

• It is reflected in the reading and writing standards, but includes speaking, listening, and thinking.

• Effective approaches to teaching and assessing argument need to consider the entire process of argumentation, not just those parts that are ‘writing’ or ‘reading’

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Learning Progressions

“ a description of qualitative change in a student’s level of sophistication for a key concept, process, strategy, practice, or habit of mind. …. Each progression is presumed to be modal, i.e., to hold for most, but not all, students. Finally, it is provisional, subject to empirical verification and theoretical challenge.”

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ETS’ CBAL Approach to Learning Progressions

• Define a group of coordinated learning progressions describing progress in developing an integrated skill

• Use levels in the learning progressions to identify key qualitative changes needed to assess where students are or to help them move to the next level of sophistication

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Argumentation Activities

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Create and Evaluate Arguments

Understand the Stakes

Consider Positions

Organize and Present

Arguments

Explore the Subject

Copyright © 2013 by Educational Testing Service. 7



Consider Positions Explore the Subject

Organize and Present Arguments

Appeal-Building What do people who are interested in this issue care about?

Whose opinions about this issue matter? Who am I trying to convince? How will I convince them?

Who are others trying to convince? How might they convince them?




Consider Positions Explore the

Subject


Inquiry What do I know about the subject? What don't I know? How can I find out more? What information is relevant?




Consider Positions

Explore the Subject


Taking a Position What positions are reasonable? Are they all clear and defensible? What position should I take? How should I focus and limit my position?






Reasons and Evidence What reasons can I use to support my conclusions? Do I have enough evidence to support each reason? What counterarguments do I need to address?





Organize and Present

Arguments

Framing a Case How should I present my arguments?

What structure is most effective and logical?

How will people with different perspectives present their arguments?


This System of Activities

• draws on many different skills • is meaningful precisely because all the

pieces fit together to achieve meaningful goals

• cannot easily be described with a single learning progression

Instead, we have developed overview &

fine-grained learning progressions for each type of activity

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High Level Overview – Reasons and Evidence Preliminary 1. Understands the idea that positions may need to be supported

with reasons that will be convincing to the audience

Foundational 2. Recognizes, generates and elaborates on reasons in writing, with

some awareness of the need for evidence, and uses one's own

argument to counter others' argument in an engaging, familiar

context

Basic 3. Understands use of evidence and clearly grasps the need to

provide evidence and reasons that are directly relevant to and

support the main point and which are logically sound

Intermediate 4. Understands the role of critique and rebuttal and is able to reason

about and respond to counterevidence and critical questions

Advanced 5. Builds systematic mental models of entire debates, and use that

model to frame one’s own attempts to build knowledge.


Detail: Part of the fine-grained progression for Reasons and Evidence Interpretation Expression Deliberation

Prelim-

inary

Identifies reasons

people give to support

a specific point

Generates at least one

reason to support a specific

point, in sentence form

Can apply template-based

argument-generation strategies

(such as making lists or filling in a

pro-con chart)

Founda-

tional

Identifies supporting

reasons or evidence in

a written text and

relates them to the

point they support

Generates multiple reasons

to support a point, and uses

these reasons to counter

others' argument in an

engaging, familiar context

Can apply analytical strategies to

identify information needed to

support a point, reflecting implicit

understanding of common

argument schemes

Basic Recognizes and

explains the

relationship between

main and supporting

points and keeps track

of which evidence

supports which point

Builds logical,

hierarchically structured

arguments by selecting and

arranging reasons and

evidence to support main

and subsidiary points

Can evaluate the strength of

evidence and distinguish sound

and unsound arguments by

recognizing common syllogisms

and fallacies

Interme-

diate

Identifies specific

points in a text that are

vulnerable to

objections and

counterarguments

Writes simple critiques or

rebuttals that critically

provide both summaries of

and responses to other

people’s arguments

Can apply critical-question

strategies for commonly used

argumentation schemes to generate

counterarguments and determine

how to reinforce specific points


Developing Assessment Tasks

• Designed to assess levels in the learning progression

• Illustrate valuable classroom activities that could be used to help students improve their understanding of argument

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Ban Ads

Task 2A 1 of 7 15 min Task

Social Networking

Question # Timer

Tools Stop Back Next

Directions: Read each statement below. Decide whether it gives a reason to ban or allow ads intended for children. Click on the statement to select it. Then click in a box under Ban or Allow to indicate which side of the issue the statement supports.

Statements

Commercials are usually easy to remember and hard to forget, so an advertisement can get a lot of people to buy something, even if it is not good for them.

Most healthy adults watched a lot of commercials when they were young.

Parents who are concerned about protecting their children rarely worry about the advertisements their children watch.

Junk food advertisers like advertising to children because they know that children are very easy to influence and that the habits people form as children will often last the rest of their lives.

When a child sees an advertisement and keeps asking the parents to buy an advertised product, the parents usually give in, no matter what the child is asking for.

Most people ignore most of the advertisements they see.

Children may not understand that advertisements are trying to trick them into buying something.

If an advertisement makes a child want a product, parents can use that as an opportunity to teach the child how to make smart choices.

Parents don’t usually take the time to check what their children are watching on TV, so they don’t know what advertisements their children are seeing.

Some of the people who argue the hardest in favor of ads for children earn big profits from the advertising industry.

Ban Allow

If you change your mind, click on the undo arrow.

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From learning progressions (Preliminary level):

Identifies reasons people give to support a specific point


From learning progressions (Basic Level):

Can evaluate the strength of evidence


From Assessment to Classroom

• It’s not enough to have individual tasks – goal of teaching must be to enable students to practice all aspects of argumentation

• Our collaboration with the Reading and Writing Project at Teachers College is focused on identifying the kinds of classroom practices that will enable students to move to higher levels on argument learning progressions like these

• The next presentation, from TC/RWP, will examine these issues of classroom practice

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Learning Progressions to Support the CCSS: The Case of ......Social Networking Question # Timer...

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