Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

MODULE 3: ASSESSMENT

Adolescent Literacy – Professional DevelopmentUnit 1, Session 1

Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Session 1 Questions & ObjectivesModule 3 Key Questions

What is assessment? Why should we assess? What should we assess?

Session 1 ObjectiveParticipants will understand that assessment tools

are one part of an overall assessment process designed to ensure that all students gain proficiency.

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Opening Activity

Think •Take a few moments to reflect on the word “assessment.” What comes to mind?

Talk •Turn to your neighbor and share your thoughts on assessment. Report back to the group.

Write •Complete the survey about the types of assessments that are currently in use in your school. Highlight or circle all the assessments you use with your students.

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

What is Assessment?

Assessment is a tool and a process that leads us to make a decision.Assessment tools are vehicles we use to

gather data (e.g., observation, test, MCAS).The assessment process refers to the

decisions we make and actions we take as we prepare and administer tools, and interpret and communicate data.

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

The Assessment Process

Define Purpose What do I want to know? Why do I want to know it?

Design/Choose What tool will provide the

data I need to make my decision/guide my action?

AdministerCollect the data.

AssessInterpret/appraise the

data gathered.

Decide/ActDecide/take action

suggested by the appraisal.

CommunicateShare the data and

interpretation/appraisal with students and other important stakeholders.

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Assessment Purposes and Tools

Knowledge/skill level prior to instruction Achievement at the

end of an instructional period

Preferences for how to learn and demonstrate

learning

Progress during instruction

Assessment

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

New Thinking Reframes Schools’ Responsibility to Students

Old Way of Thinking•Some students succeed;

others fail.

New Way of Thinking•All students meet pre-

specified academic achievement standards.

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Assessment Enhances Effectiveness

We want to teach effectively so that our students learn effectively. Effective teaching and learning is reflected in

students’ academic achievement. Assessment provides us with data we can use

to measure effectiveness both during and at the conclusion of an instructional period.

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Assessment Ensures Efficiency

Thoughtful assessment design and analysis, along with data-driven decisions, ensure that we use our time with students efficiently.We can target instruction and avoid “re-

inventing the wheel” by teaching students at too basic or too advanced a level to allow them to make effective progress.

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Assessment Enhances Equity

A comprehensive and balanced assessment program guides teachers and schools toward meeting the goal to educate all students and prepare them for the 21st century global economy. Assessments “clarify expectations and

measure progress toward meeting them.”

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Assessment Vocabulary 1

Standards

State School/District Classroom

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Assessment Vocabulary 2

Formative Assessment

• Measures progress during learning

• Aimed at guiding instruction to ensure standards will be met

Summative Assessment

• Measures achievement after learning

• Aimed at reporting out results of whether or not standards were met

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Assessment Vocabulary 3

Criterion-Referenced

• Measures a student’s achievement in relation to a set standard

Norm-Referenced

• Measures a student’s achievement in relation to other students’ performance on the same assessment

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Assessment Vocabulary 4

Validity

• A valid assessment measures what it is supposed to measure

Reliability

• On a reliable assessment, the same or similar scores will be evidenced regardless of when the assessment occurs or who does the scoring

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Activity

“College and Work Readiness as a Goal of High Schools: The Role of Standards, Assessments, and Accountability”Text Rendering Experience

Who is the audience for this article?What types of assessment does the article address?How can the ideas in this article inform decisions

we make about how to use assessment in the classroom?

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

What Should We Assess?

Achievement of stated standards

Specific areas of difficulty that impede learning progress

Learning progress toward skills application and content knowledge that lead to standards mastery

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Questions to Consider A good assessment provides data that answers a

question.

If we’re “assessing” assessment, we must ask many questions.

The following five questions can be used to guide our foundational thinking about the assessment process. Each question requires some form of assessment for an answer.

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Question 1

What do our students need to know and be able to do? Identify the goals and standards for

proficiency in the context (state, district, school, class)

Communicate the goals and standards clearly to all stakeholders (administrators and teachers; students and parents)

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Question 2

What do our students know and know how to do now? Assess the students’ current knowledge

and skills relative to proficiency standards

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Question 3

How do our students learn best?Assess how students’ learning preferences

contribute to or impede effective progress in our classes The input of information/ideasThe processing of information/ideasThe output/demonstration of learning

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Question 4

How do we bridge the gaps? Determine the curricular and instructional

approaches that will build the essential knowledge and/or skills

Procure the resources needed to implement the approaches

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Question 5How do we measure effectiveness?

Plan how to track students’ progress toward the goals

Effective progress toward standards achievement will be different for each student depending upon how wide the gap was between “knows/can do now” and “needs to know/do”

Assess our teaching and student learning effectiveness, and make needed instructional changes

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Activity

“The Vision: Literacy for All”As a group, identify examples of

assessments used at the ideal schoolCategorize these examples on the Riverside

High School HandoutIn what way does this reading encourage us

to broaden our views of assessment and its purposes?

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

Activity

Read the thinking styles overview and take the sample learning styles assessment.

Reflect on your experience as a learner.

Discuss how data from this type of assessment could enhance your teaching.

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Module 3: Unit 1, Session 1

For Next Time Bring 2–3 examples of assessments you use in your

classes. Choose one or more:

Review the five questions and reflect on which questions occupy most of your focus. For a week or so, experiment with shifting your thinking to the other questions, and come to the next session prepared to share whether and how this activity reflected on the teaching and learning in your classroom.

Survey students’ learning preferences. Take the online thinking styles and/or learning styles inventory.

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