The AssessmentCapacity Project

Focus Group Consultations

April-June 2014

Assessment Capacity: Origins

The Assessment Capacity Project supports and is responsive to the direction provided by Inspiring Education: A Dialogue with Albertans (2010).

• “Review assessment to align with a competency-based system.”

Assessment Capacity: Origins

• Require school- and district-based leaders to demonstrate assessment literacy within their instructional leadership practice across all subject areas.

• Be guided by the Principles for Fair Assessment Practices for Education in Canada.

• Require teachers to demonstrate detailed knowledge of the Program of Studies for the courses they teach.

• Focus on coherence among curriculum-teaching-assessment-professional development.

• Be characterized by educators ongoing participation in coordinated and coherent school and district-based professional development that occurs within and across schools, plus within and across disciplines.

• Incorporate student voice into all assessment practices.

• Be supported by evidence-based rather that opinion-based professional development.

• Report academic achievement, behaviour, and social-emotional development separately and accurately.

Assessment Capacity: Origins

“We really don’t know how to assess. We’re lost about how to assess many of our students.”

“Teachers should know more about making assessment objective.”

“There are differences in understandings across all the staff and that is where the misconceptions are coming in when people don’t have the shared understanding.”

“There is still a lot of work to be done. It is personal experience but I know what is going on in my school as well as other elementary teachers and we are working on this [assessment] and trying to change things.

“Approximately 83% of educator respondents agreed that their level of knowledge [of assessment] was substantial… . Even though educators rated their knowledge as high, many did not articulate this sentiment overtly in the interviews… .” (page 96)

Assessment Capacity: Origins

http://education.alberta.ca/media/1165612/albertaassessmentstudyfinalreport.pdf

Assessment Capacity: Origins

DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE CURRICULUM System-Focused Student-Focused

Content-focused Focus on competencies

Prescriptive curriculum with limited flexibility

Opportunities for local decision making and greater depth of study

Primarily focused on summative assessment

Balance among formative and summative assessments

Print-based Digitally based

Ministry-led development Collaborative and co-development models

Sequential development Synchronous development

Assessment Capacity: Goals

• Provide educators with the necessary skills and tools to fairly assess student progress.

• Develop with stakeholders a sustainable system of professional development for current and new teachers to provide them with opportunities to enhance their ability to use assessment effectively in various contexts.

• Communicate to educators the necessity to measure student progress

consistent with provincial standards.

• Develop a shared understanding of educational standards amongst educators.

• Familiarize educators with opportunities for the application of alternate methods of assessment delivery such as digital and online.

• Provide educators with opportunities to network and have professional and focused discussions on various aspects of assessment.

Assessment Capacity: In Scope

• Discussions with stakeholders and clients about the need for assessment capacity in Alberta and the value of a sustainable system of professional development for current and new teachers.

• Potential contracts or grants with organizations such as the Alberta Assessment Consortium, the Alberta Teachers’ Association, and the Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia to assist in the development and delivery of assessment capacity.

• Gathering information from the grant deliverables of Curriculum Development Prototyping Request for Proposals relative to classroom based assessments.

• Provide support to the prototyping sites related to classroom assessments.• Presentations explaining the goals and objectives of the Assessment Capacity

Project to conventions, conferences and forums hosted by stakeholder groups such as the ATA, CASS, Speak Out, and the ASBA.

• Professional development training sessions for teacher inservice leaders; coordinated through existing PD providers such as the AAC, the ARPDC and the ATA.

Assessment Capacity: Out of Scope

• Student Learning Assessments (SLAs) and related assessment supports.

• Provincial Diploma Examinations.

• Mandating changes to locally-developed assessment and reporting policies unless any such policies or elements thereof contravene assessment and/or reporting policies of the ministry.

Assessment Capacity: Summing Up

Assessment is a central element of education. The Assessment Capacity

Project is about empowerment. It is intended to provide educators with

the skillset and tools necessary to fairly assess student progress in a

manner consistent with the values and principles stated in Inspiring

Education. The ultimate benefactors of an education system in which

assessment capacity has been enhanced are students. Students will have

assurance that they have been assessed in a fair, valid and reliable

manner, and have access to informative feedback that will allow them to

reach their full potential by developing the competencies of Engaged

Thinkers and Ethical Citizens with an Entrepreneurial Spirit.

empowerment.

Assessment Capacity: Courses of Action

Support the development of

assessment models

appropriate to new provincial

programs of study.

Enhance the ability of educators to fairly assess student achievement.

Preliminary Steps:

Gather Input from Educators• What PD support for

Assessment Capacity is most needed?

Gather Input from Students• What are their thoughts about

the assessments teachers currently provide.

Assessment Capacity: Enhancement for the Current System

• Work with key stakeholders to establish a sustainable professional development system to enhance and improve assessment practices and establish networks to facilitate dialogue on assessment practices

• Develop within Alberta’s k-12 education sector an understanding of the importance of having a shared understanding of provincial standards

• Work with universities to ensure education graduates possess the capacity to provide fair assessment once serving in the teaching workforce

• Work with prototyping sites to collaborate in the development of assessment models consistent with and in support of a competency-based curriculum.

• Provide support to the prototyping sites related to classroom assessments

Assessment Capacity: Preparation for a Competency-Based Curriculum

Ken O’Connor on Fair Assessment

http://pearsonschoolsystems.com/products/powerteacher/ken/fix10/

Assessment Capacity: Foundational Documents

Principles for Fair Assessment Practices for Education in Canada (1993) Principles for Fair Assessment

Developed by representatives from the provincial and territorial Ministries of Education and 9 educational organizations in Canada over 21 months• Chaired by Dr. Todd Rogers, University of Alberta• The document can be considered representative of the ideals within the

Canadian educational community about fair assessment in the 1990s.• Part A for classroom assessment, Part B for standardized assessment• Should be considered neither exhaustive nor mandatory but rather

reflect the intent and spirit of assessment

Assessment Capacity: Foundational Documents

Principles for Fair Assessment Practices for Education in Canada (1993)

Developing/ChoosingAssessment Methods

Collecting AssessmentInformation

Judging andScoring Performance

Summarizing andInterpreting Results

ReportingAssessment Findings

Instructions• Write your name on the score sheet• Answer all items• There is no penalty for guessing• Good Luck

How you will be assessed:• Setting out materials as instructed (5 marks)• Measuring ingredients accurately (5 marks)• Including all ingredients as required (5 marks)

Comments:Your diagram includes all the key elements and is clearly readable from across the classroom. The colours you chose for contrast….

Assessment Policy Information for Parents and StudentsIn determining a student’s final course standing, teachers must ensure that greater weighting is given to the most recent evidence of achievement. Teachers must also…

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Appeal Rules for Assessment Results • Identify the specific concerns you have regarding the

assessment you received• Refer to the scoring rubric and exemplar work when discussing

your work

assessments link directly to program of studies outcomes, competencies, skills and benchmarks

assessments align with instruction

assessment of the knowledge, skills, and attitude of each student is based on valid measures

a variety of assessment methods are used to ensure comprehensive assessment of student achievement

in assigning a value to an assessment consideration is given to the nature of the task (e.g. formative or summative)

care and attention is taken in constructing assessments to ensure that tasks are communicated in a manner that is clear, concise and unambiguous

assessments focus on purposeful knowledge, broad concepts and appropriate skills

assessments are appropriate to student backgrounds, experiences, and learning needs

assessments avoid stereotyping/offending

translations of assessments into another language maintain an appropriate standard

assessments provide reliable and valid information about the achievement of each student

Principles for Fair Assessment: a Revised and Abridged Version I. Planning and Developing Assessments

Ensure that:

students are informed of why and how they will be assessed

assessments are completed under optimum conditions including appropriate time

when using observational assessment, a limited number of components are assessed

clear, concise and complete instructions are provided

students are encouraged to fully complete all assigned tasks

students are treated equitably

circumstances that interfere with assessment are noted

adapted assessments for students with special needs are developed and provided when professionally determined to be appropriate

care and attention is taken in constructing assessments to ensure that tasks are communicated in a manner that is clear, concise and unambiguous

assessments provide reliable and valid information about the achievement of each student

Principles for Fair Assessment: a Revised and Abridged VersionII. Collecting Assessment Information

Ensure that:

procedures for assessing a tasks is established prior to its administration students are told in advance how they will be assessed an appropriate distinction is made between formative and summative tasks

and the weighting of such tasks personal biases do not affect the evaluation process comments on student performance are designed to improve learning and

are directly linked to program of studies expectations assessment processes are adapted to account for unanticipated responses an appeal process is established and communicated to students provincial standards are applied when student performance is assessed

Principles for Fair Assessment: a Revised and Abridged VersionIII. Assessing Evidence of Performance

Ensure that:

written policy explains how results are summarized and interpreted

students and parents know how comments and achievement levels are determined

summative assessments are used to inform summative comments and assign achievement levels

disparate measures are not combined into a single summary achievement level

achievement, effort, participation, and other behaviors are not assigned an achievement level but are assessed separately and independently of each other.

summative comments and achievement levels are based on more than one assessment

proper weighting is given to each assessment used to determine final achievement levels

the basis for interpretation of student results is described and justifiable

interpretation of assessment results takes into consideration the backgrounds and experiences of students (e.g. demographics of student population)

interpretation of assessment results takes measurement error into consideration

Principles for Fair Assessment: a Revised and Abridged VersionIV. Summarizing and Interpreting Results

Ensure that:

reporting systems provide timely and accurate information

reports are written in audience friendly language

reports identify the learning outcomes addressed

reports describe each student’s strengths and areas requiring improvement; relative to learning outcomes, competencies, benchmarks and skills

conferences among parents, students and teachers occur with the goal of improving student learning

parents and students are informed of the appeal process, should their be concerns with the assessment of a student

access to assessment information is governed by applicable laws/fairness/human rights

the maintenance and transference of assessment information from authority to authority is guided by written policy and maintains security and confidentiality

Principles for Fair Assessment: a Revised and Abridged VersionV. Communicating Assessment Results

Ensure that:

You and your class have developed a scoring rubric for a writing task. One category of the rubric specifies that, to receive the highest possible level, students must use three accurate and comprehensively developed examples. In assessing responses you find that most students have used three examples but that the examples are not comprehensive and contain inaccuracies. Several students have provided two examples; however the examples exceed expectations in terms of their accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Under which of the following areas of focus is the issue identified in this scenario most directly addressed?

I. Planning and Developing Assessments

II. Collecting Assessment Information

III. Assessing Evidence of Performance

IV. Summarizing and Interpreting Results

V. Communicating Assessment Results

Principles for Fair Assessment: a Revised and Abridged Version A Scenario for Discussion

In art class you assign students to create a sculpture for a summative assessment. One student, whom you know is highly skilled in art, hands in a very creative work that the student indicates she was able to complete in several hours. A second student, much less artistic, hands in a sculpture that is not nearly of the same standard, however this student indicates that he spent numerous hours over several days preparing the sculpture. Should the efforts of the second student contribute to the student’s grade/achievement level.

Under which of the following areas of focus is the issue identified in this scenario most directly addressed?

I. Planning and Developing Assessments

II. Collecting Assessment Information

III. Assessing Evidence of Performance

IV. Summarizing and Interpreting Results

V. Communicating Assessment Results

Principles for Fair Assessment: a Revised and Abridged Version A Scenario for Discussion

The program of studies for a subject you teach requires students to demonstrate effective public speaking skills, thus you create an assignment where each student is to prepare and present a brief speech to the class. A student raises his hand and indicates that he has anxiety about public speaking and cannot complete the assignment, however he is willing to record a speech at home and play the recorded speech to class. Immediately several other students indicate that they too want to have this option.

Under which of the following areas of focus is the issue identified in this scenario most directly addressed?

I. Planning and Developing Assessments

II. Collecting Assessment Information

III. Assessing Evidence of Performance

IV. Summarizing and Interpreting Results

V. Communicating Assessment Results

Principles for Fair Assessment: a Revised and Abridged Version A Scenario for Discussion

Focus Group Survey

You will be provided with a survey seeking your input into decisions about the professional development needed to enhance teacher assessment capacity.

Although we need your individual responses you may discuss the survey in small groups if you choose. Please ask me for any clarifications needed.

Thank you!

Questions and Comments

For further information contact:

Tim Coates, CoordinatorAssessment Capacity Project780-422-5160Tim.Coates@gov.ab.ca