7 strategies to assess learning needs

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SEVEN STRATEGIES OF ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING

Strategy 1: Provide a Clear and Understandable Vision of the Expectation

Share with your students the learning target(s), expectation(s), or goal(s) in advance of

teaching the lesson, giving the assignment, or doing the activity. Use language studentsunderstand, and check to make sure they understand. Ask, Why are we doing thisactivity? What are we learning? Convert expectations into student-friendly language bydefining key words in terms students understand. Ask students what they thinkconstitutes quality in a product or performance expectation, then show how theirthoughts match with the scoring guide or rubric you will use to define quality. Providestudents with scoring guides written so they can understand them. Develop scoringcriteria with them.

Strategy 2: Use Examples and Models of Strong and Weak Work

Use models of strong and weak workanonymous student work, work from life beyondschool, and your own work. Begin with work that demonstrates strengths andweaknesses related to problems students commonly experience, especially theproblems that most concern you personally. Ask students to analyze these samples forquality and then to justify their judgments. Use onlyanonymous work. If you have beenengaging students in analyzing examples or models, they will be developing a vision ofwhat the product or performance looks like when its done well.

Model the creation of a product or performance yourself. Show students the truebeginnings, the problems you run into, and how you think through decisions along the

way. Dont hide the development and revision part, or students will think they are doingit wrong when it is messy for them at the beginning, and they wont know how to workthrough the rough patches.

Strategy 3: Offer Regular Descriptive Feedback

Offer descriptive feedback instead of grades on work that is for practice. Descriptivefeedback should reflect student strengths and weaknesses with respect to the specificexpectation(s) they are trying to hit in a given assignment. Feedback is most effectivewhen it identifies what students are doing right, as well as what they need to work on

next. One way to think of this is stars and stairsWhat did the learner accomplish?What are the next steps? All learners, especially struggling ones, need to know thatthey did something right, and our job as teachers is to find it and label it for them, beforelaunching into what they need to improve.

Remember that learners dont need to know everything that needs correcting, all atonce. Narrow your comments to the specific knowledge and skills emphasized in thecurrent assignment and pay attention to how much feedback learners can act on at onetime. Dont worry that students will be harmed if you dont point out all of their problems.


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Identify as many issues as students can successfully act on at one time, independently,and then figure out what to teach next based on the other problems in their work.

Providing students with descriptive feedback is a crucial part of increasing achievement.Feedback helps students answer the question, Where am I now? with respect toWhere do I need to be? You are also modeling the kind of thinking you want studentsto engage in when they self-assess.

Strategy 4: Teach Students to Self-Assess and Set Goals

Teaching students to self-assess and set goals for learning is the second half of helpingstudents answer the question, Where am I now?. Self-assessment is a necessary partof learning, not an add-on that we do if we have the time or the right students.Struggling students are the right students, as much as any others. The researchdescribed previously tells us it is they who gain the most. Self-assessment includeshaving students do the following:

! Identify personal strengths and areas for improvement. You can ask them to do thisbefore they show their work to you for feedback, giving them prior thoughts of their ownto hang it onyour feedback will be more meaningful and will make more sense.

! Write in a response log at the end of class, recording key points they have learned andquestions they still have.

! Using established criteria, select a work sample for their portfolio that proves a certainlevel of proficiency, explaining why the piece qualifies.

! Offer descriptive feedback to classmates.

! Use your feedback, feedback from other students, or their own self-assessment toidentify what they need to work on and set goals for future learning.

Strategy 5: Design Lessons to Focus on One Aspect of Quality at a Time

If you are working on an expectation having more than one aspect of quality, werecommend that you build competence one block at a time. For example, mathematicsproblem solving requires choosing the right strategy as one component. A scienceexperiment lab report requires a statement of the hypothesis as one component. Writingrequires an introduction as one component. Look at the components of quality and thenteach them one part at a time, making sure that students understand that all of the partsultimately must come together. You can then offer feedback focused on the componentyou just taught, which narrows the volume of feedback students need to act on at a

given time and raises their chances of success in doing so, again, especially forstruggling learners. This is a time saver for you, and more instructionally powerful forstudents.

Strategy 6: Teach Students Focused Revision

Show students how you would revise an answer, product, or performance, and then letthem revise a similar example. Begin by choosing work that needs revision on a singleaspect of quality. Ask students to brainstorm advice for the (anonymous) author on how

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to improve the work. Then ask students, in pairs, to revise the work using their ownadvice. Or ask students to write a letter to the creator of the sample, suggesting how tomake it stronger for the aspect of quality discussed. Ask students to analyze your ownwork for quality and make suggestions for improvement. Revise your work using theiradvice. Ask them to again review it for quality. These exercises will prepare students towork on a current product or performance of their own, revising for the aspect of qualitybeing studied. You can then give feedback on just that aspect.

Strategy 7: Engage Students in Self-Reflection, and Let Them Keep Track of andShare Their Learning

Engage students in tracking, reflecting on, and communicating about their ownprogress. Any activity that requires students to reflect on what they are learning and toshare their progress both reinforces the learning and helps them develop insights intothemselves as learners. These kinds of activities give students the opportunity to noticetheir own strengths, to see how far they have come, and to feel in control of theconditions of their success. By reflecting on their learning, they deepen their

understanding, and will remember it longer. In addition, it is the learner, not the teacher,who is doing the work.

Here are some things you can have students do:

! Write a process paper, detailing how they solved a problem or created a product orperformance. This analysis encourages them to think like professionals in yourdiscipline.

! Write a letter to their parents about a piece of work, explaining where they are now withit and what they are trying to do next.

! Reflect on their growth. I have become a better reader this year. I used to . . . , but now

I . . . ! Help plan and participate in conferences with parents and/or teachers to share their

learning.

These Strategies as a Progression

The strategies reflect a progression that unfolds in the classroom over time. Studentshave trouble engaging in later steps (such as self-assessment) if they have not hadexperience with earlier steps (understanding expectations and reliably assessing work).Likewise, it is much harder for students to communicate their progress if theexpectations are not clear, if they are not adept at assessing their work, and if they dontknow what they need to do to improve.

All assessment forlearning ideas in the rest of this book will address one or more of thethree questions: Where am I going? Where am I now?and How can I close the gap?

Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning is taken directly from CASL pages 42 46.

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Assessment Questions for Educational Leaders

Below is a sampling of questions which educational leaders might ask/listen for/look for, todetermine that assessment and evaluation practices are current and reflect ministry and district

school board direction and expected practice.

a) Describe how assessment forlearning, (diagnostic, formative) assessment as ( students thinking

about their own thinking ) and assessment of learning (summative) are used in your classroom.Give a recent example of each type that you have used and what assessment information eachtool has given you to inform your instruction and the student to improve on his/her learning.

b) Formative assessment data can be provided to the teacher by various sources. Besides yourself,who else provides you with assessment information and how is that information gathered?

c) A wide variety of assessment tools should be used. Show or describe three very differentassessment tools that youve used in your classroom within the last term. Why did you choose touse them?

d) How do you and your students collect, organize and store the evidence of student learning?

e) How are you managing situations where students are choosing to be summatively evaluated ondifferent finished pieces of work at different times?

f) Please share with me todays lesson plan so I can see which expectations were targeted in thelesson.

g) What are some of the ways youve been helping the students understand clearly how anassignment will be assessed?

h) Describe how you use feedback during formative assessments. How do students know what to doto move to the next level? What types of tools do you use to help students to organize theirfeedback in order to embark on next steps.

i) How have you been working with your colleagues to ensure assessment and evaluationconsistency across your division?

j) What are three or four characteristics of a quality assessment tool? Show a quality assessmenttool that you use in your classroom.

k) What process have you established for evaluating the assessment tools you use? How do you goabout analysing their effectiveness and what do you do with that information?

l) How do you deal with the challenges of late or missed assignments?

m) How do you use your professional judgement to determine what mark a student should have?

n) Describe how you involve your students in the assessment process?

o) How would you describe the assessment balance in your classes in terms of formative versussummative?

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Indicators of Sound Classroom Assessment Practice

1. Clear Purposes

Assessment processes andresults serve clear andappropriate purposes.

! Teachers understand who the users and uses of classroom assessmentinformation are and know their information needs.

! Teachers understand the relationship between assessment and studentmotivation and craft assessment experiences to maximize motivation.

! Teachers use classroom assessment processes and results formatively(assessment forlearning).

! Teachers use classroom assessment results summatively (assessment oflearning) to inform someone beyond the classroom about studentsachievement as of a particular point in time.

! Teachers have a comprehensive plan over time for integratingassessment forand oflearning in the classroom.

2. Clear Targets

Assessments reflect clear andvalued student learningtargets.

! Teachers have clear expectations for students; they know how to turnbroad statements of content standards into classroom-level targets.

! Teachers understand the various types of expectations they hold forstudents.

! Teachers select learning targets focused on the most important thingsstudents need to know and be able to do.

! Teachers have a comprehensive plan over time for assessingexpectations.

3. Sound Design

Expectations are translatedinto assessments that yieldaccurate results.

! Teachers understand what the various assessment methods are.

! Teachers choose assessment methods that match intended expectations.

! Teachers design assessments that serve intended purposes.

! Teachers sample learning appropriately in their assessments.

! Teachers write assessment questions of all types well.

!

Teachers avoid sources of mismeasurement that bias results.

4. Effective Communication

Assessment results aremanaged well andcommunicated effectively.

! Teachers record assessment information accurately, keep it confidential,and appropriately combine and summarize it for reporting (includinggrades). Such summary accurately reflects current level of studentlearning.

! Teachers select the best reporting option (grades, narratives, portfolios,conferences) for each context (learning targets and users).

! Teachers interpret and use standardized test results correctly.

! Teachers effectively communicate assessment results to students.

! Teachers effectively communicate assessment results to a variety ofaudiences outside the classroom, including parents, colleagues, and other

stakeholders.

5. Student Involvement

Students are involved in theirown assessment.

! Teachers make expectations clear to students.

! Teachers involve students in assessing, tracking, and setting goals fortheir own learning.

! Teachers involve students in communicating about their own learning.

Source: R. Stiggins, J. Arter., J. Chappuis, & S. Chappuis. (2004). Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing ItRight--Using It Well. Portland, OR: Educational Testing Service, page 27.