assessment for learning: secondary damian cooper (905) 823-6298 [email protected] nesa spring...

Assessment For Learning: Secondary

Damian Cooper

(905) 823-6298

[email protected]

NESA Spring Educators ConferenceApril 4, 2011

Session Outcomes Review the research base behind current assessment

directions Examine the importance of metacognition, feedback,

and self and peer assessment. Understand the critical role played by “assessment for

learning” in providing students with the information they need to improve

Learn about research-based “assessment for learning” strategies that are proving to be effective in improving student learning

Share with colleagues how these strategies may be appropriate to my own classroom

Time to Talk About Assessment

Identify for yourself your #1 issue or concern about classroom assessment at your school.

Share your concerns at your table. Which of these are shared by the

majority at your table?

Mission: to sift and sort students

Mean

Mission: excellence from ALL

Range of Competent Achievement

If the new goal of education is success for all, then we have no choice but toDifferentiate Instruction & Assessment

Instruction Students bring different

knowledge & experience to school

Students learn at different rates

Students learn in different ways

Assessment Not all students are

able to demonstrate their learning in the same way

Not all students respond the same way to test pressure

Some students need more scaffolding than others

Research on Effective Assessment

•The provision of effective feedback to students

•The active involvement of students in their own learning

•Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment

•Recognition of the profound influence assessment has on motivation and self-esteem

•The need for students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve

Crooks, 1988; Black & Wiliam, 1998

The Big Ideas of Classroom Assessment

1. Assessment serves different purposes at different times: it may be used to find out what students already know and can do; it may be used to help students improve their learning; or it may be used to let students, and their parents, know how much they have learned within a prescribed period of time.

Assessment for Learning“Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting students’ learning. It thus differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence.” Black, Wiliam et al. 2004

Assessment of Learning

“Assessment of learning includes those tasks that are designed to determine how much learning has occurred after a significant period of instruction. The data from such assessments is often used to determine report card grades.

When the classroom culture focuses on rewards, gold stars, grades, or class ranking, then (students) look for ways to obtain the best marks rather than to improve their learning. One reported consequence is that, when they have any choice, (students) avoid difficult tasks. They also spend time and energy looking for clues to the “right answer”. “Inside the Black Box”, Black & Wiliam, 1998

“…assessment which is explicitly designed to promote learning is the single most powerful tool we have for both raising standards and empowering lifelong

learners.” Assessment for Learning: Beyond the Black Box, 1999, University of Cambridge School of Education

Differing Assessment Purposes

Assessment for Learning

TryoutsPractices


GamesPlayoffs


Discuss the distinction between assessment for learning” and “assessment of learning” as it relates to current practice in your classroom

But we must begin with the question, “What constitutes essential learning for students in the 21st. century?”

“Backward Design” Program Planning

Stage 1: Identify targeted understandings

Stage 2: Determine appropriate assessment of those understandings

Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and instruction that make such understanding possible

Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

Plan Backward from What’s Essential…

Worth being

familiar with

Important to know and do

Enduring understandings

Adapted from Wiggins and McTighe,

Understanding by Design

Assessment Types

Traditional quizzes & tests

-paper/pencil

Performance Tasks & Projects

-open-ended

-complex

-authentic

Oral Assessments

-conferences

-interviews

-oral questionning


Stage 1: Identify targeted understandings

Stage 2: Determine appropriate assessment of those understandings Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design


Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and instruction that make such understanding possible

Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design


Discuss the essential skills that Jeff can assess through the G7 task that could NOT be assessed through the written examination.


Evaluate the quality of the G7 task, using the Checklist for a Well-Designed Performance Task.

Grading Co-operative Group Tasks


“Assessment of learning includes those tasks that are designed to determine how much learning has occurred after a significant period of instruction. The data from such assessments is often used to determine report card grades.

Grade teams need to collaborate to… Identify the set of critical

assessment tasks

Agree upon the relative weighting of each task

Establish the criteria by which each task will be assessed

Develop common, high quality scoring tools that capture the essential indicators of quality performance

Periodically engage in moderation of student work

Collect banks of exemplars, several for each level, for each task

Assessment for Learning“Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting students’ learning. It thus differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence.” Black, Wiliam et al. 2004

Diagnostic Assessment

Engage students with a hook: “If you won the lottery…”

Activate prior knowledge Assess current skills and understanding in 3 ways:

-through written work

-through performance assessment and observation

-through oral assessment: questioning, conferencing, discussion, etc.

Cloze Procedure

Using Assessment Data to Differentiate Instruction

Examine the data from diagnostic assessments to group students according to their strengths and needs

Use mini-lessons followed by practice to address these needs

Identify individual students who are most “at risk”

Use a combination of groupings to increase understanding …

Purposeful Grouping of Students

Heterogeneous groups to provide support and to consolidate new learning

Homogeneous groups to deepen learning and to provide specific instruction to struggling learners

Flexible grouping to ensure all students work in their “zpd”


Schedule time to conference with individuals or small groups of students who need the most support

Plan this time strategically as a routine part of your instruction

Time to “Talk About Assessment”

Discuss this approach to diagnostic assessment:

-how closely does it align with your current practice?

-how does it differ?

-what elements of this model could be adapted to your own class?

-what challenges do you anticipate?

-how might these be solved?

Differentiating Instruction Teachers need to fully understand

accommodation, modification, and substitution

To develop skills, simplify the content e.g. Simpler texts, less depth/breadth, etc.

To master content, present using a different mode suited to student’s strengths e.g. Graphics, audio, video, manipulatives, etc.

Differentiating Assessment Content standards:

learning outcomes

Performance standards: rubrics/checklists

Student products & performances

Assessment conditions

Must be within student’s “ZPD”

Keep consistent for all students

May be adapted to be within student’s “ZPD”

Differentiating Assessment

Tiered Assessments

Design task @ grade level, to demonstrate proficiency, independently

Adapt or modify task to increase challenge: less structure, more choice, greater sophistication, etc.

Adapt or modify task to reduce challenge: more structure, less choice, less sophistication, etc.

Reporting to Parents

Grade level at which student is working

Achievement level at which student is performing

Degree of support provided

Learning outcomes

(incl. IEP ref. if applicable)

Rubric levels

Anecdotal comments


To what extent are the preceding descriptions of instruction, assessment and reporting for diverse learners consistent with current practice in your school or classroom?

Components of Assessment for Learning (Black & Wiliam, 2003)

Oral questioning

Marking as feedback

Peer and self-assessment

Formative use of summative tests

Components of Assessment for Learning (Wiliam, 2007)

Clarifying learning intentions and sharing criteria for success

Engineering effective classroom discussions, questions, and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning

Providing feedback that moves learners forward

Activating students as owners of their own learning

Activating students as instructional sources for one another

Components of Assessment for Learning (Cooper, 2007)

1. Do I routinely share learning goals with my students so they know where we are heading?

2. Do I routinely communicate to students the standards they are aiming for before they begin work on a task?

3. Do I routinely have students self and peer assess their work in ways that improve their learning?

4. Does my questioning technique include all students and promote increased understanding?

5. Do I routinely provide individual feedback to students that informs them how to improve?

6. Do I routinely provide opportunities for students to make use of this feedback to improve specific pieces of work?


To what extent are these 6 “Look For’s” evident in your classroom or school?


What is your assessment of Jackie’s instructional & assessment practices?

+? -? Interesting?

Assessment for Learning: am I already doing it?

Do I routinely share learning goals with my students so they know where we are heading?

Math Class Learning Goal: You will demonstrate that you

understand the relationship between the numerator and the denominator in a fraction.

At the end of the lesson, Linda points to the poster on the classroom wall and asks her students: What did you learn in this lesson today?

Their exit slip is to answer on a “leaf” and post it on the “knowledge tree”

Linda told me that the most effective AFL strategy for her has been to write the learning goal for each day’s lesson on the board.



Do I routinely communicate to students the standards they are aiming for before they begin work on a task?

Most students can hit the target if they can see it clearly and it stays still for them. Rick Stiggins

Clear Targets

Clarity of curriculum standards High quality assessment tasks Rubrics to describe what quality looks

like Checklists to enable students to monitor

their own progress Anchors to show students what quality

looks like

Using Rubrics in the Classroom

Use a rubric analytically to provide feedback to students when conducting diagnostic or formative assessment– I.e. focus on the indicators and don’t worry about

the overall level

Use a rubric holistically for summative evaluation purposes– I.e. Ask, “What set of indicators best describes the

student’s overall performance at this time?”

Assessment for Learning



Do I routinely communicate to students the standards they are aiming for before they begin work on a task?

Do I routinely have students self and peer assess their work in ways that improve their learning?

Math Class Pete has his students use “Traffic Light” signs at

the start of a lesson on equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages to assess prior knowledge.

Teacher: Do you know what the word “equivalent” means?

Students show either the red or green side of the “traffic light” in response.

He orally checks a sample of the “green” responses to see if they do, in fact, understand the term.

Music Class Students had been practising in groups of 3, playing a 3-

part jazz composition. At the end of the lesson, each group performed and the teacher required peers to assess what they heard. Here is some of the conversation:

Rachel: Holly went too fast.Sam: You all need to listen more to each other.Teacher: Now, who hasn’t given any feedback yet? Tam, tell

Emma’s group how they did, and remember to be specific.

Tam: Emma’s fill was really good. Everyone was in good time.

Teacher: Are you sure about that, Tam? (Tam hesitates….)Michael, what did you think about Emma’s group?Michael: They all started out together, then Freddy seemed to

get lost, but then they finished together.Teacher: Good feedback, Michael. Emma’s group, do you

agree with what Michael said?

Self and Peer Assessment Assessment for learning ONLY

Requires training and modelling

Focus assessment on what was taught

Begin with short sessions

Needs to be part of your routine

Time to Talk About Assessment With your colleagues, discuss current

use of self and/or peer assessment in terms of purpose, frequency and design in your classroom or school.

Assessment for Learning:am I already doing it?

Does my questioning technique include all students and promote increased understanding?

Do I routinely provide individual feedback to students that informs them how to improve?

Do I routinely provide opportunities for students to make use of this feedback to improve specific pieces of work?

Provide tons of feedback … Oral & written feedback

tell students how to improve – marks DON’T

Establish classroom routines that create opportunities for teacher & peer feedback

Provide feedback ALONE on formative assessments; do NOT include marks

Provide tons of feedback … Needs to cause thinking: don’t provide the

“answer” Must not be evaluative Must direct students towards improvement Must make reference to specific quality

indicators (a rubric or checklist) Must include an expectation that it will be

implemented Must include strategies for checking that it has

been implemented

Some Final Thoughts...

“Not everything that can be counted, counts AND not everything that counts can be counted”

“You can’t nourish a starving child by constantly weighing it”

“You won’t have much luck with your crops if you keep pulling them up to check on their roots”

Commitment to Action

Spend a few moments reflecting on today …. What was your most significant learning? What specific actions do you plan to take

immediately and/or between now and June 2011? Who will be involved? What results would you like to see from these

actions? How will you assess the effectiveness of these

actions?

Suggested Reading

1. Black, Paul and Wiliam, Dylan. “Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment”, Phi Delta Kappan, October, 1998 A seminal article on the value of formative assessment that summarizes effective assessment practices as described in 250 studies in the UK, the US, Australia, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Africa.

2. Cooper, Damian. Talk About Assessment: Strategies and Tools to Improve Teaching and Learning, Nelson Education, 2007.

3. Cooper, Damian. Talk About Assessment: High School Strategies and Tools,

Nelson Education, 2010 4. Davies, Anne. Making Classroom Assessment Work, Connections Publishing,

2000 A short and very useful overview of the basics of assessment in today’s classrooms, with particular relevance to elementary schools.

5. Marzano, Robert J. Transforming Classroom Grading, ASCD, 2000

An excellent examination of past and present trends in classroom grading practice.

6. O’Connor, Ken. How to Grade for Learning 3rd. Edition, Skylight, 2009

A solid treatment of the grading dilemmas that arise in intermediate and senior grades.

7. Stiggins. Richard. Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Assessment

Training Institute, 2004. An in-depth “textbook” for students of assessment, organized according to principles of assessment, assessment methods, and communication.

8. Wiggins, Grant. Educative Assessment, Jossey Bass, 1998

A comprehensive publication from a true expert in the field, this work provides all the background to Wiggins” approach to classroom assessment.

9. Wiggins, Grant and McTighe, Jay. Understanding By Design, ASCD, 1998

A concise and very readable guide to designing program from an assessment point of view.

assessment for learning: secondary damian cooper (905) 823-6298 [email protected] nesa spring...

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