Focusing assessment on concepts, not trivia

A common “accommodation” is …Allowing students with cognitive disability to take “concept free” tests that focus on regurgitating facts

What’s the point of memorizing a bunch of facts if you don’t understand the “why” behind them?

What not make the accommodation focus on increasing the learn-ability of the concepts?

Critical decisions for designing appropriate assessment of content knowledge:

1. What knowledge do you expect students to know?

2. What are the dimensions of the kind of knowledge you expect of students?

3. How will students demonstrate that they have acquired that knowledge?

Critical decisions for designing appropriate assessment of content knowledge:

1. What knowledge do you expect students to know?

2. What are the dimensions of the kind of knowledge you expect of students?Gist & details?

Examples & non-examples?

Relationships to other ideas being learned?

Relate to the real-world?

3. HOW will students demonstrate their knowledge?

Recognition Production

Discriminate correct from incorrect (true / false)

Select from options (multiple choice)

3. HOW will students demonstrate their knowledge?

Recognition Production

Fill in blanksOral explanationWritten explanationProduce visual

representationPerformance / demonstration

FOCUS ASSESSMENT ON BIG IDEAS, NOT TRIVIAKnow what you want students to know

about the conceptGist

Can the student summarize what the idea is about?

Critical features What specific details are essential to know in order to understand the big idea?

Contextual knowledge How does the idea show up? How does it affect things? What does society do to prevent or enhance its occurrence?

“Gets it”

“Doesn’t get it”

Can elaborate the idea - gist & - knowledge of essential features is complete & correct - different manifestations of the ideas -can recognize inappropriate applications of the idea

Many connections to other ideas - how idea is effected by various phenomena - how idea affects our world - how idea contrasts with other ideas

Poor ability to elaborate the idea - can’t summarize idea in own words - knowledge of critical features is incomplete and/or erroneous - can’t identify different manifestations of the ideas

Few or no connections to other ideas - can’t identify how an idea is effected by various phenomena - can’t identify how idea affects our world - can’t identify how idea contrasts with other ideas

A student’s knowledge of an idea will always fall somewhere on a continuum

Superficial understanding of big idea

Sophisticated understanding of big idea

Implications … Need to explicitly teach and assess relational understandings of core ideas An example would be using think-sheets in lieu of traditional test questions