formal assessment reflection

8/9/2019 Formal Assessment Reflection

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Lindsay Kaye Ohlert

CI 5635 Spring 2010 Assessment Paper

Over the course of this school year, I completed two very different student teaching

placements. One was with 2nd grade ELLs in a push-in inclusion format, with a focus on

reading and basic math skills; the second was teaching Social StudiesGeography and

American Historyin a sheltered English classroom. Because of the differences in content,

program design and school expectations, the types of formal assessment used at these two

placements differed greatly. The elementary school as a whole was very focused on data-driven

instruction, and as such, relied heavily on the use of standardized tests that could be boiled down

to purely numerical results for use in objective decision-making. With my middle school class,

on the other hand, the general preference was for authentic assessment through performance

tasks.

The formal assessments I used at my elementary school placement were determined

largely by factors outside my control. At this school, while the ELL teachers were theoretically

supposed tobe co-teachers, due to the way the inclusion model was implemented I often ended

up simply implementing ELL-accommodated versions of the classroom teachers lesson plans.

Additionally, the school had adopted a scripted commercial reading curriculum building-wide,


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Lindsay Kaye Ohlert


said correctlyfor example, correctly pronouncing bup would earn a student three points,

while pronouncing it dupor upwould only earn two. The students final score was simply

the total number of phonemes correctly pronounced within the time limit.

This data was first used to put students into instructional groups; the lowest ten scores

went in one group, the next ten in another, and so forth; each group was assigned a different

teacher to work with during phonics time. After about 6 weeks, we repeated the phonics

inventory, this time for the purpose of monitoring the efficacy of the instructional methods we

were using; teachers whose students were not showing significant gains were expected to modify

their instruction, although of course these flat scores offered little information about how they

should change their approaches. Then, at the end of the quarter, we administered the inventory a

third time, this time to obtain a score to put on the students report cards. Thus, this single test

was used for several purposes; the first two uses were definitely formative, as they were used to

shape instruction, the third summative, as it was used to describe what the learner [could] do

with language at thatpoint (Shrum & Glisan, 2005, p. 361).

This assessment was not at all authentic. It falls all the way to the right on both the


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Lindsay Kaye Ohlert


scores, but students often read at a slower pace for reasons other than proficiency level; for

example, some perfectionist types with excellent phonemic awareness scored lower because they

worked slowly to say every single word exactly right, and thus were placed in lower groups.

Additionally, since students either got credit or not for each phoneme, there was no way to take

into account the various reasons a student might make an error; a student who confuses the

letters b and d has different instructional needs from a student who separately pronounces

the s and h in the /sh/ digraph, as does the student who does not know the letter at all. For

the school overall, it was important to have clean numerical data that was consistent across all

classes and teachers; within my own classroom, I might use a similar inventory, as it does

provide good insight into students phonemic awareness, but I would use it as one factor among

many in forming groups and making statements about student achievement. Far more useful to

me when working with my phonics group were the results of my own informal formative

assessment, such as observing how quickly and accurately students could match utterances to

cards with the corresponding written phonemes; these observations told me immediately which

students needed additional work on which sounds, which guided my instructional choices.


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Geography 1a students. The questions align directly with the Minnesota Social Studies

Standards document, such as Point out borders that touch other countries or water (Minnesota

Department of Education, 2004). To increase validity, I used the exact format and language as

practice activities wed done in class, so the test was more about applying the skill than about

reading or following instructionstwo very difficult things for newcomers. This type of quiz

was designed as much to orient new student to test-taking procedures as it was to actually assess.

The second type of formal assessment can be found in Appendices B and C, the Asian

Geography and Immigration tests, which I did with my ELL level 2 Geography 1b class and

ELL level 4 American History classes respectively. On the surface, these look like the Appendix

A assessments, but the documents dont tell the whole story; students actually wrote these tests

themselves, making this a combination performance assessment and traditional assessment. I

had students use their notes, memories, and classroom resources to write test questions and

answers (since their earlier instructional activities had addressed objectives based on state

standards, the questions they wrote naturally addressed these standards as well), then I compiled

and edited their questions to form a single exam, which they took in class the next day. Their


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interesting (O'Malley, 1996, p. 140). I also drew in Minnesota ELL standards by making

student-generated languagein these cases, dialogue, which they were also working on in

Writinga vehicle for effectively communicating Social Studies content. I discovered when

doing these activities that students were hugely motivated by having productshere, a comic

book and a video clipto display and keep, which resulted in improved performance. I did,

however, have to keep reminding students that they were being evaluated for content and

language, not on the perfection of their art or computer animation in the future, I will make that

totally explicit up-front when using performance assessments.

I learned a lot about assessment over the course of my student teaching placements. In

particular, I feel that I now have a much better grasp on how to tailor assessment to my own

classes while meeting school-wide requirements. I am also more acutely aware now of the

factors that can skew test result data, and know that in order for assessment to be truly useful,

both the test design and the interpretation of the results must take these factors into account.


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Name:

Date:

UNIT NINE TEST: BORDERS

Look at the map of the world and find the borders of these countries.

1. United States north: ________________ south: ________________east: _________________ west: _________________


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Name:

Date:

Asian Geography Quiz

1. This country is west of Russia, east of Libya and borders the Black Sea:2. What is the capital of Israel?3. This bay is southeast of India and southwest of Myanmar (Burma):4. These two countries are north of China and south of Russia:5. Name one mountain range located in China:6.

This sea borders Saudi Arabia and Egypt:

7. What mountain range connects Europe and Asia?8. Name four countries that are bordered by the Pacific Ocean.9. What is the capital of Kyrgyzstan?10.This river ends at the Sea of Okhost:11.This plain is west of Russia:12.This plateau is north of Vietnam:13.This peninsula is west of the Red Sea:14.What is the capital of Japan?15.Besides Russia, what is the biggest country in Asia?16.What is the capital of China?17.This ocean is west of Asia:18 This country is south of Turkmenistan and north of Pakistan:


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Name:

Date:

Immigration (1890-1920) Test

True or False (1 point each)

1. ______If Chinese immigrants at Angel Island were sick, they were sent back to China.2. ______Most immigrants waited 2 or 3 weeks at Angel Island, but some had to wait months.3. ______Most immigrants at Ellis Island were from Asia.4. ______Angel Island had fences and locks like a prison.5. ______Angel Island is now a park.6. ______The first thing immigrants saw at Angel Island was the Statue of Liberty.7. ______Immigrants at Angel Island carved poetry into the walls.8. ______At Angel Island, the men and the women were separated.9. ______The first immigrant at Ellis Island was an Irish girl.10.

______Immigrants at Angel Island did not have to pass tests.

11.______Immigrants at Ellis Island had to pass tests.12.______Most immigrants at Angel Island were from Europe.

Short Answer (2 points each)

Answer at least seven of these questions. For extra credit, you may answer all eight.

13.What is an immigrant?


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Long Answer (6 points each)

Answer two of these questions. For extra credit, you may answer all three questions. Please write neatly and

use complete sentences. If you need more space, you may write on the back of the page.

21.Push factors are things that make people want to leave their home country. Pull factors arethings that help people choose to move to a particular different country. What were some push and

pull factors for immigrants to the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s?

22.Some Americans were in favor of immigration, but others were against it. Explain some reasonspeople supported immigrants and some reasons people opposed them.


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XtraNormal India Video Assignment Rubric

4 3 2 1

Dialogue The conversationsounds very natural. The dialogueexpresses emotions, such

as humor, romantic

feelings, excitement, etc.

The conversationincludes accurate

information about Indian

food, economics, religion,

clothing, architecture,

transportation and socialclass.

There are manydetails.

The characterscompare and contrast

Indian culture with

Vietnamese and/or

Japanese culture.

The conversationincludes some greetings,goodbyes and

interjections.

The conversationincludes accurate

information about at least

five of the following:

Indian food, economics,

religion, clothing,

architecture,

transportation and socialclass.

There are somedetails.

The characterscompare and contrast

Indian culture with

Vietnamese and/or

Japanese culture.

The conversationincludes a few greetings,goodbyes or interjections.

The conversationprovides mostly accurate

information about at least

four of the following:


religion, clothing,

transportation,

architecture, and social

class. The characterscompare and contrast

Indian culture with

Vietnamese and/or

Japanese culture.

The conversationprovides partly accurateinformation about at least

three of the following:


religion, clothing,

transportation,

architecture, and social

class.

There is an Indiancharacter and a Japanese

or Vietnamese character.

Video The spelling andpunctuation are almost

perfect, so the program

can speak correctly.

The characters makemany actions that fit the

conversation.

The spelling andpunctuation are mostly

correct, so the program

can speak mostly

correctly.

The characters makesome actions that fit the

conversation.

The spelling andpunctuation are good

enough that the program

is understandable.

The characters makesome actions.

The spelling andpunctuation is good

enough that the program

can be understood

sometimes.


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Final Asia AssignmentDue March 5th


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You can work 2nd and 3rd period todayand 3rd period tomorrow. Your comic isdue Friday at the beginning of 2nd

period

no excuses!

First, choose two places (Vietnam, Japan, India,Saudi Arabia, or Uzbekistan)

Then, make a dialogue where a character from

one country goes to visit a character in adifferent country and gets a tour. The characterscompare their cultures. (Include at least 10 ofthese topics: food, economics, religion, clothing,architecture, transportation, art, nature,recreation, climate, history, and social class.)

Spend about 15 minutes looking at pictures ofthe countries on www.trekearth.com to getideas.

Make a comic book based on your dialogue.Make sure the pictures match the dialogue!
http://www.trekearth.com/http://www.trekearth.com/http://www.trekearth.com/


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Asian Cultures Comic Rubric

4 3 2 1

Dialog The conversation is verynatural. The spelling, grammarand punctuation are almost

perfect.

The conversation ismostly natural. The spelling, grammarand punctuation mostly

correct.

The spelling, grammarand punctuation are goodenough for the writing to be

understandable.

Spelling, grammarand/or punctuationmistakes make the writing

hard to understand.

Cultural

Information

The conversationaddresses two of the Asian

cultures we studied.

The conversationincludes totally accurate

information about 10 or

more of these elements:

food, economics, religion,

clothing, architecture,

transportation, art, nature,

recreation, climate, history,

and social class.

There are many details. The characters compareand contrast all the elements

they discuss.



The conversationincludes mostly accurate

information about 8 or more

of these elements: food,

economics, religion, clothing,

architecture, transportation,

art, nature, recreation,

climate, history, and social

class.

There are some details. The characters compareand contrast some elements.



The conversationincludes somewhat accurate

information about 5 or more

of these elements: food,

economics, religion, clothing,

architecture, transportation,

art, nature, recreation,

climate, history, and social

class.

The characters compareand contrast a few elements.

The conversationaddresses one of the

Asian cultures we studied.

The conversationincludes information

about some of the

elements of culture, but

there are many

inaccuracies.

Presentation The drawings match thedialog.

The drawings accuratelyshow the cultures.

The drawing and writingis very neat.

The drawings mostlymatch the dialog.

The drawings mostlyaccurately show the culture.

The drawing and writingis neat.

The drawings somewhatmatch the dialog.

The drawings somewhatshow the culture.

The drawing and writingis readable.

There are drawings.

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