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13

Testing 1, 2, 3 . . . TestingWhy We Don’t Want Our Data, Like

Our Laundry, to Pile Up

When I craft reading assessments, I follow a predictable structure thatincorporates everything that I know I need to assess. This chapter

shows in detail how to craft each of the following categories:

❑ Test this week’s strategies with shared passage.❑ Test this week’s strategies with a passage students have never seen

before.❑ Spiral review content from the past month.❑ Spiral review content from the past year.❑ Incorporate standardized testing.❑ Evaluate weekly vocabulary.❑ End with a survey and self-assessment.

Also,

❑ Keep assessments kid-friendly.❑ Don’t let assessment logistics keep you from doing weekly assessments.

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How often do you do your laundry? Do you let it go until it’s overflowingor do you have a set weekly routine? My husband refuses to own more thanseven pairs of socks. Maybe that’s the reason why we do our laundry weekly!Our sock restriction keeps our laundry manageable. It’s the same in ourclassrooms. Letting student knowledge pile up will be as laborious as lettingyour clothes pile up. The longer you wait to run the spin cycle, the longerit will be until you have fresh sheets, and the messier your hamper will be.Not testing frequently? Then your data, like your laundry, is piling up.

But it isn’t just frequency that counts with assessments; as with laundry,we need to consider compartmentalizing as well. By compartmentalizingyour assessments, you can track data overtime by category. Want to knowhow your students do on close reading strategies? Create a category oneach assessment. Vocabulary? Category. Standardized testing? Category.You get the picture. Frequent assessments are essential in that they maketeachers feel more powerful; knowledge is power, right? I will show thatfrequently assessing gives students more power as well. I remember a collegeclass where I didn’t receive any feedback until grades were due. Or I gotgrades every two months without feedback in between. I was leading myselfblindly through the course. Without feedback, I didn’t do as well as Icould. Frequent assessment results are great feedback and therefore allowfor powerful self-assessment.

TYPES OF READING ASSESSMENTS

Teachers constantly assess in their classrooms, and I’ve already intro-duced a few formative assessments that are essential in boosting readingachievement: checking for understanding, conferences, guided reading, anddo-nows. This chapter will discuss summative weekly assessments.

Formative assessments are assessments for learning. They happenwhile learning is under way. Formative assessments include diagnostics(assessments that gauge what students know), all checks for understandingduring lessons, and conferences. Formative assessments are not graded.

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■ Reading Without Limits ■

Table 13.1 Different Reading Without Limits Assessments

Formative (Not Graded) Summative (Graded)

All classroom checks forunderstanding

Weekly assessment of week’s objectives

Conferences Assessing i-Think journals weekly or bi-weekly

Guided reading Accountability for books read (end of bookquizzes, reports, etcetera)

Do-nows Running records

Summative assessments are assessments of learning. Summative assess-ments include quizzes, weekly tests, and standardized tests. They measureachievement status at a point in time, and sort students according toachievement for later intervention work; grades are later used for reportcard grading.

CRITERIA FOR A WEEKLY READING ASSESSMENT

Compartmentalized

Efficient

Frequent

Figure 13.1 Criteria for a WeeklyAssessment

When crafting summative assessments, thereare three qualities I am looking for, as shownin Figure 13.1.

Compartmentalized

Iwant tohavethesamecategoriesonmyassess-ment so I can track a student’s ability withinthat category over time. One essential compo-nent within a weekly assessment is assessingspiraled (or previously taught) material.

Efficient

Taking an assessment should be efficient and take one class period. I shouldbe able to grade the assessments efficiently and consistently.

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Frequent

Assessments should happen frequently. Both the students and I need to beon top of data in order to feel ‘‘powerful.’’ It is for this reason that the bestteachers assess at least every other Friday, if not every Friday.

I have just described the fundamental aspects of a Reading WithoutLimits assessment. Next I show how to put together a weekly (or bi-monthly)reading assessment that is compartmentalized, frequent, and efficient. Whytest? Ultimately, you are helping students grow because you will be able topinpoint exactly what they need. It also helps you revise your classroominstruction in order to address trends. Therefore, I believe you should keeptests simple and assess only the data you need. When I put together a weeklyreading assessment, I include seven categories and no others. This is thedata I need.

SHOW ME WHAT YOU KNOW (THIS WEEK’S STRATEGIES)

You’ve been collecting data all week: exit slips, listening to turn and talks,dipsticks, and reading conferences. It’s essential to keep up summativechecks for understanding because as the advocates of backwards planning,Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe argue, the assessment of understandingis best done as a collection over time and not just one single event.93 Theend of week assessment is the icing on the cake. You get a snapshot of eachstudent, have time to organize the data, and then can put a grade in yourgradebook. For high school teachers with 200 students, you may not be ableto analyze all students during the week. The end of week assessment allowsyou to get the data you need for every individual.

Use Shared Text

In order to assess whether or not students mastered what you taught, givethem an excerpt from the shared text and have them apply the week’s aims tothat passage. Reading assessments should directly match your classroom’s

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practice. Use an excerpt that you’ve shared before, ideally that week. Thatway, students who are below reading level will be able to access it. Keepthe passage short—it should take the students less than a few minutesto read.

Assess Exactly What You Taught

After four or nine lessons, assess each of your daily objectives so you getfrequent data. Write one test question per aim. You don’t need to asktons of questions—keep it efficient. Craft one question for each of yourweek’s lessons, using that passage. Make use of different approaches inyour questions, including graphic organizers, short responses, cloze, andmatching. Mix it up to make testing less of a drag. Following is an abbreviatedsample showing what I mean. The students were reading The Watsons Goto Birmingham while working on inferences derived from Common CoreState Standard 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly andto make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writingor speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. I included an excerptat the beginning of the test. Then, I asked four questions (for the week’sfour aims), two of which are below.

1. Read the two i-Think notes below. Why is the ‘‘Great Making MoreInference’’ better than the ‘‘OK Making More Inference’’ (Tuesday’slesson)? Identify three reasons.

Great Making More InferenceKenny is self-conscious about his wandering eye. He doesn’t liketo look at people head on so they won’t see his eye. Also, hepractices looking in the mirror trying to straighten his eye out. Ithink he’s self-conscious because he feels different, and becausehis brother teases him.

OK Making More Inference :I think that Kenny doesn’t like his eye.

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• __________________________________________________• __________________________________________________• __________________________________________________

❑ Three different things are listed❑ Reasons specifically reference Great Inference❑ Reasons specifically reference OK Inference

2. Reread the passage below. Draw a peace sign in the bottom rightcorner (I explain why I wrote that later in this chapter).

Me and Joey cracked up, Byron kind of chuckled and Momma put herhand over her mouth. She did this whenever she was going to give a smilebecause she had a great big gap between her front teeth. If Momma thoughtsomething was funny, first you’d see her trying to keep her lips together tohide the gap, then, if the smile got to be too strong, you’d see the gap fora hot second before Momma’s hand would come up to cover it, then she’dcrack up too.

Using the criteria you listed in #2, create a making more inference(Thursday’s lesson).

❑ Includes an inference that is not directly in the text❑ Made more of the text by making a prediction❑ Inference is supported by at least two details in the passage

Notice how

• I wrote down the day we did the lesson• I asked a short answer question and a question that required students to

make a list• I included criteria for the answer

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