Informative Assessment

~UMS Staff Member

Progress monitoring will be an ongoing tool that we will utilize constantly to help students achieve and succeed.

Timely, constructive feedback is important.

~UMS Staff Member

Students actually WANT feedback and check-ins. We need to do a lot more!

~UMS Staff Member

Make sure to give feedback and let the kids know what the objectives are.

~UMS Staff Member

Our students will have the ability to own their learning and teachers will be able to efficiently differentiate learning.

~UMS Staff Member

I should be assessing with specific feedback as often as possible (every 20 minutes).

~UMS Staff Member

Instead of just issuing a grade to the student make sure the student knows why they are receiving it.

~UMS Staff Member

Students want to know how they are doing and we as teachers need to give them that info.

~UMS Staff Member

Checking for understanding is an important practice.

~UMS Staff Member

A grade without feedback is meaningless.

~UMS Staff Member

Informative Assessment

UMS PD 2012-2013 School Year

We will come to Understand that. . .

Assessment is an ongoing process, not a series of separate and singular acts.

Formative assessment and effective feedback are critical components for improving student learning and ownership.

High-quality assessment verifies and communicates growth over time.

Effective feedback is timely, descriptive and two-way.

We deliberately design instruction so that students reach mastery levels.

Because every assessment is flawed in some way we must control for bias, sampling and provide for multiple opportunities.

Tina

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We will Know. . .

Summative Assessments

Formative Assessments

Learning Targets

Assessment Methods

Target-Method Match

Characteristics of Exemplars

Characteristics of Effective Feedback

Common Core Standards

Close Reading of Text

Evidence-Based Argument

Standards of Mathematical Practices

Tracy

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We will be able to Do. . .

Allow students multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery and growth over time.

Unpack standards into learning targets.

Use clear learning targets to determine the assessment method and translate learning targets into student-friendly language.

Reach consensus about what mastery looks like.

Give effective feedback in a timely and descriptive manner.

Monitor student progress towards the mastery of learning targets.

Use the results of an assessment to adjust instruction.

Use feedback from students to adjust instruction.

Jacinda

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Informative Assessment ofEvidence-Based Argument

Tracy

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Our Focus & Rationale

Focus:

Formative Assessment of Evidence-Based Argument

Why Evidence-Based Argument?

Evidence-Based Argument is valued in all disciplines and across all grade levels.

Our district walkthrough data indicates that our students are only demonstrating higher order thinking skills 1 4 % of the time.

Our teachers have identified Evidence-Based Argument as a need through professional conversations at Program Council and Curriculum Committees.

Research reinforces the use of Evidence-Based Argument as one of the school reforms that has the largest positive influence on student performance.

Tracy

Why focus on evidence-based argument?

-Close study of standards

-Curriculum Committees and Program Council

-Walkthrough data:

Out of 1900 observations, during instruction, students were Writing or learning to write 205 times (11%)

Out of 1900 observations, the higher order thinking skills utilized by most students were:

Analyzing skills 84 (4%)

Evaluating skills 32 (1%)

(These are the 2 skills needed for EBA)

EBA applies to all disciplines and across all areas.

There are many things we could focus our assessment on, and we will narrow that focus to EBA.

90-90-90 schools

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Four UMS Goals

Tracy

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Goal One

Each department will write one overarching Evidence-Based Argument (EBA) target selected from the Common Core Standards.

To track student progress, course groups will:

Create a Common Pre-Assessment

Give and share Formative Assessments to track EBA progress

Create a Common Summative Assessment

Look at Student Work

Tracy

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Goal Two

Each course group will write at least one new UbD.

Include:

Common Core or Illinois State Standards

Your new overarching EBA standard

Formative Assessments to track progress of all standards

Tina

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Goal Three

Each course group will revise the UbDs worked on last year.

Include:

Common Core or Illinois State Standards

Your new overarching EBA standard

Formative Assessments to track progress of all standards

Tina

20

Goal Four

We will read Checking for Understanding and participate in follow-up discussions throughout the year.

Options include:

Action Team

Thursday Pizza Lunch

Wiki Posting

Jacinda

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Calendar

Jacinda

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Checking for Understanding

by Douglas Fisher & Nancy Frey

Book Study

Tracy

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Text Preview

Create a purpose for reading.

Build motivation for students to want to read/acquire the new information.

Generate interest in the topic.

Activate background knowledge/experiences.

Relate reading to students lives.

Reduce anxiety or uncertainty involved in the reading.

Tracy

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Checking for Understanding

by Douglas Fisher & Nancy Frey

Book Walk

Tracy

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Measuring UMS Growth

Exit Activity

Dani & Jessica & Katie

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