The ABCs of
Assessment
Improving Student Learning
Through New Approaches to
Classroom Assessment
An Era of Standards
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
State standards
New accrediting standards
Wrong Directions
High-stakes standardized testing
Teaching to the test
Lost focus on teacher-designed
classroom assessment
But now we have an opportunity to change those wrong
directions by refocusing our attention on the way we
assess students in our classrooms.
New research is proving that teacher-based
classroom assessment is not only a valid means
of assessing students but is even an effective way
to improve student learning!
Why is teacher-based classroom
assessment an effective way to
evaluate students and to improve
student learning?
Because teachers are constantly
questioning students and giving
them tasks that require students to
demonstrate their learning.
Information about student learning
can be thought of as the “pulse” that
paces and sustains learning in the
classroom.
Research tells us that a few key
features are necessary for this
classroom assessment to be
effective. These features are both
attitudes towards assessment and
structural features of how it is
employed.
If classroom assessment is
seen merely as a method
of determining students’
grades, it will be less
effective as a way of
improving student learning.
“Surely, classroom tests have helped teachers
dispense grades since the Middle Ages. But
classroom tests can do so much more. If
teachers use classroom assessments properly,
students’ performances on those tests can
help teachers make far better instructional
decisions.” W. James Popham, Classroom
Assessment: What Teachers Need to Know
(2005)
“The best classroom assessments
also serve as meaningful sources of
information for teachers, helping
them to identify what they taught
well and what they need to work
on.” T.R. Guskey, How Classroom
Assessments Improve Learning
(2003)
ABCs of the new
classroom assessment
A: Assessment for learning rather
than just assessment of learning;
B: Backward design;
C: Collaboration and change.
Assessment for learning
The purpose of assessment for learning
is to improve student learning, not just
audit it.
It encourages formative assessment:
ways to find out how students are doing
when there is still time to remedy
learning gaps.
Assessment for learning
Besides formative assessment,
assessment for learning favors
“authentic assessment” approaches
and tools that approximate most
closely the kinds of tasks and skills
that adults perform in the real world.
Assessment for learning also
emphasizes the importance of
communicating clear criteria for
success to students and then
providing regular and effective
feedback so that they know what
they need to do to master the goals
of the course.
ABCs of the new
classroom assessment
Assessment for learning
Backward design
Collaboration and change
Backward Design
A new approach to course design and
curriculum writing;
Replaces the “first I teach, then I test” method
of assessment;
Instead of beginning with the material to be
covered, the teacher begins by deciding what
assessment will determine whether the student
has mastered the course goals.
Backward design requires that we first decide what
students will need to do to demonstrate that they have
learned what we want them to learn.
Then, we design instruction with the assessment
in mind. In this way, we can be sure that we are
assessing the most important learning goals of
the course and that our instruction is in sync with
those goals.
But isn’t this what is known
as teaching to the test?
Not if instruction is planned to teach skills and
knowledge that are generalizable to a whole class
of tasks. The tasks on any assessment should
represent a sampling of representative tasks, not
an exhaustive catalogue. Students should be
able to complete many different tasks using the
skills and knowledge mastered during the course
of instruction. This is known as transfer.
Advantages of developing our
classroom assessments at the
beginning, before instruction begins?
Clearer explanations of content
provided to students;
Sharper focus in all areas of the
course on the most important goals
for student learning.
What should a teacher consider before
designing the assessments?
The student learning outcomes and objectives;
Whether the learning outcomes are best
measured by selected-response or
constructed response assessments;
How to avoid bias in assessments.
The student learning outcomes and
objectives should define the most
important goals of student learning
for the course. The assessments
should be designed to measure
them. If they do not, then the
assessments are not valid.
Selected response or constructed response
assessments?
Selected-response assessments: true/false, multiple
choice, short answer. Most appropriate for measuring a
student’s recollection of memorized information.
Constructed-response assessments: essays,
performance exams, portfolios, projects, and
presentations. Most appropriate for measuring a
student’s skills, the ability to do something.
Absence of bias in the assessment?
If an assessment item or task offends or unfairly
penalizes a group of students on the basis of personal
characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity, religion, or
race,then the assessment results will be distorted by
bias.
However, disparate impact does not necessarily equal
assessment bias.
How to ensure that your assessments
are free of bias?
Become sensitive to the existence
of bias and the need to eliminate it;
Show any questionable item to a
colleague representative of the
group in question.
ABCs of the new
classroom assessment
A: assessment for learning rather
than just assessment of learning;
B: backward design;
C: collaboration and change.
Collaboration and change
Can an individual teacher, working alone, succeed in
changing her assessment approach and practices so
that they actually improve student learning, not just audit
it?
Perhaps, but research suggests that teachers meeting
and talking together can more effectively change their
assessment practices.
How might teachers collaborate on
changes to their assessment
practices?
Would they need any resources from
the college to do this?
Have there been any new ideas and
approaches in this presentation that
you would like to try to incorporate
into your classroom teaching?