Math
Unpacking Embedded Assessments
“To begin with the end in mind means to
know where you’re going before you get
started so that every step you take is
always in the right direction.”
Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, as cited
in Understanding by Design, by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
Initial Institute Workshop
Where are we headed?
Individual Accountability:
Read the assignment and in the
text, mark what you will have to do.
Scoring
Criteria
Content
Assessment
Vocabulary
Cognitive
Engagement
Collaboration
Differentiation
Formative
Assessment
Exemplary
Participants are required to use sustained
critical and creative thinking as a result of a
well-developed lesson design and insightful
activities.
The overall purpose of the lesson and its
connection to the Embedded Assessment are
clearly shared with the participants, fostering
an understanding of the relationship between
both.
Critical vocabulary is highly visible and
aligned to the instruction. Additions of
comments/notes help participants connect
learning to the assessment while fostering an
innate sense of ownership through
participant-generated materials.
Proficient
Emerging
The lesson and activities are designed so that The lesson and activities are insufficient
participants are required to use critical and
by design, requiring participants to use
creative thinking.
limited critical and/or creative thinking.
The overall purpose of the lesson is
The overall purpose of the lesson and its
underdeveloped and/ or unfocused. Its
connection to the Embedded Assessment are connection to the Embedded Assessment
shared with the participants.
is not shared or is unclear to the
participants.
Critical vocabulary is visible and aligned to
the instruction. Additions of participantgenerated materials /notes help participants
connect learning to the assessment.
Critical vocabulary is not visible and/or
aligned to the instruction. Little or no
additions of participant- generated
materials /notes are visible.
Activities show little or no variety in
design and lack sufficient development to
move participants to a greater level of
cognition.
Discussions are unstructured or
The lesson is designed to facilitate discussion
discouraged.
around the work and allow participants to
Participants are expected to approach to
experience different approaches to the same
the same task with little or no variance.
task.
Independent think time is minimal.
Independent think time is allowed and
Many participants are disengaged as
participants bring their own product/idea to
lesson does not have individual
the group based on their role/lesson
expectations which culminate into a
expectation.
group product.
Activities are purposefully designed to move
Activities are designed to move participants
participants strategically through multiple
through multiple levels of cognition.
levels of cognition.
The lesson is designed to facilitate
productive discussion around the work,
foster increased understanding, and allow
participants to experience different
approaches to the same task.
Independent think time is critical, allowing
participants to bring their own product/idea
to the group based on their role/lesson
expectation.
Uses a variety of strategies, process and/or
products as a way of facilitating participants’
understanding.
Following multiple formative assessments,
strategic adjustments are made during the
lesson to provide additional support for
learners.
Uses a variety of strategies as a way of
facilitating participants’ understanding.
Lacks a variety of strategies thereby
minimizing participants’ understanding.
Following formative assessments, some
adjustments are made during the lesson to
provide additional support for learners.
Adjustments and formative assessments
are inconsistent or non-existent during
the lesson, providing no/little additional
support for learners.
• Divide your paper into 3 sections. At the top of the
first section write green, the next yellow, and the last
red.
• For each of the 7 indicators, determine your current
level of implementation and write the indicator in that
section of your paper.
Red- The EMERGING criteria best align with my
practice
Yellow- The PROFICIENT criteria best align with my
practice
Green- The EXEMPLARY criteria best align with my
practice
Target:
To describe the conditions
key to effective student
collaboration and consider
methods to employ these in
my classroom.
Individually:
What are the key components of effective
collaboration?
Think- Write- Group- Share
VIDEO
 Setting things up
•
•
•
•
•
Expectations/Norms
Physical set up
Roles
Clarifying learning intentions and criteria for success
Consistent Cues
 Strategic grouping
• Things to consider when assigning groups
• Purpose of collaboration
 Ensuring group and individual accountability
•
•
•
•
•
Providing feedback to move learners forward
Activating students as owners of their learning
Activating students as instructional resources for one another
Engineering classroom discussion
Strategies to encourage collaboration
Issue:
Things to consider:
My students work independently even 
Roles (with accountability as you circulate)
when I tell them to work as a group.

Physical set up of room

Have each group create a single product (poster, paper, presentation) and time to share (gallery
walk, explain at board/document camera)

Ask a random group member to summarize the group’s discussion for you as you circulate

Instruct students to partner with someone in their group and decide whether you agree or disagree.
Explain your partner’s viewpoint and why you agree or disagree to the other pair in your group.
Come to a group consensus.
Some of my students get off task and 
Each student create their own product from the group’s effort
aren’t focused on content when they

Choose a group randomly to present their solution/method/reasoning for a problem
are in groups.

Ask all students to work on something individually first so they have a product/idea to bring to the
group.
It takes too much time.

Set expectations and routines which allow quick transitions to and from small group to full class
How do I know who gets it and who is
just getting answers from the group.
Some things just need to be done
independently

Formatively assess students individually (thumbs up, thumbs down, individual exit slips, display
individual responses on whiteboards before collaborating
Before each activity consider whether student discussion around their work will deepen understanding.
Most often, collaboration allows students to identify and address their own misconceptions while seeing
different approaches to the same problem. For tasks which are more independent you could:

Enforce “independent thinking time” before students come together to share. (Don’t forget the
THINK in think, pair, share)

Ask all students to work on something individually first so they have a product/idea to bring to the
group.

If you are circulating and get the sense that most groups have the same question, “pause” the class
for full class clarification
It is difficult to get around to groups
and answer the SAME question at
every group.
Even when I group students, they still 
call me over to answer EVERY question
so what is the point.


When you approach a group with a question, make YOUR first question to them- “Did you ask your
group?” This will reinforce the expectation that they turn to each other first.
Effective feedback through questioning rather than statements will encourage students to try to
figure things out before they ask because they know you aren’t going to give them the answer.
Ask students in a group if they agree or disagree with each other and why. Students will have to
discuss with each other in order to be able to do this.
Recorder
Role:
Compiles group members’ ideas on collaborative
group response
Sound Bites:
“I think I heard you say _______, is that right?”
“How would you like me to write this?”
Reader
Role:
Reads the prompt aloud to the group and leads
the group in analyzing what the group is being
asked to do
Sound Bites
“What do you think this is asking us to do?”
“Did we answer the question that we were
asked?”
Reporter
Questioner
Role:
Presents the ideas of the group to the rest of the
class
Sound Bites:
“I am hearing two different ideas, which one do
we think is right?”
“How would you like me to present our ideas to
the class?”
Role:
Asks each group member to consider questions
raised by other group members. This is the only
person who may determine that the group needs
to ask the teacher.
Sound Bites:
“_________ has a question. Does anyone know
the answer to that?”
“Do you guys agree with _____’s idea?”
Reflection:
On a post-it write one thing discussed in
this session which you will consider
trying in your classroom.
Post it on the Unpacked EA next to
collaboration as you leave for break.
 Unpacking Embedded Assessments
 Interactive Word Walls
Target:
To choose an appropriate
method to unpack an EA and
make annotations to connect
student learning to the EA.
Delivering SpringBoard
Lessons
 Unpacking Embedded
Assessments

“To begin with the end in
mind means to know where
you’re going before you get
started so that every step
you take is always in the
right direction.”
Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, as cited
in Understanding by Design, by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
Initial Institute Workshop
 Unpack each Embedded Assessment with each class before
the group of lessons leading up to the EA.
 Students are active partners in unpacking the EA.
 Post the unpacked EA in the room and refer back and make
notes on it during each lesson to help students connect learning
to the assessment
 Use unpacking sessions to formatively assess students’
understanding and knowledge of a topic to inform pacing
 What words do students know/not know?
 What skills do they think they already have?

How did the choice of methods impact students?
 What changes to this (if any) would you make in your
classroom?
 What should be taken into consideration when
choosing a method for unpacking an EA?
How might this impact student learning during the
unit?

Use the following roles while unpacking:
Recorder- Writer
Questioner/Runner- Speaks to trainer/posts visuals
Reporter- Speaker
Reader-
Anything aloud in small/large group.
 Your unpacked EA (your choice of
method)?
 How does your choice of method support
student understanding?
 How does each lesson connect back to
the EA? Add this to your unpacked EA as
you show us.
Reflection:
What is the purpose of unpacking
Embedded Assessments with students?
3 words max on a Post-it note
Target:
To design vocabulary instruction
which emphasizes multiple
representations and relationships
between words.
In the book Classroom instruction that
Works, Robert Marzano states:
Some researchers have concluded that
systematic vocabulary instruction is one of
the most important instructional
interventions that teachers can use,
particularly with low-achieving students.
 Introduce vocabulary words when they come up in a
lesson
 Post STUDENT GENERATED work on the word wallit doesn’t need to be neat!
 Include multiple representations with the word
 Organize the words in a way which illustrates
relationships between words
 Choose 5-15 words from the lessons that
students would or should identify as word wall items
 What representations for each word could you
encourage students to include?
 How could you arrange these words to emphasize
the relationships between them?
Reflection: How will this create a sense of ownership
among students?
What was your biggest take away
from this session?
Think- Group- Share
Chart
Target:
To identify the key principles of
differentiation and apply them
within the instructional
framework of SB.
 Using the Differentiated Planning
Guide
Each course level choose a lesson that
you would like to focus on to
differentiate:
Algebra I
Geometry
Algebra II
Differentiated Instruction
Individual accountability:
Using your student scenario, brainstorm on
paper how you would differentiate for this
student through product, process or content
during the chosen lesson.
Differentiated Instruction
Group accountability:
Join others that share your same student. Discuss
how you would differentiate content, product, or
process for this student. Commit each reasonable
idea to an individual Post-It.
Recorder- Writer
Runner- Speaks to
trainer/posts visuals
Reporter- Speaker
Reader- Anything aloud
in small/large group.