Welcome to:
The Power of Assessment in
Guiding Student Learning
Warm up: In groups of 3 or 4, please use the blank
chart paper to brainstorm these questions:
• What assessments do you use in your classroom?
• What are your purposes for these assessments?
• What do you do with the results from
assessments?
Be prepared to share your ideas with the group!
Learning Objectives
• Content Objective: Teachers will explore a
variety of types and purposes of assessment
strategies.
• Language Objective: Teachers will be able to
explain how they can use assessment to
identify and respond to student understanding
throughout the instructional process.
Types and Purposes of Assessment
• “We plan. We develop. We deliver. We
assess and evaluate the results of the
assessment. We revise, deliver the revised
material, and assess and evaluate again.
Perfection is always just out of reach; but
continually striving for perfection
contributes to keeping both our instruction
fresh and our interest in teaching piqued."
-E.S. Grassian
Visual Assessment Overview
Sequential Instructional Block
Assessment Overview
Interim Assessments
“Teachers and district personnel have created
four interim assessments per grade level, each
aligned to an instructional block. These are
intended to be given as pre- and postassessments. The purpose of these is to assess
student progress toward mastery of the Utah
Core Standards, determine when intervention is
necessary, and inform instructional practice.”
Common Check for Understanding Strategies
Quick Check for Understanding Strategies
Strategy
Description
3-2-1
Students use their fingers to indicate their level of understanding
Every Pupil Response
Give students a two-color coded card. Students hold up the color to show that they understand or don’t
understand.
Quick Writes
Share Outs
Use timed writing prompts to have students respond to a math question. Can be used before, during, or
after a lesson. Choose specific students to share their response.
Math Talk
Think-pair-share, Turn to a partner, A-B Partners, Inner-Outer Circles, etc.
Partner/Group
Solving
Students are put in pairs or groups to solve a problem together. This allows teachers to do a quick walk
about to see who understands the concepts.
White Boards
(page protectors)
Give students a math problem to solve on their own. Have them hold the whiteboard in FRONT of their
chest instead of up in the air, prevents most copying.
Daily Check for
Understanding Strategies
Strategy
R,G,Y or 4-3-2-1
Circle, Triangle,
Square
Entrance/Exit Tickets
Example/NonExample
Sentence Frames
Flag It/Star It
Quick Writes-Daily
Math Journals
Mini Rubric
Word Sort
White Boards-Daily
Daily Check for Understanding Strategies
Description
Quick scale to check for on a written assignment. Students self-assess their understanding.
Something still going around in your head (circle), A pointed idea that stood out (triangle), and
An idea you agreed or “squared” with (square).
Give students a ticket when they enter the room with review (2 or 3) questions from the
previous day’s lesson. Students are given a ticket at the end of the lesson with (2 or 3)
questions that can be quickly checked by the teacher to assess who needs tier 2 instruction.
Have students work a problem and then give a non-example of the same problem.
Give students a fill-in-the blank task, question, or problem.
Give students colored sticky notes or stickers so that they can flag concepts that they are not
quite clear on or they can put a star next to things that stuck out or are important.
Use writing prompts from Expressions or come up with your own writing prompt. Students
answer the prompt in their math journal. Collect a few journals every week to read and
respond to students.
Scoring guide using a 3-2-1 rating to see where students are on a concept.
Students use vocabulary words to sort with definitions or categories.
Have students solve work on mini white boards so teacher can walk around to check work.
Exit Ticket
with Red, Yellow, Green Light
Expressions Formative Assessment
4-Square for Story Problems
Unit Quick Quiz
Performance Assessments
• Rubrics… importance of having them prior to
giving performance assess
Expressions Performance Assessment
Unit Test
Ongoing Check for
Understanding Strategies
Student Data Sheets
Assessment Review
Assessment Analysis and Re-Teaching
Assessment in Action
• Situation 1
• You are in the middle of teaching a lesson
on properties of operations. It seems like
some students are getting it and some
aren’t. How can you check for
understanding? How might you respond
during the lesson after you check for
understanding?
Assessment in Action
• Situation 2
• You taught a lesson on fractions. It
seemed like most students were engaged
and getting the concept throughout the
lesson as you checked for understanding.
What type of assessments could you use
at the end of the lesson to be sure
exactly which students understand the
objective for the day? How might you
respond to the assessment?
Assessment in Action
• Situation 3
• You just finished a unit on measurement. Throughout
the unit your students seemed to grasp the concepts.
You administered several formative assessments
throughout the unit and met with small groups of
students when they didn’t understand concepts. You
gave the unit test and overall your students averaged
a score of 80%. There were three questions on the
assessment that less than 50% of the students
answered correctly. There were also four students
who scored less than 50% on the test. How might
you respond to the assessment?
Reflection
• Please complete the Exit Ticket for today’s
session and be prepared to share.
• Something new I learned about using assessment
to identify student understanding is…
• Something I might like to try as a way to respond
to student understanding is…
• A question I still have is…