Assessment FOR Learning –
A Balanced Approach
Purposes
Identify components of a balanced
assessment system.
Discuss appropriate uses of assessment
tools and techniques.
Discuss the need for a balanced system to
improve student learning.
How Are You Assessing?
At your table divide into two groups,
identify all the assessments you use.
With the total group at your table compare
and contrast the ways you assess student
learning. Identify the most commonly used
and the most unique approaches, record
on chart paper.
Write each type of assessment on a Postit note.
Put the Post-it notes aside until later.
Shifts in Assessment Practices
FROM:
Separating successful
from unsuccessful
learners
Primarily summative
Focus on large-scale
assessments
Teacher directed
TO:
Ensuring universal
competence/success
Balance of formative and
summative
Balance large-scale w/
classroom assessment
Teacher and student
focused
Balance Both Sides of Assessment
Summative
Formative
Large-scale
Classroom
Balanced Assessment System
Assessment FOR Learning
(Formative)
Includes
instructionally
embedded activities
Usually teacher/locally
developed
Yields rich diagnostic
information
Happens while
material is being
taught
Informs and focuses
instructional decisions
Isn’t used for grades
Assessment OF Learning
(Classroom Summative)
Occurs after
material is taught
Includes unit tests
and other graded
performances
Can be developed
locally or
purchased
Counts toward
grades
Isn’t diagnostic
Benchmark / Interim
Assessments
Are usually a form of summative
assessment
Can be used as an early warning of
performance on later high stakes tests
Often constructed by external sources
Can cover some or all of a year’s
curriculum
Provides broad domain or sub-domain
coverage (minimally diagnostic)
Results raise programmatic questions that
require further investigation (*formative
for program – not current student)
High Stakes Accountability Tests
Provide broad domain or subdomain
coverage (minimally diagnostic).
Usually constructed by an external source.
Results raise programmatic questions that
require further investigation.
Satisfy accountability requirements – state
and federal.
Can give the “big picture” view of state and
school performance.
Three Types of Assessment
“(In)formative Assessments,” Harvard Education Letter, 2006
Summative
Interim/
Benchmark
Formative
Key
Question
Do you
understand?
(yes or no)
Is the class on
track for
proficiency?
What do you
understand?
When
Asked
End of unit/
term/year
6 – 10 times
per year
Ongoing
Timing
of
Results
After
instruction
ends
Slight delay
Immediate
Assessment: Knowledge of
Students
In-depth knowledge of
specific students
National
Assessments
State
Assessments
District
Assessments
Classroom
Assessments
Marzano, 1996
Assessments have various purposes,
provide answers to different
questions, address different users,
and have varying implications for an
assessment system.
Classroom Assessment User: Student
EDge(PDK), 2006
Important Question
to be Answered
Implications for the
Assessment System
What am I supposed to learn?
Accurate assessments must
reflect the learning targets.
What have I learned already, and
what do I still need to work on?
Continuous sequence of accurate
CA must provide descriptive
feedback in student-friendly terms
during learning.
Have I met or am I progressing
toward the standards?
Assessments must provide
evidence of mastery throughout
the year.
Have I met the state achievement
expectations?
Annual state assessments
reporting standards mastered/not
yet mastered.
Classroom Assessment User: Teacher
EDge(PDK), 2006
Decisions to be Made
Implications for the
Assessment System
What are my students supposed
to learn?
All assessments must reflect
these targets; it must be clear
which target any assessment
reflects.
What have they learned already,
and what do they still need to
learn?
Continuous sequence of
accurate classroom
assessments used during the
learning to provide picture of
progress toward mastery of
standards.
Classroom Assessment User: Teacher
EDge(PDK), 2006
Decisions to be Made
Implications for the
Assessment System
Which students need special
services?
Assessments must provide
evidence of students’ relative
status or progress to determine
eligibility.
Have my students met or are
they progressing on the
important achievement
standards?
Periodic, interim benchmark
assessments reflecting student
mastery of standards
throughout the year.
Did they meet state
achievement expectations?
Annual assessments of each
student’s mastery of each state
standard.
Instructional Support User: Principal,
Curriculum Leader, Teacher Teams
EDge(PDK), 2006
Decisions to be Made
Implications for the
Assessment System
What standards are students
expected to master by subject
across our classrooms?
Assessments must accurately
reflect these standards and
classroom learning targets.
Which standards are students
mastering or progressing
toward? Are there problem
areas?
Comparable evidence of student
learning status collected
periodically during the year.
What standards are students to
master across our classrooms,
grades, and schools?
Assessments must accurately
reflect these standards.
Did enough of our students
meet standards this year?
Annual assessments reveal how
each student does on each
standard.
Policy-Level User: Superintendent,
Various Policy Makers (EDge, PDK,2006)
Decisions
Implications for the Assessment
System
What standards are to be met?
Assessments must accurately
reflect these standards.
Which of these standards are
students mastering or making
progress toward in what schools?
Comparable evidence of student
learning status collected
periodically during the year.
What standards are students
expected to master in our
schools?
Assessments must accurately
reflect these standards.
How many of our students are
meeting standards?
Comparable evidence of student
learning status collected
periodically
Did enough of our students meet
standards this year?
Annual assessments show how
each student scored on each
standard.
Balanced Assessment System
“To maximize student success, assessment
must be seen as an instructional tool for
use while learning is occurring, and as an
accountability tool to determine if learning
has occurred. Because both purposes are
important, they must be in balance.”
From Balanced Assessment: The Key to Accountability and Improved
Student Learning, NEA (2003)
Emotional Dynamics of Assessment
Productive
Counterproductive
Leaves student
confident and
willing to try
Leaves student
confused, frustrated,
and ready to give up
Helpful to teacher if
assessment reveals
what comes next in
learning
Leaves teachers with
no idea of what to do
next
Rick Stiggins, 2006
Essential Classroom Assessment
Teachers are
assessment literate.
Classrooms reflect a
balanced assessment
system.
Teachers are skilled
users of both
formative and
summative
assessment.
Standards are the Foundation for
Curriculum, Instruction, and
Assessment
Identify important learning
Manageable in number
Clearly articulated
Developmentally reachable by students
Organized in learning progression
Mastered by the teachers
Formative Assessment
CCSSO FAST SCASS
Formative assessment is a process
used by teachers and students
during instruction that provides
feedback to adjust ongoing teaching
and learning to improve students’
achievement of intended outcomes.
Define Assess
Comes from the Latin verb ‘assidere’
meaning ‘to sit with.’ in assessment one is
supposed to “sit with” the learner. This
implies it is something we do with and for
students and not to students. (Green, 1998)
Assessment in Support of Learning
Assessment quality must address the impact of the
results on the learner and the learning.
Assessments must:
– go beyond merely providing judgments about
student performance to providing rich
descriptions of student performance.
– evolve from being isolated events to becoming
events that happen in ongoing series to reveal
patterns.
– go beyond merely informing instructional
decisions of teachers to informing decisions
also made by students.
Rick Stiggins, 2006
Research??
So, is this just the
next new thing?
NO! Research
soundly tells us that
formative assessment
can positively impact
student learning.
The “Black Box” Findings
Black and Wiliam’s research indicates that
improving student learning through assessments
depends upon five factors:
– Providing feedback to students
– Students’ active involvement in their own learning
– Adjusting teaching to take account for results of
assessment
– Recognizing influence of assessment on students’
motivation and self-esteem
– Ensuring students assess themselves and understand
how to improve
Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment,”
KAPPAN, 1998.
What Does Formative Assessment
Look Like in the Classroom?
Clarifying and sharing learning intentions
and criteria for success
Engineering effective classroom
discussions, questions, and learning tasks
Providing feedback that moves learners
forward
Activating students as the owners of their
own learning
Activating students as instructional
resources for one another
From “Classroom Assessment: Minute by Minute, Day by Day” Leahy, Lyon,
Thompson, Wiliam. 2005.
Essential Components
Formative assessment
is NOT just another
test.
Formative assessment
is NOT about grades.
It’s about helping
students move along a
progression to higher
levels of learning.
The Learning-Assessment Process
A Model of Formative Assessment
Where are you now? (assessment goal)
Where are you trying to go? (instructional goal)
How can you get there? (what is needed to
reach instructional goal)
From Atkin, Black, & Coffey, Editors; Committee on Classroom Assessment
and the National Science Education Standards, Center for Education,
National Research Council (2001)
Classroom Questions
Can be formative or
summative.
Classroom questions
can be closed or
open.
Can engage students
in dialogue to extend
learning.
Can be used to check
for learning (e.g., exit
tickets).
Closed Questions
Teacher has a predetermined correct
response.
Concerned with the recall of facts;
comprehension.
“Convergent” assessment aims to discover
whether the learners knows, understands,
or can do a pre-determined thing.
(Torrance and Pryor, 1998)
Open Questions
Encourage students to think beyond.
“Divergent” assessment aims to discover
what the learner knows, understands, or
can do. (Torrance and Pryor, 1998)
Help develop student understanding and
thinking.
Allow for a range of responses and
increasingly challenging cognitive
demands.
Encourage dialogue.
Productive Dialogue
Involves:
– Challenge
– Clarification
– Elaboration of ideas
– Suggestions
– Observations
– Reflections
Ministry of Education, Wellington, New Zealand
Questioning Activity
With you group, develop one closed
question and one open question.
Discuss the value and purpose for each of
these.
Be prepared to share.
Quality Feedback Should…
Focus on the learning intention of the task.
Occur while the students are doing the
learning.
Provide information on how, why, and what
the student understands and misunderstands.
Provide strategies to help the student
improve.
Assist the student to understand the learning
goals.
Ministry of Education, Wellington, New Zealand
Grades - Comment
Research shows that student given only
evaluative feedback (grades) made no
gains from one lesson to the next.
Students given only descriptive feedback
(comments) scores an average of 30%
higher.
Giving grades alongside comments
cancelled the beneficial effects of the
comments.
Wiliam, 1999
Student Involvement
Self assessment
Peer
assessment
Increases
student
engagement and
student
motivation.
Formative Assessment is at the
Heart of Instruction
Multiple measures, multiple
opportunities, frequent
Improvement over time
Collaborative
Informs students of their
learning and progress
Informs teacher judgment
and teaching
Directly affects student
growth
Feedback into teaching and
learning
Summative Assessment
“Sums up” learning. (Black and Wiliam,
1999)
“Looks at past achievements…involves only
marking and feedback grades to
students…is separated from teaching…is
carried out at intervals when achievement
has to be summarized and reported.”
(Harlen, 1998)
Measures student learning.
Summative Assessment
Necessities
Used for accountability
in the classroom.
Assessment tasks must
match identified
learning targets.
Teachers need to know
how to develop good
measures of student
learning.
Teachers need to be
good consumers of
purchased tests.
Teachers make the difference.