Chapter 13
Classroom Assessment and Grading
Overview
Formative and Summative Assessment
Getting the Most from Traditional Assessment Approaches
Innovations in Assessment
Effects of Grades and Grading on Students
Grading and Reporting: Nuts & Bolts
Beyond Grading: Communication
Concept Map for Chapter 14
Objective Testing
 Objective: not open to many interpretations
M/C, matching, T/F, F-I-B
 Measures a broad range of material
 Multiple choice most versatile
 Lower and higher level items
 Factual, conceptual, applied (taxonomy)
 Difficult to write well – very!!
 Easy to get lost in details – accurate but not meaningful questions
 Find to hard good distractors, then correct answer is too obvious so you don’t discriminate
between students
 Imprecise wording can lead to arguments about right answer
 Easy to score -- computer scoring
Writing Multiple Choice Test Items
Guidelines: Writing Objective Test Items
 Be sure that you study the information on pp.
533-534 !!
Evaluating Objective Test Items
Item analysis
– items to keep or trash
Difficulty index (p)
% who got it right (easy or hard?)
Discrimination index (d)
Differentiates high and low scorers
• The item should be passed more by the higher scorers
Essay Testing
 Requires students to create an answer
May be the only way to test an objective
 Most difficult part is judging quality of answers
subjective
 Writing good, clear questions can be challenging
Easily misunderstood if not carefully written
Constructing Essay Tests
 Essay tests focus on less material - time
 Require a clear and precise task
Define overextension and underextension in language use and explain
when and why children use each.
Describe how a parent of higher IQ children is likely to treat the children.
 Should measure an objective at Bloom’s Synthesis (Creating) level
 Allow ample time for students to answer
 May combine with objective questions to increase scope of exam
Evaluating Essays: Dangers
 Problems with subjective testing
Individual standards of the grader
Neatness, grammar, spelling… Big deal or not a big deal?
Unreliability of scoring procedures
Ranges too broad (reliable means?)
Bias: wordy essays often get more points
Tell me about Starch & Elliot’s studies (p.536)
Evaluating Essays: Methods
(Phil Winne•fs
– p.536-537)
Construct a model answer
Give points for each part of the answer (key and
supplemental)
Give points for organization
Compare answers on papers that you gave
comparable grades
Time Consuming but good
Evaluating Essays: Methods
(Gronlund –
p.537)
Grade all responses to one question, then all responses to
second question, etc.
Shuffle the papers between questions
Have students put their names on the back of the paper
Have another teacher in your discipline read some of your
graded essays
(LAB 1)
Authentic Assessments – Innovations in
Assessment
 Authentic classroom tests
Students apply skills and abilities as they would in the real life
“…test those capabilities and habits we think are essential, and test them in
context.” (Wiggins)
Like the idea of a driving test – can you really “drive” the car?
 Performance in context
(not enough to know just the facts; can be a portrait of the
student over time)
 portfolios (purposeful collection of works)
 exhibitions (public performance & exhibition of mastery)
Evaluating Portfolios and
Performances
 Checklists
 Rating scales
 Scoring rubrics or general descriptions
 Students can participate in the development of such evaluation
tools
Improves work and learning…why?
 Issues of reliability, validity, generalizability, and equity.
*Criterion-referenced
Effects of Grading
Need a balance between standards and success.
 Effects of failure
Some failure is good (learn to fail successfully)
Failing an entire grade (promote & remediate, p. 547)
See supplemental material on course website.
 Effects of feedback – knowing ‘why’ they were wrong
Good to know why you are wrong; specifics
Gear feedback to age of student; balance the good & the bad
 Effects of grades on motivation
Working for a grade or to learn?
Simple level but detailed = working for a grade
Low grades may lead to decreased motivation
Grading and Reporting:
Nuts and Bolts
Criterion-Referenced – quality of the individual
accomplishment
 Mastery of objectives
 Criteria for grades set in advance
 Student determines what grade they want to receive
 All students could receive an “A”
 Not comparison grading
* Figure 14.4, p.550
Norm-Referenced Grading
LAB 2
 Grading on the curve
 Students compared to other students
 “Average” becomes the anchor for other grades (bracket the
middle 2/3 scores)
 Fairness issues
E.g., across sections
 “Adjusting” the curve
Parent/Teacher Conferences
 Plan ahead
 Start positive
 Use active listening and problem solving
Don’t just go on the defensive if parents are angry or upset – LISTEN!!!
 Establish a partnership
 Plan follow-up contacts
 Tell the truth!
 Be prepared with samples
 End on a positive note