Using a Teaching Goals Inventory to Analyze Noyce Scholars' Development of Teaching and Assessment Practices Fifth Annual NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Conference July 7-9, 2010 Enrique Ortiz University of Central Florida Agenda Overview Key Principles of Assessment Teaching Goals Inventory Discussion Noyce Scholars’ Development of Teaching Goals Summarize Next steps References 2 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016 Overview We will talk about assessment and the importance of having teaching goals. We will complete the Teaching Goal Inventory (TGA). We will talk about the results of the TGA as they relate to assessment. We will discuss ideas related to Noyce Scholars’ Development of Teaching Goals 3 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016 Key Principles of Assessment The primary purpose of assessment is to improve performance, not audit it. Good assessment requires being clear about mission and goals, the standards to which you aspire, and the criteria by which you would measure success. Therefore, it is about measuring what matters. (If you assess what you value, others will value what you assess.) And, necessarily, it becomes planning backwards, with the end in mind. Assessment that improves performance involves feedback. One tool for getting useful feedback on what matters most is the rubric. Good assessment requires a variety of measures, data, and feedback. Good assessment is ongoing. It is about continuous improvement. And unless we designate and protect the time to do this work, it will not happen. Done collectively, assessment builds community. (taken from website at: http://www.grdodge.org/Assessment/principles.htm) 4 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016 Teaching Goals Inventory Provides a quick and easy way to begin uncovering deeper, implicit goals. Invites faculty to rate their instructional goals for a single course, and contains 52 goal statements, covering a wide range of learning outcomes, each to be rated on a five-point scale running from "not applicable" to "essential.” I. Higher Order Thinking Skill: 1-8 II. Basic Academic Success Skills: 9-17 III. Discipline-Specific Knowledge and Skills: 18-25 IV. Liberal Arts and Academic Values: 26-35 V. Work and Career Preparation: 36-43 VI. Personal Development: 44-52 Complete the TGA, and the Self-Scoring Worksheet. 5 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016 6 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016 7 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016 Discussion Questions Were there any surprises? Do you agree with the results? Do the results match your curriculum? Do the results match your assessment practices? Is there anything you would like to change? How could you use the results to help you plan your teaching/assessment? 8 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016 Noyce Scholars’ Development of Teaching Goals The participants included six pre-service middle school mathematics teachers who were part of the Transition into Mathematic and Science Teaching (TMAST) teacher certification and Master’s degree program. These students completed a mathematics methods graduate course during summer 2004 term and the program in summer 2005 with the author of this article. The participants also had a bachelor's or higher degree with at least eighteen (18) credit hours in mathematics content at the bachelor’s degree level, completed three State Certification Tests (General Knowledge, Professional Education and Specialization Area), and provided a minimum GRE score of 1000 points (verbal and quantitative sections) with a 3.0 GPA in the last 60 hours of undergraduate coursework. They were switching careers, from the industry sector to education. All of them had a strong and successful background in mathematics content, but no background in mathematics education or teaching. 9 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016 10 3/14/2016 11 3/14/2016 Summarize In 1990, nearly 3,000 faculty from two- and four-year colleges responded to a survey version of the TGI. Some of the results were surprising. For example, they found that teaching goals in their sample differed little by race or gender of the faculty -- or even by type of institution -- but markedly by academic disciplines. Nonetheless, faculty from all disciplines agreed that developing higher-order thinking skills - such as analysis, application, and problem solving - was among their most "essential" teaching goals. 12 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016 Overall, teaching discipline-specific knowledge and skills ranked second to developing higher-order thinking skills. Follow-up interviews confirmed the authors’ sense that most faculty saw teaching specific disciplinary content largely, though not entirely, as a means to develop more general and lasting skills, abilities, habits and values. 13 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016 Next Steps Describe what could happen next: Action Research? Follow up with your school? Action items for follow-up: Start turning ideas into reality. 14 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016 References Angelo, T.A. (2001). Teaching Goals, Assessment, Academic Freedom and Higher Learning, http://programs.weber.edu/tlf/packet6/v5n7.htm Angelo, T. A. and Cross, K. P. (1993) Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, Second Edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Teaching Goals Inventory – Online. http://fm.iowa.uiowa.edu/fmi/xsl/tgi/data_entry.xsl?-db=tgi_data&lay=Layout01&-view Assessment Principles and Concepts. http://www.grdodge.org/Assessment/principles.htm 15 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016 The End Thanks! 16 Noyce 2010 Conference: July 7-9, 2010 3/14/2016