October 24-26, 2010
Vision
Mission
Goals
All West Virginia educators continually
grow in their professional expertise
and improve their professional
practice by working together
interdependently in collaborative
teams supported by collaborative
cultures.
To create district and school-based
collaborative teams whose goals are
to promote higher levels of learning
for all students through formative
classroom assessment practices and
collaborative team processes.

Create a core of CTN schools that include teacher
collaborative teams supported by school leadership
teams

Engage in professional development designed to
enhance effective collaboration and school-based
decision-making

Focus improvement efforts on building collective
capacity to impact student outcomes

Provide a structured support system to assist
schools as they move along the continuum of
implementation
A Touch of Greatness
Freedom Writers
Stand and
Deliver
West Virginia Department of Education
Individual growth does not ensure
organizational growth. Organizations
need more than well-developed
individuals. Effective leaders focus
on developing the culture and the
collective capacity of the
organization.
Center for Creative Leadership (2003)
Michael Fullan (2007)
Richard Elmore (2006)
Student achievement gains and other
benefits are influenced by organizational
characteristics beyond the skills of
individual staff. We saw schools with
competent teachers that lacked the
organizational capacity to be effective with
many students. The task for schools is to
organize human resources into an effective
collective effort.
Newmann and Wehlage,(1995)
Teacher Collaborative
Teams
School Leadership
Team
District
Leadership
Team
Regional
Support
Teams
Teacher Collaborative Teams
Organized into teams on the basis of shared
responsibility for addressing the critical questions
of teaching and learning with a particular group of
students –by content, course or grade level
School Leadership Team
School administrators and collaborative
team leaders (representing each teacher
collaborative team) form a School
Leadership Team that supports the work
of teacher teams using a distributed
model of leadership.
Math teachers discuss how to phrase test questions during a team meeting before morning classes at the Adlai E.
Stevenson High School staff cafeteria in Lincolnshire, Illinois.
—John Zich for Education Week
West Virginia Department of Education
MAJOR
POINTS
LEARNED
THESE
IDEAS
SQUARED
WITH
MY OWN
THINGS
STILL GOING
ON IN MY
HEAD
BEST

Describe a
positive
assessment
experience you
have had. Explain
why it was
positive.
WORST

Describe a
negative
assessment
experience you
have had. Explain
why it was
negative.
Best





when I scored high enough
on my ACT to go to college
the science fair
when you knew what you were
going to be assessed on, when
the teacher made it very clear and
all anxiety was eliminated
Our teacher allowed us take
assessments when we were ready
- a self-paced schedule. I always
performed better when I knew I
was ready.
When I was in second grade the
teacher had us to explain the
water cycle any way we wanted. I
was allowed to express my
knowledge through drawings and I
loved it!
Worst



taking all standardized tests. I
had real test anxiety!
when I ran out of time and felt
pressure and disapproval from
the teacher
a 'game' that my high school
studies teacher liked to play
when we were a little out of
control. The assessment was
impossible to complete in one
class period and EVERYONE
failed. It was added to our
grade and lowered everyone's
GPA.
We need to provide the
language and the tools to
administrators, teachers and
students so they can
communicate accurately
about assessment.
Continuous (Formative) Classroom
Assessment For Learning
Classroom Level Users
Common Formative Assessments
Content Level Users
(Students, Teachers and
Parents)
Job-Alike Collaborative Teacher
Teams
Periodic Benchmark Assessments
Program Level Users
(Teacher Teams and School Leaders)
Annual Accountability Testing
(State Summative Test)
Institutional/Policy Users
(School, District and State
Leadership)
What is the primary aim of
assessment?
• Who will use the information
gathered?
• What decisions will they
make?
•
The primary purpose of
assessment is not to rate, rank
and sort students, but to
provide meaningful feedback
that informs decisions.
Assessment of Learning


Summative Assessment
 An event after learning
Benchmark Assessment
 An event after learning
Assessment for Learning


Formative Assessment
 A process during learning
Classroom Assessment For Learning
 A process during learning

Determine ultimate (overall) type of target
the objective represents:
 knowledge target
 reasoning target
 performance skill target
 product target

Identify its underpinning learning targets
Objective/Benchmark:
Overall Target
Type:
 Knowledge
 Reasoning
 Performance Skill
 Product
Learning Targets
What are the knowledge, reasoning, performance skill or product targets underpinning the standard/objective?
Knowledge Targets
Reasoning Targets
Performance Skill
Targets
Product Targets
Objective/Benchmark: First Grade Reading /English Language Arts
Produce writing to communicate with different audiences for a variety of
purposes.
Overall Target
Type:
 Knowledge
 Reasoning
 Performance Skill
 Product
Learning Targets
What are the knowledge, reasoning, performance skill or product targets underpinning the standard/objective?
Knowledge Targets
Know what a
sentence is
Understand
concept of word
choice
Reasoning Targets
Distinguish the uses
or meanings of a
variety of words
(word choice)
Performance Skill
Targets
Holds a pencil
correctly
Print letters
correctly
Space words
Use lines & margins
Stretch out sounds
in words to create a
temporary spelling
of a word
Product Targets
Write sentences
with varied
beginnings
A learning target is an achievement expectation we hold for
students. It’s a statement of what we want the student to
learn.
Is this a target?





Math
Decimals
Page 152 in the book
Going on a decimal hunt
Read decimals and put them in order
 Students who could identify
their learning scored 27
percentile points higher than
those who could not. (Marzano,
2005)
Objective/Benchmark: First Grade Reading /English Language Arts
Produce writing to communicate with different audiences for a variety of
purposes.
Overall Target
Type:
 Knowledge
 Reasoning
 Performance Skill
 Product
Learning Targets
What are the knowledge, reasoning, performance skill or product targets underpinning the standard/objective?
Knowledge Targets
Know what a
sentence is
Understand
concept of word
choice
Reasoning Targets
Distinguish the uses
or meanings of a
variety of words
(word choice)
Performance Skill
Targets
Holds a pencil
correctly
Print letters
correctly
Space words
Use lines & margins
Stretch out sounds
in words to create a
temporary spelling
of a word
Product Targets
Write sentences
with varied
beginnings
Standard/Objective:
Drive with skill.
Type:  Knowledge
 Reasoning
 Product
 Performance Skill
Learning Targets
What are the knowledge, reasoning, skill or product targets underpinning the standard/objective?
Knowledge Targets
Reasoning Targets
Performance Skill
Targets
•Know the law
•Understand informal
rules of the road
•Analyze road conditions,
vehicle performance, and other
driver’s actions
•Understand what
different parts of the car
do
•Read signs and
understand what they
mean
•Understand what
“creating a danger”
means
•Understand what
“creating a hazard”
means
•Other?
•Compare/contrast this
information with knowledge
and past experience
•Driving actions such as:
steering, shifting,
parallel parking,
looking, signaling,
backing up, braking,
accelerating, etc.
•Synthesize information and
evaluate options to make
decisions on what to do next
•Evaluate “Am I safe?” and
synthesize information to take
action if needed.
•Other?
•Fluidity/automaticity
in performance driving
actions.
•Other?
Product Targets
None
Since the ultimate
type of target is a
performance skill,
there are no
embedded product
targets
An Analogy
 A pilot guides a plane or boat toward its
destination by taking constant readings and making
careful adjustments in response to wind, currents,
weather, etc.
 A teacher using formative classroom assessment
practices does the same:
- Plans a carefully chosen route ahead of time
- Takes numerous readings along the way
- Changes course as conditions dictate
Take a few minutes to reflect on
what you have heard and use
your graphic organizer to write
down your thinking.
British researchers Paul Black and Dylan
Wiliam completed a comprehensive
review of 250 international studies
exploring the connection between
formative assessment practices and
student achievement (1998)



Does improved formative assessment
cause better learning?
Do formative assessment practices need
improving?
Is there evidence about how to improve
formative assessment?



Increased commitment to high-quality
classroom assessments
Increased descriptive feedback; reduced
evaluative feedback
Increased student involvement in the
assessment process
Black and Wiliam, 1989
…achievement gains from using such
assessment-for-learning strategies were
“among the largest ever reported for
educational interventions.”
-Black and Wiliam (1998)
•
•
More frequent testing does not necessarily mean
greater gains.
The strategies Black and Wiliam refer to involve
students in the entire process.
.7 Standard Deviation Score Gain =
 25 Percentile Points on ITBS
 70 SAT Score Points
 4 ACT Score Points
Largest Gain for Low Achievers
 Successful schools are places where
teams of teachers meet regularly to
focus on student work through
assessment and change their
instructional practice accordingly to
get better results.
Michael Fullan, 2000
Assessment
Issues of
Quality





Select a proper assessment method
Select or create quality items, tasks, and
rubrics
Sample—gather enough evidence
Control for bias
Design assessments so students can selfassess and set goals

Selected Response

 Multiple Choice
based on observation of a
performance or a product and
 True/False
 Matching
 Fill in the blank
 Label a diagram

Extended Written
Response: Writing in
response to a question or
prompt
Performance
Assessment: Assessment
judgment of its quality

Personal
Communication




Questions
Conferences
Interviews
Oral Examinations
Selected Extended Performance Personal
Response Written
Assessment Communication
Response
Knowledge
Reasoning
Performance
Skills
Product
Imagine you are going to go skydiving.
Presumably, you will want to have a parachute
that has a very good chance of opening properly.
The skydiving company has provided you with the
assessment scores of three students from a recent
parachute-packing course.
These three are the only people
they employ to pack parachutes,
so you have to have a parachute
packed by one of them-unless you
want to jump without a
parachute! Please note the
competency/mastery level for
each assessment, as shown on the
chart in the next slide and
carefully consider which student
you want to pack your parachute.
FINAL
PACKING
DEMONSTRATION
RESEARCH
WRITTEN
PAPER
EXPLANATION
ON
OF
WRITTEN
FINAL
EXAM
PARACHUTE
VOCABULARY
HISTORY
STEPS OF PARACHUTING
QUIZ
90
ASSESSMENT
ASSESSMENT
ASSESSMENT
ASSESSMENT
1 ASSESSMENT
ASSESSMENT
2 ASSESSMENT
ASSESSMENT
3 ASSESSMENT
4 5 6 78 9
80
70
60
COMPETENCY/MASTERY LEVEL
50
STUDENT 1
STUDENT 2
40
STUDENT 3
30
20
10
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
READ
MANUAL
AND PARACHUTE
ANSWER
SKETCH
OF THE
QUESTIONS
DEMONSTRATION
SEQUENCING
QUIZ
7
8
9
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
What was the learning
objective?
Which assessments match
the learning objective?
Which student will you
choose to pack your
parachute? Why?
If these scores were used to
assign a report card grade,
could you determine which
student(s) had mastered the
objective?
How many of the
assessments were at the
knowledge level?









#1-Research paper
#2-Read and answer
questions
#3-Written explanation
#4-Sequence Steps quiz
#5-Vocabulary quiz
#6-Label parts of a
parachute drawing
#7-Written final exam
#8-Packing demo
#9-Final packing demo
Standard/Objective:
Packing a Parachute
Type:  Knowledge
 Reasoning
 Product
 Performance Skill
Learning Targets
What are the knowledge, reasoning, performance or product targets underpinning the standard/objective?
Knowledge Targets
Reasoning Targets
Performance Skill
Targets
Product Targets
None
Since the ultimate
type of target is a
performance skill,
there are no
embedded product
targets
Page 4