Unpacking the Expectations for
Classroom Assessment and
Instruction
Michigan Council for the Social Studies
Annual State Professional Development
Conference
Stan Masters
Lenawee ISD
February 19, 2008
POP
• Purpose
– Analyzing the new GLCEs and HSCEs for good classroom
assessment and instruction, leading to increased student
achievement
• Objectives
–
–
–
–
Differentiate between the purposes of assessment
Unpack expectations into targets
Match targets to methods of assessment
Develop a set of assessments for your classroom
• Procedure
– PowerPoint slides for presenting information
– Practice with the expectations
– Use of templates and protocols
Keys to Quality
Classroom Assessment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Clear Purposes
Clear Targets
Good Design & Methods
Sound Communication
Student Involvement
Indicators of
Sound Classroom Assessment Practice
(p.27)
Skill in gathering accurate information
+ Effective use of information and procedures
____________________________________
Sound Classroom Assessment Practice
Keys to Quality Classroom
Assessment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Clear Purposes
Clear Targets
Good Design & Methods
Sound Communication
Student Involvement
Deepening our ideas
about assessment
• What is the distinction between…
assessment for learning
assessment of learning?
Purposes of Assessments
Adapted from Braveman, S. L. (Ed Week, March 17, 2004)
• assessment
for learning
– diagnostic
(given before
instruction to
gather information
on where to start)
– formative
(monitors student
progress during
instruction)
• assessment
of learning
– summative
(the final task at the
end of a unit, a course,
or a semester)
Both are needed!
• Students need to know…(p.34)
– Where they are going
– Where they are now
– How to close the gap
• Teachers need to find balance…(p.35-36)
– to improve student achievement
– to communicate to various stakeholders
Seven Strategies of Assessment
for Learning (p.42)
• Where am I going?
– Clear targets
– Models of work
• Where am I now?
– Descriptive Feedback
– Student self-assessment/goal setting
• How can I close the gap?
– Lessons that focus on one target at a time
– Teaching self-reflection
– Student record-keeping
So, do your students know what
are the targets for their learning?
Keys to Quality Classroom
Assessment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Clear Purposes
Clear Targets
Good Design & Methods
Sound Communication
Student Involvement
Where does curriculum come from?
• National content organizations documents
• State standards documents
– Local curriculum is then created from these
documents
• Organized into units
• Determine essential questions and key concepts
– Aligned with state accountability assessments
Backward Design Addresses All Three Parts of
the Curriculum Triangle
Content
Assessment
Instruction
Problems with Our Curriculum
• It sits on a shelf.
• We go no further than creating units,
activities, and/or projects.
• We rely on a textbook.
• Teachers disagree on the outcomes.
• There are too many outcomes.
Kinds of Learning Targets
Stiggins, Arter, Chappuis, and Chappuis. (2006). Classroom
Assessment for Student Learning. Portland, OR: ETS.
• Knowledge – The facts and concepts we
want students to know and understand.
• Reasoning – Students use what they
know to reason and solve problems
• Skills – Students use their knowledge and
reasoning to act skillfully
• Products – Students use their knowledge,
reasoning, and skills to create a concrete
product.
• Dispositions – Students’ attitudes about
school and learning.
(p. 75)
Helpful Hints to Targets (p.64)
• Knowledge targets are identified in the
noun/noun phrase found in the benchmark
• Reasoning targets are identified in the verb/verb
phrases found in the benchmark
– analytical, compare/contrast, synthesis, classification,
inference/deduction, evaluative (p.70)
• Skill targets always have knowledge targets
• Product targets have to be discerned apart from
the product tasks we ask students to create
• Disposition targets reflect attitudes or feelings
(BUT I WANT THEM TO DEEPLY APPRECIATE
THE USEFULNESSES OF BAR GRAPHS)
Organize data using concrete objects, pictures, tallies,
tables, charts, diagrams, and graphs
KNOWLEDGE/UNDERSTANDING
REASONING
SKILLS
PRODUCTS
DISPOSITIONS
Practice Unpacking
• Choose a outcome (benchmark/expectation) that
your students will learn and you will teach in an
upcoming unit of instruction.
• Write the outcome at the top of your
target/method planning sheet.
• Complete the left hand side of the chart.
– Knowledge/understanding, reasoning, skills, products,
dispositions
• Check your understanding of the targets with a
partner
• As a group:
– Dialogue about your interpretation of the identified
targets
– Determine and note if there are any targets that need to
added, changed, or deleted
Unpacking for the Student
• Targets are clearer for the student when
they are put into positive “I can”
statements.
• They may be unpacked to include more
concrete understandings
I
C
A
N
Create “I Can” Statements
• Using your previous unpacked learning
outcome, create “I can” statements for
your students.
Keys to Quality Classroom
Assessment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Clear Purposes
Clear Targets
Good Design & Methods
Sound Communication
Student Involvement
Assessment Study
Donegal School District,
Donegal, PA
http://www2.yk.psu.edu/~jlg18/dragon/index.html
• Baseline data for 1999-2000
– collected 661 tests/assessments during
targeted collection period
– randomly selected 20% or 142 for a sample
Findings
1. Testing of low-level cognition (understanding
and comprehension levels on Bloom's
Taxonomy) predominated all types of testing
at all levels. (75.5%)
2. Traditional formats of multiple choice, true
and false, matching, fill-in the-blank
predominated all other formats. (80%)
3. Short answer writing was never scored
using a rubric. (0%)
4. Essay formats are very rarely used (.05%)
and when used rarely were scored with a
rubric (.02%).
Findings
5. Rubrics that were available were often poorly crafted
with checklist formats sometimes (33%) being
represented as rubrics.
6. Problem-solving at any level above comprehension
was rarely required (.04%), never scored with a
rubric (0%) and problem-solvers were rarely called
upon to write to justify or explain process or
appropriateness of answer to problem posed (.04%).
7. Performance items were most often score sheets for
projects where students had a tangible product to be
evaluated. Rubrics rarely existed for such
performances (.14%).
8. Performances never (0%) involved a written
explanation of the process used or anything else.
Plan of Action
• Professional development on assessment
• Unpacked expectations for assessment
• Developed a standards template for
designing assessment tasks
• Met in teams to analyze assessments
Purposes of Assessments
Adapted from Braveman, S. L. (Ed Week, March 17, 2004)
• assessment
for learning
– diagnostic
(given before
instruction to
gather information
on where to start)
– formative
(monitors student
progress during
instruction)
• assessment
of learning
– summative
(the final task at the
end of a unit, a course,
or a semester)
Ma and Pa Kettle
Talking Points
Presentation by Jay McTighe,
November 30, 2007, Macomb ISD
• “Students should be presumed innocent of
understanding until convicted by
evidence.”
• Prior knowledge is like the largest part of
the iceberg.
• “Think photo album versus snapshot”
when it comes to assessment
Formative Assessment Techniques
Source: Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2007). Checking for Understanding.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD, pp. 5-12
• Main points:
– Aligns with enduring understandings
– Allows for differentiation
– Focuses on gap analysis
– Leads to precise teaching
Formative Assessment techniques
• Oral Language
– Accountable talk, nonverbal cues, value lineups, retellings, thinkpair-share, whip around
• Questions
– Response cards, hand signals, personal response systems,
Socratic seminars
• Writing
– Interactive writing, read-write-pair-share, summary writing, RAFT
• Tests
– Multiple choice with misconceptions as distracters, short answer
with word banks, true-false items with correction for the false
items
Methods of Assessment
Stiggins, Richard J, Arter, Judith A., Chappuis, Jan, Chappius, Stephen. Classroom Assessment for
Student Learning. Assessment Training Institute, Inc., Portland, Oregon, 2004, p. 91-93.
• Selected response
– one answer is correct; sometimes taken from a list
• Extended written response
– constructed into sentences; criteria given for quality
• Performance assessment
– observed product of learning; criteria given for quality
• Personal communication
– interaction with student; uses checklist or criteria
Organize data using concrete objects, pictures, tallies,
tables, charts, diagrams, and graphs
KNOWLEDGE/UNDERSTANDING
Selected
Extended Written
REASONING
Selected Extended Written
Performance
Personal
SKILLS
PRODUCTS
DISPOSITIONS
Performance
Personal Communication
Extended Written
Performance
Activity
• Individually:
– On your right hand side of the chart of your
target/method planning sheet, list the
methods that would be the best matches for
the targets you have identified.
Purposes of Assessments
Adapted from Braveman, S. L. (Ed Week, March 17, 2004)
• assessment
for learning
– diagnostic
(given before
instruction to
gather information
on where to start)
– formative
(monitors student
progress during
instruction)
• assessment
of learning
– summative
(the final task at the
end of a unit, a course,
or a semester)
Methods of Assessment
• Selected response
• Extended written response
• Performance assessment
• Personal communication
AUTHENTIC
Authentic Academic
Achievement
• Construction of Knowledge
producing meaning
from prior experiences
• Disciplined Inquiry
cognitive work
for in-depth understanding
• Value Beyond School
meaning apart from documenting
competence Newmann, Secada, and Wehlage, “A Guide to
Authentic Instruction and Assessment”, 1995
Seven Standards for
Assessment Tasks
• Organization of Information
• Consideration of Alternatives
•
•
•
•
•
Disciplinary Content
Disciplinary Process
Elaborated Written Communication
Problem Connected to the World Beyond School
Audience Beyond the School
Newmann, Secada, and Wehlage, “A Guide to
Authentic Instruction and Assessment”, 1995
Examples of Assessment Tasks
• Students will design a poster showing the history of a
major city of a U.S. region.
• Students will conduct a lab experiment on states of
water, recording observations of freezing and thawing
points.
• Students will tell about three different events in their
week, identifying correctly when each occurs.
• Students will collect data on the number and type of
forest animals and create an graphic representation of
the populations.
• Students will make a PowerPoint presentation to a
younger audience about a tribe of Michigan Native
Americans.
• Students will write a persuasive essay about a position
on a current monetary or fiscal policy that addresses
unemployment.
Components of an
Authentic Assessment Task
• What “new” prompt will you use to trigger “old”
learning from prior instruction?
– A prompt is the stimulus material given to students at
the time of assessment which activates prior
knowledge relevant to the task.
– While carrying out the assessment task, the student
uses the prompt to produce discourse, a
performance, or a tangible object.
– A prompt could be presented through various media,
e.g., print, auditory, or visual.
– Prompts might also take various forms, e.g., reading,
graphic, motion picture, recording, map, data set, etc.
Example of Prompt
Letter from an Immigrant
Dear Marta,
I hope you received my letter telling you that I am now an American
citizen. We have an election for mayor in my city in one month. I will be
able to vote for the first time in my life. I have learned as much as I can
about the two candidates for mayor. I think that Bonnie Kalinowski is
clearly my choice.
I wanted to learn more about American history to I am going to night
school. I go two nights a week after work.
I must stop for now. I have homework for my class! I will write again
soon.
Sincerely,
Jacob
Components of an
Authentic Assessment Task
• What directions will you give to the students
completing the task?
– The students being assessed are the audience for
these directions.
– These directions should be included just as they
would be given to students at the time they are
directed to perform the assessment task.
– They should include a very clear statement of the
product students are expected to generate as a result
of performing the assessment task as well as the
criteria that will be used to gauge the quality of
student work, i.e., the scoring rubric.
Example of Directions
• “We have been learning about how important the
right to vote is. Jacob as a new American citizen
is certainly excited about gaining this right. He
needs help, however, finding ways to take a
more active part in the election. Write Jacob a
letter explaining why you think it is important for
him to become involved in the election
campaign. Then, describe three different ways
he could help Ms. Kalinowski become mayor.
Make sure to explain your suggestions clearly.”
Components of an
Authentic Assessment Task
• What procedures will you use as the
teacher administering the task?
– The steps to be followed by the teacher in
conducting the assessment should be listed,
and each step should be briefly elaborated.
– These procedures should be written so that
another teacher, new to the assessment task,
could carry them out.
Example of Procedures
• Read aloud the prompt with students.
Ask the students if there are any questions
regarding the reading. Then, go over the
directions for the assessment task and the
rubric. Finally, provide time for the
students to complete the extended
response individually.
Components of an
Authentic Assessment Task
• What scoring rubric will you use to evaluate the
quality of the students’ task?
– The assessment task should provide for individual
student accountability.
– The scores are cumulative; each higher score entails
the criteria of the lower scores. Each higher score
requires that something be added to the quality of
student work not required for the next lower score.
– The criteria for each score should specify “how good
is good enough” for that score to be assigned.
A rubric is…
a set of scoring
guidelines/criteria that
describes a range of
possible student
responses for a
particular assessment
task.
Adapted from Arter and McTighe (2001).
Scoring Rubrics in the Classroom.; Nolet
And McLaughlin (2000). Accessing the
General Curriculum.
A rubric contains…
• a scale that indicates the points that will be
assigned to a student’s work (different levels
of proficiency); and
• a set of meaningful descriptors for each point
on that scale. (Descriptors establish the
continuum of competence along which a
learner moves towards proficiency.)
Rubrics are frequently accompanied by
examples of products or performances
illustrating the different score points for
proficiency (anchor papers).
Why use a rubric?
• Communicate appropriate standards and
expectations for students (“what will count”)
• Provide feedback to students and parents
• Guide and focus instruction
• Promote student self-assessment and
goal setting
• Improve grading consistency
--judgments become more objective, consistent,
and accurate
Stiggins, Richard J, Arter, Judith A., Chappuis, Jan, Chappius, Stephen.
Classroom Assessment for Student Learning. Assessment Training
Institute, Inc., Portland, Oregon, 2004, p. 200.
Features of High-Quality
Rubrics
• Content—What counts?
– “Look fors” (essential traits), quality over quantity
• Clarity—Does everyone understand what is
meant?
• Practicality—Is it easy to use by teachers and
students?
• Technical quality/fairness—Is it reliable and
valid?
Stiggins, Richard J, Arter, Judith A., Chappuis, Jan, Chappius, Stephen.
Classroom Assessment for Student Learning. Assessment Training Institute,
Inc., Portland, Oregon, 2004, p. 201 and 203
Holistic or Analytical Rubrics?
Holistic Rubric:
Gives a single score or
rating for the entire
product or performance
based on an overall
impression of a student’s
work.
Used with summative
assessments and
standardized tests.
Analytical Rubric:
Divides a product or
performance into
essential traits or
dimensions (“Look Fors”)
so they can be judged
separately. Provides a
profile of strengths and
weaknesses.
Used with formative
assessments
Example of Rubric
BENCHMARK
SCORE
Describe how citizens
can participate in
election campaigns.
(VI.3.LE.1).
Wow!
You've
Got It!
Nearly
There!
Oops!
The student
clearly
explains why
citizens
should
participate in
elections and
describes
three ways in
which they
can
participate.
The student
explains why
citizens
should
participate in
elections and
describes two
way in which
they can
participate.
The student
explains why
citizens
should
participate in
elections and
describes
one way in
which they
can
participate.
The student
either
explains
why citizens
should
participate
in elections
or describes
one way in
which they
can
participate.
0 = the criteria for a score of 1 have not been met.
Example of Rubric
BENCHMARK
SCORE
1
Describe how citizens
can participate in
election campaigns.
(VI.3.LE.1).
The student
either explains
why citizens
should
participate in
elections or
describes one
way in which
they can
participate.
2
The student
explains why
citizens should
participate in
elections and
describes one
way in which
they can
participate.
3
The student
explains why
citizens should
participate in
elections and
describes two
way in which
they can
participate.
0 = the criteria for a score of 1 have not been met.
4
The student
clearly explains
why citizens
should
participate in
elections and
describes three
ways in which
they can
participate.
Activity
• Individually:
– Begin planning the assessments for the
outcomes that you have unpacked for your
unit
• summative, authentic assessment tasks
• formative assessment tasks
POP
• Purpose
– Analyzing the new GLCEs and HSCEs for good classroom
assessment and instruction, leading to increased student
achievement
• Objectives
–
–
–
–
Differentiate between the purposes of assessment
Unpack expectations into targets
Match targets to methods of assessment
Develop a set of assessments for your classroom
• Procedure
– PowerPoint slides for presenting information
– Practice with the expectations
– Use of templates and protocols
Questions?
Stan Masters
Coordinator of Curriculum,
Assessment,
and School Improvement
Lenawee Intermediate School District
4107 North Adrian Highway
Adrian, Michigan 49921
517-265-1606 (phone)
517-265-2953 (fax)
stan.masters@lisd.us
http://www.lisd.us/curriculum/