Authentic Assessments
for the Classroom
Lenawee ISD
January 2006
Backward Design Addresses All Three Parts of
the Curriculum Triangle
Warming Up to the Standards
• Individually:
– Using colors, code the benchmarks using the
following key
• Pink – Currently this benchmark is in our curriculum, students
are assessed to measure their achievement on the
benchmark, and there is purposeful instruction available for
the student
• Yellow – Currently, this benchmark is in our curriculum, and
either students are assessed or receive purposeful
instruction
• Green – Currently, this benchmark is either in our curriculum,
or students are assessed or receive purposeful instruction
• Absence of color – Currently, I don’t know.
Warming Up to the Standards
• In a team huddle:
– Share your information with others from your
district OR
– Share your information with another group of
teachers
Goals
1) Understand and apply purposes for
assessment
2) Unpack benchmarks into learning targets
3) Create assessment tasks with methods
that are congruent with the learning
targets
4) Design high quality rubrics
Establishing Criteria for Success
Jot down on 3x5 card:
-- What do you hope to gain today?
-- What do you hope to contribute?
(Please be specific)
Share with your table:
--one idea from your list
Authentic Academic Achievement
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
Keys to Quality Classroom
Assessment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Clear Purposes
Clear Targets
Good Design & Methods
Sound Communication
Student Involvement
Activity 1
• How do you use assessment?
– Write down your thoughts on sticky notes
– One sticky for each thought
Purposes Of Assessments
• Diagnostic Assessment (given before
instruction to gather information on where
to start)
• Formative Assessment (monitors student
progress during instruction)
• Summative Assessment (the final task at
the end of a unit, a course, or a semester)
Adapted from Braveman, S. L. (Ed Week, March 17, 2004)
Activity 2
• At your table, have one person write the
purposes for assessment on index cards,
one purpose per card.
Diagnostic
Formative
Summative
• Sort your sticky notes by placing them
under the appropriate heading.
Keys to Quality Classroom
Assessment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Clear Purposes
Clear Targets
Good Design & Methods
Sound Communication
Student Involvement
Learning Targets
• Knowledge – The facts and concepts we
want students to know and understand.
• Reasoning – (6 types) 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.
Stiggins, Richard J, Arter, Judith A., Chappuis, Jan, Chappius, Stephen.
Classroom Assessment for Student Learning. Assessment Training
Institute, Inc., Portland, Oregon, 2004, p. 63, 64, 75.
Helpful Hints to Targets
• 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
• 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
Activity 3
• You will be given a list of benchmarks
Individually:
– Identify the learning target(s) for the
benchmarks.
• 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
Keys to Quality Classroom
Assessment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Clear Purposes
Clear Targets
Good Design & Methods
Sound Communication
Student Involvement
Methods of Assessment
• Selected response
• Extended written response
• Performance assessment
• Personal communication
Activity 4
• Individually:
– Refer to the chart showing the target-method
match.
– On your copy of the benchmarks, mark the
methods that would be the best matches for
the targets identified.
• As a group:
– Compare your matches
– Come to consensus on any differences
What do you want the students to do to
demonstrate a successful understanding of
the outcome?
• Assessment tasks provide students with
opportunities to demonstrate what they know and
are able to do, according to the benchmarks.
• Assessment tasks become more authentic when
they permit students to generate products, such as
discourse, performances, and tangible objects.
• The key concepts, derived from the benchmarks in
the Michigan Curriculum Framework, are measured
most effectively with authentic tasks.
• Each task should be worded briefly, in one or two
sentences, expressed as a task to be performed by
students.
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
Methods of Assessment
authentic
(products)
• Selected response
• Extended written response (discourse)
• Performance assessment (performances
and tangible objects)
• Personal communication (discourse)
How do you make a selected response authentic?
Activity 5
• Individually:
– Read the descriptions of the seven standards
• As a group:
– Read the following assessment tasks.
– Determine the standard(s) that are best
identified by the task
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?
• What directions will you give to the
students completing the task?
• What procedures will you use as the
teacher administering the task?
• What scoring rubric will use to evaluate
the quality of the students’ task?
Activity 6
• Individually:
– Read through the descriptions of the
components of the assessment task template
• As a group:
– Create an assessment task for a benchmark
Rubrics: Essential Questions
1. What do we want rubrics to do for us in
the classroom?
2. What are the features of a high-quality
rubric?
3. How do we develop a high-quality rubric?
Classroom Assessments
have two parts:
#1: Task
what we ask the students to do
#2: Performance criteria
basis for judging performance
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
Designing rubrics for tasks
Task-General Rubric
Task-Specific Rubric
Rubric can be used with a
variety of tasks
Rubric is used with a
specific task
Examples:
Writing rubrics
Lab Report
Problem-solving
Oral presentation
Examples:
Solar system rubric
Colonial Book Rubric
Symmetry Poster
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
Activity 7
• As a group:
– Create a scoring rubric for your assessment
task
Goals
1) Understand and apply purposes for
assessment
2) Unpack benchmarks into learning targets
3) Create assessment tasks with methods
that are congruent with the learning
targets
4) Design high quality rubrics