Standards Based Grading in the
World Language Classroom
Part 2 - Assessing Student
Performance
Central States Conference on the Teaching of
Foreign Languages
March 20, 2014
http://eurekaworldlanguage.wikispaces.com/home
Who are we and why are we here?
• Julie Weitzel, Lafayette High
School, Spanish I and II
• Denise Pahl, Eureka High
School, Spanish III and IV
• Kim Lackey, Eureka High
School, Spanish III and IV
Unit Planning
What will
be the
focus?
What will be
assessed?
How will it
be
assessed?
Which
standards
will be
addressed?
What
resources do
we need?
(Beyond the
textbook…)
How will
culture be
interwoven?
How can we design a scoring guide
that is...
• standards based,
• uses a 50-100 scale,
• gives meaningful feedback to teachers,
students, and parents
• uses standards-based indicators (advanced,
proficient, developing, minimal), and
• uses a logical/mathematically-sound
conversion to percentages that is student,
parent, and gradebook friendly?
50 -100 Scale - Rick Wormeli
Common Vocabulary used on
Scoring Guides
Rarely /
Never
Sometimes
/ Rarely
Can
confidently
move
forward
Usually
Always
Best Practices for using
Scoring Guides
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Limit criteria to essential skills only.
Share the scoring guides with students in
advance!
Formative work is key.
Students can practice using the scoring
guide on a sample assessment.
Students can choose essential criteria.
Grade while it still matters.
Feedback immediately communicates
students’ strengths and weaknesses.
Student Reaction to Scoring Guides
This same format for a scoring
guide can be applied to...
• Presentational Speaking Assessments
• Reading and Listening Assessments
• Interpersonal Speaking and Writing
•
•
•
•
•
Assessments
Vocabulary Assessments
Grammar Assessments
Cultural Competence Assessments
Pronunciation Assessments
and more!
What do I need to know (technically
speaking) to create this type of
scoring guide?
Figure how many boxes you need. If it’s a lot, using
landscape orientation can help fit it all in.
Formula for percentages:
· (# of boxes – 1) = X
· 50 ÷ X = Y
· Subtract Y from 100 and each result to get the
percentages. Round off to nearest 10th.
What do I need to know (technically
speaking) to create this type of
scoring guide?
• Decide what criteria you will focus on
(content, organization, vocabulary use,
comprehensibility, etc).
• Decide if you want to weight each criteria the
same (1, 2, 3, 4? 1, 2, 3? 2, 4, 6, 8?)
• Count up the total number of points for the
lowest possible score. Count up the total
number of points for the highest possible
score.
What do I need to know (technically
speaking) to create this type of
scoring guide?
Adding performance levels
When deciding the cut off for Advanced, Proficient,
Developing, and Minimal, you may want to consider what
a student needs to get to have each total raw score. For
example, if a student has 2 “Proficient” scores and 1
“Advanced” score, their overall score would be
“Proficient.”
3
4
50%
55.5%
Minimal
5
6
7
8
9
10
61.1% 66.7% 72.2% 77.8% 83.3% 88.9%
Developing
Proficient
11
12
94.4%
100%
Advanced
What do I need to know (technically
speaking) to create this type of
scoring guide?
•
•
•
•
•
Microsoft Word - Tables!
Distribute Columns - the Equalizer
Split and Merge Cells
Basic Counting
How to follow a formula (or cut and paste)
Let’s create a template!
A five criteria scoring guide tends to be common for
presentational writing or speaking assessments.
How we set up our Online Gradebook
Our Infinite Campus Categories:
25% Linguistic and Cultural Competence
25% Presentational Communication
25% Interpretive Communication
25% Interpersonal Communication
0% - Inactive category/assignments for
Formative Work (Homework, Participation,
Practice Quizzes)
How we set up our Online Gradebook
25% Linguistic and Cultural Competence
• Vocab Quizzes
• Grammar Quizzes
• Cultural Competency Evaluations
• Pronunciation Assessments
• Lifelong Learning Projects
How we set up our Online Gradebook
25% Presentational Communication
• Writing
–
–
Essays / Paragraphs responding to a prompt
Integrated vocabulary and grammar quizzes (split
the grade, part for Linguistic Competence, part
for Presentational Communication)
• Speaking
–
–
–
–
Small group presentations
Whole class presentations
Video narration
Voicemails - speaking for an audience of one
How we set up our Online Gradebook
25% Interpretive Communication
• Listening / Viewing
• Reading
Questions - Reflect Common Core State
Standards and AP Language and Culture
expectations
How we set up our Online Gradebook
25% Interpersonal Communication
• Speaking
–
–
–
–
Small group (3-5 students)
Speaking in pairs / with teacher
Lots of formative work!
Prompts = Conversation Starters
• Writing
–
–
–
Google Docs, Today’s Meet
Simulate an online chat / texting situation
Letter writing / responding to correspondence
Examples of assessments in the
context of units from levels II, III, and IV
• Mi casa es su casa unit – Spanish III
• Mitos y leyendas unit – Spanish II
• El cine español unit – Spanish IV
Vocabulary Comprehension
Scoring Guide
Other formats we frequently use to
assess vocab comprehension
●
●
●
●
●
●
Matching
Reading (Fill-in-the-blank with a word bank)
Reading (Multiple Choice)
Reading (circumlocution - matching)
Listening (identify the words that you hear)
Listening (associate phrase with image and
put them in order)
Vocabulary Production
Vocabulary Production
Scoring Guide
Scoring Guide - Long version
Interpersonal Writing
• Prompt: ¿Dónde vives? ¿Cómo es tu
hogar?
• Ideal = Students work in pairs
• Google Docs - One student creates a
Document using Google Docs and shares it
with their partner.
• Google Docs allows students to work
collaboratively on the same document and to
see the changes their partner makes.
• Use Bold and Italics to show who is
“talking.”
Scoring Guide
Presentational Speaking - video
Scoring Guide
Interpretive Viewing
Students will watch 4 shorts videos. These
have been downloaded form YouTube.
Interpretive Viewing: Source, Purpose,
and Intended Audience
Interpretive Viewing: Supporting Details
Interpretive Viewing: Vocabulary in Context
Interpretive Viewing: Scoring Guide
Grammar Assessment
Grammar Scoring Guide
Other formats we frequently use to
assess knowledge of grammar concepts
● Knowledge, Application, Communication
● Verb conjugations - Choose & Change
(give score for vocab and grammar).
● Separate scores between choice,
agreement, syntax/placement
Interpretive Reading
Interpretive reading:
Supporting Details
Interpretive Reading
Supporting Details
Interpretive Reading:
Grammar interpretation
Interpretive Reading:
Meaning from context
Interpretive Reading:
Main idea
Interpretive Reading:
Scoring Guide
Presentational Writing
Escribe “La leyenda del nopal” en tus propias palabras. Usa el pretérito y el
imperfecto para narrar en el pasado.
Presentational Writing
El cine español - Spanish IV
Interpersonal Speaking
• Must have lots of formative practice (daily
conversations about high interest topics)
• Small group conversations, “Speed dating”
activity, one-on-one conversations with
teacher
• Work to find solutions to classroom
management challenges
• Goal - conversations with native speakers!
Interpersonal Speaking
Interpersonal Speaking
Scoring Guide
Pronunciation Assessment
Pronunciation Scoring Guide
Lifelong Learning
Project
Lifelong Learning
Project
What about final exams?
• Final Exams should reflect the same
scoring categories that students have
been assessed on all semester.
– Interpretive,
– presentational, and
– interpersonal communication
– + cultural and linguistic competence
Key Points
• Let the World-Readiness Standards for
Learning Languages guide everything that
you do with your students!
• Choose to include assessments of what
students know and are able to do in the
language in your gradebook.
• Make unit planning a priority and choose
real-world scenarios with logical assessments.
• Work together and develop your skills and
resources over time.
•
•
•
•
What will be your take-away from
this afternoon? Who will you
share this with?
Unit Planning and the World-Readiness Standards for
Learning Languages
Scoring Guides - standards based, proficiency indicators,
50-100 scale, conversion to gradebook-friendly
percentages, meaningful feedback.
Specific Units (Mi casa es su casa, Una leyenda
mexicana, El cine español)
Specific Assessment Types (Vocabulary
comprehension/production, Interpersonal Writing,
Presentational Speaking, Interpretive Listening/Viewing,
Grammar, Interpretive Reading, Presentational Writing,
Interpersonal Speaking, Pronunciation, Cultural
Knowledge, Final Exam)