Jeanne Foy, NAEP State Coordinator

Jeanne Foy, NAEP State Coordinator
Using NAEP Assessment Items Instructionally: Teaching Students to Be Strategic Jeanne Foy, NAEP State Coordinator

Organization Part I: Introduction to Using Assessment Items
Part II: Why Use Assessment Items for Instruction? Part III: Web Resources NAEP Released Items NAEP Assessment Toolbox Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies Reading Math Part V: Alaska Standards Based Assessment Resources

Part I: Introduction to Using Assessment Items

Using Assessment Items
Wealth of resources available through released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) questions Released items can be used instructionally Teach to the standard Teach students strategic reasoning skills Part I: Introduction to Using Assessment Items

What Is the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)?
The nation’s only nationally representative, continuous assessment of what the nation’ s students know and can do in school Administered in Alaska as part of NCLB every other year since 2003 for Grade 4 mathematics and reading Grade 8 mathematics and reading Part I: Introduction to Using Assessment Items

Benefits of Using These Resources
Alignment with state standards/GLEs Opportunity for students to learn state standards/GLEs Excellent examples of assessment items Activities that can be used to augment or supplement what teachers are already doing Easy activities to “drop in” along with other classroom activities (graded assignments, performance-based projects, etc.) Part I: Introduction to Using Assessment Items

Formative Assessments
Used to gain immediate information on how students are learning and information is used to adapt instruction; students are also aware of their learning process All activities using NAEP items are intended for formative assessments Part I: Introduction to Using Assessment Items

Part II: Why Use Assessment Items for Instruction?

Teach Essential Skills “By focusing on important standards and using tools such as sample tests, teachers can help their students understand what they need to learn—and what they will be tested on.” Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Schmoker, Mike (2006). Part II: Why Use Assessment Items for Instruction?

Teach to the Standard “The prevalence of higher-order standards surprises many educators but is borne out by a recent review of state assessments that found that almost all of the items on these tests—an encouraging trend—are higher-order and inferential in nature (Liben & Liben, 2005) ” Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Schmoker, Mike (2006). Part II: Why Use Assessment Items for Instruction?

Model Strategic Thinking
“. . . studies suggest that many students of diverse backgrounds are not receiving the kind of comprehension instruction that would prepare them well on assessments that are increasingly oriented toward higher level thinking with text. It is clear from research that all students need instruction in reading instruction, especially the kind that focuses on the strategies required to answer and generate challenging questions.” Raphael, T. E., & Au, K. H. (2005). QAR: Enhancing comprehension and test taking across grades and content areas. The Reading Teacher, 59 (3), The authors have a very specific technique, Question Answer Relationships, that they illustrate with NAEP questions. Part II: Why Use Assessment Items for Instruction?

Value of NAEP “. . . to many educators and policymakers, NAEP represents the gold standard in testing for its ability to assess both content and critical thinking.” — Patte Barth, Director of the Center for Public Education Part of this is because of the design of the NAEP. It’s a very long assessment, every student who takes a NAEP assessment takes only part of the entire assessment. More questions enable more breadth; half of it is also constructed response questions. Part II: Why Use Assessment Items for Instruction?

Items Are Meant for Learning Activities
Ethical test preparation practices do not include “providing students with extended practice on old or parallel forms of the test without guided practice on how to improve” Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right—Using It Well. Portland, OR: Educational Testing Service. Stiggins, R. J., Arter, J. A., Chappius, J., & Chappius, S. (2006) Part II: Why Use Assessment Items for Instruction?

Part III: Web Resources
NAEP Released Items Aligned to State Standards NAEP Assessment Toolbox for Teachers Part III: Web Resources

For NAEP teacher resources, go to state assessment web page: Part III: Web Resources

Teacher NAEP resources on Alaska NAEP web page: Part III: Web Resources

Bank of NAEP Items Linked to Alaska GLEs
Part I: Introduction to Using Assessment Items

Table of Contents for Each Math and Reading Strand
Table shows type of question Quick description of question Part III: Web Resources Performance data for Alaska students

NAEP Questions Linked to Alaska GLEs Posted in Word
Part III: Web Resources

What Accompanies NAEP Assessment Items?
Multiple-choice and constructed-response questions that have been field tested Score guides for constructed-response questions Tables identifying GLEs assessed by each item Student exemplars for every score level for constructed-response questions Student performance data Difficulty of writing items; field testing means that data on student performance show the question has performed well Part III: Web Resources

A note on multiple-choice questions
A common misunderstanding is that multiple-choice questions cannot assess reasoning proficiency. Patterns of reasoning such as comparative reasoning and various types of inference (generalizing, author’s purpose, main idea) can be assessed in selected response format Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right—Using It Well. Portland, OR: Educational Testing Service. Stiggins, R. J., Arter, J. A., Chappius, J., & Chappius, S. (2006) Again, NAEP noted for its ability to assess complex reasoning skills Part III: Web Resources

NAEP Assessment Toolbox for Teachers
Illustrates how items can be used instructionally Worksheet format Models state standards Overall objective: short, guided practice in strategic thinking Part III: Web Resources

Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies

NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies
Reading—focus on reasoning strategies and ability to evaluate/self-assess Mathematics—students’ pattern of reasoning and errors, communication of mathematics vocabulary and concepts Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies

NAEP Data Explanation (p. 3*)
*Page numbers in headings refer to Assessment Toolbox pages Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies

Improve Students’ Ability to Evaluate Quality of Work
Teaching students to be able to assess the quality of work is key for students to learn how to revise their own work. Using NAEP Constructed-Response Questions and Scoring Guides To Identify Acceptable and Unacceptable Responses to Questions on a Reading Passage The following worksheets on “Watch Out for Wombats,” from a grade 4 NAEP reading assessment show how NAEP student samples of work and NAEP scoring guides can be used to help students identify acceptable and unacceptable answers to reading questions. Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Overview of Questions (p. 9)
Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading
Reading Passage (p. 11) Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Student Self-Assessment Worksheet (p. 13)

Answer Key (p. 15) Give everyone a few minutes to look a this section. Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Variations (covered in introduction to section on pages 7 & 8)
Discuss only one or two questions at a time or whatever seems appropriate Give students only unacceptable responses to revise to make them acceptable Classroom discussion and scoring of responses Grade 8 reading passage “Ellis Island: Doorway to America” also included in Toolbox Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Guided Practice/Reasoning Strategies Introduction (p. 59)
Released NAEP questions offer teachers many opportunities to use guided practice with students to show how to use reasoning strategies to answer questions over a reading passage. Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Reasoning Strategies National Reading Panel findings on Teacher Preparation and Comprehension Strategies Instruction conclude that “reading comprehension can be improved by teaching students to use specific cognitive strategies or to reason strategically when they encounter barriers to comprehension when reading.” Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Reading Panel Findings
Comprehension strategies include a teacher guiding the reader or modeling for the reader the actions that the reader can take to enhance the comprehension processes used during reading and the reader practicing those strategies with the teacher assisting until the reader achieves a gradual internalization and independent mastery of those processes. Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Procedures for Modeling Reasoning Strategies (p. 59)
Print the reading passage and questions. Ask students to complete these on their own. After students answer the questions on their own, share the item map and reasoning strategies worksheets with students. Use the reasoning strategies worksheets to model how to interpret and answer each question on the item map correctly with the entire class. These worksheets address the following questions: What does the item map show about this item? How do you know your answer is correct? Why are the other responses wrong or incomplete? Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Reading Passage (p. 63) Let’s look at way materials are arranged in NAEP Toolbox. Again, posted in Word so teachers can assemble and print in any way that they would like Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Questions on Passage (p. 63-65)

NAEP Item Map (p. 67) Illustrate achievement levels; NAEP levels are different but this can be used to model achievement level for students. Could go over the Alaska proficiency description for each grade level/subject area. Students receive student reports but do they understand what it means to be proficient? Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Student Worksheet (p. 73) Students asked to rephrase GLE National data and Alaska data Teachers can choose to share performance results with students Percentage of students who chose each possible answer Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Questions for Class Discussion (p. 74)

Constructed-Response Question Discussion (p. 69 & 70)
Has responses for all levels of the scoring guide Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Scorer’s commentary for NAEP questions reinforce that students must support their opinion with evidence from the text. Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

NAEP Grade Levels NAEP assessments given at three grade levels: 4, 8, and 12 Assessment Toolbox has grade 4 and grade 8 assessment activities For use in other grades, teachers can gauge difficulty of questions by performance data Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Available NAEP Reading Questions
NAEP has many constructed-response questions NAEP uses a variety of fiction and nonfiction NAEP performance data can serve as benchmark for comparison on how students are doing, both to other students in Alaska and nationally Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Discussion Questions How can assessment items be used for cooperative learning? How can assessment items be used to involve students in their own learning? Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Reading

Examining Math Understanding (p.116)
Examples of how to use NAEP multiple-choice questions for one math strand each at grade 4 and grade 8 Multiple-choice distractors carefully designed; must be plausible indicators of student thinking Peformance data shows how common “mathematical misconceptions” are Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Math

Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Math
Grade 8 F&R Question (p. 131) GLE: F&R-5 translating a written phrase to an algebraic expression 8. If n represents an even number greater than 2, what is the next larger even number? A) n + 1 B) 2n + 1 C) 2n D) n + 2 E) n2 Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Math

Mathematical Error Revealed by Each Wrong Response (p. 132)
A: This expression would create an odd number. B: This expression would create an odd number; also, 2n would not create the next larger even number. C: This would create an even number, but not the next larger even number. D: Correct answer E: This would create an even number, but not the next larger even number. Half the students fail to recognize that the algebraic expression is simple and straightforward, just add 2 Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Math

Checking for Understanding by Using Response Cards
Low-cost, available materials Technique that can be used for any content, for open-ended questions or multiple-choice questions Model strategies to address performance gap for “nonroutine” problems Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Math

“Moment of Contingency”
“To gauge the understanding of the whole class, the teacher needs to get responses from all the students in real time. One way to do this is to have all students write their answers on individual dry-erase boards, which they hold up at the teacher's request. The teacher can then scan responses for novel solutions as well as misconceptions.” Moment of contingency because teachers can make decisions about how to move forward with instruction based on evidence of student achievement Leahy, S., Lyon, C., Thompson, M., & Wiliam, D. (2005). Classroom Assessment: Minute by Minute, Day by Day [Electronic version]. Educational Leadership: Assessment to Promote Learning 63 (30, 19-24) Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Math

Responding to Student Understanding
“Another approach is to give each student a set of four cards labeled A, B, C, and D, and ask the question in multiple-choice format. If the question is well designed, the teacher can quickly judge the different levels of understanding in the class. If all students answer correctly, the teacher can move on. If no one answers correctly, the teacher might choose to reteach the concept. If some students answer correctly and some answer incorrectly, the teacher can use that knowledge to engineer a whole-class discussion on the concept or match up the students for peer teaching.” Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Math

Math Achievement Gap “Another pattern evident in NAEP data is that low-SES and minority students tend to perform worse on nonroutine problems. For example, the vast majority of 4th grade and 8th grade students from all race and class groups correctly answered basic computation problems, such as = __. In contrast, there were large disparities on computation problems with extraneous information or multiple steps, such as this one: Carl has 3 empty egg cartons and 34 eggs. If each carton holds 12 eggs, how many more eggs are needed to fill all 3 cartons?” Previous question good example of how students can have trouble identifying math skills that they already know—in that case make the next-greater even number just be adding two. Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Math

Math Performance Gaps “Carl has 3 empty egg cartons and 34 eggs. If each carton holds 12 eggs, how many more eggs are needed to fill all 3 cartons? More than 53 percent of white, Asian, and nonpoor 4th graders answered this problem correctly, compared with only about one-third of black, Latino, and poor 4th graders.” Lubienski, S. (2007). What We Can Do About Achievement Disparities [Electronic version]. Educational Leadership: Making Math Count 65 (3, 54-59). Also shows that half of students were not able to identify the math needed to answer the question correctly; SBA math items also frequently presented in the same way, “mini story problems.” Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Math

Use Assessment Items to Build Math Vocabulary
“The meanings of words in math—for example, even, odd, product, and factor—often differ from their use in common language. Many students needing math intervention have weak mathematical vocabularies. It's key that students develop a firm understanding of mathematical concepts before learning new vocabulary, so that they can anchor terminology in their understanding. We should explicitly teach vocabulary in the context of a learning activity and then use it consistently. A math vocabulary chart can help keep both teacher and students focused on the importance of accurately using math terms.” Burns, M. (2007). Nine Ways to Catch Kids Up [Electronic version]. Educational Leadership: Making Math Count 65 (3, 16-21). Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Math

Math GLEs Can Serve as Vocabulary Chart
Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Math

Conclusion NAEP Assessment Items Illustrate the GLEs for Students Turn abstract idea into learning activity Clarify expectations One way of students taking responsibility for own learning Part IV: NAEP Assessment Toolbox Strategies/Math

NAEP Questions Available in Many Content Areas at http://nces. ed

Part V: Alaska SBA Resources
Alaska Standards Based Assessment Resources Part V: Alaska SBA Resources

SBA Practice Tests Assessment Items
Part I: Introduction to Using Assessment Items

Part I: Introduction to Using Assessment Items
Scoring Guide is key. For example, look at Grade 6 Reading. For grades 5-9, Test Book has multiple-choice questions, Answer Booklet has constructed-response questions. Practice test materials mirror format of actual SBAs. The practice test material can be used to familiarize students with test materials, know what to expect on test day. Part I: Introduction to Using Assessment Items

Part V: Alaska SBA Resources
Last page of the Scoring Guide has test map showing the GLE assessed by each reading question. Icehotel and Dick Mackey, nonfiction, Little by Little is story, Sky-Fish is a poem. Two CR questions; all others multiple choice Part V: Alaska SBA Resources

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Jeanne Foy, Alaska NAEP Coordinator Part I: Introduction to Using Assessment Items

Jeanne Foy, NAEP State Coordinator

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