1. Assessment Issues
Jeffrey Oescher

2. Quality Assessments Knowledge of … Let’s briefly look at each of these
learning targets,
assessment methods, and
specific guidelines for writing specific assessments.
Let’s briefly look at each of these

3. Learning Targets Master factual and procedural knowledge
Use knowledge to reason and solve problems
Demonstrate mastery of specific skills
Create quality products
Acquire positive affect/dispositions

4. Learning Targets Knowledge
Name at least two influences on the culture of New Orleans
Give two examples of how location has affected the history of New Orleans.

5. Learning Targets Reasoning
Compare the way of life of the early settlers of New Orleans to your own.
What would New Orleans be like if it was not located on the Mississippi River?

6. Learning Targets Skills
Use the scale provided on the map to measure the distance from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.
Work effectively as a group to identify the critical issues facing New Orleans in the next several years.

7. Learning Targets Products Create a crossword puzzle.
Create a collage that depicts some aspect of New Orleans’ heritage.
Design a study to investigate the use of data driven decision making in a school.

8. Learning Targets Affective characteristics
Demonstrate respect toward yourself and others.
Develop a positive self-concept.
Develop a positive attitude toward history

9. Learning Targets
Classify each of the student tasks on the following slide relative to the type of learning target
Write your responses on a scrap piece of paper

10. (Knowledge, Reasoning, Skills, Products, Affective Traits)
Learning Targets
List and define five types of achievement targets.
Explain each of the five types of outcomes in terms of real examples of targets you might address in your classes.
Identify the learning targets upon which you might focus in a class and assess them relative to the five types discussed today.
Statistically analyze the items on a test you have given. Revise your test items based on these analyses.
Write appropriate learning objectives for specific targets.
Recall or knowledge level outcomes are often regarded as “less important” or “less challenging.” Are some kinds of reasoning more important than others?
Heated debates continue about the kinds of outcomes our schools should help students attain. Opposing camps often include conservative and liberal political factions, religious communities, or business leaders. In your opinion, are these volatile exchanges of values good or bad for schools and students?
(Knowledge, Reasoning, Skills, Products, Affective Traits)

11. Assessment Methods Selected response and short answer Essay
Performance assessment
Personal/oral communication

12. Assessment Methods Selected response
All of the objectively scored paper-and-pencil test formats
Multiple choice
True/false
Matching
Fill-in-the-blank

13. Assessment Methods Essays
An exercise in which the respondent is provided a prompt which calls for the preparation of an extended written answer
Describe how the concepts of evaporation and condensation come into play in the context of the water cycle. Be sure to include all the key elements of the cycle and discuss how they relate to one another.
Using what you know about the causes of air pollution in cities, propose two potentially useful solutions. Analyze each in terms of its strengths and weaknesses.

14. Assessment Methods Performance Assessments
An exercise in which the respondent actually carries out a specified activity under the scrutiny of an evaluator who makes judgments based either on observations of the process and/or on the product created
Processes
A musical recital
A speech
A hundred meter dash
A science experiment
Products
A drawing
A term paper
A prepared dish

15. Assessment Methods Personal communication
Formal and informal discussion with students about their achievement
Informal
Questions posed and answered during instruction
Discussions during class
Conversations
Formal
Interviews
Conferences
Oral examinations

16. Target – Method Match
There is a need to match learning targets with assessment methods
Complete Table 1 on the following slide
Place a ‘X’ for an appropriate match between target and method
Place a ‘?’ for a possible match
Place a ‘O’ for an inappropriate match

17. Target – Method Match Target Method Selected Response Essay
Performance Assessment
Personal Communication
Knowledge
Reasoning
Skills
Products
Affect

18. Target Method Match
Using the table on Slide 17, place an ‘X’ in each cell where you feel the target and method are matched.

19. Target – Method Match Target Method Selected Response Essay
Performance Assessment
Personal Communication
Knowledge X O
Reasoning
Skills
Products
Affect

20. Reflection What questions do you have about … achievement targets,
assessment methods, or
the match between targets and methods?

21. Learning Objectives
Making your assessment targets clear to students

22. Learning Objectives Clearly defining cognitive targets
Content
Cognitive processing of this content
Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain
Stiggins’ Knowledge and Reasoning Targets
Other taxonomies

23. Learning Objectives Examples
List the parts of a cell and describe the structures included in each.
Identify the literary devices authors use to convey their characters’ feelings to the reader.
Across the stories we have read this semester, describe the general approach that the main characters have used to resolve their problems.

24. Learning Objectives Examples
Illustrate the similarity between addition and subtraction.
Categorize examples of researchable and non-researchable research problems.
Speculate on the long term impact of the BP oil spill on Louisiana’s economy.
Argue for the case that a particular golfer is the greatest of all time.

25. Learning Objectives
Becoming clear – crystal clear
Test blueprints

26. Selected Response Items
Write a multiple choice item for each of the following learning objectives
Identify four (4) sources of information used to make decisions in education.1.1
Differentiate researchable problems from non-researchable problems.3.0
Evaluate the use of a norm-referenced or criterion-referenced test for specific purposes.3.5

27. Selected Response Items
Guidelines for writing selected response items
General guidelines for all formats
Items are clearly written and focused
A question is posed
The lowest possible reading level is used
Irrelevant clues are eliminated
Items have been reviewed by a colleague
The scoring key has been checked

28. Selected Response Items
Guidelines (continued)
Multiple choice items
The item stem poses a direct question
Any repetition is eliminated from the response
Only one best or correct answer is provided
The response options are brief and parallel
The number of response options offered fits the item context

29. Selected Response Items
Guidelines (continued)
True/False items
The statement is definitely true or false
Fill-in items
A direct question is posed
One blank is needed to respond
The length of the blank is not a clue to the answer

30. Selected Response Items
Guidelines (continued)
Matching exercises
Clear directions on how to match are provided
The list of items to be matched is brief
Any lists consist of homogeneous entries
The response options are brief and parallel
Extra response options are offered

31. Selected Response Items
Critiquing your items
Review the guidelines for writing selected response items
Take the practice exercise at the end of this handout
Identify any problems with your selected response items
Correct these problems
Statistically analyzing test items
Let’s go here - briefly

32. What Is Next? Essay items Performance assessments Affective scales
Specifying appropriate targets
Writing, scoring and grading
Performance assessments
Developing scoring criteria and scales
Affective scales
Valued affective traits
Measurement scales
Scoring and score interpretation