1. KNOW THY IMPACT: The Power of Common Formative Assessments
Tami Hicks
WVEC Professional Development Cooordinator

3. JOHN HATTIE – VISIBLE LEARNING
“Common formative assessments are designed to give students specific feedback on the clear target to be achieved, along with suggestions on how to reach that target on subsequent assessments. Students need to understand that this feedback will not be graded but that it will be used by their teachers to design specific instruction to help them improve. After a review of almost 8,000 classroom studies focused on determining the impact of feedback on student improvement, John Hattie (1992) declared: “The most powerful single modification that enhances achievement is feedback. The simplest prescription for improving education must be ‘dollops of feedback’” (Hattie, 1992, p. 9).

4. The Power Of COMMON Assessments
“Schools with the greatest improvements in student achievement consistently used common assessments.”
Reeves, 2004

5. What are Common Formative Assessments?
Assessments for learning that are typically created collaboratively by a team of teachers responsible for the same grade level or course on identified “essential” learning.

6. Why Common Formative Assessments?
Gather accurate information about student achievement across a subject area and grade level while learning is in process. (Assessment for learning)
Use assessment process and results effectively to promote maximum student learning success
Identify and evaluate instructional strategies that are effective in helping students acquire the intended knowledge.
Some schools use the pre/post assessment model.

7. The Two Tools of Assessment
“No single assessment can meet everyone’s information needs…To maximize student success, assessment must be seen as an instructional tool for use while learning is occurring, and as an accountability tool to determine if learning has occurred. Because both purposes are important, they must be in balance.”
NEA, 2003

8. Two Purposes of Assessment: Important Distinctions
Diagnosis – Assessment FOR Learning
Evaluation – Assessment OF Learning

9. Assessment FOR Learning
Formative: Given before and during the teaching process
Diagnostic: Intended to be used as a guide to improve teaching and learning
Provides teachers with information they need to create appropriate work for groups of learners or individual students
Not typically used to assign grades
Answers key questions: Do students possess critical pre-requisite skills and knowledge? Do students already know some of the material that is to be taught?
Bravmann, 2004

10. Assessment OF Learning
Summative assessment for unit, quarter, semester, grade level, or course of study
Provides “status report” on degree of student proficiency or mastery relative to targeted standard(s)
Helps teachers judge effectiveness of their teaching practices
Supports the assignment of grades
Answers question: Have students achieved the goals defined by a given standard or group of standards?
Bravmann, 2004

11. GOAL FOR TEACHERS USING CFA’s: Focus On Learning
What do we want our students to know, understand and be able to do?
- Unpacking Standards (I can statements for students)
How will we know when they have learned it?
Data Protocols and Common Assessments
How will we respond when some students have not learned and how will we respond when some students have learned?
Interventions, Re-teaching, Extending and Enriching
The WSFCS focus on learning centers around 3 questions that encompass knowing and understanding the essential standards/goals/objectives of our content; common formative assessments and the ways we know students have learned as well as how we use that information; what will we do when some of our students have not learned and some have…..interventions, reteaching, extending and enriching—What will we do to ensure high levels of learning for all students?
“Learning by Doing”. Dufour, Dufour, Eaker, Many. Solution Tree.2006

12. What Capacities Do Teachers Need to Effectively Use Common Formative Assessments?
ARTICLE
Highlight/underline key words
Write any thoughts in margins
VIDEOS
Which capacities do you see being exhibited by teachers in these videos?
CAPACITY INVENTORY
Think of your teachers – Where do they fall on inventory?

13. TEACHING CHANNEL VIDEOS
GUIDING INSTRUCTION WITH COMMON FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
 USING COMMON FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS TO IMPROVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

14. PLC’s –TIME FOR TEACHERS
Focus on Learning
Focus on Collaborating
Focus on Results
Do you have PLC’s at your school?
When, and how often, do they occur?
How do they operate? What is the focus?

15. All Teams Engage In An Ongoing Cycle of:
Gathering evidence of current levels of student learning
Developing strategies to build on strengths and address weaknesses in that learning

16. All Teams Engage In An Ongoing Cycle of:
Implementing the strategies and ideas
Analyzing the impact of the changes to discover what was effective and what was not
Applying the new knowledge in the next cycle of continuous improvement

17. All Teams Engage In An Ongoing Cycle of Continuous Improvement
Data: Gather Evidence of Student Learning
Apply New Knowledge
Develop Strategies
Analyze the Impact
Implement Strategies
All Teams Engage In An Ongoing Cycle of Continuous Improvement

18. The Basic Picture-PLC Analyzing evidence of student learning
Examining Data Protocols
Clarifying essential student learning
Unpacking Standards
Developing common formative assessments
Instructional practices that impact student learning
Examining student work
Standards in Practice

19. DEVELOPING COMMON ASSESSMENTS
Teams Need to be trained in the process of writing CFA’s
Teams need time together on a regular basis
Admin needs to engage with teams on regular basis
When students included, achievement increases even more
Tips for Writing CFA’s:

20. In a nutshell, PLC teams collectively …
Decide what’s important to teach.
Decide how they’ll know that students learned it.
Decide what they’ll do if they don’t learn it or if they already know it.
Do it … study it … tweak it and keep the cycle going!!

21. Common Formative Assessments:
Assess all students with the same rigor, on the same targets
Usually are Not graded. (formative) If teachers feel they must be used for grades then students should be given additional opportunities to demonstrate learning.
Should identify students who need additional time and support for learning.

22. Common Formative Assessments:
Assess all students with the same rigor, on the same targets
Usually are Not graded. (formative) If teachers feel they must be used for grades then students should be given additional opportunities to demonstrate learning.
Should identify students who need additional time and support for learning.

23. BASIC PROCESS
Identify essential learning outcomes and power standards.
Unwrap the standards.
Develop accurate and aligned assessment items. Establish proficiency levels.

24. Learning Team Common Assessment Process Effective Communication
Clear Purpose
Clear Targets
Sound Design
Effective Communication
Student Involvement

25. Clear Targets
To separate the essential from the peripheral, teachers carefully apply 2 criteria to each target:
Endurance – are students expected to retain the skills/knowledge long after the test is completed?
Readiness for the Next Level of Learning – is this skill/knowledge preparing the student for success in the next grade/course?
Doug Reeves

26. Recommended # of CFA Items
Grade Levels
# of CFA Items
Grades K-1
Approximately 5-8
Grades 2-3
Approximately 8-10
Grade 4-5
Approximately 10-15
Grades 6-8
Approximately 15-20
Grades 9-12
Approximately 20-25

27. WHERE ITEMS CAN COME FROM
Unit chapter tests/assessments
Teacher Created assessments
Past ISTEP/ECA’s – from IDOE site
Using example items from IDOE for new standards
OTHER?

28. Assessment Methods
Selected Response-Multiple choice, true/false, matching, short answer, fill-in
Extended Written Response (constructed response)-Requires student response that is at least several sentences in length. Scoring guide.
Performance assessment-Observation and judgment as to quality of performance or product. Requires scoring guide.
Personal communication-Requires interaction with students..can be time consuming.
Table 4.1 p.100

29. Target-Method Match Chart
Selected Response & Short Answer
Extended Written Response
Performance Assessment
Personal Communication
Knowledge
Mastry
Good match for assessing mastery of elements of knowledge
Good match for tapping understanding of relationships among elements of knowledge
X Not a good match
Can ask questions and infer mastery-time consuming
Reasoning
Proficiency
Good match only for assessing understands of some patterns of reasoning
Good match. Can provide window to reasoning proficiency
Can infer some reasoning proficiency by observation
Can ask student to “think aloud” and probe with follow-up questions
Skills
X Not a good match.
Good match. Can observe and evaluate skills as they are being performed.
Strong match when skill is oral communication proficiency. Not good otherwise.
Ability to Create Products
Strong Match for written products. Not a good match if not a written product
Good match. Can Assess the attributes of the product.

30. The Process of Developing CFAs: Laying The Standards Foundation - Steps 1-6
Step 1: Choose Important Topic
Step 2: Identify Matching Priority Standards
Step 3: “Unwrap” Matching Priority
Standards
Step 4: Create Graphic Organizer
Step 5: Determine the Big Ideas
Step 6: Write the Essential Questions

31. The Process of Developing CFAs: Creating The Assessment Steps 7-10
Step 7: Write Selected-Response Items
Step 8: Write Constructed-Response Items (extended or short)
Step 9: Write Essential Question-Big Idea Directions
Step 10: Create Answer Key & Scoring Guides
for Constructed-Response Items

32. CFAs – A Summary Periodic assessments collaboratively designed
Matching pre- and post-assessments
Similar in design to high stakes tests
Items should represent priority standards
Blend of item types including selected and constructed response
Administered several times a year
Results analyzed in Data Teams
Results used to inform planning and instruction

33. Teachers will need support with…..
Writing Common Formative Assessments
How to analyze the assessments and apply to classroom instruction
Instructional Strategies to add to their toolboxes
Regular TIME to review data, evaluate IMPACT, modify instruction, content and assessments; and continuously reflect as professional teams.

34. What will you do to KNOW YOUR IMPACT?
What will your next steps be?
GROUP DISCUSSION
PERSONAL NOTES
GROUP/INDIVIDUAL NEEDS??

35. WVEC – HERE TO HELP!! Tami Hicks PD Coordinator EMAIL: PHONE:
PHONE:
765-58