Chapter 5 Building Assessment into Instruction Misti Foster

Mokros, Russell, and Economopoulos (1995, p.84) Assessment should be the servant of teaching and learning. Without information about their students' skills, understanding, and individual approaches to mathematics, teachers have nothing to guide their work. Mokros, Russell, and Economopoulos (1995, p.84)

What is Assessment and who does it benefit? Assessment is “the process of gathering evidence about a student's knowledge of, ability to use, and disposition toward mathematics and of making inferences from that evidence for a variety of purposes”.(NCTM,1995,p.3) Two main ideas associated with assessment 1) Assessment should enhance student's learning. 2) Assessment is a valuable tool for making instructional decisions.

Formative vs Summative Assessment Formative assessment is a planned process of regularly checking students' understanding during instructional activities. Can dramatically increase the speed of student learning by providing feedback. Examples include performance based tasks, journals, Observation of students solving problems, and student diagnostic interviews. Summative Assessments are cumulative evaluations that might generate a single score. It is a snapshot of what a student knows at a particular time Examples include end of unit tests or state standardized tests used by schools.

Why Assess? Monitoring Student Progress Making Instructional Decisions Evaluating Student Achievement Evaluating Programs

What Should Be Assessed? The NCTM requires that appropriate assessment reflect the full range of mathematics including: Concepts and Procedures Mathematical Processes Productive Disposition

Performance-Based Assessments Refers to tasks that are connected to actual problem-solving activities used in instruction. They should permit every student in the class regardless of mathematical prowess, to demonstrate knowledge, skills, or understanding. They often include real-world context that should not overpower the task. Justification behind answer provides instructor with insight into student understanding.

Examples of Performance Based Tasks Leila has 6 gumdrops, Darlene has 2, and Melissa has 6. They want to share them equally. How will they do it? Draw a picture to help explain your answer. In some cases students are asked to judge the work of others. Alan tried to make a decimal number as close to 50 as he could using the digits 1,4,5, and 9. He arranged them in this order: 51.49. Jerry thinks he can arrange the same digits to get a number that is even closer to 50. Do you agree or disagree? Explain. Other students can pick up the methods that students share.

Rubrics and Performance Indicators Rubrics are good to use with Problem Based Tasks Performance Indicators are task-specific statements that describe what performance looks like at each level of the rubric and in so doing create criteria for acceptable performance.

Anecdotal Notes A type of observation tool where teachers write down short notes either during or immediately after a lesson in a brief narrative style. May be organized in a variety of ways depending of the preference of the teacher. Helpful to limit your notes to 5 students a day.

Observation Rubric Combines a rubric with anecdotal notes. Allows for greater organization for the teacher. Especially useful for planning purposes.

Journals Provide an excellent form of communication with parents during conferences. A place where teachers can find out about students understandings,questions, and attitudes. Should not be graded but it is important to read and respond to journal writing. Students need to know: what to write about, who the audience is, and a time frame for the task.

Ideas for Writing Prompts Write an explanation for a new or younger student of why 4 x 7 is the same as 7 x 4 and if this works for 6 x 49 and 49 x 6. If so, why? If you got stuck in a problem today, where in the problem did you get stuck? Why do you think you had trouble there? What mathematics work that we did today was hard? What was easy? What do you still have questions about?

Journal for Early Learners Giant Journals can be used for class discussion and contribution. The teacher leads the discussion and writes down student responses. In first or second grade students can respond to tasks that they have just completed or feel comfortable with by writing or drawing out a solution to the problem. For example: A farmer saw five cows and four chickens. How many legs and tails did he see in all? Students can draw out and write a response.

Student Self Assessment Provides a powerful record of how student's perceive their learning and disposition A successful approach is a questionnaire where they can respond with a yes, no, or maybe. If you use a standard form make sure it serves your purpose.

Tests Tests will always be a part of assessment and evaluation. If a test is well constructed, much more information can be gathered than simply the number of correct responses.

Maximizing the Value of Tests Permit students to use a calculator. Except when testing computational skills. Use manipulatives and drawings. It is best when students can use the same models used in class. Include opportunities for explanations Avoid always using “preanswered” tests. Using tests with only one correct answer hides most of what students know.

Improving Performance on High Stakes Tests Teach fundamental concepts and processes. Students who have learned conceptual ideas and learned the processes will perform well on tests, regardless of format. Familiarize students with different question formats. Teach test taking strategies shortly before the test. Students should: Read questions carefully, Estimate the answer, Eliminate choices, and Work backwards from an answer.

Grading Be conscious that what gets graded gets valued. The grade at the end of the marking period should reflect a holistic view of where the student is now relative to your goals. How much weight to give certain tasks should be decided at the beginning of the grading period and not the night you set out to assign report card grades. A multidimensional reporting system that relies on multiple assessments is important for improving the validity of a grading system.