Assessment for Learning Introduction

Introductions OMSP Facilitators School Districts

Our Role in Supporting You! Bremerton Quillayute Valley Chimacum Sequim North Mason Port Townsend

Our Role in Supporting You! Effective Professional Development Professional Teaching and Learning Cycle Assessment for Learning Content focused Active learning Coherence Duration/ frequency Collaborative NO LIMIT! (2001) NCOSP (2003) PRISSM (2004) Standards Assessment Evidence-based Lesson Planning Reflective Collaborative TMP (2006) OMSP (2007) Clear connection to PTLC model of PD Focus for OMSP ( ) Sound research base Logical next step

Assessment of Learning vs. Assessment for Learning  Think and write down the key differences between Assessment of Learning and Assessment for Learning (using the provided handout).  Pair with a partner at your table  Share your thinking

Rick Stiggins Assessment Training Institute- Portland, Oregon  Watch the video and consider the following:  Which of the key differences between Assessment for Learning and Assessment of Learning resonates most with you?  Which of the key differences between Assessment for Learning and Assessment of Learning extends your previous thinking? Table Talk- Share thinking

Classroom Assessment for Learning What is Assessment for Learning? What is the research behind Assessment for Learning? How does Assessment for Learning align with the Three Key Findings of How People Learn? Rick Stiggins, Dylan Wiliam, Robert Marzano, James Popham

Two Purposes for Assessment Rick Stiggins SUMMATIVE Assessments OF Learning How much have students learned as of a particular point in time? FORMATIVE Assessments FOR Learning How can we use assessment information to help students learn more? Source: Adapted with permission from R. Stiggins, J. Arter, J. Chappuis, and S. Chappuis, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right—Using It Well (Portland, OR: ETS Assessment Training Institute, 2004), p. 13.

Assessment for Learning

Types of Formative Assessment Dylan Wiliam Long-cycle Span: across units, terms Length: four weeks to one year Impact: Student monitoring; curriculum alignment Medium-cycle Span: within and between teaching units Length: one to four weeks Impact: Improved, student-involved, assessment; teacher cognition about learning Short-cycle Span: within and between lessons Length: day-by-day: 24 to 48 hours minute-by-minute: 5 seconds to 2 hours Impact: classroom practice; student engagemen t Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009 Assessment for Learning

Revised definition.. Practice in a classroom is formative to the extent that evidence about student achievement is elicited, interpreted, and used by teachers, learners, or their peers, to make decisions about the next steps in instruction that are likely to be better, or better founded, than the decisions they would have taken in the absence of the evidence that was elicited. ~Black and Wiliam (2009)

Assessment for Learning: drilling down to deeper understanding Collecting information about student thinking / understanding in relation to specific learning goals Interpreting information that helps to hone in on essential learning needs to address Acting with purpose based on what was learned from the information collected and actively involving students in the process. Magi, Vokos, Li, Minstrell, Anderson NSTA 2009 Workshop: Promoting Understanding & Skills in Assessment & Instruction for Learning

Reflect & Write: What are the critical features of Assessment for Learning? Share & Refine: Share your ideas with your table mates Combine ideas to refine your shared definition of Assessment for Learning Declare: Display a red, yellow or green cup on your table to indicate your group’s confidence in your shared understanding of AfL What is Assessment for Learning?

What is the research behind Assessment for Learning?

20 years of research has found that when classrooms regularly engaged in effective formative assessment... Students make significant learning gains – especially lower achieving students Teachers tend to be more reflective about their practice and more in touch with their students’ learning The process can improve student achievement more than other learning interventions including one-on-one tutoring, reduced class size or cooperative learning Black and Wiliam (1998) and others (e.g., Shepard et al., 2005) Benefits of Assessment for Learning Magi, Vokos, Li, Minstrell, Anderson NSTA 2009 Workshop: Promoting Understanding & Skills in Assessment & Instruction for Learning

. Research on Effects of Formative Assessment:.4 to.7 Gain.75 Standard Deviation Score Gain =  25 Percentile Points on ITBS (middle of score range)  70 SAT Score Points  4 ACT Score Points Largest Gain for Low Achievers Black & Wiliam

The general finding of 15 substantial reviews of research synthesizing several thousand research studies... “… is that across a range of different school subjects, in different countries, and for learners of different ages, the use of formative assessment appears to be associated with considerable improvements in the rate of learning.” “… it seems reasonable to conclude that use of formative assessment can increase the rate of student learning by somewhere between 50 and 100 percent.” “This suggests that formative assessment is likely to be one of the most effective ways—and perhaps the most effective way—of increasing student achievement (Wiliam & Thomson, 2007, for example estimate that it would be 20 times more cost-effective than typical class-size reduction programs). Source: Siobhan Leahy & Dylan Wiliam (2009). From teachers to schools: scaling up professional development for formative assessment

Cost/effect comparisons InterventionExtra months of learning per year Cost/class- room/yr Class-size reduction (by 30%)4$30k Increase teacher content knowledge from weak to strong 2? Formative assessment/ Assessment for learning 8$3k Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009

Teacher quality matters… Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June th percentile 50 th percentile 100 th percentile Exhibit 5: The Effect of Teacher Quality Age 8Age th percentile 37 th percentile 53 percentile points Students with a “high performing” teacher Students with a “low performing” teacher

…it’s teachers that make the difference To see how big the difference is, take a group of 50 students Students taught by the best teacher learn twice as fast as average Students taught by the worst teacher learn half as fast average And in the classrooms of the best teachers Students with behavioral difficulties learn as much as those without Students from disadvantaged backgrounds do as well as those from advantaged backgrounds

20-25%Total “explained” difference <5%Further professional qualifications (NBPTS) 10-15% Pedagogical content knowledge <5%Advanced content matter knowledge Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009 Teachers make a difference But what makes the difference in teachers?

Recommended Practices Increased descriptive feedback, reduced evaluative feedback Increased student self-assessment Increased opportunities for students to communicate their evolving learning during the teaching Source: Adapted with permission from R. Stiggins, J. Arter, J. Chappuis, and S. Chappuis, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right—Using It Well (Portland, OR: ETS Assessment Training Institute, 2004), p. 13. (Black & Wiliam, 1998)

How does Assessment for Learning align with the Three Key Findings of How People Learn? Review: Your table’s list of the key features of Assessment for Learning The handout of the Three Key Findings of How People Learn. Write: What connections do you see? Commit & Toss

Assessment for Learning Five Key Strategies Assessment for Learning Five Key Strategies

The Five Key Strategies of Assessment for Learning What are the 5 key research-based strategies for implementing AfL in the classroom? What are some Formative Assessment Classroom Techniques (FACTS) support the 5 key strategies? How do I learn more about FACTS? What strategies and techniques am I already using? What strategies and techniques do I want to incorporate in my classroom next year?

A Comprehensive Framework for Formative Assessment Three central processes: 1. Establishing where learners are in their learning 2. Establishing where they are going 3. Establishing how to get there ~Wiliam and Thompson (2007)

…and one big idea Use evidence about learning to adapt teaching and learning to meet student needs Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009

Sharing Learning ExpectationsClarifying and sharing learning intentions and criteria for success Eliciting EvidenceEngineering effective classroom discussions, questions and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning. FeedbackProviding feedback that moves learners forward Self AssessmentActivating students as the owners of their own learning Peer AssessmentActivating students as instructional resources for one another (Wiliam & Thompson, 2007) Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009 Five “key strategies”…

Clarifying and sharing learning intentions and criteria for success

Clear Learning Targets Rick Stiggins Know what kinds of targets are represented in curriculum Knowledge Reasoning Performance skill Products Master the targets ourselves Know which targets each assessment measures Make learning targets clear to students, too. Source: Adapted with permission from R. Stiggins, J. Arter, J. Chappuis, and S. Chappuis, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right—Using It Well (Portland, OR: ETS Assessment Training Institute, 2004), p. 13.

Clarifying Learning Targets Rick Stiggins Begin with state standards Order in learning progressions, if needed Deconstruct into clear learning targets leading to each standard Communicate the learning targets in advance in language students can understand Source: Adapted with permission from R. Stiggins, J. Arter, J. Chappuis, and S. Chappuis, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right—Using It Well (Portland, OR: ETS Assessment Training Institute, 2004), p. 13.

Techniques For Sharing Learning Expectations Explaining learning intentions at start of lesson/unit Learning intentions Success criteria Intentions/criteria in students’ language Posters of key words to talk about learning e.g. describe, explain, evaluate Annotated examples of student work to ‘flesh out’ assessment rubrics (e.g. lab reports) Opportunities for students to design their own tests & rubrics Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009

Engineering effective classroom discussions, questions, and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning

Techniques For Eliciting Evidence Key idea: questioning should cause thinking provide data that informs teaching Improving teacher questioning generating questions with colleagues closed v open low-order v high-order appropriate wait-time basketball rather than serial table-tennis ‘No hands up’ (except to ask a question) class polls to review current attitudes towards an issue ‘Hot Seat’ questioning All-student response systems ABCD cards, Mini white-boards, Exit passes Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009

Choosing a Technique: Collecting with intention FACET et al What are the relevant learning goals? What specific knowledge am I targeting? What tool or technique will get at that kind of knowledge? What student responses do I anticipate? Magi, Vokos, Li, Minstrell, Anderson NSTA 2009 Workshop: Promoting Understanding & Skills in Assessment & Instruction for Learning

A hinge question is based on the important concept in a lesson that is critical for students to understand before you move on in the lesson. The question should fall about midway during the lesson. Every student must respond to the question within two minutes. You must be able to collect and interpret the responses from all students in 30 seconds Eliciting evidence technique: Hinge Questions Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009

Feedback

[Butler(1988) Br. J. Educ. Psychol., ] Feedback: What works? What do you think happened for the students given both scores and comments? A. Achievement: + 30% Attitude: all +ve B. Achievement : + 30% Attitude: high scorers +ve low scorers –ve C. Achievement : + 0% Attitude: all +ve D. Achievement : + 0% Attitude: high scorers +ve low scorers –ve E. Something else FeedbackAchievementAttitude Scores no gainHigh scorers : positive Low scorers: negative Comments30% gainHigh scorers : positive Low scorers : positive

Quality Feedback Dylan Wiliam Formative assessment should:  Address some measurable attribute;  Provide information to the student of where they are currently and where they want to eventually be.  Provide student with guidelines on how to get there. Feedback is therefore formative only if the information fed back is actually used in closing the gap. Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009

Effective Feedback… Rick Stiggins Does not do the thinking for the student Limits correctives to the amount of advice the student can act on Source: Adapted with permission from R. Stiggins, J. Arter, J. Chappuis, and S. Chappuis, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right—Using It Well (Portland, OR: ETS Assessment Training Institute, 2004), p. 13.

Techniques For Feedback Key idea: feedback should  cause thinking  provide guidance on how to improve Comment-only grading Focused grading Explicit reference to rubrics Suggestions on how to improve  ‘Strategy cards’ ideas for improvement  Not giving complete solutions Re-timing assessment  (eg three-fourths-of-the-way-through-a-unit test) Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009

Self-Assessment & Peer Assessment

Techniques For Self & Peer Assessment Students assessing their own/peers’ work with rubrics with exemplars “two stars and a wish” Training students to pose questions/identifying group weaknesses Self-assessment of understanding Traffic lights Red/green discs End-of-lesson students’ review Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009

What is the difference between a strategy and a technique? Strategy Techniqu e

Strategies and Techniques Dylan Wiliam Strategies define the territory of formative assessment (no brainers) Teachers are responsible for choice of techniques  Allows for customization/ caters for local context  Creates ownership  Shares responsibility Key requirements of techniques  embodiment of deep cognitive/affective principles  relevance  feasibility  acceptability Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009

The 5 Key Strategies Resources NCTM Research Brief (National Council for the Teachers of Mathematics—Dylan Wiliam) For each strategy: Additional Research Techniques in the context of the mathematics classroom

The 5 Key Strategies Resources Science Formative Assessment (Page Keeley) Formative Assessment Classroom TechniqueS (FACTS) 75 practical strategies (TECHNIQUES) for linking assessment, instruction & learning Research base Implementation Integrating with teaching & learning Selecting FACTS & using data

5 Key Strategies- Dylan Wiliam (conceptual framework) Research-based Formative Assessment Classroom Techniques (FACTs)* ( considering the techniques for a given strategy) Impacting Classroom Practice Your Classroom Experience ( considering the techniques you currently use) Overview of the Process *Page Keeley & others

5 “key strategies” jigsaw Reading and Synthesis: 1. Read assigned “key strategy” from Research Brief 2. Read pgs Page Keeley FACTs book 3. Consider the following: a) What are the important elements of your assigned strategy? b) How does this strategy connect to the reading in the Page Keeley book? c) What classroom techniques do you currently employ that connect to this key strategy?

Discussion Each person share their thoughts for 1-2 minutes; no commentary. Then go around again and each person takes opportunity to make one commentary.

Gallery Walk Poster Sharing: 1. Bring your chart paper to designated place in the room 2. Discuss your strategy with your larger specialty group (if groups are merging) 3. Prepare to share out some big ideas to the whole group (3 min each group max). Gallery Walk: With your handouts, visit all of the posters and record notes to increase your understanding of the other strategies.

Putting into AfL into Practice Think about Afl techniques you already do. Think about AfL techniques you would like to implement.