Day 1: Introduction to Formative Assessments

Instructors: Becky Montour & Rochelle Eggebrecht Participants: -Name -Building -Teaching Area -What You’d Like to Get Out of This Workshop



Purposes of Assessment Diagnostic Assessments Purpose: To determine students’ ability in relation to learning goals Timing: The beginning of the learning segment (pretests, needs assessments, universal screening) Formative Assessments Purpose: To provide ongoing feedback to teachers about the effectiveness of their instruction meeting the diverse needs of their students and to students about their progress (or lack of progress) in meeting or exceeding learning goals Timing: Throughout the learning segment Summative Assessments Purpose: To measure student achievement related to learning goals Timing: The end of the learning segment Evaluations Purpose: To make an inference about the student’s ability to meet learning goals using all assessment data Timing: The end of the grading period (quarter, semester, year) Burke, Kay, and Eileen Depka. Using Formative Assessment in the RTI Framework. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press, Print.

Formative AssessmentsSummative Assessments  Occurs THROUGHOUT the unit  More informal  Not usually graded (but can be)  Examples: Quizzes, observations, rough drafts, discussions, homework, practice checklists or rubrics, journals  Gives teachers feedback that help guide instruction to improve learning  Gives students feedback that help them improve the quality of their work, clarify their thinking, and gain a deeper understanding of concepts  Occurs at the END of the unit  More formal  Usually graded  Examples: End of Unit Tests, Essays, Projects  Lets teachers and students know how well individual students met the learning goal.  Results are factored in to the final grade at the end of the quarter

Formative Assessments offer teachers… “a practical and efficient means to make their teaching better and to help all their students learn better.” Guskey, 2009, p.1  Teachers can see almost immediately what is working and what is not working.  Provides students with specific feedback to improve. Example: Thesis statement for informational writing

Rick Wormeli: Formative and Summative Assessment Video: 4 minutes, 49 seconds Assessment and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom

Before a team can write a common formative assessment they first have to decide what they are going to assess.

What do we want our students to know and be able to do? Is our curriculum guaranteed - all students will be taught the same content to the same degree of understanding? Is our curriculum viable - teachers have adequate time to teach everything?

Almost every teacher shares a concern that he/she has too much to teach It would take about 23 years to teach the entire list of national standards using the actual amount of teaching time most schools have -Marzano & Kendall (1998)

Teams must identify from their current state standards those that are the most important for all students to know. These are the standards that will be used to identify learning targets. Teachers must agree on what the skill is and what it will look like.

Endurance - something a student will need to know for a longer period of time - used during subsequent units of instruction and over a period of years Leverage - taught and used in more than one curricular are Readiness for the next level of learning - prerequisite skills for future learning

Each team should reach a consensus about which power standards to use and what it will look like if their students have mastered it Teachers will still teach all of the standards, but they will emphasize the power standards "What you will find is that a good set of Power Standards will cover about 88 percent of the items on the state test, but not 100 percent. If you go after the extra 12 percent, you will have to cover many more standards and hence have less teaching time to thoroughly teach each of the Power Standards" -Reeves (2004)

Learning Targets It is important that students know where they are going in their learning and what counts as quality work. In order for this to happen the TEACHER must also know!!

“Imagine oneself on a ship sailing across an unknown sea, to an unknown destination. An adult would be desperate to know where he is going. But a child only knows he is going to school... The chart is neither available nor understandable to him... Very quickly, the daily life on board ship becomes all important... The daily chores, the demands, the inspections become the reality, not the voyage, nor the destination." White, p. 340

Focus on key words that depict skills and indicate the knowledge or concepts students should know. Identify implied learning targets. Clarify unmeasurable targets ex. "understand" or "know"

Example - CCSS Kindergarten Math: Count to 100 by ones and tens Split into two learning targets: I can count to 100 by ones I can count to 100 by tens

Example - Wisconsin State Standards Social Studies: C.8.6 Explain the role of political parties and interest groups in American politics Identify implied learning targets: I can distinguish between political parties and interest groups I can describe the role of political parties in American politics I can describe the role of interest groups in American politics

Example - Wisconsin State Music Standards B.8.8: Students in instrumental classes will perform on at least one instrument accurately and independently, alone and in small and large ensembles, and with good posture, good playing position, and good breath, bow or stick control. Clarify vague targets - ex. "good” I can play my instrument with good posture - what does "good" mean and look like to our team? I can play my instrument sitting up straight with my feet flat on the floor

Gather needed materials for a lesson and/or unit to create formative assessments for.