Creating an Assessment Plan Unit Planning

Prior Learning— Assessment for/as Learning Learning Goals Success Criteria Descriptive Feedback Peer- and Self-Assessment Individual Goal Setting About Studen’s Understanding Gathering Information Engineering effective conversations, questions, and learning tasks Facilitator Notes: We need to remember that Assessment is a process that is ongoing and is a seemless part of the learning All of the component parts of Assessment are interrelated with one another and interact in an almost cyclical manner. Learning Goals might be shared at the beginning of the learning or revealed as students are uncovering the learning. The goals should be clear and while they are fixed they may need to be refined as the learning moves forward in the classroom. Success Criteria could be shared at or near the beginning of a learning period they might also be revealed throughout the learning as students are discovering more about what successful attainment of the learning goal(s) look(s) like. Descriptive Feedback is an ongoing process. The key to effective feedback is timing. Feedback is most useful during the learning when it can be used to support student achievement and learning. It should align and link back to learning goals and success criteria. Throughout the process teachers are gathering information about student learning through a variety of means – (exit cards, conversations, observations, checklists, spot checks, conferencing, etc.). This information is used to adjust teaching, deepen questioning, differentiate to meet the learning needs of students in the classroom, refine and clarify learning goals and success criteria, and to make sure that learning goals, criteria, assessment tasks, questions, lessons, units and learning are all in alignment. The bottom two boxes represent Assessment as Learning. They are also integral parts of assessment if we want students to take ownership of their own learning. Thus none of these practices are individual events in learning, rather they are component parts of a holistic process. It is important that students develop with the teacher a common understanding of learning goals and success criteria through discussion and clarification. Success criteria should be stated in clear language that is meaningful to students. Success criteria are used to develop assessment tools such as a checklist, a rubric, or an exit card. Ongoing descriptive feedback linked specifically to the learning goals and success criteria is a powerful tool for improving student learning and is fundamental to building a culture of learning within the classroom. As lead learners in the classroom, teachers help students develop their self assessment skills by modelling the application of success criteria and the provision of effective descriptive feedback. Teachers also help students understand how they learn best so that they can utilize that knowledge to enhance their learning. As students develop their self assessment skills they learn to identify specific actions they need to take to improve and to plan next steps.

Prior Learning -- Key Learning Overall Expectations / Specific Expectations Learning Goals Success Criteria Alignment back to the Achievement Chart QUALITY TASK(S) Facilitator Notes: The key for alignment is quality tasks based on quality criteria. It is necessary to plan with the end in mind. That is, it is important to start with Curriculum Expectations and Learning Goals. One should then think about how students will demonstrate successful attainment of the learning goal. By creating a quality task that is aligned with expectations and the Achievement chart we know the direction.

Three key principles for creating an effective assessment plan ensuring that students have a clear understanding of what they are learning and what successful learning looks like; modelling descriptive feedback, self-assessment, and goal setting; and providing opportunities to practise these skills, first with guidance and support and then independently.

3 Key Questions for Learners Assessment for learning is about far more than testing more frequently or providing teachers with evidence so that they can revise instruction, although these steps are part of it. In addition, we now understand that assessment for learning must involve students in the process. (Stiggins, 2002) Where am I going? How am I going? Where to next? Learning goals and success criteria are critical pieces of information students need to be successful learners. Hattie and Timperley (2007) describe three questions that guide learning for students: Where am I going? How am I going? Where to next? Identifying and sharing learning goals with students at or near the beginning of a period of instruction is intended to provide an explicit answer to the first question, by clearly setting direction about what the students are expected to learn. Making the success criteria explicit helps students to determine the answer to the second question, “How am I going?”, by identifying “look-fors” that students can use to monitor their progress towards the goals. It is important to remember these questions when we are creating an assessment plan. It is key to keep the student in mind when planning assessment

Expectations and the Achievement Chart Knowledge Learning: Assessment for/as learning: Application Thinking Communication Cluster Course Expectations Facilitator Notes: Make sure that participants use the achievement chart found in the curriculum documents that you have available. Have participants group themselves according to like subjects. Once they have gathered into their groupings have them discuss and record what knowledge, application, communication, and thinking looks and sounds like in their classrooms. In other words: When students are acquiring knowledge what does it look and sound like? When students are applying what they have learned what does it look and sound like When students are learning to communicate and when they are communicating their learning what does it sound like and look like When students are learning to think and when they are thinking what does it look like and sound like. After they have had some time to think about what the learning looks like have them consider a sampling of expectations and where they might fit in these categories. One way to cluster expectations align them with your assessment plan, and build them directly into lesson planning is to determine what Knowledge, Thinking, Application, and Communication goes on in your subject area on daily basis. Using the chart here to think about what learning looks like in your classroom. In addition it is worth know what expectations from a given course fall under each category. What kind of assessment tools might be appropriate to gather assessment for learning information and to encourage assessment as learning in each of the categories or across categories. DEBRIEF Bridge to Differentiated Instruction 6

What Connections can you make Assessment and Learning Differentiated Instruction Once you have determined what the learning looks like and how that learning might be assessed under each category what connections can you make to differentiated instruction?

Assessment Planning with the End in Mind What do I want them to learn? How will students demonstrate their knowledge and skills while they are learning? How will we monitor their progress? Exit cards, journal entries, observation, conversations, … How will I plan with DI in mind? What instructional strategies are appropriate for the learners in my class? How will I know they have learned it? The key questions in this process are What do I want them to learn? How will I know they are learning it? How will I design the learning so that all will learn? How will I design the learning so that all will learn? 8

Planning with the End in Mind Subject Specific Application Step 1 Start with Overall Expectations Create Learning Goals – use Specific Expectations to develop Learning Goals that support the learning toward achieving OEs. Use verbs that are specific and observable. What do I want them to learn? TEMPLATE – Additional Resource 7- ASSESSMENT PLANNING TEMPLATE Facilitator notes: Remind participants that they have had an opportunity to consider overall and specific expectations and write some learning goals. And they are going to apply that thinking on a larger scale, think about a creating rich performance task(s) that are representative of the learning goal(s) and provide an opportunity for differentiation. At this point it is possible to think about differentiating on the basis of Readiness, Interest, and or Learning Profile USE the template provided. Start with a set of overall expectations --- scaffold backward the skills that are necessary to get to those expectations. Working with an elbow partner develop the learning goals for that cluster of expectations. Keep in mind that learning goals need to be written in student friendly language using the criteria you developed earlier. Remind participants to refer back to the criteria for writing effective learning goals. If you co-constructed the criteria for an effective learning goal with participants it might be a good time to link back to that slide. If you co-constructed the criteria on separate poster paper then make sure it is posted somewhere in the room.

Subject-specific Application Step 2 How will I know they have learned it? Work alone or together in subject/grade groups to develop a Rich Performance task for a cluster of Learning Goals developed from the overall expectations of a particular course. OR Revise a recently used Performance Task so that it is differentiated according to student interests or preferences. Tasks should provide opportunities to collect assessment information that is triangulated Use the blank templates provided Use the Unit Planner Template to help guide participants through the process of creating a Rich Performance Task based on the Learning goals they established. Participants will make sure that there is an opportunity to gather assessment information that can be collected from conversations, observations, and products. Use the Assessment Unit Planner provided in the package. It might be useful to have photocopies of pages 6 – 8 and pages 17 through 24 of the Differentiated Instruction Scrapbook which can be found at: http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesDI/EducatorsPackages/DIEducatorsPackage2010/2010DIScrapbook.pdf. These pages can be used as a resource for table groups.

T riangulation OBSERVATIONS CONVERSATIONS PRODUCTS How will I know they have learned it? Facilitator Notes: Use this slide to remind participants that they should think about how they will gather evidence of student learning over time from three different sources. The product may be the task itself, conversations may be conferencing, observations might be checklists appropriate to the task. CONVERSATIONS PRODUCTS 11

Assessment Strategy/Tool Give and Get. My Strategy For Facilitator Notes: Participants first work by themselves, then mix and mingle to share strategies. Facilitators could employ a “Milling to music” strategy or any other strategy for getting people to share ideas and information. The purpose of this activity is two fold To give participants and opportunity to get up move around and have conversations with participants they have not been working with directly. To share best practices so that all participants have an opportunity to collect new useful assessment strategies and/or tools. Have participants use the Additional Resource 6 Give and Get handout. Follow the instructions on the handout. Think about a successful assessment strategy that you have used recently. Describe it in the first quadrant and indicate your primary use of that strategy or tool (ie. Assessment for/as/of Learning). Think about and then write adaptations for the strategy describing how it might look if used for the other purposes ---- used as assessment FOR learning used as assessment AS learning used as assessment OF learning As Of

Planning with the End in Mind How will I design the learning so that all will learn? Think of Assessment as part of the learning Keep in mind the key features of Differentiated Instruction: Flexible Learning Groups Choice Respectful Tasks Shared Responsibility As the learning moves forward it is important to consider: How the teacher will know whether the students achieved the desired learning. How students will know whether they achieved the learning goal(s). Ask participants to begin planning the learning in relation to the Established long term learning goals. They should keep in mind Differentiated Instruction and Assessment. As they are planning the learning ask them to decide upon the strategic assessment checkpoints in the learning. They might be lesson to lesson or they might come at the end of a series of lessons depending on the structure of the learning. It is important to identify the desired goals for each key piece of learning and how teachers and students will know whether or not the goal was achieved.

An Assessment Task That Allows for Differentiation Curriculum Expectations and Creation of Learning Goals and Success Criteria Should not be differentiated Start Here! Create a task that aligns with the goals and criteria and can also be differentiated by Readiness – Start where they are! Interests -Make it meaningful and relevant Learner Profile -Build on their strengths! Begin with the end in mind Why assessment? Good pre-assessments or “accessing prior knowledge”, and assessment for learning allow you to be both more effective and more efficient in your instruction because you do not waste time and energy working on materials students have already mastered or are not yet ready to master. Pre-assessments also help determine readiness, student interest, and learning profile. If the assessment is designed to allow for this kind of flexibility then differentiation is that much easier. It is important to note that no matter how flexible the performance task might be it still has to be grounded in the learning goals. For example if the learning goal is focused on writing then writing should not be optional. You can compare pre-assessment to post-assessments to measure student growth over a unit of study, which will help you to evaluate the effectiveness of your instruction. An assessment task that is rich should incorporate multiple categories of the achievement chart We are going to focus the remainder of this presentation on differentiating according to students’ readiness, interests and learning profile. Example strategies will be provided. Process Environment Product Content 14 Adapted from The Differentiated Classroom - Carol Ann Tomlinson