Jeanne Ormrod Eighth Edition © 2014, 2011, 2008, 2006, 2003 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Educational Psychology Developing Learners

15-1 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 15 Summarizing Students’ Achievements and Abilities

15-2 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Indicators of Achievement Must be reliable Must be standardized Must be valid Must be practical

15-3 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Summarizing the Results of a Single Assessment

15-4 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Raw Scores Based solely on the number or point value of correctly answered items easy to calculate difficult to interpret raw score = 6

15-5 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Criterion-Referenced Scores Indicate what a student has achieved, relative to specific objectives or standards either-or score (pass or fail) or level of competence

15-6 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Norm-Referenced Scores Indicate how a student ’ s performance compares with average performance of peers grade-equivalent scores age-equivalent scores percentile ranks standard scores

15-7 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Standard Scores How far a student ’ s performance is from the group mean tend to reflect the normal distribution of scores Low Moderate High Characteristics Being Measured Many Some None Number of People

15-8 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Calculating Standard Scores

15-9 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Using Scores in the Classroom Criterion-referenced scores most useful Raw scores second-best choice Norm-referenced scores occasionally appropriate

15-10 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Determining Final Class Grades

15-11 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. For Effective Grading Take the job seriously Base grades on achievement Base grades on hard data Use many assessments, but don ’ t count everything Identify and stick to reasonable grading system Accompany grades with qualitative information

15-12 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Considering Improvement Assign greater weight to assessments conducted at the end of semester Give students opportunities to correct errors & demonstrate mastery Consider offering retakes Reinforce improvement in other ways

15-13 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Considering Effort Most experts recommend against basing grades on effort. more skilled and knowledgeable students don ’ t need to exert much effort effort can only be assessed subjectively

15-14 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Extra Credit Appropriate if: available to all students related to instructional goals and objectives

15-15 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Late and Missing Assignments Explain why punctuality is important. Solicit students’ input about reasonable deadlines. Give students guidance/support to complete assignments on time. Record “Incomplete” and describe work that must be done to pass. If possible, base final grades on subset of summative assessment results.

15-16 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Using Portfolios

15-17 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Portfolios Collection of student ’ s work compiled systematically over time paper-pencil assignments & other artifacts may include student reflection, self- evaluation Types of portfolio working developmental course best-work

15-18 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Constructing Student Portfolios Planning Collection Selection Reflection Projection Presentation

15-19 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Standardized Tests

15-20 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Achievement Tests Assess how much students have learned of what they have been taught enable comparisons across time/place Reliability tends to be high Content validity may be low

15-21 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Aptitude & Intelligence Tests General scholastic aptitude tests general capacity to learn ( “ intelligence ” ) intended to predict future academic achievement predictive reliability often low Specific aptitude & ability tests intended to predict future performance in a particular content domain predictive reliability often even lower

15-22 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. School Readiness Tests Intended to assess cognitive skills important for success in a typical kindergarten or first-grade curriculum helpful for looking for specific delays scores correlate only moderately with later school achievement

15-23 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Using Technology Adaptive testing is possible Can assess skills & knowledge animations, simulations, videos, recorded messages Can assess problem-solving skills, strategies Can assess abilities under varying levels of support Allow on-the-spot objective scoring and analyses

15-24 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Choosing Standardized Tests Choose a test with high validity for your needs Choose a test with high reliability for students similar to yours Make sure that the norm group is relevant to your population

15-25 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Using Standardized Tests Take students ’ age and development into account Make sure students are adequately prepared Administer according to directions and report any unusual circumstances

15-26 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Interpreting Standardized Test Scores Have a clear, justifiable rationale for establishing cutoffs Compare standardized test scores only when they are derived from the same or equivalent norm group(s) Never use a single test score to make important decisions

15-27 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. High-Stakes Testing and Accountability

15-28 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. High-Stakes Tests High stakes = single assessment used to make major decisions Accountability = school personnel are mandated to accept responsibility for students ’ performance

15-29 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. No Child Left Behind Act Mandates high-stakes testing and accountability in all public schools Mandates that all states establish challenging academic content standards Requires “ Adequately Yearly Progress ” in meeting state-determined standards Highly controversial with many states applying for and obtaining waivers to develop state-specific plans

15-30 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Problems with High-Stakes Testing Tests may not reflect important instructional goals. Teachers may teach to the tests. Too much attention may be focused on a small group of students. School personnel have disincentives to follow standardized testing procedures and to assess progress of low achievers. Different criteria lead to different conclusions about student performance. Too much emphasis is placed on punishing low-performing schools. Students ’ motivation affects performance, and consistently low performance affects motivation.

15-31 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Potential Solutions Identify, assess important things Advocate for a focus on individual student progress Advocate for support for “ failing ” schools Educate the public about what standardized tests can and cannot do Look at alternatives to traditional tests Advocate for the use of multiple measures in any high-stakes decisions

15-32 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Taking Student Diversity into Account

15-33 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Considering Diversity Cultural bias items can offend or unfairly penalize some students based on ethnicity, gender, SES. not all students are familiar with group- administered standardized test procedures stereotype threat can occur Language differences Students with special needs

15-34 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidentiality and Communication About Assessment Results

15-35 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Limits normal school testing practices to assessment of achievement and scholastic aptitude Restricts access to students ’ assessment results to: students who earn them their parents school personnel directly involved with students ’ education and well-being

15-36 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Communicating Assessment Results Make sure you understand the results yourself Describe the test and students ’ performance in broad, general terms When reporting specific test scores, use percentile ranks and stanine

15-37 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. The Big Picture

15-38 Ormrod Educational Psychology: Developing Learners, 8e © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. The Big Picture Considerable information is lost when performance is summarized as a single score. Summative evaluations of achievement must have high content validity. Most assessment instruments focus on cognitive factors affecting learning and achievement. other factors may be equally influential