PRESENTED BY: GORDON MILLER CHRISTY RYBISKI GINA WORLEY Assessing the Student

Research Focus To determine the use patterns of pre-assessment as well as formative and summative assessments in America’s classrooms To provide insight as to how assessment has changed over recent years and what common methods of assessment teachers are implementing

Research from Textbook Preassessment is essential for a differentiated classroom and is accomplished formally and informally. Paper-and -pencil pretest to establish prior knowledge Formal paper surveys Informal interactive exercises such as squaring off Formative assessment provide teachers and students feedback to measure student progress and adjust curriculum. Informal assessment such as hand signals or show of cards Cold Call to collect data using meaningful questions Everyone Writes to validate Cold Call data Feedback Should be comprehensible, useful, timely, and relevant Feedback should provide correction of mistakes Feedback should be criterion-based Summative Assessments (Grading) are used to measure content mastery, chart progress, motivate students, provide information to a variety of audiences. A variety of methods to assign a final grade exist such as On-going Assessment (portfolios) and Authentic task.

Research Articles Summary of 2010 paper-140 teachers, grades 3-12, urban, suburban, and rural surveyed Pencil and paper testing is the predominant classroom assessment method (60%). Essays and written assessments are most common. Performance-based assessment is used more frequently by language arts teachers, female teachers, and is more common at higher levels than at the elementary level. Formative assessments (administered before instruction is completed) are used infrequently. 75% of assessments are made after instruction is completed. Much effort has gone into developing large-scale assessments but training for teachers on assessment methods is lacking. Summary of 2002 paper teachers, grades 3-5, urban, suburban, and rural surveyed. Teachers placed the greatest weight on academic performance and academic-enabling behaviors (e.g., class participation and effort). Teachers placed less emphasis on homework, comparisons with other students, grade distributions of other teachers, and disruptive student behavior. Assessments by teachers vary widely between teachers within and between schools. Teachers used 3 types of assessments: constructed-response (projects, essays, presentations), objective (true-false, multiple choice, etc.), and teacher-made major examinations. Often constructed-response and objective are from published sources.

Variety of assessment and grading techniques Teachers award attitudes and effort as well as academic achievement. Assessments are given throughout instruction. Teachers tend to use published assessments. Teachers need training to create higher quality assessments. Teachers lack consistency in grading techniques. 60% Traditional Assessment vs. 40% Performance based Scores based on academic achievement Assessments are given when instruction is over. Assessments are teacher made ½ of the time. Teachers are starting to use performance based assessment more frequently. Changes in Student Assessment

Conclusion

Reference Materials Chapman, C. & Gregory, G. (2007). Differentiated instructional strategies: One size doesn’t fit all. (2 nd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Frey, B. & Schmitt, V. (2010). Teachers’ Classroom Assessment Practices. Middle Grades Research Journal, 5.3, McMillan, J., Myran, S. & Workman, D. (2002). Elementary Teachers’ Classroom Assessment and Grading Practices. The Journal of Educational Research, 95.4, Research The group made initial contact by where we decided to create a wiki. When a wiki was created, we made group assignments. We scheduled project checkpoints so that we could make sure we were on schedule. We discussed content through the discussion board on wiki. Once the first draft of the power point was posted, we each made changes and added input until a final draft was agreed upon. Our wiki page is: