1. Unpacking the Expectations for Classroom Assessment and Instruction
Michigan Council for the Social Studies
Annual State Professional Development Conference
Stan Masters
Lenawee ISD
February 19, 2008

2. POP Purpose Objectives Procedure
Analyzing the new GLCEs and HSCEs for good classroom assessment and instruction, leading to increased student achievement
Objectives
Differentiate between the purposes of assessment
Unpack expectations into targets
Match targets to methods of assessment
Develop a set of assessments for your classroom
Procedure
PowerPoint slides for presenting information
Practice with the expectations
Use of templates and protocols

3. Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment
Clear Purposes
Clear Targets
Good Design & Methods
Sound Communication
Student Involvement

4. Indicators of Sound Classroom Assessment Practice (p.27)
Skill in gathering accurate information
+ Effective use of information and procedures
____________________________________
Sound Classroom Assessment Practice

5. Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment
Clear Purposes
Clear Targets
Good Design & Methods
Sound Communication
Student Involvement

6. Deepening our ideas about assessment
What is the distinction between…
assessment for learning
assessment of learning?

7. Purposes of Assessments
Adapted from Braveman, S. L. (Ed Week, March 17, 2004)
assessment for learning
diagnostic (given before instruction to gather information on where to start)
formative (monitors student progress during instruction)
assessment of learning
summative (the final task at the end of a unit, a course, or a semester)

8. Both are needed! Students need to know…(p.34)
Where they are going
Where they are now
How to close the gap
Teachers need to find balance…(p.35-36)
to improve student achievement
to communicate to various stakeholders

9. Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning (p.42)
Where am I going?
Clear targets
Models of work
Where am I now?
Descriptive Feedback
Student self-assessment/goal setting
How can I close the gap?
Lessons that focus on one target at a time
Teaching self-reflection
Student record-keeping

10. So, do your students know what are the targets for their learning?

11. Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment
Clear Purposes
Clear Targets
Good Design & Methods
Sound Communication
Student Involvement

12. Where does curriculum come from?
National content organizations documents
State standards documents
Local curriculum is then created from these documents
Organized into units
Determine essential questions and key concepts
Aligned with state accountability assessments

13. Backward Design Addresses All Three Parts of the Curriculum Triangle
Content
Assessment
Instruction

14. Problems with Our Curriculum
It sits on a shelf.
We go no further than creating units, activities, and/or projects.
We rely on a textbook.
Teachers disagree on the outcomes.
There are too many outcomes.

15. Kinds of Learning Targets Stiggins, Arter, Chappuis, and Chappuis
Kinds of Learning Targets Stiggins, Arter, Chappuis, and Chappuis. (2006). Classroom Assessment for Student Learning. Portland, OR: ETS.
Knowledge – The facts and concepts we want students to know and understand.
Reasoning – Students use what they know to reason and solve problems
Skills – Students use their knowledge and reasoning to act skillfully
Products – Students use their knowledge, reasoning, and skills to create a concrete product.
Dispositions – Students’ attitudes about school and learning.
(p. 75)

16. Helpful Hints to Targets (p.64)
Knowledge targets are identified in the noun/noun phrase found in the benchmark
Reasoning targets are identified in the verb/verb phrases found in the benchmark
analytical, compare/contrast, synthesis, classification, inference/deduction, evaluative (p.70)
Skill targets always have knowledge targets
Product targets have to be discerned apart from the product tasks we ask students to create
Disposition targets reflect attitudes or feelings

17. (BUT I WANT THEM TO DEEPLY APPRECIATE THE USEFULNESSES OF BAR GRAPHS)
Organize
data
using
concrete objects, pictures, tallies, tables, charts, diagrams, and graphs
KNOWLEDGE/UNDERSTANDING
REASONING
SKILLS
PRODUCTS
DISPOSITIONS

18. Unpacking Examples
K - H2.0.1
1 - H2.0.2
2 - H2.0.4
3 - H3.0.2
4 - G4.0.1
5 - U3.2.3
6 - W3.1.3
7 - W3.1.10
8 - U5.3.4
WHG
USHG

19. Practice Unpacking
Choose a outcome (benchmark/expectation) that your students will learn and you will teach in an upcoming unit of instruction.
Write the outcome at the top of your target/method planning sheet.
Complete the left hand side of the chart.
Knowledge/understanding, reasoning, skills, products, dispositions
Check your understanding of the targets with a partner
As a group:
Dialogue about your interpretation of the identified targets
Determine and note if there are any targets that need to added, changed, or deleted

20. Unpacking for the Student
Targets are clearer for the student when they are put into positive “I can” statements.
They may be unpacked to include more concrete understandings I
CAN

21. Create “I Can” Statements
Using your previous unpacked learning outcome, create “I can” statements for your students.

22. Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment
Clear Purposes
Clear Targets
Good Design & Methods
Sound Communication
Student Involvement

23. Assessment Study Donegal School District, Donegal, PA http://www2. yk
Baseline data for
collected 661 tests/assessments during targeted collection period
randomly selected 20% or 142 for a sample

24. Findings
Testing of low-level cognition (understanding and comprehension levels on Bloom's Taxonomy) predominated all types of testing at all levels. (75.5%)
2. Traditional formats of multiple choice, true and false, matching, fill-in the-blank predominated all other formats. (80%)
3. Short answer writing was never scored using a rubric. (0%)
4. Essay formats are very rarely used (.05%) and when used rarely were scored with a rubric (.02%).

25. Findings
5. Rubrics that were available were often poorly crafted with checklist formats sometimes (33%) being represented as rubrics.
6. Problem-solving at any level above comprehension was rarely required (.04%), never scored with a rubric (0%) and problem-solvers were rarely called upon to write to justify or explain process or appropriateness of answer to problem posed (.04%).
7. Performance items were most often score sheets for projects where students had a tangible product to be evaluated. Rubrics rarely existed for such performances (.14%).
8. Performances never (0%) involved a written explanation of the process used or anything else.

26. Plan of Action Professional development on assessment
Unpacked expectations for assessment
Developed a standards template for designing assessment tasks
Met in teams to analyze assessments

27. Purposes of Assessments
Adapted from Braveman, S. L. (Ed Week, March 17, 2004)
assessment for learning
diagnostic (given before instruction to gather information on where to start)
formative (monitors student progress during instruction)
assessment of learning
summative (the final task at the end of a unit, a course, or a semester)
Ma and Pa Kettle
Ma and Pa Kettle

28. Talking Points Presentation by Jay McTighe, November 30, 2007, Macomb ISD
“Students should be presumed innocent of understanding until convicted by evidence.”
Prior knowledge is like the largest part of the iceberg.
“Think photo album versus snapshot” when it comes to assessment

29. Formative Assessment Techniques Source: Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2007)
Formative Assessment Techniques Source: Fisher, D. and Frey, N. (2007). Checking for Understanding. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, pp. 5-12
Main points:
Aligns with enduring understandings
Allows for differentiation
Focuses on gap analysis
Leads to precise teaching

30. Formative Assessment techniques
Oral Language
Accountable talk, nonverbal cues, value lineups, retellings, think-pair-share, whip around
Questions
Response cards, hand signals, personal response systems, Socratic seminars
Writing
Interactive writing, read-write-pair-share, summary writing, RAFT
Tests
Multiple choice with misconceptions as distracters, short answer with word banks, true-false items with correction for the false items

31. Methods of Assessment Selected response Extended written response
Stiggins, Richard J, Arter, Judith A., Chappuis, Jan, Chappius, Stephen. Classroom Assessment for Student Learning. Assessment Training Institute, Inc., Portland, Oregon, 2004, p
Selected response
one answer is correct; sometimes taken from a list
Extended written response
constructed into sentences; criteria given for quality
Performance assessment
observed product of learning; criteria given for quality
Personal communication
interaction with student; uses checklist or criteria

32. Organize
data
using
concrete objects, pictures, tallies, tables, charts, diagrams, and graphs
KNOWLEDGE/UNDERSTANDING
REASONING
SKILLS
PRODUCTS
DISPOSITIONS
Selected
Extended Written
Selected Extended Written
Performance Personal
Performance
Personal Communication
Extended Written
Performance

33. Activity Individually:
On your right hand side of the chart of your target/method planning sheet, list the methods that would be the best matches for the targets you have identified.

34. Purposes of Assessments
Adapted from Braveman, S. L. (Ed Week, March 17, 2004)
assessment for learning
diagnostic (given before instruction to gather information on where to start)
formative (monitors student progress during instruction)
assessment of learning
summative (the final task at the end of a unit, a course, or a semester)

35. Methods of Assessment Selected response Extended written response
Performance assessment
Personal communication
AUTHENTIC

36. Authentic Academic Achievement
Construction of Knowledge producing meaning from prior experiences
Disciplined Inquiry cognitive work for in-depth understanding
Value Beyond School meaning apart from documenting competence
Newmann, Secada, and Wehlage, “A Guide to Authentic Instruction and Assessment”, 1995

37. Seven Standards for Assessment Tasks
Organization of Information
Consideration of Alternatives
Disciplinary Content
Disciplinary Process
Elaborated Written Communication
Problem Connected to the World Beyond School
Audience Beyond the School
Newmann, Secada, and Wehlage, “A Guide to Authentic Instruction and Assessment”, 1995

38. Examples of Assessment Tasks
Students will design a poster showing the history of a major city of a U.S. region.
Students will conduct a lab experiment on states of water, recording observations of freezing and thawing points.
Students will tell about three different events in their week, identifying correctly when each occurs.
Students will collect data on the number and type of forest animals and create an graphic representation of the populations.
Students will make a PowerPoint presentation to a younger audience about a tribe of Michigan Native Americans.
Students will write a persuasive essay about a position on a current monetary or fiscal policy that addresses unemployment.

39. Components of an Authentic Assessment Task
What “new” prompt will you use to trigger “old” learning from prior instruction?
A prompt is the stimulus material given to students at the time of assessment which activates prior knowledge relevant to the task.
While carrying out the assessment task, the student uses the prompt to produce discourse, a performance, or a tangible object.
A prompt could be presented through various media, e.g., print, auditory, or visual.
Prompts might also take various forms, e.g., reading, graphic, motion picture, recording, map, data set, etc.

40. Letter from an Immigrant
Example of Prompt
Letter from an Immigrant
Dear Marta,
I hope you received my letter telling you that I am now an American
citizen. We have an election for mayor in my city in one month. I will be
able to vote for the first time in my life. I have learned as much as I can
about the two candidates for mayor. I think that Bonnie Kalinowski is
clearly my choice.
I wanted to learn more about American history to I am going to night
school. I go two nights a week after work.
I must stop for now. I have homework for my class! I will write again
soon.
Sincerely,
Jacob

41. Components of an Authentic Assessment Task
What directions will you give to the students completing the task?
The students being assessed are the audience for these directions.
These directions should be included just as they would be given to students at the time they are directed to perform the assessment task.
They should include a very clear statement of the product students are expected to generate as a result of performing the assessment task as well as the criteria that will be used to gauge the quality of student work, i.e., the scoring rubric.

42. Example of Directions
“We have been learning about how important the right to vote is. Jacob as a new American citizen is certainly excited about gaining this right. He needs help, however, finding ways to take a more active part in the election. Write Jacob a letter explaining why you think it is important for him to become involved in the election campaign. Then, describe three different ways he could help Ms. Kalinowski become mayor. Make sure to explain your suggestions clearly.”

43. Components of an Authentic Assessment Task
What procedures will you use as the teacher administering the task?
The steps to be followed by the teacher in conducting the assessment should be listed, and each step should be briefly elaborated.
These procedures should be written so that another teacher, new to the assessment task, could carry them out.

44. Example of Procedures
Read aloud the prompt with students. Ask the students if there are any questions regarding the reading. Then, go over the directions for the assessment task and the rubric. Finally, provide time for the students to complete the extended response individually.

45. Components of an Authentic Assessment Task
What scoring rubric will you use to evaluate the quality of the students’ task?
The assessment task should provide for individual student accountability.
The scores are cumulative; each higher score entails the criteria of the lower scores. Each higher score requires that something be added to the quality of student work not required for the next lower score.
The criteria for each score should specify “how good is good enough” for that score to be assigned.

46. A rubric is…
a set of scoring guidelines/criteria that describes a range of possible student responses for a particular assessment task.
Adapted from Arter and McTighe (2001).
Scoring Rubrics in the Classroom.; Nolet
And McLaughlin (2000). Accessing the
General Curriculum.

47. A rubric contains…
a scale that indicates the points that will be assigned to a student’s work (different levels of proficiency); and
a set of meaningful descriptors for each point on that scale. (Descriptors establish the continuum of competence along which a learner moves towards proficiency.)
Rubrics are frequently accompanied by examples of products or performances illustrating the different score points for proficiency (anchor papers).
Effective rubrics focus on the outcomes of performance, not the process (e.g., effort, enjoyment of doing task)
Rubrics should be share with students during instruction so learn target

48. Why use a rubric?
Communicate appropriate standards and expectations for students (“what will count”)
Provide feedback to students and parents
Guide and focus instruction
Promote student self-assessment and goal setting
Improve grading consistency
--judgments become more objective, consistent, and accurate
Feedback: Where students’ are in relation to a target/standard
Guidance: Gives direction and information to help students improve
Stiggins, Richard J, Arter, Judith A., Chappuis, Jan, Chappius, Stephen. Classroom Assessment for Student Learning. Assessment Training Institute, Inc., Portland, Oregon, 2004, p. 200.

49. Features of High-Quality Rubrics
Content—What counts?
“Look fors” (essential traits), quality over quantity
Clarity—Does everyone understand what is meant?
Practicality—Is it easy to use by teachers and students?
Technical quality/fairness—Is it reliable and valid?
Content: if number or amount is included does it really indicate quality (e.g., four sentences for each paragraph?); represent best thinking in the field; clear what is most important; know what is expected and will guide thinking.
Clarity: teachers and students likely to interpret same way; content can be inclusive but not clear in way stated; can you find student work to support each
Practicality: is the rubric easy to use and provides guidance and feedback (e.g., if students missed something clear what need to teach); visually appealing; students understand it; developmental not negative
Technical: have hard evidence to make judgment; criteria can be applied consistently with different people; ratings actually represent what you want students can do
Stiggins, Richard J, Arter, Judith A., Chappuis, Jan, Chappius, Stephen. Classroom Assessment for Student Learning. Assessment Training Institute, Inc., Portland, Oregon, 2004, p. 201 and 203

50. Holistic or Analytical Rubrics?
Holistic Rubric:
Gives a single score or rating for the entire product or performance based on an overall impression of a student’s work.
Used with summative assessments and standardized tests.
Analytical Rubric:
Divides a product or performance into essential traits or dimensions (“Look Fors”) so they can be judged separately. Provides a profile of strengths and weaknesses.
Used with formative assessments

51. Example of Rubric BENCHMARK SCORE Wow! You've Got It! Nearly There!
Oops!
Describe how citizens can participate in election campaigns. (VI.3.LE.1).
The student clearly explains why citizens should participate in elections and describes three ways in which they can participate.
The student explains why citizens should participate in elections and describes two way in which they can participate.
The student explains why citizens should participate in elections and describes one way in which they can participate.
The student either explains why citizens should participate in elections or describes one way in which they can participate.
0 = the criteria for a score of 1 have not been met.

52. Example of Rubric BENCHMARK SCORE1 2 3 4
Describe how citizens can participate in election campaigns. (VI.3.LE.1).
The student either explains why citizens should participate in elections or describes one way in which they can participate.
The student explains why citizens should participate in elections and describes one way in which they can participate.
The student explains why citizens should participate in elections and describes two way in which they can participate.
The student clearly explains why citizens should participate in elections and describes three ways in which they can participate.
0 = the criteria for a score of 1 have not been met.

53. Activity Individually:
Begin planning the assessments for the outcomes that you have unpacked for your unit
summative, authentic assessment tasks
formative assessment tasks

54. POP Purpose Objectives Procedure
Analyzing the new GLCEs and HSCEs for good classroom assessment and instruction, leading to increased student achievement
Objectives
Differentiate between the purposes of assessment
Unpack expectations into targets
Match targets to methods of assessment
Develop a set of assessments for your classroom
Procedure
PowerPoint slides for presenting information
Practice with the expectations
Use of templates and protocols

55. Questions? Stan Masters Coordinator of Curriculum, Assessment,
and School Improvement
Lenawee Intermediate School District
4107 North Adrian Highway
Adrian, Michigan
(phone)
(fax)