Assessing Students in the 21st Century

Presented by

Jan Stanley, State Title I Director

Karen Davies, Title I Coordinator

Framework for the 21st Century Skills

Common Language?

What is a balanced assessment system?

Assessment OF LearningAssessment FOR Learning

A Balanced Assessment System

• Summative Assessments

• Benchmark Assessments

• Formative Assessments OF Learning

• Formative Assessments/Classroom Assessments FOR Learning

A Balanced Assessment System

• Ensures that all instructional decisions are based on data

• Meets the informational needs of following groups:– State– District– School– Classroom (teachers and students)– Parents

State Summative and Local Benchmark Assessments

• Who are the primary users?

• What are the typical uses?

• What is being assessed?

• What methods are being used?

• When do we assess?

Assessment User Assessment FOR Learning

Assessment OF Learning

State Department of Education Community

Which districts/schools are making adequate yearly progress? Are the students acquiring skills to prepare them for the 21st century?

SuperintendentDistrict Administrators

Are our chosen strategies to improve achievement producing results?How shall we allocate district resources to achieve success?

Principal How shall we allocate our resources to achieve success?Is classroom instruction producing results?

Assessment OF Learning

• Administered after learning has occurred

• Utilized to communicate statements of student learning status to those outside the classroom

• Used to gather evidence for a student's report card grade – final exams and projects

• Administered to demonstrate accountability

Formative Assessment

A Process During Learning

• Who are the primary users?

• What are the typical uses?

• What is being assessed?

• What methods are being used?

• When do we assess?

Assessment User

Assessment FOR Learning

Assessment OF Learning

Student Am I improving?Where do I need help?

How am I achieving in relation to my peers?

Teacher What intervention does this student need?Is instruction paced at the correct rate?What are this student’s strengths?

What grade has this student earned?Is this student achieving on grade level?

Parents What can I do at home to support learning?Is my child learning new things?

How does my child compare to others in the school/district/state?How does this school compare to others in the district/state?

Classroom Assessment FOR Learning

What is the difference between formative assessments and formative classroom assessments for learning?

Formative /Classroom Assessments For Learning

• Occur during learning • Encourage student motivation and learning

These assessments:• Are not high-stakes• Are not used for accountability• Are not used for report card grades

“If everything is for a grade, there’s never time to practice – get better.” -Rick Stiggins

What is the Student Involvement Component?

Classroom Assessment For Learning

• Acknowledges the critical importance of students and teachers working as a team

• Ensures instructional decisions are made by students and teachers

• Provides continuous descriptive rather than evaluative feedback

Feedback

Research indicates feedback that focuses on leaning targets leads to greater academic gains than feedback that emphasizes self esteem.

Learning Targets Questions students should ask teachers

• If I have not mastered an objective (summative/benchmark), how will I improve if I don’t know which specific learning targets are keeping me from mastery?

– What knowledge do I need to demonstrate the intended learning?

– What patterns of reasoning do I need to master?– What skills are required, if any?– What product development capabilities must I

acquire?

Activity

Descriptive or Evaluative

Feedback?

Descriptive VS Evaluative Feedback

Descriptive • Describes features of

work or quality• Relates to learning

targets or standards of quality

• Identifies strengths• Provides specific

information on how to improve

Evaluative• Assigns a label to

achievement• Expresses a judgment• Expresses disapproval• Identifies weaknesses • Assigned to all work,

even if it is for practice

When consistently carried out as a matter of routine within and across classrooms, evaluative feedback has been linked to profound gains in student achievement, especially for low achievers.

Benjamin Bloom, "The Search for Methods of Group Instruction as Effective as One-on-One Tutoring," Educational Leadership, May 1984

Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam, "Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment," Phi Delta Kappan, October 1998

Teacher Responsibilities

Monitoring Student Progress

What is the expectation for a change in responsibilities for

Title I and special educationteachers?

Teacher Accountability

Improving Results for Students in High Need Populations

A Strategic Plan

Recommendation #2

Establish the Expectation

Recommendation #2

Establish a management system, within a tiered instruction and intervention model, that empowers special education and Title I teachers to assume leadership and responsibility in documenting progress and coordinating instructional interventions for individual identified students to ensure improved results for each student in reading and mathematics on an annual basis.

Source – Page 5 of the Executive Summary of the Strategic Plan for Improving Results for Students in High Need Populations

Change in the Focus of Services

Special Education Teachers

Accommodations and Modifications for Learning

Intervention Strategies

Title I Teachers

Remediation of Skills

Intervention Strategies

Teacher Responsibilities for Student Accountability

• Participate in completing a comprehensive analysis of assessment data

• Generate a list of students by grade level who are not achieving mastery

• Graph or chart longitudinal assessment data for “at risk students”

• Participate in instructional intervention teams and the development of student intervention plans

• Provide academic interventions and conduct progress monitoring

What are the teacher responsibilities for measuring student

progress?

Assessment – Now What?

• Summative and benchmark assessment results have been reviewed and targeted (non proficient) students have been identified

What now?

Instructional Intervention Team

Instructional Intervention Team

• What is the purpose of the team?

• Who are the members?

• What are the team responsibilities?

Purpose of the TeamThe team is responsible for gathering student information concerning current performance, skill deficiencies, developing an intervention plan and using collected progress monitoring data to make adjustments to intervention plan.

THIS IS NOT A STUDENT ASSISTANCE TEAM.

Intervention Team MembershipTeam membership may include 2 or more of these suggested professionals:

• Principal/designee• Title I teacher• Special education teacher• Technology Integration Specialist (TIS)• Speech and language specialist• General education teacher• One or more of the following individuals dependent upon student

needs – counselor, nurse, social worker, school psychologist• Other as determined by district and/or school administrators

Team Member Responsibilities

• Define the deficiency using baseline data

• Develop an individual instructional intervention plan of action

• Implement the intervention plan

• Evaluate plotted data to adjust interventions

Baseline Data

Data Sources• Summative Individual Right Response Record

• Benchmark tests

• Formative assessments

Identification of specific student academic weakness

Deficient Skills Have Been Identified

The Intervention Plan should include the following information:

• Description of specific intervention• Duration of the intervention• Schedule and setting of the intervention• Persons responsible for implementing the intervention• Identify measurable outcomes–goals/objectives• Identification of measurement instrument and

documenting techniques• Progress monitoring schedule

Plan has been Developed

Implement the Intervention Plan

• Intervention strategies are delivered through Tier 2 or Tier 3 instruction.

MONITOR PROGRESS

Progress Monitoring

• What is it?

• Why do we do it?

• What is the purpose?

What is Progress Monitoring?

Progress monitoring involves continuous data collection on skills that are important for the student’s success.

Why Use Progress Monitoring?

Progress Monitoring

To collect direct andfrequent measures

of student progress.

Use the data to establish

instructionalgoals.

Use that data tomake instructionalchange decisions.

What is the Purpose?

Student Success !

Plan has been Implemented

Evaluate and Adjust Interventions

The team reconvenes to assess student progress and make adjustments to the instructional intervention plan.

DATA COLLECTED

Implement Plan

Progress Monitor

Evaluate And

AdjustIntervention

Plan

Instructional Intervention Plan

has been Adjusted

Concluding Thoughts

Research has shown that consistently applying principles of assessment FOR learning has yielded unprecedented gains in student achievement.

Concluding Thoughts

Students must be taught the skills they need to be in control of their own academic success: – self assessment;– goal setting;– reflection on personal work;– recording the results of progress; and– understanding and sharing the results of

their progress.

Suggested Resources

• Assessment FOR Learning – An Action Guide for School Leaders

S. Chappuis, R. Stiggins, J. Arter, and J. Chappuis

• Classroom Assessment for Student Learning –Doing It Right-Using It Well R. Stiggins, J. Arter, J. Chappuis, and S. Chappuis

Publisher: Educational Testing Service - 2006