Assessment in the
Classroom
“Assessment is today’s means of
understanding how
to modify tomorrow’s instruction.”
Carol Tomlinson
L
yn Gordon
Assessment is the process of gathering and interpreting evidence to make judgements about student learning. It is the crucial link between learning outcomes, content and teaching and learning activities. Assessment is used by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are at in their learning, where they need to go next, and how best to get there. The purpose of assessment is to improve learning, inform teaching, help students achieve the highest standards they can and provide meaningful reports on student achievement.
Defining Assessment
Rationale:Accurate and comprehensive assessment of student performance against state-wide standards aids in establishing open communication, guides student learning, assists in establishing future direction, and helps to identify areas of exemplary performance, as well as those areas in need of support and assistance.
Aims: To assess school and student performance accurately and comprehensively against state-wide standards To improve student learning by accurately determining current performance as well as areas of future learning and development
Implementation: Schools are responsible for accurately assessing student achievement against state-wide standards and progression points detailed within the
Australian Curriculum / Victorian Essential Learning Standards (AusVELS). Assessment requires a mix of summative assessment of learning to determine and report what the student has learned, formative assessment
to guide future learning, and ongoing assessment to focus teacher feedback alongside student self-assessment and reflection. Fundamentally, assessment will be used primarily to guide future teaching and learning, rather than simply a prelude to reporting achievement.
The school will establish a whole-school assessment schedule for teachers which will include a variety of assessment strategies providing multiple sources of information about student achievement. These may include tests and assignments, projects, portfolios, performance observations, discussions and involvement in state-wide standardised testing processes such NAPLAN and school entry assessment tests.
The school will develop a manageable system of keeping records that will provide a rich mixture of observations, results, reflections and discussions.
Teachers will use the data they collect to make judgements about, and report on, student achievement in the AusVELS strands and standards. Staff will participate in moderation professional development involving assessment maps and annotated work samples so that they can apply
consistent judgements of student progress against AusVELS standards across the school. Self-assessment by students against individual learning goals will comprise an additional component of the assessment program. In-services for parents on assessment, AusVELS and NAPLAN will be provided. The school will assess the achievements of students with disabilities and impairments in the context of the AusVELS. Program support groups
will help develop individual student profiles containing learning goals for each student. Progress towards learning goals will be assessed and reported by the program support group.
Students for whom English is a second language will have their progress in English reported against the ESL Companion to the AusVELS.
Evaluation: This policy will be reviewed annually as part of the school’s four-year review cycle.
Assessment Policy
ASSESSMENT Grade Prep Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6Feb Jun Nov Feb Jun Nov Feb Jun Nov Feb May Jun Nov Feb Jun Nov Feb May Jun Nov Feb Jun Nov
English Online Interview
PM BenchmarkingText levels 1-30
Observation Survey (for identified
students)
Oxford Wordlist (word recognition)
Oxford Wordlist (spelling)
SWST(Short Word Spelling
Test)
On Demand Adaptive Test -
Reading
On Demand Progress Test -
Reading(at appropriate level)
NAPLAN
TORCH
PAT Vocabulary
PAT Comprehension
Literacy Assessment Schedule
Grade Prep Grade 1/2 Grade 3/4 Grade 5/6
FEB JUN NOV
FEB JUN NOV
FEB MAY JUN NOV
FEB MAY JUN NOV
Mathematics Online Interview
X X X X X
On Demand Adaptive Test - Number
XGr3 X X
On Demand Progress Test - Number
( at appropriate level)
XGr4 X X X
NAPLAN
XGr3 XGr5
PAT Maths
X X
Grade 5 Signpost Diagnostic Mathematics
Testing
X X X
Grade 6 Signpost Diagnostic Mathematics
Testing
X X X
Observation / Anecdotal records (ongoing)
Numeracy Assessment Schedule
At Duke University, there were four students taking chemistry and all of them had an "A" so far. These four friends were so confident, that the weekend before their final exam they decided to visit some friends and indulge in a big party.They had a great time, but after all the partying; they slept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to the university until early Monday morning.Rather than taking the final exam then, they decided that after the exam they would explain to their professor why they missed it. They said that they visited friends but on the way back they had a flat tyre. As a result, they missed the exam. The professor agreed they could make up the exam the next day. The students were relieved and studied long and hard that night in preparation. The Professor placed them in separate rooms and gave them a test booklet. They quickly answered the first problem, worth 5 points. Great, they thought! Each one in a separate room, thinking this was going to be easy ... then they turned the page.
On the second page was written ...
For 95 points: Which tyre? ____________________________
In 2002 the Assessment Reform Group (Cambridge University, School of Education) produced ten principles that are fundamental to assessment for learning.
Assessment should:
be regarded as a key professional skill for teachers be part of effective planning of teaching and learning promote commitment to learning goals and a shared understanding of the criteria
by which they are assessed be recognised as central to classroom practice focus on how students learn provide constructive guidance about how to improve develop each learner’s capacity for self-assessment so that they can become
reflective and self-managing take account of the importance of learner motivation be sensitive and constructive because any assessment has an emotional impact recognise the full range of educational achievement
Principles Underpinning Effective Assessment Practice
Planning: finding out where the students are at, so that the teacher can start at an appropriate place, finding out how this particular group of students best learn.
Student feedback: so students know how they are progressing through the learning process. Explicit feedback from the teacher can provide information on what the student is doing that is effective and the next step in the learning process.
Reporting to parents and authorities: Are the students achieving a standard appropriate to their learning ability? What is the next step in their learning? What can be done to support them? What do they need to be doing for themselves?
Assessment can be used for:
“Using one assessment for a multitude of purposes is like using a hammer for everything from brain surgery to pile driving.”
Walt Honey
There are three types of assessment:
DiagnosticFormativeSummative
Types of Assessment
Diagnostic assessment can help identify students’ current knowledge of a subject, their skill sets and capabilities, and to clarify misconceptions before teaching takes place. Knowing students’ strengths and areas for development informs strategic planning of what to teach and how to teach it.
Diagnostic Assessment
Pre-tests ~ on content and abilities Self-assessments ~ identifying skills and
competenciesDiscussion responses ~ on content-specific
prompts ChecklistsRunning records Formal assessment tools
Types of Diagnostic Assessment
Formative assessment is used to provide feedback to students and teachers to promote powerful teaching and learning. As assessment for learning, it is used at the beginning of an instructional period and during the process of instruction as teachers check for student understanding. The information gained guides teachers’ decisions in respect to enhanced lesson delivery and instruction. Formative assessment enables students to learn through the process of feedback and opportunities to practise and improve. As students reflect on and monitor their progress this process effectively becomes assessment as learning and contributes to students planning future learning goals.
Formative Assessment
Observations during classroom activities Learning intentions and success criteria Homework exercises as revision for tests and of class instruction Reflection journals that are reviewed periodically during the year Question and answer sessions, both formal — planned and informal —
spontaneous Conferences between the teacher and student at various points throughout
the year In-class activities where students informally present their completed tasks Student feedback collected by periodically answering specific questions
about the instruction and their self-evaluation of performance and progress Analysis of writing samples Reading logs
Types of Formative Assessment
Summative assessment contributes to the judgement of student learning for reporting and certification purposes. As assessment of learning, summative assessment takes place after the learning has been completed and provides information and feedback that sums up the teaching and learning process. Teachers document the culmination of students’ learning achievements through tasks that invite students to demonstrate their mastery and knowledge of the course content. Summative assessment data provides teachers with information about how effective teaching strategies have been, time needed for instruction and how to improve teaching for future students.
Summative Assessment
Standardised tests Examinations Teacher prepared tests The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) Project work ~ project phases submitted at various completion points
could be formatively assessed Formal assignments AusVELS achievement standards / progression points Essays Portfolios ~ could also be assessed during development as a formative
assessment Concept maps Problem solving activities Rubrics Performances Oral presentations
Types of Summative Assessment
“When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative; when the cook discerns there’s no salt in the soup, that’s diagnostic; when the guests taste the soup, that’s summative.”
Robert Stake
I have a pet cat and her nam is scrufee and she cam to our hous and stayd and she liks fish and she liks milk. She rellee rellee liks milk and she rellee rellee liks me. She duz not lik my bruver becoz he pulls her tarl and she duz not lik my muver becoz she sayz cats stay out sid and she duz not lik my farver becoz he rubs her nos in her poo. I rellee rellee lik scrufee but not wen she has poo on her nos. Tahlia: Age 7
Best practice includes:
clear understanding that the purpose of assessment is for students to develop and improve in their learning and for teachers to plan and teach effectively
the use of diagnostic tools to determine what the students already know, understand and can do
ongoing assessment through a variety of differentiated tasks and strategies, both formal and informal, so that sufficient evidence is gathered to make sound judgements about individual student’s learning
students being actively involved in, and having some control over, their learning learning goals that are explicit in that students know what they are learning, why the
learning is important, what products are expected, and how they will be assessed assessment tasks that are differentiated through offering quality choices of ways for
students to demonstrate knowledge, understanding and skills assessment tasks and strategies that are fair and enable all students to demonstrate their
learning achievements the giving of specific and timely feedback, for example, through conversations between
students and the teacher, written feedback, peer assessment and self-assessment students’ work being discussed and moderated through shared concepts and language assessment tasks that are integrated/embedded in instruction so that they are a planned
and essential part of teaching and learning authentic assessment tasks that align with the ways such knowledge and skills would be
used in the real world
Best Practice in Assessment
“Assessment is derived from the Latin assidere to sit with or beside. It is something we do with and for a student, not something we do to them.”
Grant Wiggins
What are you trying to assess?
For students who have difficulties with reading and writing, a formal pen-and-paper test is not the best way to assess their understanding and learning of the skills and knowledge taught.
Can students demonstrate their learning in another way?
Consider alternative forms of assessment such as:
work samples (writing, drawing, concept map, model) tests (verbal, essay, multiple-choice, matching) interviews and conferences (taped, verbal, peer assessment, group discussion) portfolios (diaries, sketches, journals, digital files, notes) performance (problem solving, role-play, structured discussions, debates) major work (exhibition, invention, investigative project, recital)
Check that students understand the assessment task. Is the language used clear and explicit?
What specific needs may students have to be able to access the task? Will they need a reader, a scribe, extra time or a reduction in the length or complexity of the task?
Consider students’ needs
"Too often, educational tests, grades and report cards are treated by teachers as autopsies when they should be viewed as physicals."
Douglas Reeves
A STUDENT WHO OBTAINED 0% ON AN EXAM …
Q1. In which battle did Napoleon die? * his last battle
Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed? * at the bottom of the page
Q3. What does 'varicose' mean? * nearby
Q4. What did Mahatma Gandhi and Genghis Khan have in common? * unusual names
Q5. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what will it become? * wet
Q6. What is the fibula? * a small lie
Q7. How can you lift an elephant with one hand? * You will never find an elephant that has one hand.
Q8. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in the other hand, what would you have ? * very large hands
Q9. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it? * No time at all, the wall is already built.
Q10. How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it? * Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.
Misunderstandings about assessment include the following:
Assessment is only the ‘test’ at the end of a unit of work or series of lessons.This ignores the importance of formative assessment.
Assessment is an auditing exercise about what students do and don’t know or can and can’t do, by testing student memory, asking trick questions etc.
This fails to align teaching objectives (involving high intellectual quality) with assessment tasks. Assessment focuses on what is easiest to measure.
This fails to address what is important to learn. Assessment is an average of performances across a teaching period.
This fails to reflect that learning is a journey, and results closest to the end, when carefully designed summative assessment tasks are used, should reveal an accurate ‘final’ achievement. Group assessment is giving the same mark or grade to each participant in a group activity.
This ignores the importance of validly assessing each student’s work within a group process. Assessment is the same as grading.
This confuses the purposes of both grading and assessment. They are not synonymous because assessment focuses on gathering information about student learning while grading is an end point judgement about achievement. Giving zero for work not submitted in the context of a learning achievement is fair.
This confuses the purpose of assessing learning with the different purpose of getting students to submit work. Assessment for an achievement grade includes student dispositions and behaviours.
This confuses the purpose of assessment of learning. Attendance, effort, attitudes etc. should be reported on separately from achievement.
Misunderstandings about Assessment
Assessment is integral to the teaching and learning cycle. When planning assessment tasks as part of a unit of work, it is important to cater for all students in the class.
When constructing an assessment task / activity a range of factors need to be considered:
What is the purpose of the assessment? Is it to gather formative or summative information?
What is the essential learning / learning outcome that students will demonstrate? How can all students demonstrate their learning? What evidence will be collected to support this? What are other skills / concepts that the student will require in order to
demonstrate this learning outcome? For example, oral presentations require a student to have both oral communication skills and content knowledge.
What criteria will be used to assess student performance?
How is Assessment planned?
Assessment Strategies include: anecdotal records: objective narrative records of student performances, strengths, needs, progress and negative/positive
behaviour authentic tasks: activities that are genuine and purposeful. These can include real life shopping tasks, measuring a ball-
park, designing a home, building a bridge or tower, writing about significant issues and so on checklists, scales or charts: identification and recording of students' achievement can be through rubric levels, letter
grade or numerical value, or simply by acceptable/unacceptable conferences: meetings between the student/parent/teacher and others where progress is checked and goals for growth are
established and agreed upon contracts: agreements or goals (verbal or written) set by the teacher/parents and the student games: games are excellent opportunities for simulations and small and large group assessment diagnostic inventories: student responses to a series of questions or statements in any field, either verbally or in writing.
These responses may indicate an ability or interest in a particular field. peer evaluation: assessment by students about one another's performance relative to stated criteria and program
outcomes portfolios: collections of student work that exhibit the students' efforts, progress and achievements in one or more areas rubrics: a set of guidelines for measuring achievement. Rubrics should state the learning outcome(s) with clear
performance criteria and a rating scale or checklist. self-evaluations: student reflections about his/her own achievements and needs relative to program goals simulations: the use of problem-solving, decision-making and role-playing tasks student journals: personal records of, and responses to activities, experiences, strengths, interests and needs student profiles: a compilation of data which may include student work samples student-led conferences: where the student plans, implements, conducts and evaluates a conference regarding their
learning achievements. The purpose of the conference is to provide a forum in which students can talk about their school work with parents/carers and demonstrate their growth towards being self-directed lifelong learners.
teacher observations: regular, first-hand observations of students, documented by the teacher
Assessment Strategies
“To say that you have taught when students haven't learned is to say you have sold when no one has bought. But how can you know that students have learned without spending hours correcting tests and papers? . . . check students’ understanding while you are teaching (not at 10 o'clock at night when you're correcting papers), so you don't move on with unlearned material that can accumulate like a snowball and eventually engulf the student in confusion and despair.”
Madeline Hunter
“One teacher on their feet is worth ten in the seat.”