Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting

Mini Dindayal
Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting
Supporting Beginning Teachers
Mini Dindayal
Instructional Leader Early Years mini.dindayal@tdsb.on.ca February 2005 2

Objectives
!Discuss the difference between assessment and evaluation !Identify the principles of authentic Assessment !Discuss how to plan for Assessment and Evaluation !Identify different types of Assessment tools and strategies !Report Cards
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How Do Children Demonstrate their Learning?

!Talking !Experimenting !Retelling !Responding through movement and music !Dramatizing !Participating !Describing !Interacting !Sorting/Classifying !Measuring !Questioning !Reading !Recording !Building !Estimating/Counting !Writing

Assessment and Evaluation

There is a clear distinction between assessment and evaluation.
ASSESSMENT Gathering information to inform teaching practice to help students learn more Involves considerable feedback during learning EVALUATION Deciding whether or not students have learned what they needed to learn by considering evidence Determining how well they have learned
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Analogy
The athlete who is preparing for a race spends considerable time practicing and developing skills required in the final performance when she/he will be judged. The coach develops a number of tasks, exercises, and activities that will help the athlete prepare for the final product, the race. The activities are many and varied and might include starts from the blocks, weight training, stretching exercises, diet but they are all building towards the final product. The effective coach carefully plans the activities that will make up the training of the athlete and provides considerable feedback along the way to build on the strengths and improve the areas that require further development.
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The primary purpose of assessment is to improve student learning.

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Six Principles of Authentic Assessment

! Continuous, informing every aspect of instruction and curriculum building !is an integral part of the curriculum !developmentally and culturally appropriate !focuses on students strengths !recognizes that the most important evaluation is self-evaluation !invites active collaboration (teacher/ student/parents)
Bridges, 1995 p.8
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Shifting to Expectations Based Planning

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Design Down Template

adapted from Understanding by Design G. Wiggins and J. McTighe

Worth being Familiar with Important to Know and Do Enduring Understanding Knowledge Worth Being Familiar With Knowledge and Skills that are Important to Know and Do Enduring Understanding
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What is Effective Assessment?

Assessment is effective when it informs practice. !Doing the assessing is only the first step. !Analyzing what the information reveals and using this information to plan instructional experiences is the purpose of assessment. Assessment is the key to effective teaching and learning.
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When is Assessment Effective?

Assessment
!before instruction, !during instruction, and !after instruction

allows the teacher to make the best instructional decisions.

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Three Categories of Assessment

Assessment is divided into three broad categories:
! Diagnostic (assessment for learning) ! Formative (assessment for learning) ! Summative (assessment of learning)
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What is the purpose of Diagnostic Assessment? !It gives teachers specific information about when and how to proceed with instruction. !It establishes a baseline from which to observe growth. !It is assessment for learning.
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What is the purpose of Formative Assessment? !It encourages self-directed learning by giving students specific feedback. !It assists with programming decisions.

!It is assessment for learning.

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Role of the Student

When students are given specific, descriptive, and timely feedback, they can assess their own learning and become active participants in the learning process, setting goals for improvement.
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What is the purpose of Summative Assessment?

!It provides information which can be used to evaluate student achievement. !It is used to determine an overall grade/level to students performance. !It provides feedback for reflection to judge the effectiveness of a unit of study. !It is assessment of learning.
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Assessment Tools !Tools are what a teacher uses to record and/or categorize his or her observations. !Tools should provide a clear picture of what the learning should look like (e.g. criteria and indicators).
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At any grade,

OBSERVATION is the most powerful assessment tool.

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Assessment Tools: Anecdotal Records !capture and describe student performance; !are gathered based on specific look-fors pre-determined by the teacher; !are systematic and planned for opportunities.
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!A record of brief comments on a student made on a sticky note; !An open-faced file folder with grid

lines and space for each student; !A record of comments on the reverse of students assessment record page in a folder or tracker; !A legal size folder containing index cards for each student on a flip chart.

What do they look like?

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Example
At-a-glance Observation Record
Autumn J. Ziad K. Kate M. Jack Mc. Alizeh A. Sami A. Jacob C. Dillon F.

Focus of observation: October.04

Sorting and classifying objects
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Assessment Tools: Rating Scales

!assess performance on a severalpoint scale ranging from low to high, which may have as few as 3 points or as many as 10.
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!A list of statements that can be used to rank, describe, or identify criteria; !A numbered or bulleted list of key attributes of good performance to be assessed; !A set of criteria, which allows the teacher to judge performance, product, attitude and/or behaviour along a continuum.

What do they look like?

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Example - Teacher
Analysis of Retelling no/few some many extensive Did the child make connections to personal experiences? few some most extensive Did the retelling/summary use supporting details to describe the main idea(s)?
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Example - Student

How do you feel about sharing a book with a friend?

How do you feel when someone reads to you?

Reading Attitude Survey

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Assessment Tools: Checklists

!provide a record of the presence or absence of taught/acquired concept, skill, process or attitude; !provide a list of criteria to be looked for and assessed in the completion of a task; !include a teacher-made list based on content and/or processes related to knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes.
A Guide to Effective Instruction in Reading: Kindergarten to Grade 3,2003. Page 12.24
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What do they look like?

!A list of key attributes of good performance to be assessed; !A descriptor that is preceded or followed by a space for entry (yes, no, !, etc.).
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Example - Teacher
Describes complex patterns Describes own pattern
Extends simple and complex patterns

Recognizes complex patterns

Notices patterns in the environment

Student: Sept Oct. Feb.

Patterning Checklist
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Example - Student
I can make inferences based on the information I have read. When reading, I think about other pieces of text I have read. When reading, I think about things in my own life. I can give an opinion about a book
Some -times

Making Meaning at text level Yes No

Reading Self Assessment

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Assessment Tools: Rubrics

!include a description of specific, observable criteria in the four categories of knowledge and skills; !use a range of levels of quality used to assess student work; !include a scale which uses brief statements based on criteria to describe the levels of achievement.
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What do they look like?

!A clear link between one or more categories of the achievement chart; !A connection to the qualifiers from the achievement chart; !A list of concise criteria; !A brief description of each level of achievement.
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Example - Rubric
! demonstrates ! demonstrates ! demonstrates ! demonstrates !interprets demonstrates a strong ability to make and support complex inferences demonstrates a general ability to make and support inferences of some complexity demonstrates some ability to make and support simple inferences demonstrates a limited ability to make and support simple inferences Reasoning ! infers meaning

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Categories /Criteria

Reading Reasoning
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When are Rubrics most effective?

! when used selectively;

! when developed by the teacher and shared with students before the performance task; ! when examples are provided at each achievement level; ! when teacher and student analyze the examples together; ! when students use the rubric to guide their work.
A Guide to Effective Instruction in Reading: Kindergarten to Grade 3, 2003, p. 12.25 34

Assessment Strategies

Strategies are the means by

which a teacher assesses student progress.

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Assessment Strategies Strategies provide specific ways for students to demonstrate their learning. Students can:
!SAY; !WRITE; !DO.
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When Selecting an Assessment Strategy Determine: !What is to be assessed; !Purpose for the assessment; !The phase of the learning process at which the students are working.
Ontario Curriculum Unit Planner
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Assessment Strategies
!Song !Pictorial representation !Storyboard/Poster !Scrapbook !Mind Map !Mural Construction !Scenario !Play !Demonstration !Audio/video Tape !Questionnaire !Drama/Puppet Show/ Skit !Book Review report !Interview/Talk show !Newspaper/ Advertisement !Diary !Pantomime !Discussion Group
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Assessment Strategies cont.

!Letter to Editor/Author/ Expert !Book !Timeline !Cartoon or Comic Strip !Map

!Readers Theatre !Presentation/ Performance !Game !Chart !Reading Portfolio !Reading Responses !Artifact !Puzzle !Mobile !Interest Inventory !Reading Log
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Reporting
!Determine letter or percentage grades by reviewing students work over the term and determining their most consistent level of performance in each strand/subject !Consideration must also be given to more recent student performances, which tasks/assignments are more significant, and the teachers knowledge of the whole student.
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Purpose of Report Cards

!Formal communication to parents and students !Identify strengths, areas for growth, and next steps !Addresses students achievement of the curriculum expectations

Grading
The Past The Present
Assessment Evaluation Assessment Evaluation

Implications for classroom practice:

1.2 Visual Rep

Assessment: Evaluation: is planned and is planned for times throughout the year is diagnostic, , and summative is based on assessments involves the systematic gathering and of information about how students learn, what they have learned and how they apply their and involves and the quality of students work/performance describes students in a variety of situations

 assigns an overall to students performance is based on a variety of formal and informal strategies, including repeated , and the administration of specific assessment tools is based on the , most student performance, drawing on range of assessment data that was collected using a variety of and identifies students and , and provides students with to guide their improvement identifies how well students have achieved the for their grade is used by the teacher to and his/her programming, with the ultimate goal of improving student achievement provides students and parents with information about students of the is necessary for all students, and may be for exceptional students is necessary for students must be free from must be free from

A Closer Look at Assessment and Evaluation

1.2 Closer Look Design Down Planning Planning Assessments based on what students must know and do at the end Sample Planning Template Culminating Task The end product What students must know and be able to do (OEs) Achievement Chart Focus Tools used to evaluate students work (e.g. Rubric) Assessment Plan: Opportunities for students to practice skills and acquire key knowledge Learning Task (Activities that build toward the Culminating Task)

Knowledge gained Skills practiced through the activity Achievement Chart Focus Assessment tools (e.g. checklist, anecdotal record, rubric) 1. 2. 3. Sample Planning Template Assessment Tasks Key Knowledge Key Skills Culminating Task
M. Dindayal: February 4th, 2005

ASSESSMENT RESOURCE LIST TITLE AUTHOR

Teaching Children to Read and Write TDSB What Really Matters for Struggling Readers Allington, Richard L. Reading in TDSB TDSB Assessment in the Kindergarten Program TDSB First Steps (Reading, Writing, Oral Language, Spelling) Addison Wesley Literacy Assessment Manual Primary (LAMP) TDSB Learning to Teach Not Just for Beginners Shalaway, Linda Classroom Beginnings: Teachers Guidebook ETFO AIR Document (Assessment, Instruction and Reporting) TDSB Creating a Child Centered Classroom Pollshuke, Mindy and Schwartz, Susan Creating a Dynamic classroom Pollshuke, Mindy and Schwartz, Susan Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) Beaver, J. Comprehension Attitude Strategies Interests (CASI) Nelson The Observation Survey: Of Early Literacy Assessment Clay, Marie The Ontario Curriculum Exemplars, Gr. 1-8 Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, Science Writing in the Elementary Grade: A Resource for K-8 Teachers TDSB Math Exit and Entry Text Gr. 1-9 **see your MART teacher for a copy

Durham District SB Understanding By Design G. Wiggins & J. McTighe Assessment Continuous Learning Bridges, Lois Elementary and Middle School Mathematics Teaching Developmentally Van De Walle , John A. TDSB website www.tdsb.on.ca Ontario Curriculum Unit Planner ocup.org The Connected Teacher website http://www.tdsb.on.ca/connected_teacher/login.asp Ministry of Education Eworkshop.on.ca ASAP website: S&T exemplars at York U http://www.ysiste.com/asap/
http://exemplars.ysiste.com

User: TDSB Password: teacher

Tips on Becoming a Teacher

Dr. Bob Kizlik Updated July 25, 2012 So you think you want to be a teacher? If that thought is more than just a passing image as you see yourself in front of a class of adoring students, then the information that follows might make an important contribution to your decision. It is absolutely true that some people, from the time they are in first grade, know they want to be teachers. For others, the idea to become a teacher can be a sudden insight, or a feeling that ferments for years in some remote corner of their consciousness. Regardless of where the idea comes from, for many, the images associated with becoming a teacher are compelling. However, as is often the case in life, the differences between images and reality can be stark, unsettling, and disappointing. Current uncertainties in the American, as well as world economies only serve to exacerbate the differences. This reality is the reason for this page. We all know that as the "Baby Boomers" retire and leave teaching in large numbers over the next ten years, probably more than a million new teachers will be needed to replace them, let alone hundreds of thousands needed to keep pace with the anticipated growth of student populations, the current worldwide recession notwithstanding. Perhaps you will be one of these new teachers Perhaps not.

The current world-wide economic slowdown and concomitant unemployment as of January 2012 has had some real impact on public school systems hiring new teachers. In some areas there are hiring freezes, layoffs, increased class sizes and cuts in courses offered, all of which affect hiring. This situation likely won't last more than a few years, and teachers will be hired, but probably at a much slower pace, affected possibly by the decisions of older teachers to stay longer in teaching than they originally planned. My advice is to hang in there, and be patient. Please read on. For lack of a better way to say it, this page is about some basic teacher-things. For sure, not every person who wants to be a teacher should be a teacher. There is a vast gulf between the ideal of teaching and the reality of the classroom. Teaching probably won't make you rich, and, to be sure, no one should make any career decision without gathering as much information as possible. Tips on becoming a teacher is a start. Make no mistake; teaching is like no other profession. As a teacher, you will wear many hats. You will, to name but of a few of the roles teachers assume in carrying out their duties, be a communicator, a disciplinarian, a conveyor of information, an evaluator, a classroom manager, a counselor, a member of many teams and groups, a decision-maker, a role-model, and a surrogate parent. Each of these roles requires practice and skills that are often not taught in teacher preparation programs. Not all who want to be teachers should invest the time and resources in teacher training or teacher preparation programs if they do not have the appropriate temperament, skills, and personality. Teaching has a very high attrition rate. Depending on whose statistics you trust, around forty percent of new teachers leave teaching within the first five years. It is obviously not what they thought it would be. One thing for sure, it's about more than loving kids. Make no mistake; as a teacher, your day doesn't necessarily end when the school bell rings. If you're conscientious, you will be involved in after school meetings, committees, assisting students, grading homework, assignments, projects, and calling parents. All these demand some sacrifice of your personal time. If you're committed to excellence as a teacher, it's a sacrifice you can live with. If not, you will be uncomfortable at best. Teacher training and teacher preparation programs exist in every state, as well as in various forms of online courses and degree programs, and the requirements vary. You will have many options from which to choose. Choose wisely. My own advice is to select a program that offers a rich and solid foundation of courses, regardless of whether you intend to teach at the elementary, middle school, or high school level. I believe that no teacher education program, including the one in which I teach, can actually teach you how to teach. Rather, what we do is get you ready to learn how to teach, and that takes place on the job. My advice is to choose a program that offers a rich balance of subject matter content courses and pedagogy, including clinical experience in all its forms. You are learning both skills and understandings in any teacher education program. Practice those skills as perfectly as possible, and strive each day to deepen your understandings of the concepts, theories and generalizations that you encounter. By doing so, you will build a solid foundation for learning how to teach once you become employed, and, you will be a better teacher. From my own teaching experience and from discussions and teaching many hundreds of teachers and thousands of teacher education students, there emerge common threads of understanding and skill that good teachers weave into an effective personal style of teaching. Assess your own knowledge and values in terms of your thoughts about the following: Good teachers:

are good at explaining things. Do you like to explain how something works, or how something happened? Being comfortable with explaining content to students is an essential skill for teachers, regardless of the subject or grade level. keep their cool. There will be times when you will be tempted to scream or yell at your students, other teachers, parents, administrators, and so on. Good teachers are able to successfully resist this urge. have a sense of humor. Research has consistently shown that good teachers have a sense of humor, and that they are able to use humor as part of their teaching methods. Humor, used properly, can be a powerful addition to any lesson. like people, especially students in the age range in which they intend to teach. Most teachers choose an area of specialization such as elementary education, special education, secondary education, or higher education because they have a temperament for students in those age ranges. If you are not comfortable working with young children, don't major in elementary education! are inherently fair-minded. They are able to assess students on the basis of performance, not on the students' personal qualities. have "common sense." It may sound a bit corny, but good teachers are practical. They can size up a situation quickly and make an appropriate decision. Whether managing a classroom, leading students on a field trip, seamlessly shifting from one instructional procedure to another, assigning detentions, supervising an intern, or dealing with policy and curriculum issues in the school, there is no substitute for common sense. have a command of the content they teach. For elementary school teachers, that means having knowledge of a broad range of content in sufficient depth to convey the information in meaningful ways to the students. For secondary school teachers, it usually means having an in-depth command of one or two specific content areas such as mathematics or biology. set high expectations for their students and hold the students to those expectations. If you are thinking about becoming a teacher, you should set high expectations for yourself, and demand excellence not only of yourself, but your students as well. are detail oriented. If you are a disorganized person in your private life, you will find that teaching will probably be uncomfortable for you. At the very least, teachers must be organized in their professional and teaching duties. If you're not organized and are not detail oriented, teaching may not be the best choice of a profession for you. are good managers of time. Time is one of the most precious resources a teacher has. Good teachers have learned to use this resource wisely. can lead or follow, as the situation demands. Sometimes, teachers must be members of committees, groups, councils, and task forces. Having the temperament to function in these capacities is extremely important. At other times, teachers assume leadership roles. Be sure you are comfortable being a leader or a follower, because sooner or later, you will be called on to function in those roles. don't take things for granted. This applies to everything, from selecting a college or school of education to filing papers for certification. Good follow-through habits should be cultivated throughout life, but they are never more important than during your teacher education program. Read the catalog, know the rules, be aware of prerequisites and meet deadlines. In one sense, you don't learn to teach by getting a degree and becoming certified. You learn to teach in much the same way you learned to drive -- by driving. You learn to teach by teaching, by making mistakes, learning from them and improving. The purpose of a

teacher education program is to get you as ready as possible to learn how to teach by subjecting you to a variety of methods and experiences that have a basis in tradition and research. have some "hard bark" on them. Take it from me as a teacher in both public schools and at the university level, that you need some hard bark in order to survive, let alone thrive. To illustrate the point, here is an excerpt from an ADPRIMA page that discusses the subject in more detail: John Russell, the name of the character played by Paul Newman in the 1967 movie "Hombre," was told, in the latter part of the film by a man he had just shot in order to protect a group of innocent, yet cowardly people, "Mister, you've got some hard bark on you." Indeed he did, because he was both physically tough and tough minded. He was also realistic, honest, fair, and understood that sometimes doing the right thing involves risk. There is a lesson in all of this for education students. Without a doubt, young men and women entering the teaching profession today need to have some "hard bark" on them. If they don't, the small wounds inflicted by dealing with the everyday problems of teaching, disciplining, planning, counseling, dealing with administrators, colleagues, parents, and so on, mount up. If they're easily wounded by disappointment, rudeness, and even unfairness, they won't last because these things happen, and nothing will change that. Reflecting back on my won experiences, I can say reservation, that the most difficult aspect of teaching was not the students, the subject matter, or the parents. It was the teachers. To be a good teacher, you have to be able to deal with the incessant politics and interpersonal issues of your colleagues. Trust me, if you don't have some "hard bark" on you, the stress of this aspect of teaching can easily wear you down to a nub in short order. All of these qualities define some of the characteristics of good teachers. If it is not your goal to become a good teacher at the very least, perhaps thinking about the above will help you see other career alternatives. A good idea, when first making such a decision, is to talk to teachers. Find out what they do, and what led them into teaching. Do a personal inventory of your own values, personality, preferences and goals. But, whatever you do, don't go into teaching simply because you love kids!