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Assess to Impress: An Inquiry into the use of Assessments to Better Meet the Needs of
Students
Kristen Houlihan
Background
Both internships were completed in different schools in Hillsborough County. Continuing with
my Final Internship, I am staying in the same school that I completed my Level III internship
in, this time in a second-grade classroom. This school is a Title 1 school, which has a
specialized program for deaf, hard of hearing, and blind students. The students in this school
are integrated, and it is not uncommon to see many students with differing exceptionalities in
one classroom. My final internship classroom consists of 18 students: 8 girls and 10 boys.
These students are high-performing students and were placed in the classroom because of their
similar abilities. This inquiry also speaks about an RTI intervention group that I taught during
my time as a final intern. This group consists of about 20 students that all needed to receive
enrichment; these students all had extremely high reading scores and needed to be challenged
Throughout my internship experiences, even though the age ranges were vastly
different, there was one thing that occurred in all of the classrooms: assessments. This word
used to scare me before I joined the College of Education. I saw assessments as a huge test or
something that was state-mandated. Throughout my years in the Education Program, I found
that assessments were not as scary as they seemed. I learned that there are many different types
of assessments, and sometimes the students are not even aware that they are being assessed!
During my time as an intern, I learned about formative assessments and became interested in
knowing more. I loved that a teacher could use formative assessments to help students in the
middle of a lesson, and that they could be used to drive future instruction.
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One of my personal beliefs is that teachers should do everything in their power to help
the students inside of their classroom. Formative assessments are a great way to do this.
Formatives are a tool that a teacher can use to help the students amid a lesson, and can also be
used when planning for future lessons. Another belief that I have is that a teacher should be
fully present during a lesson. Formative assessments are another way an educator can engage
with students throughout a lesson such as during independent work, experimenting, or even
reading passages. A teacher can utilize the time in a lesson wisely by implementing different
was happening. I would take notes in my head, and then forget to write them down. This came
to be a problem because throughout the day I would not remember which students were
struggling with the concepts and I was unable to help them to the best of my ability. In terms
came time to take a test. Students would seem to understand the content throughout the week
that I taught it, but would not perform at the end of the unit. For this reason, I chose to focus
Purpose
As stated before, my forgetfulness when it came to formative assessments was the main
reason for my interest in this topic. I wanted to find assessments that were quick and easy to
do, and that I would be able to remember to implement throughout my lessons. In completing
my connected lesson during my Level III internship, I used the assessments of my choosing to
drive the instruction of two back-to-back lessons. After doing this, I saw the improvement in
purpose of my inquiry was to learn about different assessments that I could administer
Wondering
With this purpose I wondered: How can I use assessments to better meet the needs of
my students?
Methods/Procedures
To gain insight into my wondering, I started with getting to know the students in my
classroom. Since this was a new classroom environment, I started with a student interest
survey (Appendix A) to figure out what my students liked best about school. This survey
yielded many results. I found out that many of my students would like to receive more help in
Writing. Most of my students also stated that they enjoyed school. The results from this
student interest survey show that generally my students have a positive attitude about school
and seem to enjoy the different subjects that they participate in throughout the day (Appendix
B). During this same week, I distributed a How do I Work Best survey to my students
(Appendix C). This survey was administered to find out the conditions in which students felt
the most comfortable. From this survey, I found that most of my students enjoy working
around the room, and that many of my students enjoy working with other students in groups
(Appendix D).
The next step into exploring my wondering was to conduct research in the form of
literature. In researching my inquiry topic, I came across five articles that spoke about my
inquiry in different ways (Appendix E). Most, if not all, of the articles mentioned the need to
constantly assess students. All the authors agreed that using one high stakes test to determine
student ability was not enough. Many of the authors suggested formatively assessing students
in the middle of a lesson, and constantly monitoring student progress. A few of the articles
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spoke of having students self-assess themselves. Lee and Abell state people learn science
better if they are metacognitive about their learning-when they recognize what they know and
do not know and decide what they need to learn (Lee & Abell). A couple of the articles talked
about setting goals, both for yourself as the teacher and for your students. Curry, Mwavita,
Holter, and Harris state the practice of consistent goal setting and goal revision not only
motivated teachers but also helped the student accept some ownership of learning goals and
(Curry, Mwavita, Holter, & Harris, 2015). In my research process, I saw that formative
assessments were spoken about in all subject areas. Lee and Abell state formative assessment
is used to gain information and advances in student learning (Lee & Abell). Prompt, specific,
and constructive feedback was suggested in a few of the articles as well. Assessing Student
Understanding: A Framework for Testing and Teaching spoke about the importance of
constructive feedback. This article encouraged teachers to take a look into the how much
feedback they are giving their students. It states If a student makes an error, teachers must
discern the severity of the error and what caused the incorrect response (Brendefur, Strother,
Rich, & Appleton, 2016). In reading these articles, I learned about different strategies to
Based off these articles, the first thing that I decided to do was to hone in on one subject
area to start with. Since many of my students said that they would like to receive help in
Writing in their Student Interest Survey, I started there. The first step that I took in taking over
the writing block was to provide students with specific feedback throughout the students unit
on letter writing. Students received oral and written feedback throughout the writing process.
Throughout this unit, I saw the students writing improve. I also saw the students editing their
The next step in my inquiry process was to introduce a system in which to assess the
students with. Throughout a PLC group in my Teacher as Researcher class, I learned about the
CHAMPS rubric from one of my peers (Appendix F). This system was introduced and
implemented into my classroom over the course of a few weeks. I started using this rubric
specifically with Writing, and then distributed it into the other subject areas that I was teaching.
The first step that I used to introduce the CHAMPS model into the classroom was
grading the students on their writing using the rubric and then talking about the criteria that I
was looking for after the students received their writing back. In doing this I saw that the
students did not seem to understand why they got the score that they did, and most were upset
with the scores that they received. I realized that feedback throughout the writing and scoring
The next step I took with the CHAMPS model was going over the rubric that the
students were going to be assessed with before the students started with their assignment. This
rubric was also displayed at the front of the room so that students could reference it throughout
the assignment. I saw that in doing this students scores improved, but there were still some
that were struggling to receive passing scores. These students were also constantly asking for
my approval on the assignment and were not taking the time to edit and self-assess their work
The last step that I took with the CHAMPS model was working with the students to
come up with the rubric for an assignment together. I went over the details of the assignment
with the students and then we worked together to come up with the rubric for the assignment.
In asking questions such as What would purple work look like? students came up with the
criteria for the rubric. I then displayed this rubric on the projector so that students could
reference it throughout the assignment. In doing these steps, I saw that students were self-
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assessing themselves and using the rubric to edit their work. I also saw students scores
After finding a system that worked across all subject areas for assessing my students, I
decided to implement some of the things that the students talked about in their How Do I Work
Best survey. In the formative and summative assessments for the next week, I decided to
implement some of the things that students stated that they liked into my classroom instruction.
The students were working in groups more often, and participating in classroom discussions
more, as opposed to completing written assignments independently. Throughout the times that
students were working in groups, I made sure to walk around and take anecdotal notes and
provide specific feedback to help facilitate discussion. I also decided to let students work
around the room for all their reading and writing assignments. During the formative and
summative assessments during these subjects, students could take a clipboard and sit in various
spots around the room. In doing this I saw that assessment scores were about the same, but in
conversations that I had with students, they stated that they felt more comfortable working
With the students in the PRIDE (RTI) group that I was teaching, there were many
strategies that were implemented with them. Within the first week of establishing this PRIDE
group, we started with asking students to mane different things that they would be interested in
learning more about. We also gave the students a Student Interest Survey (Appendix G), to
It was a gradual release with the project-based learning with these students. The first
project that the students completed was assigned by the other intern and I, students had no
choice on their partners or their topic that they could research. We did this so that students
could learn how to use the computers, find books on their topic, and get to know students
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within the PRIDE group. For the second project that the students completed, the other intern
and I placed the students into groups and gave them a topic off the list they had made at the
beginning of the semester. For the third project, students could sign up for a group based on
things that they had written about in their Student Interest Survey. Students could also choose
whether to present with a PowerPoint or a poster. Students had a choice between a pre-selected
list, and we did not limit the amount of people that could research each topic. For the fourth
and final project, students had free choice on: who their partners were, what they were
researching, and how they would present the information. Throughout this whole process, we
provided students with rubrics (Appendix H) so that they knew their expectations when
While collecting all of the data for this inquiry, I put all worksheets, printed pictures,
survey results, graphs, charts, observations, and lesson plans into a notebook. All handouts
were stapled, and all observations, checklists, and written formative assessments were written
into this notebook. When it came time to analyze the data, I went through this notebook and
pulled out the pages that had the most relevant and impactful data. After doing this, I looked at
and put the data that correlated with each other in piles. I then used these data piles to
Findings
After implementing the different internventions in my classroom and analyzing the data
that I collected throughout the process, I was able to find out a lot about myself, my students,
and my inquiry topic. Analyzing and sorting my data has led to the following learning claims:
Learning Statement 1
My students benefit from a familiarized rubric system that they helped create the criteria for.
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By scaffolding the process in which the CHAMPS rubric was implemented in the
classroom, I saw a growth in student performance across all subject areas. This system allowed
for my students to hold themselves accountable, and also showed them why they received the
scores that they did. Students became familiarized with the rubric over the course of my time
in the classroom, and once the students started creating the criteria for the rubric, they became
even more comfortable with it. For example, my students came up with Purple work should
always have capitals and periods, and Purple writing should have lots of detail. Students
Writing scores especially increased during this time. Here is a chart explaining students scores
based on this rubric over the four weeks that it was implemented.
Self-assessment using this rubric helped students become accountable for their work.
Students were also made aware of their own strengths and weaknesses. To help with the self-
assessment process, I provided students with their own generalized rubric for writing.
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This allowed students to self-assess their work before they gave it to me to be graded.
Students were also provided for individualized assignment rubrics during all lessons that I
taught. They used these rubrics to grade their own work and the work of their peers.
Many individual conferences needed to be held in order for students to get to the point
where they were accurately and critically looking at their own work. Working one-on-one with
the students let me know not only where they were struggling with a concept, but also where
their thinking was at when they were self-assessing. In addition, it allowed for individual goal
setting to take place. The students were able to identify the areas in which they were struggling
and set goals based on what they felt they needed to work on. For example, one of my students
stated that she needed to work on making her work make sense. I provided her with different
strategies for proofreading and editing her paper, such as whisper reading her writing out
The authors of Getting Assessment Right at the Classroom Level: Using Formative
Assessment for Decision Making state that during their research helped the student accept
some ownership of learning goals and encouraged students to become actively involved in
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setting increasingly challenging goals (Curry, Mwavita, Holter, & Harris, 2015). This is
exactly what I saw in my classroom. Students would originally have a goal such as correct
punctuation and would then lead to provided descriptive words and detailed sentences.
Students were continuously perfecting their craft with the help provided through individual
Learning Statement 2
As a teacher, I discovered the many benefits from using a variety of formatives with my
students.
Formative assessments provided the opportunities for students to show what they knew
about a particular concept. Formative assessments were administered throughout every lesson,
which let me know which students were struggling with the concept, what needed to be re-
taught, and the next steps for a lesson. In a week of lesson plans (Appendix I), I used many
different formative assessments to gauge a lesson. Roskos and Neuman state Formative
assessment is a gap-minder because it helps the teacher to stay alert to gaps in individual
students' reading development and to adjust instruction as needed before moving on (to the
train, which, as we know, is leaving the station) (Roskos & Neuman, 2012). In completing
this inquiry, I learned that my students needed to be provided with multiple ways to show that
Students mostly did not know that the work that they were doing was an assessment.
Classroom conversations, worksheets, informal observations, and checklists were all used to
understand where students were at during a lesson. In using these different formative
assessments, I was able to then pull small groups if needed to work with kids on where they
needed help. I was also able to partner students up with different understanding levels.
Students that understood the content could then work with those who were struggling. These
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groupings would not have been made without the various formative assessments that I
administered to my students. Stover, Yearta, and Hams state Formative assessment allows
teachers to adjust instruction to meet the wide variety of student needs (Stover, Yearta, &
Harris, 2015). Being able to adjust my instruction as needed was key to meeting the needs of
Learning Statement 3
classroom.
One of the main things that a teacher discovers is that all of their students learn
College of Education, and for as long as I have been in the program I have been told of the
importance of adjusting instruction to fit the differing needs of the classroom. The same goes
with assessments; every student should have the opportunity to show that they mastered a
concept in a way that works the best for them. Some students do not perform well when it
comes to tests, which is why they should be provided with other opportunities to demonstrate
knowledge of a concept.
One case that sticks out in my mind when it comes to differentiated assessments is of
one of my students Clyde (pseudonym). He was struggling when it came to writing his thought
on a piece of paper. After some probing, I learned that he had difficulty writing in the lines and
that his lack of spelling knowledge caused him to be self-conscious of writing on a piece of
paper. After seeing this, my CT and I decided to change the way that he submitted and worked
on assignments in class. We decided to try to have him complete assignments on the computer.
I taught him how to use things like the shift key to make capital letters and how to right click
on a word if it had a red line underneath it. He excelled once he was behind the computer.
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Work was actually getting completed and he was turning in work that was above and beyond
according to the rubric. In this example of his work (Appendix J), you can tell by his poem that
he understands the unit that we were working on, even though he had a different way of
With the students in my PRIDE group, they were continuously having choice in how
they demonstrated how they understood a concept. Every student was graded using the same
rubric, but the means in which they both presented the material and the topics that they
presented on were chosen by the student. In giving students this choice and providing a set
rubric with their expectations on it, we were able to hold students accountable for their work.
Students were excited about being able to research a topic that they wanted to learn about, and
the work that they were putting forward showed that they were absorbing the material that they
were researching. As can be seen from the Project Survey results (Appendix K) , most of the
students stated that they enjoyed coming to PRIDE time. The students work (Appendix L) and
rubric results (Appendix M) show that they had an accurate understanding of both their
Conclusion
assessments to guide practice. One of my personal and professional goals is to not only
complete each of my FEAPS, but to continue to meet these practices throughout my final
internship and my teaching career. The studying of this concept will ensure that I continue to
In completing this inquiry I learned many things about my students and of myself as a
teacher. I learned that my students benefitted from having and utilizing a rubric system that
spanned across all subject areas and assignments. I also found that my students self-assessing
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with this rubric with the tools and strategies provided during individual conferences lead to
driving present and future instruction in my classroom. I also learned that my students
benefitted from differentiated assessments in terms of the process that they demonstrated their
knowledge with, and the product in which they presented their understanding with.
This inquiry answered many questions that I had about assessments, but it also brought
about even more questions and wonderings. These wonderings include What types of
formative assessments yield the best results for both teacher and student?, What tools and
strategies help students to have the most critical and accurate self-assessments?, and What
tools and strategies help to provide students with the most room to succeed on tests and
standardized assessments?. The continued study and research of this topic will help to answer
References
Brendefur, J. L., Strother, S., Rich, K., & Appleton, S. (2016). Assessing Student
Curry, K. A., Mwavita, M., Holter, A., & Harris, E. (2015). Getting assessment
right at the classroom level: using formative assessment for decision making.
doi:10.1007/s11092-015-9226-5
Lee, M. H., & Abell, S. K. (n.d.). Perspectives: Assessing for Science Learning. NSTA.
Retrieved fromhttp://learningcenter.nsta.org/resource/?id=10.2505/4/sc07_044_07_66
Stover, K., Yearta, L., & Harris, C. (2015). Formative Assessment in the Digital Age.
Appendix A
Appendix B
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Appendix C
Appendix D
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Appendix E
Article Key Quotes and Ideas Related Ideas for Taking Action in my
to my Wondering Classroom
Assessing for Science Learning. In contrast, formative After reading this article, I
By: Michele H. Lee and Sandra assessment is used to gain would like to make it a habit to
K. Abell information that improves provide students with feedback
instruction and advances during and after a lesson. This
student learning. will help students to become
aware of their own strengths
According to cognitive and weaknesses so that they
scientists, people learn science can work to becoming
better if they are metacognitive responsible for their own
about their learning {NRC learning.
2005)-when they recognize
what they know and do not
know and decide what they
need to learn.
Appendix G
Appendix H
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Appendix I
Luke Goes to Bat points of the story The Lion and the The Lion and the Mouse: A
(T124-T135) with the students Mouse (MyO
(T364-T365)
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Appendix J
Appendix K
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Appendix L
Appendix M
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