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Topic: Alternative assessment paradigms – focus on dynamic assessmentNovember 18, 2014

Remember!

Effective assessment means using the right tool for the job.

Which assessment procedure is best?

It all depends on what you

want to know.

Want to compare a student with his/her peers?

Use norm-referenced assessment.

Want to compare a student’s skills with a pre-determined developmental hierarchy?

Use a developmentally-referenced assessment

(i.e. milestones).

Want to specify a student’s current level of performance? (i.e. What the student knows, understands, or is able to do.)

Use criterion-referenced assessment.

Want to monitor a student’s progress within a curricular

sequence? (i.e. math, spelling)

Use a curriculum-based assessment or measurement

(CBA or CBM).

Want to assess a student’s response to intervention, problem-solving skills,

or the most effective means to facilitate that student’s learning?

Use dynamic assessment.

Dynamic Assessment: Is based on a different concept of

intelligence from traditional IQ tests – it is based on students’ “learning ability.”

Provides information on the student’s learning processes (why they might not be learning and what supports their learning).

Provides a direct connection with intervention.

Key Characteristics of DA:

1. Test – teach – re-test format.

2. Focus on learner modifiability.

3. Goal of developing learner-specific and effective interventions – what helps this student learn best?

(Lidz,1991)

“Dynamic assessment was never intended to offer an alternative basis either for classifying children or for

placing them in special education programs.”

(Lidz, 1991, p. 5)

“The intent of dynamic assessment is to improve

understanding of the learner within any educational setting, as well as inform interventions

within any setting.”

(Lidz, 1991, p. 5)

Quick Write:

How might you use dynamic assessment in your particular educational/ work context? What aspects are you particularly drawn to and what do you have concerns about?

Ecological perspectives place the childat the center of ever-widening

concentric circles

family

classroom

school

community

Bronfenbrenner, 1979

“...dynamic assessment yields descriptive data... [that] ...provides a basis for identifying curricular contexts in which ... difficulties are apt to surface for the student. It also provides information about what conditions would enhance performance. This information is then applied to setting relevant goals and objectives, not isolated and irrelevant ones as has sometimes been the case with traditional models of services."

(Merritt & Culatta, 1998, p. 111)

“The purpose of dynamic assessment is to explore the process of learning by gathering information about the type of support needed to change the child’s behavior”

(Kublin, et al, 1998, p. 289)

“The intent of dynamic assessment is to improve understanding of the learner within any educational setting, as well as inform interventions within any setting.”

(Lidz, 1991, p. 5)

“Dynamic assessment was never intended to offer an alternative basis either for classifying children or for placing them in special education programs.”

(Lidz, 1991, p. 5)

Zone of Actual Development

Zone of Proximal

Development

Unable to Perform,

even with Assistance

How do we “assist”

performance?

Dynamic Assessment:

Is based on a different concept of intelligence from traditional IQ tests – it is based on students’ “learning ability.”

Provides information on the student’s learning processes (why they might not be learning and what supports their learning).

Provides a direct connection with intervention.

Key Characteristics of DA:

1. Test – teach – re-test format.

2. Focus on learner modifiability.

3. Goal of developing learner-specific and effective interventions – what helps this student learn best?

(Lidz,1991)

Factors to assess in the interactional context of learning and behavior:

•Opportunities for the behavior,

•Structure of the activity,

• Interaction style of other participants, and

•Use of scaffolding. (adapted from Kublin et al, 1998, p. 300)

Small Group Discussion:

Using the information from the previous slides and your readings, decide:• What are the most important characteristics of

dynamic assessment?• How is it different from other forms of

assessment?• How could you use dynamic assessment to assess

students with disabilities?• What might be some concerns about using

dynamic assessment with students with disabilities?

Topic: Putting it all together – integrating assessment and instruction

Read: Browder(2001), chapter 4

Looking ahead:

Please take a minute for the minute paper.

And don’t forget to turn your phone back on.