Student Mastery: Multiple Opportunities to Demonstrate Learning

Who’s in the room?

• Teachers

• Instructional coaches

• School administration

• Central office staff

• Higher education

Individual Reflection

Respond to the prompt below on the notecard provided:

How do you know students in your class/classrooms are mastering the standard?

Give One to Get One

• Circulate around the room, identify a partner.

• Share the information on each card, then exchange cards with your partner.

• Repeat a total of three times, exchanging cards each time.

• Once completed, return to table group.

Table Group Discussion

• Each person shares the information on the card that they are holding.

• Group identifies themes and patterns, record on chart on paper.

• Select one table group member to share out to the larger group.

Talk about it…

• When are you planning for assessments?

• How are you planning for assessments?

• Why are you planning for assessments?

Formative Assessments

“Formal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather evidence for the purpose of improving learning. “

Classroom Assessment for Student Learning

Summative Assessments

“Assessment information used to provide evidence of student achievement for the purpose of making a judgment about student competence or program effectiveness”

Classroom Assessment for Student Learning

Which of these is a formative assessment?

• Quiz

• Benchmark test

• Interim assessment

• Peer feedback

• Homework

• State assessment

It is the use we make of the assessment information,

not the instrument itself, that determines whether it is formative or summative.

Classroom Assessment for Student Learning

Standards Based Grading

(Grading for Learning)

Changing Mindset: Why Do We Grade?

• Provide Feedback

• Document Progress

• Guide Instruction

---------------OR------------------

• Motivate

• Punish

• Sort

Effective Feedback

• Write down three words describing effective feedback.

• Share and discuss your list with table groups.

• Discuss similarities and differences in word choices.

• Choose one person to report out a key word, explanation, or idea to the large group.

Characteristics of Effective Feedback

1. Directs attention to the intended learning, pointing out strengths and offering specific information to guide improvement

2. Occurs during learning, while there is still time to act on it

3. Addresses partial understanding

4. Does not do the thinking for the student

5. Limits corrective information to the amount of advice the student can act on

Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning, Chappuis, chapter 3

Feedback vs. Grading From a presentation by Dylan William – “Inside the Black Box”

“Kinds of Feedback”

• 264 low and high ability 7th grade students in 12 classes in 4 schools • Same teaching, same aims, same teachers, same class work • Three kinds of feedback: grades, comments, and marks + comments

Feedback Gain_______________________ Grades 0% Comments 30-72% Both 0%

Butler, R.Br. J. Edu. Psychol. 4988 58 1-14 Ken O’Conner

Traditional grading practices

Tests

Labs Projects

Organization

Group work

Documenting Progress

Documenting Progress

Guiding Instruction

• Where are you trying to go?

– Identify and communicate the learning goals.

• Where are you now?

– Assess or help the student to self-assess current levels of understanding.

• How can you get there?

– Help the student with strategies and skills to reach the goal.

– Atkin, Black, & Coffey, 2001, p. 14

CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.B.4 Display numerical data in plots on a number line, including dot plots, histograms, and box plots.

• Where are you trying to go?

– Identify and communicate the learning goals for the standard above.

• Where are you now?

– How will you assess or help the student to self-assess current levels of understanding?

• How can you get there?

– What strategies and skills will be used to reach the goals?

– Atkin, Black, & Coffey, 2001, p. 14

Culture Shift

• Rethinking what we have always done.

• Knowing and understanding why the change is needed.

• Changing terminology – Ex. Homework to Practice

• Defeating Student Apathy

• Restudy and Retake

• Transition from grade inflation and deflation

Solutions

• Include only achievement.

• Organize and report evidence by standards/grading goals.

• Seek evidence that more work has resulted in a higher level of achievement.

• Don’t include zeros in grade determination when evidence is missing.

• Accept late work.

• grade on quality

School Evaluation Where would you place your assessment practices on

the following continuum?

The main focus is on:

Quality of work Quality of learning

Marking/grading Advice for improvement

Comparing students Identifying individual

progress

What’s the next step on your student grading/mastery

journey?