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Children First Intensive

Target Population Learning Targets &

Assessment For Learning

Jan. 31, 2008

Adapted by D. Abu-Lughod for Network 14

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Agenda Welcome

Text-based Discussion

Check In – Where we are vis a vis Learning Targets

Math Crosswalk – standards, strands, bands and performance indicators

Math Triangulation – Scantron, Acuity and Math Error Analysis

Student Interviews – finding a target through conferencing

ELA Crosswalk – standards, performance indicators

ELA Triangulation – Scantron, Acuity, Running Record

Evaluating a classroom assessment

PMI

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Text-Based Discussion Protocol Guidelines– Listen actively– Build on what others say– Allow people to finish their thought– Refer directly to the text, specifying page and paragraph– Watch your air time

Procedure: Review the text and select a significant quote or passage.

Go-Round: Each person reads the passage s/he has selected and explains why that passage is significant to him or her. (3 minutes per person)

Discussion: Facilitator opens the discussion by asking a question, or whether there were any connections among the passages that were shared, or whether there was a passage that someone else shared that resonated in some way. Facilitator should read text carefully and develop questions that can move the group deeply into the text.

Summary: The group should summarize the discussion, identifying common themes and threads.

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Learning Targets

Although each of the Target Population students share a sub-skill that they are struggling with, each student may be struggling with a different:

–Knowledge gap

–Misconception

associated with its mastery

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Learning Target—grain size

The Learning Target is the right grain size when the teacher knows exactly what needs to be learned/taught next.

“The second evaluative dimension revolves around the degree to which teachers understand what they are supposed to be teaching. If teachers have only a murky idea of what constitutes the knowledge or skills they are supposed to be teaching…then those teachers will often end up teaching the wrong things.”

W. James Popham “Instructional Insensitivity of Tests” in Phi Delta Kappan October 2007

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Learning Targets

Definition Tools Examples

Learning Target: the specific knowledge (facts, concepts, reasoning (ways of thinking) or skills (ways of behaving) that students need to master.

The specific Learning Target for each student is determined by investigating where that student’s understanding is breaking down.

Learning targets may be different for different Target Population students within a given sub-skill.

Assessments for Learning:

– Reading Inventory

– Classroom Assessment

– Student Work

– Diagnostic Assessment

– Student Interviews

or conferencing

– Periodic Assessment – targeted distracter analysis

Phonics

– Vowel confusion

– Word endings

Fractions

– Conceptual understanding of denominator

– Order of operations

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Commonly Called…

State Acuity Schools Inquiry Team Work

Standard Strands

Strands Standards

SkillBands Bands Topics

Topic Bands Units of Study

Performance Indicators

Grade Level Expectations

Grade Level Indicators

Sub-Skill

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Mathematics Standards

The Mathematics Standards are a compilation of five Content Strands and five Process Strands. The five Process Strands cut across all of the content strands.

Instructional Support by: Nickelos Grant, OAIS

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Mathematic Content Strands

Numeration•Number Systems •Number Theory •Operations •Estimation

Algebra•Variables and Expressions •Equations and Inequalities •Patterns, Relations, and Functions •Coordinate Geometry •Trigonometric Functions

Measurement•Units of Measurement •Tools and Methods •Units •Error and Magnitude

•Estimation

Statistics and Probability•Collection of Data •Organization and Display of Data •Analysis of Data •Predictions from Data •Probability

Geometry•Shapes •Geometric Relationships •Transformational Geometry •Coordinate Geometry •Constructions •Locus •Informal Proofs •Formal Proofs

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Mathematic Process Strands

•Problem Solving

•Representation

•Communication

•Connections

•Reasoning

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What are the Skills of Measurement?

STANDARD (Strand) SKILL (Bands)

Measurement Units of Measurement

Tools and Methods

Units

Error and Magnitude

Estimation

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What are the Sub-skills of Measurements?

STANDARD (Strand)

SKILL (Band, SUB-SKILL (Performance Indicator)

Measurement

Grade 3

Units of Measurement

Select tools and units (customary) appropriate for the length measured.

Use a ruler/yardstick to measure to the nearest standard unit (whole and ½ inches, whole feet, and whole yards)

Measure objects, using ounces and pounds.

Recognize capacity as an attribute that can be measured.

Compare capacities (e.g., Which contains more? Which contains less?)

Measure capacity, using cups, pints, quarts, and gallons.

Topic Band)

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What is the Learning Target?

STANDARD (Strand)

SKILL (Bands)

Sub-skill (Performance Indicators)

Learning Target

Measurement Units of Measurement

Compare capacities (e.g., Which contains more? Which contains less?)

Student does not understand concept of less and more.

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Finding the target with Acuity and Scantron

Our periodic assessments offer a top down approach to help you identify a student subskill and help the teacher narrow down the range of what to teach next.

Sample Grade 5 student documents

–Scantron

–Acuity

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Finding a Target through error analysis

Student work offers a bottom up approach to help you identify the unique student learning target and help the teacher know exactly what to teach next.

You can often learn more from the wrong answers than from the right ones.

No one assessment will give you all the information you need.

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Mathematics error analysis—continued

Would the results of this assessment tell you what you needed to teach next?

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Rules for error analysis

Use a minimum of 3 examples of each problem type.

Have students record their work.

Faulty procedures CAN lead to correct responses.

Listen to students explanations of their mathematical processes.

Become familiar with common error patterns.

Errors can help demonstrate students' mathematical strengths since some errors are mathematically sound procedures applied in the wrong context.

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Diagnostic procedures in mathematics

An ideal diagnosis should provide information about:

1. The mathematics content which the learner has mastered.

2. The processes with which the learner operates.

3. The types of teacher-learner interactions which are most effective/efficient for the learner.

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Student interviews

Under the right conditions, students can provide valuable information on their own knowledge gaps and misconceptions.

When conferencing with a student:

• Have a clear purpose: to understand what the learner is struggling with (or where s/he is getting stuck in the learning process)

• Establish a safe space – no risk, no judgment

• Show authentic curiosity about how the learner is trying to make sense

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Student interviews—small group activity

Directions:

– Form groups of three.

– Identify one person in the group who is having difficulty learning something—NOT related to work.

- This person will be the “learner.”

– Select one person to be the interviewer.

- This person will ask questions to determine where the “learner” is having difficulty.

– Select one person to be the scribe.

- This person will take a low-inference transcript of BOTH the questions and the answers.

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Student interviews—low-inference transcripts

Low-inference transcripts are a detailed record of what took place – what is actually said and/or done – just the

words and/or the actions.

WITHOUT JUDGEMENT!

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Student interviews— directions

Interview the “learner” about their learning.

Record what the interviewer and the learner say.

Analyze the transcript to identify the characteristics of:

Effective strategies to ensure a safe environment.

Effective questions to ensure that you understand how the learner is trying to make sense.

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Student interviews— Whole group share out

What strategies did you find effective in ensuring a safe space?

What questions did you find effective in helping you understand how the learner was trying to make sense?

What are the implications of this strategy for the work of Inquiry Teams in trying to identify the learning targets for a target student in a specific sub-skill?

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Assessment FOR Learning: Running Record miscue analysis

Running Record miscue analysis–Formative assessment on the run

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Independent reading requires three cueing systems to be consolidated

1. Meaning (Semantic cues)– “Does my reading make sense in relation to what the author is telling me?”

2. Structure (Syntactical cues)– “Does it sound right if I say it this way?”

3. Graphophonic (Visual cues)– “What have I noticed about this word?”

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Different readers

Successful Readers

Integrate all the cueing systems, reading fluently and expressively with a focus on meaning.

Struggling Readers

Have not yet learned how to integrate multiple sources of information.

Rely on one source of information (meaning, structure, visual) at the expense of others.

Are deprived of important feedback from these other sources.

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When and why take a Running Record?

Often

To determine student’s ability to read and understand text

To determine the processing system a reader is using (what is he using and what is he neglecting?)

To identify points of confusion for the reader

To effectively plan next teaching steps

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Advantages of Running Records

Running Records allow us to collect evidence of

reading behaviors that indicate a reader’s mental

problem-solving strategies.

These behaviors give us insight into what may be

going on in inside since reading is invisible (unlike

writing which is both in-the-head and on the page.)

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Running Records: A powerful and objective tool for monitoring and teaching

Main Criterion is Accuracy

90-95% words correctly read

Evidence of successful processing of cueing systems

Length of text—long enough to get a good sampling of child’s processing

Comprehension must be evident

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Analyzing Running RecordsSome guiding questions for the teacher:

Is the student trying to make sense of what is being read? (meaning information)

Is knowledge of language patterns being used? (structural information)

Is knowledge of the letter-sound relationships being used? (phonic information)

Is knowledge of letters, words, and print conventions being used? (visual information)

Are confirmation and self-correcting strategies being used?

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Assessments OF and FOR Learning

Assessment OF Learning

Assessment FOR Learning

Purpose Measure students mastery of standards

Track where students are at any point in the process of mastery

When Conducted after instruction

Conducted during instruction

Student Role

Get the highest score Get better over time

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Assessments FOR Learning

The Teacher’s Role:

Understand the skill and sub-skill

Deconstruct the sub-skill into Learning Targets the students can understand

Identify or create an Assessment FOR Learning to determine where students are in mastering the Learning Targets need to meet the standard

Use the Assessments FOR Learning in collaboration with students to track student improvement over time

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Assessments in use—small group activity #1

Use one question from the sample assessment to answer the following questions at your table:

What does the assessment allow you to see?

What does it not allow you to see?

How accurately does it allow you to infer what the student does not know?

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“Stiggins Matrix”—small group activity #2

Some assessment methods are better suited to assess different learning targets.

In small groups at your table, use the Stiggins Matrix (Page 100; see also pp. 90-93) to determine if your assessment question employs the right method to achieve its goal.

Please complete the Stiggins Worksheet in your folder.

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“Stiggins Matrix”—whole group debrief

What are the implications of the “Stiggins Matrix” for your work in your school?

How can you support your school’s understanding of what an appropriate assessment would be?

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Implications for the Work

If a coherent system of Assessments FOR Learning and Assessments OF Learning were in place, what would it look it in the classroom?

What are the implications for your Inquiry Team?