Advancing Assessment Literacy Setting the Stage II: Understanding Data Purposes & Uses

Advancing Assessment Literacy

Setting the Stage II:

Understanding Data Purposes & Uses

2

Setting the Stage II:Understanding Data Purposes & Uses

Part One

Understanding Data

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Setting the Stage II - February 2008 3

Learning the Lingo

• Your group has been given a number of terms (green paper) and definitions (blue paper). Match the terms to their definitions.

• In what areas do we hold shared understandings about the vocabulary of assessment and evaluation?

• What areas may require further study and review?


Data Have No Meaning

• Data are simply information. Individuals and groups create meaning by organizing, analyzing and interpreting data. Interpretation is subjective; data are objective. Frames of reference, the way we see the world, influence the meaning we derive from the data we collect and select. (Wellman & Lipton, 2004)

• Take a stand on the above statement:

Strongly

Agree

Strongly

Disagree


Understanding Data

• Individually, then as a table group, brainstorm and list as many different kinds of data as you can that are available to the staffs in your schools.

Data Source Potential Uses


Discussion Questions

• What are you noticing about data and its uses?• What are the possibilities for the use of data?• What are the potential pitfalls?• What type of assessment does your local

public think best informs them about student learning? Consider the business community, community members without children in school, etc.


The Nature of Data

• For each of the different assessments (individual/classroom, school, etc.), please individually indicate, by shading a rectangular area upwards, the extent to which you think the assessment and their results could potentially contribute to improved student learning.


The Nature of Data

• With a partner, share your graph and try to come to a mutual consensus or your rationale about the potential value the different student assessments and their results will have on improving student learning.

• As a table group, similarly share your “pair” graphs with each other and discuss the potential value student assessments and their results will have on improving student learning.



• What are the main purposes for each of the student assessments shown on the chart and how to they vary from one another?

• Overall, what level of assessment(s) does your table think will most improve student learning in schools? Why?

• Thinking about the different levels at which we can gather assessment data, which levels provide more definitive data about students and which levels provide more indicative data about students?

• Overall, what level of assessment(s) does your table think will inform your local public the best about the extent to which students are learning? Why?

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Setting the Stage:Understanding Data Purposes & Uses

Part Two

Types and Sources of Data


Types of Data

Quantitative Qualitative

Numerical in form

Efficient to analyze

Objective

Not numerical in form

Can be more than words or text – pictures, artifacts, etc.

More complex to analyze

Subjective


Sources of Data

• Individually, then as table groups, complete the “Sources of Data” grid. Refer to the data sources you brainstormed earlier.(Adapted from Wellman and Lipton, 2003)

• Review grids and discuss:– In which areas do we have the most data?– Which areas might be lacking?– What are the respective benefits and drawbacks of

the different categories of data?


Sources of Data

Identify something in your own work/ classroom/school that you are interested in learning more about.

– Develop a question or hypothesis– Determine at least three data sources you

might “tap” to explore your issue– Triangulating Data - How will the information

from each of those sources help paint a clearer picture for you? Do different sources point to similar conclusions?

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Setting the Stage II:Understanding Data Purposes & Uses

Part Three

Principles of the Saskatchewan Assessment for Learning Program


Principles of the Saskatchewan AFL Program

1. Cooperation and Shared Responsibility2. Equity and Fairness3. Comprehensiveness4. Continuous Improvement that Promotes

Quality and Excellence5. Teacher Professionalism6. Authenticity and Validity7. Honesty and Openness


Principles of the Saskatchewan AFL Program

• Read and Connect– Everyone at the table reads the first numbered

statement.• After reading, one person at the table offers an insight or

connection they are making to that statement.

– Repeat the process with all seven statements.

• At the end, discuss the practical impact of the principles on the working lives of teachers. What is the most important message within the principles?


Assessment of/for Learning(Sutton, 2001)

Assessment of Learning• Checks what has been learned to

date• Is designed for those not directly

involved in daily learning and teaching

• Is presented in a periodic report• Usually gathers information into

easily digestible numbers, scores and marks

• Usually compares the student’s learning with either other students or the standard for a grade level

• Does not need to involve the student

Assessment for Learning• Checks learning and decides what

to do next• Is designed to assist teachers and

students• Is used in marking and

conversation• Usually detailed, specific, and

descriptive feedback in words as well as (or instead of) numbers, scores, and marks

• Usually focused on improvement, compared with the student’s previous best

• Needs to involve the student – the person most able to improve learning



• Thinking back to the definitions of quantitative and qualitative data, which seems to apply to assessment of and assessment for learning?

• In what ways are both of these processes necessary in schools?

• Which of these processes would have the most positive impact on the day-to-day lives of students and teachers?


Types of Referencing

• Criterion-referenced: Comparing how students perform relative to curriculum objectives, level attribution criteria (rubrics), and the level of difficulty inherent in the assessment tasks.

• Standards-referenced: Comparing how students performed relative to a set of professionally or socially constructed standards.

• Experience or self–referenced: Comparing how students perform relative to the assessment data gathered by teachers during the school year.

• Norm-referenced: Comparing how students in a school performed relative to the performance of students in the division, region, or project.

• Longitudinal-referenced: Comparing how students perform relative to earlier years’ performance of students.

From Assessment for Learning Math 2006 Understanding the Numbers Workshop.


Types of Assessment• Diagnostic

– Diagnostic assessment should be done informally and continuously. It is used to assess the strengths and needs of students and to make program modifications. It is used for "diagnosis" rather than "grading".

• Formative– Formative assessment should be conducted continuously. It is used to

improve instruction and learning and to keep both students and teachers aware of the course objectives and the students' progress in meeting those objectives.

– The results of formative assessment are analyzed and used to focus the efforts of the teacher and students.

• Summative– Summative assessment occurs at the end of a unit or program. It is used

with formative evaluation to determine student achievement and program effectiveness.

– Summative assessment should form only part of students' grades.

Definitions from Saskatchewan Learning, 1997


Understandings

• Referring to the principles of the Saskatchewan Assessment for Learning Program, discuss the relationship between the types of referencing and types of assessments with the processes used in the provincial AFL program.


Present Understanding

• As a table group, craft a statement, visual representation or both which details your present understanding of the Assessment for Learning Program.

Documents

Advancing Assessment Literacy Setting the Stage II: Understanding Data Purposes & Uses