Classroom Assessment Strategies Chapter Fifteen Educational Psychology: Developing Learners 6th edition Jeanne Ellis Ormrod

Classroom Assessment Strategies

Chapter FifteenEducational Psychology: Developing Learners

6th edition

Jeanne Ellis Ormrod

Assessment as Tools

Assessment is the process of observing a sample of a student’s behavior and drawing inferences about the student’s knowledge and abilities. When we are looking at students’ behavior, we

typically only use a sample of classroom behavior.

Jeanne Ellis OrmrodEducational Psychology: Developing Learners, sixth edition

Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458All rights reserved.

Assessment as Tools

Assessment instruments do not dictate the decisions to be made.

Teachers, administrators, government officials, parents, and even students interpret assessment results and make decisions based on the results.

Assessments are tools. Allow us to make informed decisions about how best

to help our students learn and achieve Assessment interpretation can be abused.




ASSESSMENT

Informal assessment

vs.

Formal assessment

Paper-pencil assessment

vs.

Performance assessment

Traditional assessment

vs.

Authentic assessment

Informal assessment

vs.

Formal assessment

Standardized test

vs.

Teacher-developed assessment




Using Assessment for Different Purposes

Two basic types of assessment

Some assessments are formative and assess students’ knowledge before or during instruction.

Homework assignments, in-class assignments, quizzes

Some assessments are summative and assess students’ achievement after instruction.

Exams




Other Purposes of Assessment

To promote learning In order for assessment to promote students’ learning

and achievement, it should: Provide specific & concrete feedback Act as a learning experience, letting students know

what they have and have not mastered Act as a motivator—students should know what to

study and when Act as a review mechanism Influence cognitive processing




Other Purposes of Assessment

To guide instructional decision making To assist in the diagnosis of learning and

performance problems To promote self-regulation To determine what students have learned




Important Qualities of Good Assessment

Remember RSVP

Reliability The results of our assessments should be

consistent no matter when we give it. Standardization

The assessment should have a similar format, content, and procedure for all students.




Important Qualities of Good Assessment

Validity The assessment should measure what it is

intended to measure. Practicality

The assessment and its procedures should be fairly simple to use and take only a small amount of time to administer and score.




Reliability

There may be slight variation from time to time. Students change from day to day. The physical environment may change. Sometimes teachers are more clear in their

instructions than others. There is always subjectivity in scoring.

More likely when responses are scored on the basis of vague, imprecise criteria




Enhancing Reliability

Include several tasks in each instrument and look for consistency in students’ performance

Define each task clearly so students know exactly what they are being asked to do

Identify specific, concrete criteria for evaluation Try not to let expectations for students’ performance

influence judgments Avoid assessing students when they are obviously

tired, ill, etc. Administer assessments in similar ways and under

similar conditions for all students




Validity

Content Validity This is the extent to which an assessment includes a

representative sample of tasks within the domain being assessed.

It assures that what we are testing truly represents what we have taught (the instructional objectives).

High content validity is essential in summative evaluations. Teachers can use a table of specifications to enhance

content validity.




Validity

Predictive Validity Extent to which the results of an assessment

predict future performance Often take the form of aptitude tests

Construct Validity Extent to which an assessment accurately

measures general, abstract characteristics E.g., motivation, self-esteem, or intelligence




Informal Assessment

Informal assessment occurs in our day-to-day interactions with students.

Advantages: It provides continuing feedback about the effectiveness of

instructional tasks and activities. It helps determine the appropriateness and success of our formal

assessments. It is easily adjusted. It provides valuable clues about social, emotional, and motivational

factors affecting classroom performance. Disadvantages:

It is not very reliable or valid. We sometimes see the halo effect.




Paper-Pencil Assessment

Paper-pencil assessment is often the first choice for formal assessment because of its practicality.

It may use recognition or recall tasks. Recognition: Multiple choice, true-false, matching Recall: Short-answer, essay, word problems

It often only measures lower-level skills. However, they can be used to measure higher-level

skills, but these questions take more time to write. Essays are more often used to measure higher-level

skills.Copyright © 2008 by Pearson Education,

Inc.Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458

All rights reserved.


Constructing Paper-Pencil Assessments

Alternative-Response Items Rephrase ideas presented in class or the

textbook Make statements that clearly reflect one

alternative or the other Avoid excessive use of negatives





Matching Items

Keep the items in each column homogeneous

Have more items in one column than the other





Multiple-Choice Items Present distractors that are clearly wrong to students

who know the material but plausible to students who haven’t mastered it

Avoid putting negatives in both the stem and the alternative

Use “all of the above” or “none of the above” seldom if at all

Avoid giving logical clues about the correct answer





Short-Answer and Completion Items Indicate the type of response required For completion items, include only one or two

blanks per item

Problems and Interpretive Exercises Use new examples and situations Include irrelevant information





Essay Tasks Ask for several essays requiring short

responses rather than one essay requiring a lengthy response

Give students a structure for responding Ask questions that can clearly be scored as

correct or incorrect




General Guidelines for Constructing Paper-Pencil Assessments

Define tasks clearly and unambiguously Decide whether students should have access

to reference materials Specify scoring criteria in advance Place easier and shorter items at the

beginning of the instrument Set parameters for students’ responses




Administering the Assessment

Provide a quiet and comfortable environment

Encourage students to ask questions when tasks are not clear

Take steps to discourage cheating




Strategies for Scoring Students’ Responses

Specify scoring criteria in concrete terms Unless specifically assessing grammar skills, score

grammar and spelling separately from the content of students’ responses

Skim a sample of students’ responses ahead of time Score item by item rather than paper by paper Try not to let prior expectations of students’

performance influence judgments of their actual performance

Keep students’ scores confidential




Performance Assessment

Performance assessment can be used for measuring mastery of: Playing a musical instrument Performing a workplace routine Engaging in a debate

Ideal for the assessment of complex achievements




Choosing Appropriate Performance Tasks

Four distinctions to help choose tasks most appropriate for the purpose

Decide whether to look at the products, the processes, or both Is what you are assessing tangible (product) or a

behavior (process)? Determine if you need an individual or group

performance Dependent upon WHAT you are assessing




Choosing Appropriate Performance Tasks

Restricted vs. extended performance E.g., is the student playing a few notes or an

entire piano piece?

Should you use static or dynamic assessment? Dynamic assessment applies the Vygotskian

concept of the zone of proximal development.




Planning and Administering Performance Assessments

Consider incorporating the assessment into normal instructional activities

Provide an appropriate amount of structure Plan classroom management strategies for

the assessment activity Be continually aware of what the students are

doing and make sure all students are busy and engaged




Strategies for Scoring Student Performance Consider using checklists, rating scales, or both in your

rubric Decide whether analytic or holistic scoring better serves

your purpose(s) Analytic: Scoring a student’s performance by

evaluating various aspects of it separately Holistic: Summarizing a student’s performance with a

single score Limit the criteria to the most important aspects of the

desired response Describe the criteria as explicitly and concretely as

possible Make note of other significant aspects of a student’s

performance that the rubric doesn’t address




Including Students in the Assessment Process

Including students in the process encourages them to self-assess.

Teachers should: Provide examples of “good” and “poor” products Make evaluation criteria explicit Allow students to compare self-ratings with teacher-

ratings Encourage self-reflection via the use of daily journal

entries




Evaluating Assessment Tools

An item analysis can be done to determine if certain items are measuring the knowledge or skill we intended to measure: Item difficulty measurements Item discrimination measurements




Taking Student Diversity into Account

Some things to keep in mind: Students often suffer from test anxiety. Gender and ethnic differences may impact

assessment performance independently of their actual learning and achievement.

Assessment instruments must comply with the federal mandates regarding students with special needs.




The “Big Picture” of Assessment

Our assessments will indirectly affect students’ learning and achievement.

Our instruments and practices should match our instructional goals and objectives.

Remember RSVP. Our scoring criteria should be as explicit as possible. Students’ errors provide valuable information about

where their difficulties lie. We should continually evaluate our instruments.




Documents

Classroom Assessment Strategies Chapter Fifteen Educational Psychology: Developing Learners 6th edition Jeanne Ellis Ormrod