Mapping Assessments

Mapping Assessments

Week 3EDUC 616

Curriculum Design and Instruction

D2L On-lineSession 4

DEVELOPMENTAL

ASSESSMENT

Benedictine University 2

Unless otherwise cited the content from this section is referenced from: • Hayes Jacobs, H. (1997). Mapping the Big Picture. Alexandria: ASCD.


Mapping the Big Picture, Chapter 5

• A critical problem with assessment: – There is remarkable disparity between K and

12 in terms of knowledge and capability levels– There is remarkable repetition from K-12 in the

types, or genres, of assessment. (Jacobs, p. 35)

• Students work on more advanced content as they progress through the grades AND should have more complex genres of assessment

• For example, – If they do “reports” in 4th grade– They should do more advanced work, such as

“position papers” or complex or analytical reports at more advanced grade levels



• We must view assessments:• In light of the spiraling nature of learners’

experiences over time• Assessments should have appropriate matches

to:


Mapping the Big Picture, Chapter 5

• Though the content becomes more advanced over time, the assessment genre does not always become more advanced or sophisticated

• Match the age and stage of the learner (Jacobs, p. 36)• If overlaps in assessment genre occur, teachers

should view student samples for further clarification and targeted discussion

The level of student learning

To the type of work expectation


• Jacobs calls for teachers to add assessments to the lists in Figure 5.1 (Jacobs, p. 37-8) and write brief descriptive sentences for each item

• When matching assessments to the age and stage of the learner, –Teachers should consider the population

of the school and/or district• Prior to the development of assessments, the following factors should be considered:


Mapping the Big Picture

• The size of the school• The environment: urban or

rural• Family demographics


• Figure 5.1 (pages 37-38) discusses Developmental Characteristics of various grade levels from K-12

• The next few slides discuss key characteristics for each stage and give links for examples of suggested assessments




K-2 Developmental Characteristics:



• Concrete-operational• Egocentric• Strong need for primary affiliation with key adults/parental

surrogates• Risk takers• Differences between boys and girls in verbal and spatial-

motor skills• Fine motor/gross motor disparities in development• Reading and writing emerges with uneven development in

speaking skills


• Examples of K-2 Genres:– Story boards– Graphs/charts– Maps– Simple research– Observational drawing– Captions– Labels– Story lines (definition)– Joke telling

• What types of assessments have you used?

• What can you add?Benedictine University 8


http://www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/template_storybrd_4panels.gif

http://www.whiteoakschool.com/camp-creek-blog/2008/2/10/art-lesson-observational-drawing.html

http://www.whiteoakschool.com/camp-creek-blog/2008/2/10/art-lesson-observational-drawing.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyline





Grades 3-5 Developmental Characteristics:



• Early signs of abstract thinking• Combine concepts and perceive cause-effect relationships• Fascination with the world• Excellent “reporter” and seekers of information• Social skills related strongly to peers and to teachers• Enjoy large group projects• Social concern for others emerging• Physical stability and agility


• Examples of Grades 3-5 Genres: – Simple research report– Extended research report– Note cards (lesson example)– Short stories; interviews– Photo essay with text– Artifact analysis (lesson example)– Newspaper articles– Comparative observations




http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/scottforesman/read_5_U5_WP.pdf



http://www.kn.pacbell.com/21stcent/lnotetaking.html




http://www.esiponline.org/classroom/foundations/writing/kids_work.html




http://www.chicagohistory.org/static_media/pdf/historyHands/CHM-ArtifactAnalysis.pdf





Grades 6-8 Developmental Characteristics:



• Formal operations• Quest for personal identity• Heightened sensitivity to ego and to views of peers• Fascination with issues of fairness, justice, and trust• Pronounced surges in physical development• Uneven development among peers• Self-consciousness about physical presence• Concern for others conflicting with concerns for self


• Examples of Grade 6-8 Genres: – Persuasive essays– Descriptive essays– Analytic essays– Personal essays (prompts link)– Hypothesis testing– Issue-based forums– Blueprints and models– Original play writing– Museum text/captioning– Four note taking forms




http://my.hrw.com/support/hos/hostpdf/hostmsprompts.pdf







http://www.canopyintheclouds.com/files/lessons/Process-2HypothesisTesting_Lesson.pdf

http://www.canopyintheclouds.com/files/lessons/Process-2HypothesisTesting_Lesson.pdf




• Significant differences among 9th and 12th graders progressing from mid-adolescent concerns to pre-adult education• Formal operations involving abstract concepts• Projections• Social life focused on smaller groupings and pairings• Sexuality is an issue• Physical maturity rapidly paces• Focus on future and next steps

Grades 9-10 and 11-12 Characteristics:;


• Examples of Grades 9-10 and 11-12 Genres: – Position papers– Legal briefs– Business plans– Anthologies– Choreography– Game book (definition of)– Film and literary criticism– Senior project and defense– Work study analysis– Interview simulations– Case studies– Original musical compositions

• What types of assessments have you used? • What can you add?



http://www.scribd.com/doc/15970984/Sample-Position-Paper

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_book




http://www.buzzle.com/articles/senior-project-examples.html





NCLB IMPACT ON

TESTING


Unless otherwise cited the content from this section is referenced from: • Wagner, T. (2008). The Global Achievement Gap. New York: Basic Books.

D2L On-lineSession 4 The impact of NCLB

on High School Tests (Wagner, Chapter 3)

NCLB Criticisms…• By 2014, all students must have 100%

proficiency in Reading and Math (unrealistic goal)

• Punitive approach towards students, teachers, and schools as consequence for “failing” tests

• Lack of assistance for schools not making AYP– What is the meaning of “assistance”…money, curriculum, management?

• Weak definition of what it means to be “highly qualified”

• Highly varied state standards to determine student proficiency (leads to ‘dumbing down’ of tests) Benedictine University 16


Wagner poses these specific questions:

1.To what extent do these state tests assess the skills that matter most for work, citizenship and college?

2.What is the impact of “teaching to the test” on students’ motivation to learn and stay in school?


The impact of NCLB on High School Tests? (Wagner, Chapter 3)

Analytical Thinking Pop Quiz:It seems there is a tendency today to assign the blame to NCLB for every deficiency in our education system. Is that a valid assumption or are there multiple factors?


• NCLB has a daily influence on what happens in our classrooms, tending to drive memorization instead of analytical thinking

• Students typically take 3 years of high school science, but may not understand the scientific method and how to use it

• Students can solve algebra problems by rote, but do not know how use math as a way of thinking about how to solve problems

• Students need more relevant and engaging math and science courses—not more courses


What is the impact of NCLB on High School Tests?


• PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) tests of scientific and mathematical literacy show that America is unprepared in comparison to other countries

• The goal of the (PISA) tests is to determine if students have acquired the wider knowledge and skills needed as adults…not just recall of specific content– To reiterate a point…in this information-driven

world, today’s “facts” are tomorrow’s “old-wives’ tales”…the rate of change is exponential, so mere memorized facts tend to have a limited shelf-lifeBenedictine University 19



• Andreas Schleicher presented the results of our failing schools in a program entitled– “Losing Our Edge: Are American

Students Unprepared for the Global Economy?”

• Schleicher states that our students often cannot:– Apply what they learned to a new problem or

context that they haven’t seen before– We rely too much on multiple-choice tests– Students have a very difficult time when given

an “open-ended” task (Wagner, p. 94-95)




• Additional examples can be found at http://sln.fi.edu/school/math2/sept.html#dsp or

• Click on this link: Click here.

• Examples of “open ended” math tasks that encourage creative or entrepreneurial solutions are:


What is the impact of NCLB on High School tests?

http://sln.fi.edu/school/math2/sept.html

http://sln.fi.edu/school/math2/sept.html


• Students are now writing in a ‘formulaic’ manner for the standard 5-paragraph essay

• Some colleges have dropped the SAT requirement for admissions based on the new writing test…– It fails to predict how well students will write

college research and analysis papers• The key question educators and

researchers must ask themselves is:– Does a standardized writing test really reflect

students’ writing skills? • …Hundreds of universities say it does

not!Benedictine University 22



How can we help students become Citizenship-Ready?



• U.S. History classes must help students:– Understand the roots of some of the issues we face as a

country… – While also developing the analytical skills they need to come to

their own conclusions about the important questions of our time (Wagner, p. 99)

• Basic knowledge about history and government should be taught (in an engaging manner) in order to:– Prepare students to be able to define an issue and – Analyze both sides of a question to develop an informed

opinion or write effective communications• Assessing factual knowledge is not enough to help

students become citizenship-ready or even jury-ready• Students’ must be able to think critically, seek the

truth, distinguish fact from opinion, and communicate clearly


•Wagner conducted a focus group of past H.S. graduates attending colleges to ask what might have helped them better prepare for college

•Wagner asked, “Looking back, what about your high school experience did you find most engaging or helpful to you?”

•To address this question in relation to your high school preparation, participate in a Large Group On-line discussion on the next slide



How can we help students become College-Ready?




• ‘Achieve,’ a nonprofit education organization, conducted new research about what it means to be college-ready– They interviewed 300 first and second-year college

instructors• These instructors said students are unprepared in

the following ways:– 70 percent say students do not comprehend complex

reading materials– 66 percent say students can’t think analytically– 65 percent say students lack appropriate work and study

habits– 62 percent say students write poorly– 59 percent say students don’t know how to do research– 55 percent say students can’t apply what they’ve learned

to solve problems• “…about two-thirds of students entering

community college need to take at least one remedial course in math, English or reading” (USA Today, May 11, 2010)




• Most surprising is that instructors said the students most lacked competencies, rather than specific subject content—just like Wagner’s focus group earlier (Wagner, p. 103-4)

• Click Here or go to http://www.achieve.org/node/76 – To read more about

how ‘Achieve’ defines college-ready and career-ready

http://www.achieve.org/node/76

http://www.achieve.org/node/76


• To be college-ready, David Conley lists core “habits of the mind” that matter most for college success: – Intellectual openness; inquisitiveness; – Analysis, reasoning, interpretation; – Argumentation and proof; – Precision and accuracy; – Problem solving

• He also identifies the most important “Overarching Academic Skills” as – Writing and – Research (Wagner, p. 104, 5)




• Originally designed in the 1950’s as a way for advanced students to take college-level courses in H.S.

• Many colleges began to offer credit for high scores on AP tests, but this is changing rapidly

• Several studies show that success on the AP exam is not a good predictor of success in comparable college courses

• Wagner spoke with several AP students who talked about the course offering the “wrong kind of work” and that the courses taught exclusively to the test

• Students did not have to think critically at all• Oddly enough, AP programs have become the

standard for a “rigorous” courseBenedictine University 28


What about AP courses?


• Parents want it to mean more homework or memorization of facts

• Teachers may want students to move at a faster pace and cover more material

• “Carnegie Units” defined it early in the last century with the standardized four years of English, three years of math and science, two of foreign language, etc.



How do we define rigor?

Taking MORE academic courses that covered more material has become the accepted definition of rigor


• The definition of rigor has been unchanged for at least a century—but our world is so different today

• Specifically, – access to information has radically changed

• Memorizing information made sense in the past since it was difficult to just “look things up”

• Now we can use the Internet to quickly find information

• In addition, this information changes and increases at exponential rates

• This knowledge revolution demands a different set of skills for work and citizenship

• Now, the rigor that matters most is the ability to…‘ask the right questions’




• We MUST ask ourselves which is more important: – Memorizing the parts of speech or writing a

clear and effective essay?– Memorizing the periodic table or knowing

how to get and analyze important information?

There is simply not enough time to “cover” everything!




“The rigor that matters most for the Twenty-First Century is demonstrated mastery of the core competencies for

work, citizenship, and life-long learning. Studying academic content is the means of developing competencies, instead of

being the goal, as it has been traditionally.

In today’s world, it’s no longer how much you know that matters:

“it’s what you can do with what you know.”

(Wagner, p. 111)Benedictine University 32


Wagner’s stand on rigor…


• Students must be college- and citizenship-ready• Have our schools been motivating students to

graduate with the appropriate (marketable) skills?

• Many standardized tests and an overwhelming core curriculum have squeezed out the arts and extracurricular activities

• For many students, these courses and activities are their reason for remaining in school– Question: In the cash-strapped school districts that cut ‘non-core’

courses/activities, what is the dropout rate compared to those that continue to have such activities? Cause/effect?

• The assumption seems to be that if students are not motivated, the threat of not passing the tests or of not receiving their diploma will fix it! Benedictine University 33



Are there better tests available? Are there tests worth taking that even

the students will find worthwhile?




• We need more open-ended assessments that give us insight into the Seven Survival Skills:

1. Critical thinking and problem solving2. Accessing and analyzing information3. Effective oral and written communication4. Agility and adaptability5. Initiative6. Curiosity7. Imagination



How can we move toward a more meaningful accountability system?


• Collegiate Learning Assessment:– click here for a sample

• PISA Problem Solving Test:– Click link for examples

• ISkills Test• The New York Performance Standards

Consortium – Click for components

• The Nebraska School Based Teacher-led Assessment Reporting System (STARS)– To learn more about this test please refer to the

“STARS” report located in Session 4 Resource FolderBenedictine University 36

What is the impact of NCLB on High School tests? Currently, there are tests available

that assess some of the Seven Survival Skills:

http://www.cae.org/content/pro_collegiate_sample_measures.htm

http://pisa-sq.acer.edu.au/

http://performanceassessment.org/performance/pcomponents.html


• These examples tell us that we already have proven models of dramatically better accountability systems

• Systems that focus on • Assessing the skills that matter most • In ways that both teachers and

students find more motivating and engaging




Why aren’t we all using these “better”

tests?




• One example is in Kentucky, where the board began with performance-based testing, but had to cease those efforts after 5 years because it was too expensive, had to be changed every year and there were concerns about the subjectivity that crept into scoring– There were even objections that students’ values were being

measured and they must stay in school until they answered the “right way”

• NCLB sanctions and demands on states for evidence of improvement on standardized tests eliminated the more open ended, performance based assessments and replaced them with easily scored multiple choice tests



…which leads us to the next question:How do politics and finances affect

testing?


• Due to NCLB, states must show that all kids were learning and would be ‘proficient’ by 2014

• This unrealistic goal of 100 percent of students meeting proficiency resulted in some states “dumbing down” the assessments so that more students could score well

• Now, “teaching to the test’ is commonplace




Final Reflections…• We have 50 different states and 50

different standards about what it means to be ‘proficient’

• None of these meet the standards for work, college or citizenship in the 21st Century

• We have the knowledge and the models of how to create a different and better accountability system

• So…what’s next?




Things to Consider:• Will we, as a nation, rethink what high

school students should know and be able to do?

• Will we confront the academic and political forces that are holding our states’ testing system hostage—and perhaps our students’ futures as well?

• Can we agree that every student in every state should be tested for mastery of a few core competencies (not mere information) using a uniform assessment system, in addition to locally developed assessments? Benedictine University 42



The Question is…We have the skill, but do we

have the political will to make changes to what we are

currently doing?



Documents

Mapping Assessments