ASSESSMENT OF ASSESSMENT OF INFORMATION INFORMATION

LITERACY LITERACY LEARNING LEARNING

ASSESSMENT OF ASSESSMENT OF INFORMATION INFORMATION

LITERACY LITERACY LEARNING LEARNING

LIB 601 Libraries and Learning Fall 2010LIB 601 Libraries and Learning Fall 2010

What is assessment?What is assessment?• DefinitionDefinition

– Assessment is the process of identifying, gathering and interpreting information about students’ learning. The central purpose of assessment is to provide information on student achievement and progress and set the direction for ongoing teaching and learning.

– Assessment provides information for those involved in the teaching and learning process to compare what is known and can be demonstrated against standards.

Why assess learning?Why assess learning?

• To find out if they get what we’ve To find out if they get what we’ve tried to teach themtried to teach them

• To find out if we taught them well To find out if we taught them well enoughenough

• To find ways of improving our To find ways of improving our teachingteaching

Principle of AssessmentPrinciple of Assessment• Supporting learning• Assessment supports learning by

focusing on the process of children and young people moving from where they are in their learning towards their desired goals. Assessment can also be used to identify and plan any support they will need to achieve these goals.

• Principles of assessment

Forms of assessmentForms of assessment• Assessment takes many forms Assessment takes many forms

in schools and classrooms: in schools and classrooms: – Formal and informal observation and

discussion with students

– Formal assessment tasks

– Formative monitoring and adjustment of teaching

– Summative assessment at key points

– Comparing evidence of achievement with other students

– Comparing evidence of achievement against syllabus standards

The fundamentals of effective assessment

The fundamentals of effective assessment

• The British The British National Union of Students presents presents its principles:its principles:

More principles of effective assessment

More principles of effective assessment

Is Assessment in an LMC effective?Is Assessment in an LMC effective?

• Practice does not fit theory:Practice does not fit theory:– Theoretically, the level of involvement

in planning, teaching, and assessment should be no less than a partnership with other educators. However, the current practice of the instructional (including assessment) and curriculum roles in many school library media centers does not reflect the present theoretical and epistemological expectations of assessment in school librarianship articulated in professional literature and national guidelines . . .

– Thinking beyond the Disjunctive Opposition of Information Literacy Assessment in Theory and Practice

What’s the problem?What’s the problem?• Impediments:Impediments:

– Lack of time– Role perception conflict– Lack of teacher interest in

cooperation– Too many students to serve

• Thinking beyond the Disjunctive Opposition of Information Literacy Assessment in Theory and Practice

– Others?

What is Authentic Assessment? What is Authentic Assessment? • DefinitionsDefinitions

– A form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills -- Jon Mueller

– “. . . Engaging and worthy problems or questions of importance, in which students must use knowledge to fashion performances effectively and creatively. The tasks are either replicas of or analogous to the kinds of problems faced by adult citizens and consumers or professionals in the field.” -- Grant Wiggins -- (Wiggins, 1993, p. 229).

What Roles Can Library MediaCenter Staff Play in Assessment

Development?

What Roles Can Library MediaCenter Staff Play in Assessment

Development?

• Work with classroom teachers to develop learning goals and standards

• Develop resources and assessment tasks for classroom teachers

• Design your own assessments

The Co-Role of the LMSThe Co-Role of the LMS• Expanding the assignment and creating a Expanding the assignment and creating a

learning environment that allows learning environment that allows authentic learning activities to become authentic learning activities to become possible possible

• Facilitat[ing] the activity with the teacher Facilitat[ing] the activity with the teacher so that many learning environments can so that many learning environments can be made available to students be made available to students

• Provid[ing] input and evidence in the Provid[ing] input and evidence in the evaluation of the students[’] ability to evaluation of the students[’] ability to process information into meaningful process information into meaningful communicationcommunication – Authentic Assessment by Daniel Callison, School

Library Media Activities Monthly 14, no. 5 (January 1998).

Types of authentic assessmentTypes of authentic assessment

1.1. Observations:Observations:– checklists of desired behaviors,

rubrics that identify criteria for successful performance and describe different levels of performance, and rating scales that place levels of performance along a continuum.

• From Working Smarter: Being Strategic About Assessment and Accountability by Violet H. Harada, based on Ann Davies, Making Classroom Assessment Work

2.2. Products:Products:– checklists that list criteria for

proficiency, rubrics that describe various levels of proficiency, and graphic organizers that organize and synthesize students’ work.

• From Working Smarter: Being Strategic About Assessment and Accountability by Violet H. Harada, based on Ann Davies, Making Classroom Assessment Work

Types of authentic assessmentTypes of authentic assessment

3.3. Conversations:Conversations:– formal and informal conferences,

logs to record thoughts and feelings about the content and process, and notes and letters to self-assess and seek feedback.

• From Working Smarter: Being Strategic About Assessment and Accountability by Violet H. Harada, based on Ann Davies, Making Classroom Assessment Work

Types of authentic assessmentTypes of authentic assessment

Creating rubricsCreating rubrics• Ultimately, a good rubric is a

promise to the learner that the elements outlined in the rubric are the valued, and therefore gradable, elements.

• When developing a rubric, I encourage my graduate students to think about the areas in which they would like the student to develop proficiencies and then articulate how they will know that the student has developed these proficiencies.– Building Rubrics into Powerful

Learning Assessment Tools

Authentic Assessment?Authentic Assessment?• School Librarianship ExamSchool Librarianship Exam

– Time: 3hrs1. Explain how you would amuse 478 small,

wet children for 57 minutes on a rainy lunchtime . . .

2. Your principal has instructed you to improve library usage rates amongst the maths classes within the next 2 weeks.

3. Create a poster that explains how senior students can have fun in the library.

4. An irate parent confronts you with a complaint regarding a lost book, and pulls a knife on you.

– Warrior Librarian Gold Edition 2001

How did you do?How did you do?