Assessment and Data
Phase 3
"Look-Fors" During Observation
Remember: The most helpful part of the observation is not checking off items, but the conversations and reflections that happen after the visit.
Remember: The most helpful part of the observation is not checking off items, but the conversations and reflections that happen after the visit.
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Beginning/ Developing
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Practicing/ Achieving
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Questions to Guide Observation
- How do students demonstrate their learning?
- What do formative and summative assessments ask of students?
- Are students mostly expected to recall information and demonstrate comprehension, or are students asked to apply/analyze/synthesize what they’ve learned?
- Do assessments reflect an actual task or challenge that a student might face in the real world ?
- How well do formative assessments align to the summative assessment and help to identify misperceptions and/or levels of readiness in learners.
- How well do the assessments support student achievement objectives?
- Based on the learning objective(s), how are you expected to demonstrate your learning? How will you show what you know?
- How can opportunities to show what you know help you grow?
- Why does your teacher ask you to demonstrate your learning?
- What are the different ways you show your teacher and your peers what you know?
Resources
Exhibits and Presentations as Assessment
Portfolios and Defenses as Assessment
- What Are Some Types of Assessments? This Edutopia article describes not only standardized assessments, but also includes alternative authentic assessments
- How Should We Measure Student Learning?, This Edutopia video focuses on 5 keys to assessments
- Assessment Professional Development Guide, Edutopia module written by Marian Shaffner includes a series of workshop activities that could be used in a PD session about assessment with staff
- What is “Authentic” Assessment?, This Edutopia video includes overview of assessment at a 6-12 school in NYC
- Studies in Success: A Survey of Assessment Research, Roberta Furger from Edutopia, reports the effectiveness of relevant evaluation of student work.
- 5 Keys of Comprehensive Assessment * In this video from Edutopia, get an overview of the purpose and types of assessment with numerous vignettes and examples from real classrooms.
- Assessment Through the Student's Eyes: from ACSD, written by Rick Stiggings , describes how assessment for learning turns day-to-day assessment into a teaching and learning process that enhances (instead of merely monitoring) student learning.
- Authentic Assessment: Constructing the Way Forward for All Students: This article answers the question of what are the essential determinants of a useful assessment system which can contribute to improved teaching and learning?
- Testing, Testing | Linda Darling-Hammond | TEDxStanford: This video is Linda Darling-Hammond’s talk addressing how testing can best support student learning.
- Teaching Channel video series: This Teaching Channel article written by Dr. Chrystyna Murksy,offers numerous resources for using formative assessment to support student learning.
- What is a Performance Task?: This article by Jay McTighe explains the basics of Performance Assessment, it’s a great starting place for someone just beginning to explore.
- Level Up Learning Podcast on Performance Assessments: This podcast gives you an understanding of what performance assessment is, why it is needed and how to measure mastery using them through an everyday example of taking a trip to Europe.
- Research Paper on Performance Assessment by Linda Darling-Hammond: If you’re eager to go in depth into understand the what, why and how of Performance Assessment This paper is the culminating report of a Stanford University project aimed at summarizing research and lessons learned regarding the development, implementation, consequences, and costs of performance assessments.
- Transfer as the point of Education: This blog by Grant Wiggins, is a great explanation of why performance assessment is a key tool for providing students opportunities to transfer their knowledge and skills giving educators insights into actual levels of student mastery of content.
- How do Rubrics Help: A key part of Performance Assessment are rubrics, here’s a quick overview of why rubrics help with student Learning.
- What is a Quality Performance Task: This infographic gives you the important components of Performance Tasks based on the Center for Collaborative Education’s (CCE) Framework, this framework is one of the nation’s most used for creating high quality performance assessments. Quality Performance Assessment: Tools and Resources: This website links you to all of CCE’s tools for designing, aligning, validating, & calibrating performance assessment. It also links you to the Quality Performance Assessment Guidebook, which walks you through exactly how to implement Performance assessment in your school/classroom.
- SCALE: Student Performance Assessment: This is the homepage for SCALE (Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity) Student Performance Assessment, where you can find resources explaining performance assessment, templates for creating them, and a library of examples. You need to set up a free account to access the extensive resources available in their Performance Assessment Resource Bank
Exhibits and Presentations as Assessment
- Using Exhibits as Assessment, includes an overview of how a K-8 school uses four annual exhibits for students to share what they’ve learned over the course of a unit.
- Celebrations of Learning at Expeditionary Learning schools, includes two video clips: one that shows how kindergarteners share what they’ve learned with a public audience and another that shows how 7th graders shared their work at the end of an expedition.
- The Power of Exhibitions: Why you need both the Sizzle and the Steak: This blog by a High Tech High educator gives an overview of the power of the exhibition to both motivate and inspire, but also deepen student learning.
- Share your Learning Campaign: Exhibition Toolkit: This webpage gives you access to a number of resources to get you started with Exhibitions including a downloadable in-depth toolkit.
- Learn with Two Rivers: Expeditions: This webpage gives you all that you’ll need to get started with Learning Expeditions which are are ten to twelve week in-depth projects centered on a compelling problem that culminate in the creation of a high-quality product. It provides examples of expeditions, rationale for why they use them, and how they are used to assess student learning. If you’re ready to get started, there are templates, planning documents, and examples for your use. Each expedition includes a presentation of learning at the end.
Portfolios and Defenses as Assessment
- Portfolios as Authentic Assessment, a toolbox that describes what a portfolio is, why portfolios are valuable, and how to create and use a portfolio in the classroom.
- Types of Portfolios: This chapter from the book, Introduction to Using Portfolios in the Classroom, shares explanations of the different types of portfolios and how they can be used to transform student learning.
- Process Portfolios: This resource gives an overview of Process portfolios along with information about how to get started using them in your classroom with students.
- Student Profile: Portfolio Defense: This video walks you through a portfolio defense, highlighting the role of the student and the educator.
- Student Thesis Defense: This webpage by School ReTool walks you through how you might hack using the Student Thesis defense in your classroom, providing explanation for why this practice matters for students.
- Deeper Learning: Authentic Student Assessment: This webpage provides a video overview of student graduation defense portfolio in the context of authentic assessment for deeper learning.
- Preparing Students for Portfolio Defense to Build Agency: This article talks about the power of Portfolio Defenses in building student agency.
- Resource List: Assessment in PBL, includes 20+ links to videos, blog posts, and tools to support assessment throughout a project.
- Embedding Assessment throughout the Project: This video covers how assessment can be integrated seamlessly into project-based learning. Find tools for measuring student understanding from the beginning to the end of a project.
- Tips for Assessing Project-based Learning: This webpage provides numerous resources for strategies for assessing PBL.
- How to get high Quality Work in PBL: This blog reviews the keys to using PBL to support students in creating high quality work. While it is not solely focused on assessment, many of the ideas are linked to assessment practices within projects.
- Gold Standard PBL: Assessing Student Learning: This short blog gives an overview of assessing student learning in PBL by Buck Institute for Education.
- Project Assessment Map: This downloadable template supports you in planning the assessments throughout a project.
- Assessment in PBL: This downloadable tool from New Tech Network supports teachers in planning assessment throughout their projects.
- Resources for Assessment in PBL: This compilation of resources, is provided by New Tech Network to support teachers in implementing high quality assessment in PBL.
| Authentic Assessment, Coaching Tool |
| Authentic Assessment, Coaching Tool |
