Assessment

Forms of Assessment

Forms of Assessment Prompt 1

• After you've read the chapter, sit away from the book for a minute and type out what you remember as the big ideas from the chapter. What useful information would you give a practicing teacher? 
• Discuss at least one question you have. Try to ask questions about classroom implications of the material. Even if you think you don't have a question, ask one.
• One of the big ideas in these modules is understanding the difference between formative/summative/informal/formal forms of assessment. Despite some intuition, a formal assessment can be formative and a summative assessment can be informal. Fill in an example of how each of these can be used. You can use the chart, make your own, or write them out.

	FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT	SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
FORMALLY ASSESSED
INFORMALLY ASSESSED

• SIMPLY BY LOOKING AT IT (or watching it), how can you tell whether an assessment is formative or summative? .... (HINT: This is a trick question. You can't, but why? HINT 2: The two kinds of assessment are defined in how they're used after the assessment moment....)

Forms of Assessment Blog Prompt 2

• Many people believe that you can't plan for instruction or implement a lesson without keeping in mind how you will eventually be assessing learning (it's something that should be kept in mind all along). Let's go along with this idea....
• Describe a specific (SPECIFIC!) learning goal. Very briefly describe and defend (through a learning theory) how you would teach a lesson targeting this learning goal. Then, continue with that thought process by describing and supporting an appropriate assessment that corresponds with your initial learning goal and your chosen method of instruction. The big idea here is that your theory-driven choices should have a consistent thread running throughout planning, instruction, and assessment.
• Focus on tying your specific learning goal to the specific kind of assessment you chose, defending why that choice is better than alternatives for your stated learning goal.

For example (you can tell I got tired of writing at the end): 

My learning goal is to become familiar enough with the life of Abraham Lincoln that students can mention aspects of his life in casual conversation (hey, it's a specific goal!). In planning with that goal in mind (and some idea of what I want to see in the final assessment), I have chosen to teach using an approach consisten with information processing theory. I've chosen this theory because it outlines specific methods and strategies of integrating new knowledge into students prior knowledge, and I belief that in order to eventually mention details of Abraham Lincoln's life in casual conversation, they must connect information about Lincoln extensively into their existing knowledge. I will teach using methods of encoding such as mnemonics, categorizing, and especially elaboration, as methods of connecting to familiar information in students' long term memory in as many ways as possible. After instruction is over, I will need to assess my specific learning goal that I outlined during planning (bolded above). Because the learning goal requires that students mention information in casual conversation, I will need to plan an informal assessment. A formal assessment such as a written essay might not cue or retrieve information in long term memory if it has many connections to casual everyday topics (the connections we made during instruction) [etc, more defense of this]. This will be a performance assessment that is summative [etc, defend reasons you think it's a performance assessment, why that's important for it to be authentic, and why you believe it is summative].

Issues in Standardized Testing

Issues in Standardized Testing Prompt 1

(focus on Motivation/Learning)

• Name one information processing technique that is helpful for memorization (efficiently encoding information into long term memory). Identify one pro and one con of a teacher using this technique to prepare students for high stakes standardized testing.     
• How might a high stakes standardized test caused learned helplessness? Be specific in how the process would occur.
• Consider how standardized tests (like ISTEP) are typically used in classrooms. We discussed in class how you should have a consistent thread going through 1. How you believe learning happens (learning theory), 2. How you instruct a lesson, and 3. How you assess learning. The standardized test is something you don't design (you're not in control of it). Thinking backwards, what would be a consistent learning goal and instructional strategy that would align with how standardized tests are used. (It doesn't have to be a GOOD learning goal/instructional method. This might tell you something.)

Issues in Standardized Testing Prompt 2
(focus on Assessment)

• What kind of assessment is a typical standardized test (thinking how they are typically used in classrooms)? Formal or summative? Performance? Informal or formal? How can you tell? 
• An assessment can be reliable but have poor validity. Explain what this means and give an example of how a standardized test can have this quality.
• Are standardized tests IN FACT 'standardized', or in other words, equitable to every student taking them? (Thinking ahead to equity week) Name ONE specific way that these types of tests might be inequitable to some population and explain why.