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Tools For Assessing The Curriculum
Tools For Assessing The Curriculum
ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES
ARE
Purpose to
Assess
Measure
Characteristics
Measures a students ability(e.g, in making comparisons, applying principles to new situations, organizing information, drawing inferences, being persuasive, integrating knowledge and applications, summarizing information); Assess knowledge, reasoning, organization and communication skills; Directly measures the performance specified by the expectations; Includes a scoring plan which specifies attributes for a quality answer (e.g. conciseness, factual knowledge, connection between argument and supporting facts) and indicates the value associated with each of the attributes; Affords the student a chance to construct his/her own answer, demonstrating creativity and/or originality.
Teachers Role
Uses
professional judgment to develop the problem, question, or statement and the scoring of the final product.
Considerations
Is
used to assess separately the students ability to communicate ideas, write proficiently and comprehend context; Is less time-consuming to construct compared to objective item testing, but can require considerable time to evaluate; Is not an effective means of assessing a students entire domain of content knowledge, or assessing more than one or two reasoning skills at any one time.
is a pencil and paper assessment in which the student is to identify the one correct answer; Is a commonly used procedure for gathering formal evidence about student learning, specifically in memory, recall and comprehension.
Purpose
student learning of subject/ content knowledge (facts, concepts, principles or generalizations, procedures); prerequisite knowledge (e. g. when communicating in a second language, students can be assessed on vocabulary prior to a conversation in that language.)
Test
Assess
Characteristics
Can
Can
Is
Teachers Role
Identifies
Selects
Designs
Considerations
Is
always influenced by the students ability to read and understand the items; utilize computer and optical scanning technology to save time and effort with item development, item storage and retrieval, test printing and optical scan scoring;
Can
Can
make it more difficult to determine how the student arrived at an answer with true/ false and multiple choice.
Is an assessment which requires students to demonstrate a skill or proficiency by asking them to create, produce, or perform;
May be an observation of a student or a group of students performing a specific task to demonstrate skills and/ or knowledge through open-ended, hands-on activities.
Purpose
Provides an efficient means where the skills cannot be demonstrated with a pencil and paper test; Enable learners to demonstrate abilities, skills, attitudes, and behaviors; Provide information about learners ability to organize, draw on prior knowledge and experiences, improvise, choose from range of strategies, represent learning, and make decisions to complete a task; Test skills in the affective, cognition, psychomotor, and perceptual domains.
Characteristics
Can be diagnostic, formative or summative assessment; Uses ongoing feedback; Allows most learners to participate successfully in varying degrees; Provides opportunities for learners to work individually, as well as in small groups; Focuses on the process as well as the product; Provides contexts that have relevance to the students(may enhance motivation as students work on real task; tasks are meaningful, real world applications); Provides the most realistic assessment of job-related competencies; Includes tasks such as painting, speeches, musical presentations, research papers, investigations, athletic performance, projects, exhibitions, and other products that require students to construct a unique response to a task.
Teachers Role
Observes
a student or group of students performing a specific task; with student the responsibility of developing and organizing the performance task, and setting assessment criteria;
Shares
Assigns
Considerations
Provides
an excellent way to assess reasoning skills have clearly defined criteria for the assessment
Must
a performance in which a student demonstrates individual achievement through application of specific skills and knowledge;
used to assess progress in tasks that require students to be actively engaged in an activity (e.g. performing an experiment)
Is
Purpose
Allows
students to show achievement of a skill or knowledge by requiring the student to demonstrate that skill or knowledge in use.
Characteristics
Is
either an actual situation or a simulation (emphasis in simulation is upon mastery of the fundamental of the knowledge/ skill); Is often used in the Arts; Is accompanied by a list of performance attributes as well as the assessment criteria, which should be determined prior to demonstration; Is frequently organized in assessment stations where the stations are used to test a variety of skills (e.g. basketball circuit-jump shot, set shot, dribble around pylons).
Teachers Role
Assess
Considerations
May
be interdisciplinary; May require student initiative and creativity; May be a competition between individual students or groups; May be a collaborative project that students work on over time; Should be constructed and administered in a manner which is equivalent for all students(e.g. all candidates in music demonstration play the same piece on the same piano).
a process of systematically viewing and recording student behavior for the purpose of making programming decisions; permeates the entire teaching process by assisting the teacher in making the decisions required in effective teaching.
Purpose
Provides
systematic, ongoing information about students in relation to areas of strength and weaknesses, preferred learning styles, unique interests, learning needs, skills, attitudes, behavior, and performance related expectations.
Characteristics
Can
be used every day to assess students of different ages, across subject areas, and in different settings (alone, in partners, small groups or whole class); Is structured with clear purpose and focus; Includes a written record which should be as close to the time of the event as possible. The record should be objective.
Teachers Role
Watches students responds to questions, study, complete assigned tasks; Listens to students as they speak and discuss with others; Observes nonverbal forms of communication (e.g. attentiveness to lessons, signs of frustration); Outlines the purpose of the observation by using the following questions as guidelines; Who will make the observations? Who or what is observed? Why will the observation take place? When will the observation take place?
When
will the observation occur? How will the observation be recorded(notes, audio/ videotype)? Observes the students in a variety of situations/ settings; Draws interferences on the basis of the observation gathered; Observes the students performance, then records observations on recording devices(checklist, rating scale, anecdotal record) which outline the framework and criteria for observation.
Consideration
Are
made using a checklist, a set of questions, and/ or a journal as a guide to ensure focused, systematic observation. Are often the only assessment tool used for demonstration (e.g. oral speaking, drawing, playing musical instruments, applying motor skills in the physical education program, using equipment in Design and Technology); Can be collected by audio tape or videotape (allows the teacher more detailed assessment of the performance after the fact);
Can
limit students ability to act naturally if audio tape or video tape is used; Can be influenced by bias in the interpretation of an observation; Can be considered subjective, where the meaning of the observation is derived only by the professional judgment of what is observed; Should not interfere with the natural learning environment.
a formal or informal meeting between/ among the teacher and student and/ or parent
PURPOSE
Exchange information or share ideas between among the individuals at the conference; Explore the students thinking and to suggest next steps; Assess the students level of understanding of a particular concept or procedure; Enable a student to move ahead more successfully on a particular piece of work; Review, clarify and extend what the student has already completed; Help students internalize criteria for good work.
CHARACTERISTICS
Provides a clear focus for discussion (i.e. a specific piece of work); Requires that responsibility for the success of the conference is shared by all participants;
May take place as the learner is exploring a new concept or topic, or be a goal-setting session or a report on progress; Is brief, informal and occurs routinely;
Can be effective for both diagnostics and formative assessment.
TEACHERS ROLE
Comes to the conference prepared with specific questions to be answered; Gives individual feedback and clarifies misconceptions; Puts students at ease, and supports student progress. In the case of a writing conference, for example, a mini-lesson may be given by the teacher; Focuses on the process of reasoning followed by the student; Records information (conference record) during or immediately following the communication.
CONSIDERATIONS
Can be part of collaborative planning and decision-making; Is assisted by prepared questions; Can be an extremely useful formative assessment strategy for students involved in major projects or independent studies.
THE INTERVIEW
Is a form of conversation in which all parties (teacher, student and parent) increase their knowledge and understanding.
PURPOSE
Focus on inquiry where the purpose of the meeting is based on investigation; Explore the students thinking; Assess the students level of understanding of a particular concept or procedure; Gather information, obtain clarification, determine positions and probe for motivations; Help determine students understanding of qualities of good work.
any
planned
TEACHERS ROLE
Is responsible for the initial questions that guide the considerations, as well as the flow and movement of the exchange;
Generate information during the interview which may lead to decisions, agreements, solutions;
Allows, students to take the lead in the interview when appropriate.
CONSIDERATIONS
Needs time built in for conservations especially when purpose is an honest and thoughtful exchange.
ORAL STRATEGY
QUESTIONS
Are posed by the teacher to determine if students understand what is being/has been presented or to extend thinking, generate ideas or problem-solve.
ANSWERS
Provide opportunities for oral assessment when the student responds to a question by speaking rather than by writing.
PURPOSE
Provide a mechanism which monitors a students understanding while assessing student progress (what they know and can do);
CHARACTERISTICS
Help teachers and students clarify their purpose for learning and link previous information with new understanding.
TEACHERS ROLE
Notes how students answer questions during the instruction to know if the students understand what is being presented or are able to perform skills; Should ensure that all students participate , not just those individuals who typically respond with answers.
CONSIDERATIONS
Can help to ensure that all students are involved if tracking is done to ensure that all students participate;
Is used with consideration that some individuals are not comfortable or fluent expressing themselves orally.
PURPOSE
Provide summative assessment upon completion of a project or an essay; Assess students when it is inappropriate or difficult to test a students understanding or knowledge with pencil-and-paper test.
CHARACTERISTICS
Can provide students with an opportunity to use concrete materials to express their ideas and talents;
May be a teaching tool if the presentation is designed to further the learning of the audience.
TEACHERS ROLE With the students or alone, sets the criteria for the assessment of the presentation (i.e .., rubric); Monitors student progress at selected stages during student preparation; Provides oral or written feedback after the presentation.
CONSIDERATIONS
Is a natural form of assessment for speeches, debates and subjects such as the study of languages;
Holds the potential to increase peer comparisons which may be harmful to some students because of the oral and visual aspects of presentations; Is a critical skill to be taught, practiced, assessed and evaluated.
Is the students own assessment of personal progress in knowledge, skills, processes, or attitudes; Leads a student to a greater awareness and understanding of himself or herself as a learner.
PURPOSE
Assist student to take more responsibility and ownership of their learning;
Provides insights and information that enable students to make decisions about their learning and to set personal learning goals; Use assessment as a means of learning;
CHARACTERISTICS
promotes the development of metacognitive ability (the ability to reflect critically on ones own reasoning);
May involve an introspective observation, a product assessment or a test; May include attitude surveys, interest inventories and personal journals; Involves questions such as How do I learn best?, What are my areas for growth?, Where do I need to improve?; Is used to determine if a students beliefs about his/her performance correspond to the actual performance observed by the teacher
TEACHERS ROLE
provides time and opportunities for self-assessment; design the questions or selects the self-assessment tool; can use students self-assessment to determine change or growth in the students attitude, understandings, and achievements; completes the assessment based on personal reflection about achievement or performance
CONSIDERATIONS
is used to compare whether the student and the teacher have similar views of expected performance and criteria for evaluation;
develops gradually as students begin to use the process in daily activities; can help students to witness personal growth through comparison with their own previous work, regardless of ability.
provides frequent written reflective responses to a material that a student is reading, viewing, listening to, or discussing
PURPOSE
CHARACTERISTICS
includes both factual information and the students personal reflections; is provided within a climate which is non-threatening and open and which encourages risk-taking; can provide the focus for a student-teacher conference; is a vehicle for communication with teachers, peers, parents; can include sketches); visual representations (e.g., artwork,
TEACHERS ROLE writes comments in the spirit of a dialogue (by asking questions and sharing thoughts)
CONSIDERATIONS
focuses thinking; on the process of reflective
includes depth of thought and connection with understandings and experience as appropriate criteria for assessments;
respects the personal nature of a journal and the learners desire for privacy;
does not emphasizes the formal aspects of writing style or correctness.
COMBINATION OF STRATEGIES
PORTFOLIO
is a purposeful collection of samples of a students work that is
selective, reflective and collaborative; demonstrates the range and depth of a students achievement, knowledge, and skills over time and across a variety of contexts; has student involvement in selection of portfolio materials as part of the process; is a visual presentation of a students accomplishments, capacities, strengths, weaknesses and progress over a specified time.