Assessment for Learning

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Assessment for Learning

• Level 1
• Presenters Today
• Karen Lippy Robin Henrikson

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Introductions

• Who is here?
• When did you take the Introduction to Assessment
  for Learning?
• One big idea you learned from Intro to AfL or one
  question you may still have.

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Sharing Learning Expectations

• Anchor your understanding of the 5 Key Strategies
  of Assessment for Learning.
• Understand the purpose for and use of learning
  progressions.
• Understand the purpose for and use of hinge
  questions at critical junctures.
• Produce a learning progression with hinge
  questions for use in your classroom.
• Deepen your understanding of sharing learning
  expectations, peer assessment, self-assessment
  and feedback techniques.

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Meeting Norms

• We are ALL learners.
• In order to learn we must practice!
• We will model and practice AfL techniques during
  our presentation.
• We encourage a climate that fosters self and peer
  assessment.

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What is the difference between strategies and
techniques?
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Pre Assessment-Whiteboards (Chart Paper)

• Eliciting Evidence
• Opportunities for students to design their own
  tests and rubrics
• Traffic lights dots on their paper
• Comment-only grading
• Peer and Self Assessment
• Feedback
• Basketball rather than serial table-tennis
• Sharing Learning Expectations
• Explicit reference to rubrics

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Why Assessment for Learning?

• Practice in a classroom is formative to the
  extent that evidence about student achievement is
  elicited, interpreted, and used by teachers,
  learners, or their peers, to make decisions about
  the next steps in instruction that are likely to
  be better, or better founded, than the decisions
  they would have taken in the absence of the
  evidence that was elicited.
• Black
  and Wiliam (2009)

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Benefits of Assessment for Learning

• 20 years of research has found that when
  classrooms are regularly engaged in effective
  formative assessment...
• Students make significant learning gains
  especially lower achieving students
• Teachers tend to be more reflective about their
  practice and more in touch with their students
  learning
• The process can improve student achievement more
  than other learning interventions including
  one-on-one tutoring, reduced class size or
  cooperative learning
• Implementing Formative Assessment/Assessment for
  Learning results in 8 extra months of learning
  per year at a cost of approximately 3k
• Black and Wiliam (1998) and others (e.g.,
  Shepard et al., 2005)

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Learning Progressions

• The reason we are digging into learning
  progressions with such zeal is that they can
  provide the framework for the sorts of formative
  assessment activities that will take place in the
  classroom.- Popham
• Building a learning progression will allow you to
  strategically and intentionally insert AfL
  techniques into your lessons in order to make
  instructional decisions.

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A Comprehensive Framework for Formative
Assessment

• Three central processes
• Establishing where learners are in their learning
• Establishing where they are going
• Establishing how to get there
• Wiliam and Thompson (2007)

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A Learning Progression Model
Learning Progression A learning progression is a
sequenced set of subskills and enabling knowledge
that, it is believed, students must master en
route to mastering a more remote curricular aim.
(Popham 2008)
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What is a Learning Progression What it Isnt
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Discussion Points

• What is a Learning Progression?
• What a Learning Progression isnt.

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Key Idea!

• Keep a learning progression sufficiently lean so
  that it is likely to be used. The only building
  blocks to include are those for which you plan to
  collect assessment evidence. Popham

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Key Idea!

• Enabling Knowledge or Subskill
• When does it matter and when doesnt it matter?

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Building a Learning Progression
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Lets Get Started!
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Determining the Target

• What will the learner do differently after
  mastering this target curricular aim?
• How will you know when students achieves mastery?

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Number Grain Size
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Assessment for Learning
TOO BIG Just Right too small

• Read each targets.
• Decide if they would make a good learning
  progression target.

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Math Target 6th

• Solve Single- and multi-step word problems
  involving operations with fractions and decimals
  and verify the solutions.

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Math Target 3rd

• Sketch a line segment.

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Science 9th

• Students know that Earth is a system that
  contains a fixed amount of each stable chemical
  element existing in different chemical forms.
  Each element on Earth moves among reservoirs in
  the solid Earth, ocean, and atmosphere as part of
  biogeochemical cycles driven by energy from the
  Earths interior and from the Sun.

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Math 8th

• Analyze and compare mathematical strategies for
  solving problems, select and use one or more of
  the strategies to solve a problem, and
  communicate the answer to the question in a
  problem using appropriate representations,
  including symbols and informal and formal
  mathematical language.

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Science 4th-5th

• Students know that energy can be transferred from
  one place to another.

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Science 4th- 5th

• Students are expected to sort plants and animals
  according to their structures (e.g. presence of
  hair, feathers, or scales on their skin) and
  behaviors (e.g. grazing, hunting or diving for
  food).

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So what does a learning progression look like?
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formative assessment for learning
formative assessment for learning
formative assessment for learning
formative assessment for learning
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A Sound Construction Process
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Step 1 Acquire a thorough understanding of the
target curricular aim.
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1st Critical JunctureAssessment for Learning

• Write a student-friendly learning target to start
  your learning progression.
• At your table, review each others learning
  targets
• Is the target a manageable size?
• Is the target in student-friendly language?
• When everyones target has been reviewed, place
  your traffic light cup at green. A facilitator
  will come by to approve all your targets.

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Step 2 Identify all requisite precursory
subskills and bodies of enabling knowledge.
Write your subskills and Enabling knowledge this
way!
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Collect and use information to construct a graph.
Perform basic mathematical functions.
Taking raw data and organizing it into a data
table or organized list
Deciding the kind of data you collected
(numerical, categorical etc) in order to choose a
correct graph to display the information ie bar
graph, line plot, etc
Correctly include all necessary components on the
graph title that represents the graph, x y
axis labeled with units, appropriate scale, graph
is clear and easy to read
Survey a "representative" population
How to draw a trend line and calculate slope.
Knowing how to create a "good" question to use in
a survey.
Calculate averages.
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2nd Critical JunctureAssessment for Learning
.
Insects have unique structures, behaviors, and
basic needs. They are all related, yet have lots
of variations and complex life cycles.

• Can you identify building blocks that a student
  would need to know to meet the target?

.
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Insects have unique structures, behaviors, and
basic needs. They are all related, yet have lots
of variations and complex life cycles.
Building Block- True or False?
Insects share some common features, yet vary in
other ways.
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Insects have unique structures, behaviors, and
basic needs. They are all related, yet have lots
of variations and complex life cycles.
Building Block- True or False?
Insects belong to the Animal Kingdom.
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Insects have unique structures, behaviors, and
basic needs. They are all related, yet have lots
of variations and complex life cycles.
Building Block- True or False?
All Insects have characteristics that perform
certain functions.
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Step 3 Determine whether its possible to
measure students status with respect to each
preliminarily identified building block.
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3rd Critical JunctureAssessment for Learning
Assessment Brainstorm Assessment Brainstorm
Building Block Description Possible Assessments

• Complete the Assessment Brainstorming worksheet
  for your remaining building blocks.
• When finished share with a facilitator.

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Step 4 Arrange all building blocks in a
structurally defensible sequence.
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4th Critical JunctureAssessment for Learning
Taking raw data and organizing it into a data
table or organized list
Choosing a correct graph to display the
information (bar graph, line plot, etc) based on
the type of data collected (numerical,
categorical, etc).
A
D
Survey a "representative" population
B

• What order do you think these building blocks
  should be taught to help student reach this
  target?

Correctly include all necessary components on the
graph title that represents the graph, x y
axis labeled with units, appropriate scale, graph
is clear and easy to read
Collect and use information to construct a graph.
Knowing how to create a "good" question to use in
a survey.
E
C
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C
Collect and use information to construct a graph.
D
Correctly include all necessary components on the
graph title that represents the graph, x y
axis labeled with units, appropriate scale, graph
is clear and easy to read
Choosing a correct graph to display the
information (bar graph, line plot, etc) based on
the type of data collected (numerical,
categorical, etc).
A
Taking raw data and organizing it into a data
table or organized list
B
Survey a "representative" population
E
Knowing how to create a "good" question to use in
a survey.
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Step 4 Arrange all your building blocks in a
structurally defensible sequence.

• When you have an order, trade your sequence with
  another person at your table and review.
• Dialogue Prompt Do you agree with their
  sequence? Why or Why not?

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Learning Target Performance Assessment

• Use your draft learning progression to complete
  the My Learning Progression template.

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Part Two
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Assessing Critical Junctures
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Why Assess at Critical Junctures? Why Not Just
Assess the Target?
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What is Critical to Assess?
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How to Assess?

• To be effective, the critical juncture assessment
  should be
• Diagnostic of student understanding
• Quick
• Inform the next step

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Some options to consider

• Personal Communication
• Performance Assessment
• Extended Written Response
• Selected Responses
• What are some strengths limitations of using
  each of these at critical junctures in
  instruction?

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Personal Communication- Can it be

• Diagnostic of student understanding?
• Quick?
• Inform the next step?

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Performance Assessment-Can it be

• Diagnostic of student understanding?
• Quick?
• Inform the next step?

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Extended Response-Can it be

• Diagnostic of student understanding?
• Quick?
• Inform the next step?

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Selected Response-Can it be

• Diagnostic of student understanding?
• Quick?
• Inform the next step?

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We will focus on determining ways to elicit
evidence of student learning that are diagnostic,
quick and will inform your next steps.
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Eliciting Evidence Diagnostically

• Students choose from a likely set of student
  responses which should be developed to reveal
  their level of thinking. The options should
  include best answer and other answers
  representing incorrect or incomplete student
  understanding.

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Why not just ask a Question?

• Questioning typically involves a three-turn
  exchange in which the teacher asks a question, a
  student answers and a teacher evaluates the
  answer. In too many classrooms, teachers try to
  get students to accept the right answer,
  instead of engaging them in a conversation that
  elicits their ideas and uses those ideas as a
  starting point .

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From Assessment for Learning Introduction
Elicit Evidence

• Engineering effective classroom discussions,
  questions, and learning tasks that elicit
  evidence of learning

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TechniquesFor Questioning

• Key idea questioning should
• cause thinking
• provide data that informs teaching
• Improving teacher questioning
• generating questions with colleagues
• closed v open
• low-order v high-order
• appropriate wait-time
• basketball rather than serial table-tennis
• No hands up (except to ask a question)
• class polls to review current attitudes towards
  an issue
• Hot Seat questioning
• All-student response systems
• ABCD cards, Mini white-boards, Exit passes

Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research
Association workshop June 2009
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Eliciting evidence technique Hinge
Questions Dylan Wiliam

• A hinge question is based on the important
  concept in a lesson that is critical for students
  to understand before you move on in the lesson.
• The question should fall about midway during the
  lesson.
• Every student must respond to the question within
  two minutes.
• You must be able to collect and interpret the
  responses from all students in 30 seconds

Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research
Association workshop June 2009
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In other words diagnostic, quick, and inform
next steps
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Hinge Questions
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Mathematics 1
In which of the following diagrams, is one
quarter of the area shaded?
B
C
D
A
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Mathematics 2

• What is the median for the following data set?
• 38 74 22 44 96 22
  19 53
• 22
• 38 and 44
• 41
• 46
• 77
• This data set has no median

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Mathematics 3

• What can you say about the means of the following
  two data sets?
• Set 1 10 12 13 15
• Set 2 10 12 13 15 0
• The two sets have the same mean.
• The two sets have different means.
• It depends on whether you choose to count the
  zero.

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Mathematics 4
Which of the shapes below contains a dotted line
that is also a diagonal?
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Science 1

• You look outside and notice a very gentle rain.
  Suddenly, it starts raining harder. What
  happened?
• A cloud bumped into the cloud that was only
  making a little rain.
• A bigger hole opened in the cloud, releasing more
  rain.
• A different cloud, with more rain, moved into the
  area.
• The wind started to push more water out of the
  clouds.

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Science 2

• Jenna put a glass of cold water outside on a warm
  day. After a while, she could see small droplets
  on the outside of the glass. Why was this?
• The air molecules around the glass condensed to
  form droplets of liquid
• The water vapor in the air near the cold glass
  condensed to form droplets of liquid water
• Water soaked through invisible holes in the glass
  to form droplets of water on the outside of the
  glass
• The cold glass causes oxygen in the air to become
  water

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Science 3

• How could you increase the temperature of boiling
  water?
• Add more heat.
• Stir it constantly.
• Add more water.
• You cant increase the temperature of boiling
  water.

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Science 4

• What can we do to preserve the ozone layer?
• Reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced by
  cars and factories
• Reduce the greenhouse effect
• Stop cutting down the rainforests
• Limit the numbers of cars that can be used when
  the level of ozone is high
• Properly dispose of air-conditioners and fridges

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English 1

• Where would be the best place to begin a new
  paragraph?

No rules are carved in stone dictating how long a
paragraph should be. However, for argumentative
essays, a good rule of thumb is that, if your
paragraph is shorter than five or six good,
substantial sentences, then you should reexamine
it to make sure that you've developed the ideas
fully. A Do not look at that rule of thumb,
however, as hard and fast. It is simply a general
guideline that may not fit some paragraphs. B A
paragraph should be long enough to do justice to
the main idea of the paragraph. Sometimes a
paragraph may be short sometimes it will be
long.  C On the other hand, if your paragraph
runs on to a page or longer, you should probably
reexamine its coherence to make sure that you are
sticking to only one main topic. Perhaps you can
find subtopics that merit their own paragraphs.
D Think more about the unit, coherence, and
development of a paragraph than the basic
length. E If you are worried that a paragraph is
too sort, then in probably lacks sufficient
development. If you are worried that a paragraph
is too long, then you may have rambled on to
topics other than the one stated in your topic
sentence.
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English 2

• Where is the verb in this sentence?
• The dog ran across the road

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English 3

• Which of these is the best thesis statement?
• The typical TV show has 9 violent incidents
• The essay I am going to write is about violence
  on TV
• There is a lot of violence on TV
• The amount of violence on TV should be reduced
• Some programs are more violent than others
• Violence is included in programs to boost ratings
• Violence on TV is interesting
• I dont like the violence on TV

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History

• Why are historians concerned with bias when
  analyzing sources?
• People can never be trusted to tell the truth
• People deliberately leave out important details
• People are only able to provide meaningful
  information if they experienced an event
  firsthand
• People interpret the same event in different
  ways, according to their experience
• People are unaware of the motivations for their
  actions
• People get confused about sequences of events

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World Languages

• Is the verb être regular in French?

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World Languages

• Which of the following is the correct translation
  for I give the book to him?
• Yo lo doy el libro.
• Yo doy le el libro.
• Yo le doy el libro.
• Yo doy lo el libro.
• Yo doy el libro le.
• Yo doy el libro lo.

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Constructing Hinge Questions
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Hinge Questions- Eliciting Evidence

• A question must make students choose from a
  likely set of student responses which should be
  developed to reveal their level of thinking. The
  options should include best answer and other
  answers representing incorrect or incomplete
  student understanding.

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Hinge Question Hinge Question

• For each example
• If it is a good hinge question
• If it isnt a good hinge question
• If you are not sure

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• The ball sitting on the table is not moving. It
  is not moving because
• no forces are pushing or pulling on the ball.
  
• gravity is pulling down, but the table is in the
  way.
• the table pushes up with the same force that
  gravity pulls down
• gravity is holding it onto the table.
• there is a force inside the ball keeping it from
  rolling off the table

Wilson Draney, 2004
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Explain why the ball sitting on the table is not
moving.
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Draw a picture of one quarter.
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• In which of these right-angled triangles is a2
  b2 c2 ?

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Hinge Questions- Eliciting Evidence

• A question must make students choose from a
  likely set of student responses which should be
  developed to reveal their level of thinking. The
  options should include best answer and other
  answers representing incorrect or incomplete
  student understanding.

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Lets try.
Knowing how to create a "good" question to use in
a survey.
Identify and write student -friendly learning
targets aligned to the standards.
All Insects have characteristics that perform
certain functions.
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Share
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• Time to revisit your learning progression and
  write your own hinge questions or similar
  assessment for learning!

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Options- Make sure at least one is A.

• Hinge question- Dylan Wiliam model
• Exit Pass or White Board
• Various FACTS- Some good for elicitation
  include
• 4,8,9,14,21,30,31,38,43,50,51,54,65,66,67,75
• Ask for critical feedback from peers and
  facilitators!

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You are in charge!

• Everyday classroom assessment is unique to our
  classroom context. It depends more on the skills,
  knowledge, and priorities you and your students
  have than on any particular protocol or strategy.
• (Atkin and Cooey 2003, p.xi.)

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Reflection

• How can learning progressions be incorporated
  into your regular practice?
• Think about a moment in your class where you can
  see yourself applying a hinge question within the
  next two weeks of instruction?

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Purposes and Stages of Classroom Assessment
Type of Classroom Assessment Purpose Link to Stage in Instructional Sequence
Formative (pre-instruction) Diagnostic- to find out students existing ideas Elicitation Stage- Used prior to developing instruction or during the instructional sequence when new ideas are encountered.
Formative To monitor student learning and/or to provide feedback to students on their learning Exploration and Concept Development Stage- Used continuously throughout the instructional sequence.
Summative To measure the extent to which students have achieved a learning goal Application Stage- Used primarily at the end of an instructional sequence.