Informing Instruction and Reflecting Instruction: The Two Faces of Assessment

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Informing Instruction and Reflecting
InstructionThe Two Faces of Assessment

• Kimberly Hambrick, Ph.D. (hambrick_at_ael.org)
• Institute for the Advancement
• of Research in Education
• at AEL
• Presented as part of panel discussion (Using Data
  as a Tool in Education) at CoSN
• March 2, 2004

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Purposeful Student Assessment

• Assessments are used effectively for the purpose
  of improving teaching and learning in the
  classroom as well as helping with the utilization
  and impact of accountability data and information
  by school, district, and community.

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Data Connections

• Using Assessments to Improve Teaching and
  Learning

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The Test Score Utilization module takes educators
through six lessons to enhance their
understanding of using test scores.
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Determine Your Purposes

• Retrospective to look at how prior students
  performed
• Prospective to plan for incoming students based
  on prior performance.

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Develop a Question List

• Work to develop a list of essential questions
  regarding the data results, that when answered,
  would impact teaching and learning.
• What factors contributed to the fact that Teacher
  As scores were consistently higher than that of
  Teacher Bs scores when their classroom makeup
  was so similar?
• How could students be more effectively grouped
  for instruction?

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Organize the Data

• Work focuses on pulling together the information
  to help answer the questions.
• Data will be in various places.

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Develop Action Steps

• Examples
• Staff agreed to focus their efforts toward
  reading curriculum and instruction.
• Staff developed and piloted culturally-relevant
  curriculum units.
• Staff begin working on curriculum alignment.

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The Curriculum Alignment module provides three
lessons for educators to understand how to align
their curriculum with content standards.
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Determine Content Standards

• Staff engaged in vertical and horizontal
  alignment of the curriculum to determine the WHAT
  to be taught and the WHEN it should be taught
• Staff unpacked the standards to clarify the
  content, skills, and depth of knowledge at each
  grade level.

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Organize Standards into Teachable Units

• To determine which standards fit together to
  inform instructional units.
• Project-based learning units of instruction would
  require research using media center and
  internet resources (English), development and
  measurement of a mouse trap (math), and
  multi-media marketing presentation (Language
  presentation and viewing).

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The Classroom Assessment module takes educators
through four lessons to ensure that classroom
assessments are aligned with the state tests.
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Define knowledge and skills to be assessed

• Staff spend time looking at the language of the
  Content Standards as well as the language and
  requirements of performance descriptors
  (achievement standards).

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Develop Test Items

• Teachers analyze the match between the test items
  they have developed and the standards they have
  taught.

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The Test-Taking Strategies module provides
information on four strategies to enhance
educators to work with their students prior to
the tests.
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Examine Test Blueprints

• Teachers receive laminated copies of the test
  blueprints so that they can keep track of when
  and where they addressed a standard throughout
  the year along with variations of presentation of
  item with students.

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Use Practice Test

• Staff are beginning to use an on-line practice
  test using juried test items written in the state
  selected standardized test format.
• Allows access to data for clarifying
  misconceptions.
• Students can practice using the information and
  know what the question is asking in terms of the
  thinking/processing skills.

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Results

• Overall, 70 of mathematics and science scores
  indicated improvement 81 of the science scores
  and 62 of the mathematics scores.

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Results

• Student achievement scores for the most part were
  at or above the 70 required for passing. Of the
  14 scores that had not reached the required 70
  percent for passing, 10 have risen since Spring
  2000.

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Results

• Schools with external facilitator obtained larger
  average Language, Mathematics, and Reading NCE
  gains than did the schools without an external
  facilitator.

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Data Connections

• Data Connections Using Assessment to Improve
  Teaching and Learning is available from AEL
  (www.ael.org) or Scarecrow Education
  (www.scarecroweducation.com)