Assessment Literacy: Building Capacity for Improving Student Learning

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Assessment Literacy Building Capacity for
Improving Student Learning

• Presenters Heidi Glidden (American Federation of
  Teachers)
• Margo Gottlieb (Illinois Resource Center)
• Paul La Marca (Nevada DOE)
• Moderator Michael Ehringhaus (Measured Progress)

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Assessment LiteracyWhat is it?

• Using multiple sources of information to
  understand student learning and to adjust
  instruction . . .
• Summative
• Assessment for learning

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AssessmentExamples

• Statewide criteria assessments
• District-level benchmark assessments
• Common-core assessments
• Teacher-made assessments
• Homework
• End-of-chapter tests
• Classroom worksheets
• Teacher feedback (e.g., marking)
• Questioning
• Observation
• Performance tasks
• Peer- and self-assessment
• . . .

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AssessmentWhat does it look like?

• Happens to students
• Embedded in pedagogy
• Embedded in the teacher-student relationships
• Embedded in student-student relationships
• Embedded in students understanding of self

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Assessment LiteracyWhat is it?

• A verb
• A culture

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A Pause . . .From the point of view of the
student

• No matter what educators do in the classroom,
  students are the ones who decide to take
  something on and learn it.
• The first thing students must do is to understand
  the gap between what they want/need to know and
  what they actually know.
• Students also need to have a clear understanding
  of the specific actions they can take to close
  this gap.
• Ultimately, students need to see clearly what
  they want/need to know looks like.

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What do we know?

• There are a lot of stakeholders who have an
  interest in student learning.
• Students
• Parents
• Teachers
• Principals
• Other school and district staff
• States
• Federal government
• Employers
• Universities/colleges
• Politicians
• The military
• . . .

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The Educational Context of Student Learning
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Improving Student LearningWhat are we doing
about it?

• Creating content standards
• Creating standards-based assessments
• Developing standards-based curricula
• Training educators (i.e., building capacity)

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Improving Student LearningSome Existing
Strategies for Building Capacity

• One-shot workshops
• In-service training
• University training
• Modeling
• Trial and error
• Peer feedback
• Coaching

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Improving Student LearningIs what we are doing
working?

• Sometimes
• Sometimes not

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Another Pause . . .

• Habits are hard to break (especially when rooted
  in culture).
• Reality of time comes crashing in.
• Many schools and districts do not have a plan
  for building capacity or an agreement on what
  capacity looks like.
• Educators often feel isolated.
• Adults learn best in context.
• University/college training didnt prepare us for
  Monday.

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Improving Student LearningWhat do we need to
know to accomplish this?

• that the most effective professional development
  is results-driven and job-embedded.
• that we cant just focus on teachers.
• that the creation of a community culture of
  learning is essential for improving student
  learning.

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Assessment LiteracyCritical Reflections

• All assessments provide some form of information.
• For certain purposes, some of this information is
  useful.
• For certain purposes, some of this information is
  not useful.
• And understanding the difference between the two
  is a central component of assessment literacy.

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Assessment LiteracyMore Critical Reflections

• Student learning in the classroom is the result
  of a collaboration between the teacher and the
  student.
• Educators need to understand and be effective in
  this collaboration.
• Students need to understand and be effective in
  this collaboration.

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Improving Student LearningSome Final Thoughts
about Student Learning

• Our beliefs about knowledge either obstruct or
  enable student learning.
• Students need to participate in the activities of
  learning and of assessment.
• Improving student learning requires change.
• Educators and students need to feel an ownership
  of these changes.
• Effective change will not occur over night.
• Effective change involves a process of
• Action ? Reflection ? Action

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We believe people don't want to change so we have
to seduce them into it. That leads to treating
people in their smallest versions. It is not
change that people resist, it is us. I don't
like the thought that someone else is having a
meeting deciding how I ought to be transformed .
. . (Peter Block, 2003)