Curriculum and Assessment

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Curriculum and Assessment
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Assessment for Learning

• Assessment for learning is the process of seeking
  and interpreting evidence for use by learners and
  their teachers to decide where the learners are
  in their learning, where they need to go, and how
  best to get there.
• Assessment for learning involves the use of
  classroom assessment to improve learning.

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Key Features Central
to Assessment for Learning

• It is embedded in the teaching and learning
  process
• Shares learning goals with pupils
• Helps pupils to know and recognize the standards
  to aim for
• Provides feedback which leads pupils to identify
  what they should do next
• Has a commitment that every pupil can improve
• Involves both teacher and pupils reviewing and
  reflecting on pupils performance and progress
• Involves pupils in self-assessment

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Connecting Assessment to Instruction

• Three types of decisions using assessment
  results
• Instructional placement decisions What the
  student knows and where he/she should be
• Formative evaluation decisions monitor a
  students learning while instruction is underway
• Diagnostic decisions which difficulties account
  for the students inadequate progress in order to
  remediate

• Assessment criteria to address curriculum needs
• Measure important learning outcomes
• Address all three purposes of assessment
• Provide clear descriptions of student performance
  linked to instructional actions
• Compatible with a variety of instructional models
• Easily administered, scored, and interpreted
• Communicate the goals of learning to teachers and
  students
• Generate accurate, meaningful information

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Curriculum
Instruction
CIA Loop
Assessment
Each of the three elements is equally important
for effective instruction
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Research-based Principles of Assessment for
Learning

• Part of effective planning
• Focuses on how students learn
• Central to classroom practice
• A key professional skill
• Is sensitive and constructive
• Fosters motivation
• Promotes understanding of goals and criteria
• Helps learners know how to improve
• Develops the capacity for self assessment
• Recognizes all educational achievement

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Rethinking Assessment and Its Role in Educational
Reform

• In the global economy of the 21st century
  students need to understand the basics, think
  critically, analyze, and make inferences. They
  must be able to interpret, access, and use
  information to make decisions. Consequently we
  must change assessment strategies to tie
  assessment design and content to new outcomes
  and purposes for assessment.
• Assessment reform is a means of setting more
  appropriate targets for students, focusing staff
  development efforts, encouraging curriculum
  reform, and improving instruction and
  instructional materials.
• The notion that learning comes about by the
  accretion of little bits is outmoded learning
  theory. Current models contend that learners
  gain understanding when they construct their own
  cognitive maps of the inter-connections among
  concepts and facts.

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Matching Assessments to the Purposes of Assessment

• Match the assessment method to the achievement
  purpose and target
• Specify illustrative tasks that require students
  to demonstrate certain skills and accomplishments
  that demonstrate student mastery of the desired
  outcomes
• Specify the criteria and standards for judging
  student performance on task selected
• Develop a reliable rating process that allows
  different raters at different points in time to
  obtain the same results
• Avoid pitfalls that threaten reliability and
  validity
• Collect evidence/data showing that the assessment
  is reliable and valid
• Ensure consequential validity
• Use test results to refine assessment and improve
  curriculum and instruction

• Sound assessment begins when the content of the
  assessment is defined (the student standards or
  goals to be assessed) and the purpose for the
  assessment is clearly stated.
• There are two purposes for assessment
• 1. To determine if students have acquired
  specific knowledge or skills
• 2. To diagnose student strengths and
  weaknesses and plan appropriate instruction
• Assessments should be well matched with the full
  range of goals for student performance

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Guiding Principals for Addressing the
Accountability Challenges

• High stakes accountability emphasizes the
  importance of collecting, analyzing, and using
  different data to measure student learning and to
  plot future education. In order to harness the
  value of data-driven decision making, to empower
  the learning community and improve schools
  research outlines seven guiding principles
• Vision all participants must be informed and
  engaged in the process. There must be a common
  definition of accountability with realistic
  expectations and the use of data should be part
  of the overall school vision
• Community accountability must be shared among
  all participants
• Professional Development training must be
  provided in order that the staff and
  administrator understands how collecting,
  analyzing, and using data apply to measuring
  student learning. Curriculum mapping is one
  means to that end
• Governance placing student learning at the
  heart of the enterprise
• Integrity stand and deliver, mirror the
  dynamics of data driven behavior
• Judgment expect the best, forget the rest.
  High expectations of the staff as well as the
  students
• Assessment speak in data, harness its power.
  Visualize, numbers in graphs, maps and charts to
  be seen in relationship to each other

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Curriculum Concept of Alignment

• The concepts of alignment refers to the degree of
  match between test content and the subject area
  content identified through state academic
  standards.
• The analysis of alignment requires a two step
  process
• A systematic review of standards
• A systematic review of test items/tasks
• As standards are developed the issue of how
  achievement will be measured should be a constant
  consideration.
• As large scale assessment becomes more visible to
  the public the roles of reliability and validity
  come to the fore
• Content representativeness or alignment is
  intricately tied to evidence of construct validity

• One of the core concepts for effective curricular
  change is alignment. It is achieved when the
  parts of the whole are seen in relationship to
  each other.
• For alignment the following aspects of the
  curriculum must be kept in focus
• Goals, Purposes, Outcomes, Objectives
• Delivery system, Instruction, Materials,
  Organization
• Assessment, Evaluation/Testing, Measurement,
  Monitoring

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Data Analysis An Educators Fear

• Statistical strategies, not gut feelings form the
  hallmark of good instructional decisions
• Few things are more feared than the thought of
  statistical analysis. Statistics is seen by
  most as a formal domain of advanced mathematics
• The educators fear of statistics likely stems
  from a variety of factors which lack the
  following four important components
• Instruction of statistics does not emphasize the
  relevance of data to the day-to-day lives of
  principals and teachers
• It does not fully integrate current technology
  into the teaching and learning of statistics
• Few if any statistics courses are designed for
  students enrolled in educational leadership
• Many statistics courses taught in colleges of
  education focus a major part of time on
  inferential statistics as a tool to improve
  problem analysis, student evaluation, data-based
  decision making and report preparation

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Steps for Easing the Use of Data
Data collection is not the most difficult task in
data driven decision making. The following steps
can make data management easier and more
efficient.
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Better Data, Better Learning

• The best data for providing feedback for both
  students and teachers is the
• Periodic Progress Monitoring performed three to
  ten times per year
• Daily Progress Monitoring performed continuously
  for daily, even hourly feedback
• This type of data should be collected
  consistently by teachers and used as part of
  their growth plan for improving instruction
  collectively and individually with students

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Instead of giving the children a task and
measuring how well they do or how badly they
fail, one can give the children the task and
observe how much and what kind of help they need
in order to complete the task successfully. In
this approach the child is not assessed alone.
Rather, the social system of the teacher and
child is dynamically assessed to determine how
far along is has progressed. (Newman, Griffin,
and Cole, 1989)
Leaders succeed when armed with knowledge and the
ability to use that knowledge to overcome
obstacles. Understanding how to use data and its
potential to inform decisions is a guiding factor
in todays educational arena