Making Formative Assessments an Everyday Part of Education

Making Formative Assessments an Everyday Part of Education Scott Trimble Workshop on Instruction and Assessment October 25, 2010 Presented by Michelle Reynolds, Fayette County Public Schools Jana Beth Slibeck Francis, Daviess County Public Schools

K-W-L Chart K W L What do you think you KNOW about Formative Assessments? What do you WANT to know about Formative Assessments? What did you LEARN about Formative Assessments?

K-W-L Chart in Action K List of Understandings Student Names List of Skills Student Names List of Misconceptions Student Names W L List of Topics Student Names Students Want to Study K-W-L charts get to a student’s readiness and interest—two key ideas for differentiation.

“Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment” • Black and William asked—Does better formative assessment equal higher achievement? • Results of 0. 4 to 0. 7 Standard Deviations with the largest gains for low achievers. • A 0. 7 standard deviation means 25 percentile points on the ITBS or 4 points on the ACT to the composite score. • Key areas for improvement include • More descriptive feedback by both teachers and students • Increased student self-assessment • More opportunities for students to communicate about learning

Cause and Effect Data • Kentucky’s Accountability Timeline • First of May—Students Take Test • Middle of September—Results Received • October—Analysis of Results • November/December—School Improvement Planning

Pre and Post Assessments Pre Test Bubble of Teaching Post Test

Think-Pair-Share What is your definition of formative assessment? What are some examples of formative assessments? Discuss and share your ideas with the group.

Formative Assessment Defined • Formative assessments are quick checks for understanding, aligned with a daily objective, to provide evidence by which a teacher can gauge how well students are learning essential standards • EVERY child, EVERY class, EVERY day

Basic Assumptions about Learning Objectives 1. They are measurable because they contain a specific power verb. 2. They focus on a specific skill, not a lesson activity. 3. They are able to be accomplished in one class period and should be changed daily. 4. They focus on a small “chunk” of a standard, using terminology from the standard. 5. They should be written in kid-friendly language. 6. They should be posted for students to see and discussed with students at the beginning of the lesson.

The Connection between Learning Objectives and Formative Assessments Bookends Sandwich Without the objective and formative assessment, the whole lesson falls apart.

Time for a Break!!!

Connecting Formative Assessments to the Learning Objective If my daily learning objective is. . . “Students will compare the purposes of government in a monarchy and a democracy. ” My formative assessment might be. . . ? ? ? ? See pages 9 – 13 in packet for some examples

The Phenomenal Foldable Objective: Students will compare the purposes of government in a monarchy and a democracy. • Fold your paper in half hotdog style • Cut or rip a slit up the middle of the front section, creating four “flaps” • Write “monarchy” on the front of the left flap and “democracy” on the front of the right flap • (Leave the other two flaps blank for now) • Open the left flap and write a definition (in your own words) of monarchy on the top and underneath list purposes • Do the same on the right for democracy Does the assessment match the objective?

Other Ideas for Foldables • If you need to compare things over time, cut several flaps and add to the foldable over the course of several days or over the course of a unit • Use the foldables as study guides for tests • Be creative when completing the flaps – use illustrations, charts or graphs, definitions, examples, properties, characteristics, etc.

The Powerful Post-It Objective: Students will list the character traits of a character and will provide a supporting example from the passage. • On the top of your post-it note, list a character trait of The Wicked Witch of the West and underline it (no, you can’t use wicked!) • Underneath the trait, list one example from the story that supports this trait • Write your name on the back of the post-it note and stick it on the door

Great Ideas for Using Post-Its • Assign each class a specific color of post-it; at the end of the day you will be able to see trends in which classes ‘got it’ and which classes didn’t. • Have students stick the post-its on the classroom door as they leave – students throughout the day will stop and read them. At the end each class, scan the responses and pull off the incorrect notes. (If you are color-coding you can see if you have more of one color). Keep these and follow up with those students or classes the next day during the bell-ringer time.

More Post-It Ideas • If assessing multiple concepts (ex. Students can define the different types of rocks), ask – or assign – students to define or explain only one of these. Put chart paper around the room have students put their post-it on the correct chart. This way, you can get an overview for how well students mastered the material without taking up large amounts of time having them define or describe every single concept.

The Garbage Pile Objective: Students will identify right, acute and obtuse triangles. • Select one of the triangles (right, acute or obtuse) and draw an example of it on a blank sheet of paper. Do not label it. • Wad it up and throw it into the center of the room. • Go pick one up, unwad it, and tell a partner what kind of triangle it is and why. (Repeat as time permits). • Now, pick one up and take it back to your seat. Label it and explain how you know what type of triangle it is. Put your name at the top and turn it in.

More Fun Ideas for Formative Assessments • CPS or “Clicker” systems • Individual dry erase boards • Write on the desks with dry erase or water based markers • Yes/No, True/False, or ABCD cards • “Verbal” exit slips – student verbally responds to a teacher question before they walk out the door • Plain old exit slips

Time for a Break!!!

Looking at Student Work The Proving Approach The Improving Approach • Are they “getting it”? • Prove Student Learning Gains • Consider Behavioral or Life Factors—NOT Interventions that Might Move the Learner Forward • Held On to Predetermined Ideas About Student Abilities • Rigid Ideas about Correct Content • Closed to Unique Ways of Understanding • What are they thinking? • Improve Their Practice Through Reflecting on Data • Teachers Began to Understand What Students’ Needed as They Plan Further Instruction • Used a Variety of Assessments • Goal of Understandings Students’ Misconceptions • Teachers Sharpen Teaching Skills

Feedback—A Teacher’s Strongest Intervention • Feed Up—Clarify the Goal • Establish a Clear Purpose • Feed Back—Respond to Student Work • Directly Relate to Learning • Discrete Tasks as Part of Larger Project • Feed Forward—Modify Instruction • Plan Future Instruction • Modify Teaching • Flexibility in Lesson Planning

Formative Assessment in Action Formative Assessment Teacher Questions Number and Operations in Base 10—Grade 2 Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction. • In PLC—what does fluent look like for 2 nd graders? • Race to/from 100 • In Pairs students roll a pair of dice and continue to add or subtract until they reach 100 or 0. • As partners work, teacher collects data on which students quickly add and subtract. • Students share feedback on if their partner added or subtracted fluently. • From Observations— what students need extra instruction? • From Student Feedback —do students understand the goal? Is there clarity? • What will we see? • What shouldn’t we see?

Formative Assessment in Action Formative Assessment Teacher Questions Reading Standards for Literature—Grade 8 Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors. • Was the student able to compare and contrast the movie? • Where ideas unique? • Was there evidence to support the idea? • Venn Diagram • Students complete a Venn Diagram • What concepts need to comparing and contrasting a movie be retaught? and book. • What text and movie will • Students pick one idea from the help reteach? Venn Diagram and write a paragraph evaluating the choices • Did the student made by the director or actors. effectively evaluate the choices made by the director?

Formative Assessments Ideas • Use Any Activity that Pinpoints the Instructional Objective • Collect Individual or Group Data that will Inform Instruction • Have Professional Dialogue The KEY— Use the student work to inform your instruction!

Adjustments Made By Teachers • Intra-Lesson Adjustments • Change During a Lesson • Next-Lesson Adjustments • Modify Activities that Come Next • Multi-Lesson Adjustments • Major Concept Change Needed—Missing or Mastered • Two Key Questions • The Whether Question: Do I need to make any adjustments? • The What Question: If I do need to make any adjustments, what should those adjustments be?

3 Phase Dialogue for Teachers • Phase I: Prediction • What might we expect to see? • What might we expect to learn? • Phase II: Observation • What do students actually present? • What facts or patterns do we notice in the data? • Phase III: Inference and Conclusion • What hunches do we have about causes for what we observe? • Why are we getting the results we are?

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT STRATEGY 1. Clarify and share intentions and criteria 2. Engineer effective classroom discussion 3. Provide feedback that moves learners forward 4. Activate students as owners of their learning 5. Activate students as instructional resources for one another

K-W-L Chart K W L What do you think you KNOW about Formative Assessments? What do you WANT to know about Formative Assessments? What did you LEARN about Formative Assessments?

Presentation Information • • • Keep Learning—check out additional resources www. dcps. org Pick Any School Click on Teacher Websites Find Francis, Jana Beth Highlights • Blog • Handouts • Power. Point • Video—KET Education Matters • Books • Links to Resources