Reflective Journal #8
Description:
Chapter 13 focuses on how to assess student learning. It first discussed how objectives guide lessons and goals for student learning in the classroom. It then discusses why evaluation is important and the types of evaluation that can be used in the classroom including how to write test questions effectively. Finally, it discusses how to construct performance assessments and how to grade those assessments. Overall, the intentional teachers should make sure to think about how they will assess student learning first before building the content on the lesson or unit plan.
Analysis:
Assessing student learning can be a challenging task. Intentional teachers should always consider what they want their students to learn before beginning to build any type of lesson plan. A good way to do this is to start with an instructional objective. Instructional objectives are "statements of skills or concepts that students are expected to know at the end of some period of instruction" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 340). Objectives must clearly state what the students need to know how to do but also include "the conditions under which the performance is to occur" and "the criterion of acceptable performance" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 340). This can be difficult because they are so specific. In order to write clear objectives, teachers really need to consider their students knowledge on the subject and the skills they will need in order to achieve the objective. This can be done through a "task analysis" which outlines the "skills and tasks that are to be taught or assigned" during the lesson (Slavin, 2015, pg. 342). Once the objectives have been established, then teachers can begin thinking about how they will evaluate their students mastery of those objectives.
Evaluation is critical to making sure that students have mastered the skills or gained the knowledge that was outlined in the objective. Evaluation serves as "feedback to students, feedback to teachers, information to parents, information for selection and certification, information for accountability, and incentives to increase student effort" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 348). The first of these purposes is for feedback which is critical for students, teachers and parents. Without feedback, students do not know how well they are doing in your classroom. Without feedback, teachers also cannot make decisions on what content to teach next. And finally without feedback, parents do not know how their student is doing and may raises concerns about what is happening in the classroom.
There are two main types of evaluations that can be used in the classroom. These are "formative and summative evaluations" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 350). A formative evaluation is used frequently, usually daily, to let teachers know how students are doing on a given assignment or skill. A summative evaluation "refers to the tests of student knowledge at the end of instruction units" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 350). Teachers should plan evaluations as part of their lesson plan and summative evaluations should be planned before anything else in the unit so teachers have an end goal in mind while they are working through the unit.
In addition, teachers should consider how they will use the data from the assessments. There are two ways that evaluations can be used to give teachers the feedback they need. "Norm-referenced interpretations" allow teachers to "compare student's scores on assessments with those of other students" while "criterion-referenced interpretations" allows teachers to "assess student's mastery of specific skills, regardless on how other students did on the same skills" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 350). Teachers must make informed decisions on which type of interpretation will work best for the assessment that was given and the data that is needed.
Tests are constructed in many ways. It is important that teachers take the time to write well-constructed tests so that their students can easily understand the expectations and so the tests will lead to a collection of data that shows what the students know. Acheivement tests should "measure clearly defined learning objectives that are in harmony with instructional objectives" and should "improve learning" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 354). This can be done by using a "table of specifications" where the objectives are listed (Slavin, 2015, pg. 356). This allows teachers to know what tests questions need to be constructed to meet each objective. In addition, teachers can vary the types of test questions by using multiple choice, fill in the blank, true-false, matching, or written responses (Slavin, 2015, pg. 360-361). Varying the types of questions allows for your students to see a variety of options when taking the tests that work on the different skills they posses.
Assessments do not always have to be in the form of tests. They may also be "authentic or performance assessments" which "demonstrate acheivement in realistic contexts" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 367). These assessments ask students to do something with the information they learned rather than just simply recalling it for a test. These can come in the form of choice projects, portfolios, or other types of performance assessments. In order to be effective alternative assessments they must be clear in their construction and provide a rubric for students so they understand the expectations and how they will be graded on the assessment.
Finally, teachers must think about how they will assign grades to their students for the work they have completed in the classroom. Assigning grades is "one of the most perplexing and controversial tasks you face" as a teacher (Slavin, 2015, pg. 372). School systems establish grading scales that teachers can use to guide their decision making. Sometimes schools even go further by establishing percentages for scoring things like formative and summative assessments. It is important to follow the requirements that are set in place for you as the teacher but also to be fair to your students. Using rubrics and sticking to your grading policy for late work or retakes of assessments is important to allowing all students the same opportunity to earn their grade in the class.
Intentional teachers understand the importance of assessment in their classroom. They work to write clear instructional objectives and use a method of backwards design to plan their lessons. Summative assessments guide unit plans and teachers always understand the end goal of what their students should be able to master when the content has been delivered effectively. In addition, intention teachers create "a variety of assessments that reliably determine whether students have or have not mastered essential concepts and skills" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 376). Finally, intentional teachers make sure to deliver grades fairly to students and give them multiple opportunities to improve their grade and their mastery of the instructional objectives.
Reflection:
In my classroom, assessment is something I think about on a daily basis. While planning for instruction, I take a look at the objectives I would like my students to meet each day of the unit and then as well on the summative assessment. I begin with the unit summative assessment in mind and make sure to use backwards design to plan the lessons that are needed to achieve the summative assessments. As the text said, well defined objectives are imperative to guided lesson planning. However, it can be difficult to define objectives that outline student learning goals which include conditions and criterion. Collaboration with my fellow 9th grade teachers allows me to have help in defining the goals we want our students to master by the end of the unit.
In addition, we also use common summative assessments in our 9th grade team. We have many of these assessments established from years prior but try to update them each school year. In addition we like to vary the type of assessments we give. In some units we may give tests while in others we may do an essay or project. Students seem to appreciate the differing assessments. We also like to give choice for performance assessments so students can develop the project that highlights their skills and talents.
Formative assessment is something I use daily in my classroom. This ranges from questioning observation of student learning through direct instruction or group instruction models to quizzes and ticket-out-the-door activities which give me data on how well the students are understanding the content. I try to make sure to always incorporate some type of formative assessment into each day's lesson, usually formatively assessing throughout the lesson. I then use this data to guide my decisions on whether content needs to revised in the next lesson or if we can move on to new information.
Grading in my classroom is well defined by the school's expectations. Our county has established percentages for formative and summative assessments in each classroom. Formative assessments count for 25% of the students overall grade while summative assessments count for 75%. In addition, I teach an EOC course which counts for 20% of the students grade regardless of their grade in the class. I give my students multiple opportunities to improve their grade throughout the school year. I will take any formative assignment late and students can earn up to a 70% on the assignment. For summative assignments, we offer recovery opportunities such as test corrections and often retakes if needed. When a student does not pass the class, it is not a reflection of the opportunity they had to do well.
Overall, as an intentional teacher I make sure to guide my evaluation of student learning through clear and measurable objectives. I use formative and summative assessments that are well planned and varied. I make sure my students understand how they will be assessed and have multiple opportunities to improve their grade on those assessments. I believe that fair grading and frequent feedback help my students to be successful in my classroom.
Reference
Slavin, R. E. (2015). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. Pearson.
Analysis:
Assessing student learning can be a challenging task. Intentional teachers should always consider what they want their students to learn before beginning to build any type of lesson plan. A good way to do this is to start with an instructional objective. Instructional objectives are "statements of skills or concepts that students are expected to know at the end of some period of instruction" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 340). Objectives must clearly state what the students need to know how to do but also include "the conditions under which the performance is to occur" and "the criterion of acceptable performance" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 340). This can be difficult because they are so specific. In order to write clear objectives, teachers really need to consider their students knowledge on the subject and the skills they will need in order to achieve the objective. This can be done through a "task analysis" which outlines the "skills and tasks that are to be taught or assigned" during the lesson (Slavin, 2015, pg. 342). Once the objectives have been established, then teachers can begin thinking about how they will evaluate their students mastery of those objectives.
Evaluation is critical to making sure that students have mastered the skills or gained the knowledge that was outlined in the objective. Evaluation serves as "feedback to students, feedback to teachers, information to parents, information for selection and certification, information for accountability, and incentives to increase student effort" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 348). The first of these purposes is for feedback which is critical for students, teachers and parents. Without feedback, students do not know how well they are doing in your classroom. Without feedback, teachers also cannot make decisions on what content to teach next. And finally without feedback, parents do not know how their student is doing and may raises concerns about what is happening in the classroom.
There are two main types of evaluations that can be used in the classroom. These are "formative and summative evaluations" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 350). A formative evaluation is used frequently, usually daily, to let teachers know how students are doing on a given assignment or skill. A summative evaluation "refers to the tests of student knowledge at the end of instruction units" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 350). Teachers should plan evaluations as part of their lesson plan and summative evaluations should be planned before anything else in the unit so teachers have an end goal in mind while they are working through the unit.
In addition, teachers should consider how they will use the data from the assessments. There are two ways that evaluations can be used to give teachers the feedback they need. "Norm-referenced interpretations" allow teachers to "compare student's scores on assessments with those of other students" while "criterion-referenced interpretations" allows teachers to "assess student's mastery of specific skills, regardless on how other students did on the same skills" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 350). Teachers must make informed decisions on which type of interpretation will work best for the assessment that was given and the data that is needed.
Tests are constructed in many ways. It is important that teachers take the time to write well-constructed tests so that their students can easily understand the expectations and so the tests will lead to a collection of data that shows what the students know. Acheivement tests should "measure clearly defined learning objectives that are in harmony with instructional objectives" and should "improve learning" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 354). This can be done by using a "table of specifications" where the objectives are listed (Slavin, 2015, pg. 356). This allows teachers to know what tests questions need to be constructed to meet each objective. In addition, teachers can vary the types of test questions by using multiple choice, fill in the blank, true-false, matching, or written responses (Slavin, 2015, pg. 360-361). Varying the types of questions allows for your students to see a variety of options when taking the tests that work on the different skills they posses.
Assessments do not always have to be in the form of tests. They may also be "authentic or performance assessments" which "demonstrate acheivement in realistic contexts" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 367). These assessments ask students to do something with the information they learned rather than just simply recalling it for a test. These can come in the form of choice projects, portfolios, or other types of performance assessments. In order to be effective alternative assessments they must be clear in their construction and provide a rubric for students so they understand the expectations and how they will be graded on the assessment.
Finally, teachers must think about how they will assign grades to their students for the work they have completed in the classroom. Assigning grades is "one of the most perplexing and controversial tasks you face" as a teacher (Slavin, 2015, pg. 372). School systems establish grading scales that teachers can use to guide their decision making. Sometimes schools even go further by establishing percentages for scoring things like formative and summative assessments. It is important to follow the requirements that are set in place for you as the teacher but also to be fair to your students. Using rubrics and sticking to your grading policy for late work or retakes of assessments is important to allowing all students the same opportunity to earn their grade in the class.
Intentional teachers understand the importance of assessment in their classroom. They work to write clear instructional objectives and use a method of backwards design to plan their lessons. Summative assessments guide unit plans and teachers always understand the end goal of what their students should be able to master when the content has been delivered effectively. In addition, intention teachers create "a variety of assessments that reliably determine whether students have or have not mastered essential concepts and skills" (Slavin, 2015, pg. 376). Finally, intentional teachers make sure to deliver grades fairly to students and give them multiple opportunities to improve their grade and their mastery of the instructional objectives.
Reflection:
In my classroom, assessment is something I think about on a daily basis. While planning for instruction, I take a look at the objectives I would like my students to meet each day of the unit and then as well on the summative assessment. I begin with the unit summative assessment in mind and make sure to use backwards design to plan the lessons that are needed to achieve the summative assessments. As the text said, well defined objectives are imperative to guided lesson planning. However, it can be difficult to define objectives that outline student learning goals which include conditions and criterion. Collaboration with my fellow 9th grade teachers allows me to have help in defining the goals we want our students to master by the end of the unit.
In addition, we also use common summative assessments in our 9th grade team. We have many of these assessments established from years prior but try to update them each school year. In addition we like to vary the type of assessments we give. In some units we may give tests while in others we may do an essay or project. Students seem to appreciate the differing assessments. We also like to give choice for performance assessments so students can develop the project that highlights their skills and talents.
Formative assessment is something I use daily in my classroom. This ranges from questioning observation of student learning through direct instruction or group instruction models to quizzes and ticket-out-the-door activities which give me data on how well the students are understanding the content. I try to make sure to always incorporate some type of formative assessment into each day's lesson, usually formatively assessing throughout the lesson. I then use this data to guide my decisions on whether content needs to revised in the next lesson or if we can move on to new information.
Grading in my classroom is well defined by the school's expectations. Our county has established percentages for formative and summative assessments in each classroom. Formative assessments count for 25% of the students overall grade while summative assessments count for 75%. In addition, I teach an EOC course which counts for 20% of the students grade regardless of their grade in the class. I give my students multiple opportunities to improve their grade throughout the school year. I will take any formative assignment late and students can earn up to a 70% on the assignment. For summative assignments, we offer recovery opportunities such as test corrections and often retakes if needed. When a student does not pass the class, it is not a reflection of the opportunity they had to do well.
Overall, as an intentional teacher I make sure to guide my evaluation of student learning through clear and measurable objectives. I use formative and summative assessments that are well planned and varied. I make sure my students understand how they will be assessed and have multiple opportunities to improve their grade on those assessments. I believe that fair grading and frequent feedback help my students to be successful in my classroom.
Reference
Slavin, R. E. (2015). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. Pearson.
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