ASSESSMENT
Differentiating Assessment
"We believe that everyone benefits when tests are viewed as celebrations of the brain's phenomenal abilities, not dreaded events." (Chapman & King p. 25)
Assessment: A judgment or appraisal of the learner's work and specific needs. The direction for immediate and future instruction is based on information gathered with formal or informal procedures.
Formative Assessment: Ongoing daily assessment before, during and after instruction to identify needs and provide continuous feedback. (Chapman & King p. 4)
Summative Assessment: Evaluation of student work occurring at the end of a unit or period of study. (Chapman & King p. 4)
Ipsative Assessment: A form of meta cognitive self-assessment of a skill by which the learner compares a present performance with a prior performance to set a goal for future improvement. (Chapman & King P. 4)
Technology Based Assessment:
Why do teachers need to use assessments?
Because students are different!!
Teachers use assessments to gather information about student's different:
-Knowledge bases
-Motivations
-Emotions and desires
-Multiple Intelligences
-Prior Experiences and backgrounds
-Attitudes toward the topic or subject
-Abilities, interests and talents
-Entry points for new information
(Chapman & King p. 2)
Key Points:
- Assessment is continuous (before, during and after instruction)
- Assessment is a prerequisite to planning
- Assessment is interconnected with learning environment, classroom management, curriculum and instruction.
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
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Pre-assessment Tools:
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ON-GOING ASSESSMENT
Ongoing assessment is defined as on-going daily assessment before, during and after instruction to identify needs and provide continuous feedback. (Chapman & King p. 4) Teachers use on-going assessment tools to identify a need for: -planning a variety of instructional strategies -reteaching, revamping, or enriching -using flexible grouping -adjusting an assignment -providing an alternative resource -probing or questioning -providing interventions and extra assistance -giving specific praise and encouragement (Chapman & King p. 83) or -Document a students ongoing progress -Record the learner's strengths and weaknesses -Identify tasks needed for individual and groups -Assist in planning adjustable groups -Guide selection and monitoring of appropriate resources and materials -Support and guide instruction -Identify behavior patterns (Chapman & King p. 84) Teachers have a variety of tools available to them for daily assessment:
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POST INSTRUCTION ASSESSMENT
As the name indicates the following strategies are for after instruction has taken place. At this point the teacher has preassessed the students, to determine interest, prior knowledge and motivation for the topic. She has made daily assessments and adjustments based on those to the curriculum and now, after having finished the instruction on the topic she wants to assess her students to see what they have learned. Post Instruction Assessment Tools:
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"The wealth of knowledge acquired by students should be celebrated as a bright point in their educational experiences; too often, though, standardized tests place a dark cloud over the joy of learning. This doesn't have to be true. An appropriately stages test scene creates positive attitudes and successful experiences to foster the love of learning." Chapman & King p. 129
Summative Assessments:
Summative assessments include standardized tests, however really they are used to evaluate student learning as compared to some benchmark or standard. Meaning that after a certain period of instruction teachers will give a summative assessment to see how the students measure up to the essential standards and benchmarks. Many times summative assessments are harder to differentiate because they have specific guidelines, but a teacher can also write summative assessments based on what she has been teaching. This allows her to include what she has actually taught. However, in the case of standardized tests the students are being measured against benchmarks that are not decided on by the teacher. They have specific requirements and are based on the goals determined by the district, state, and federal government.
Accomadations: These factors are in the teachers control and the teacher should consider if any of her students would benefit being accommodated in one of these ways.
Creating a positive testing environment will help set the students at ease.
Give effective directions to ensure that students understand what they are supposed to be doing and the schedule that the testing session is going to take.
Teach test taking skills during normal classroom activities.
(Chapman & King 124-127)
Summative assessments include standardized tests, however really they are used to evaluate student learning as compared to some benchmark or standard. Meaning that after a certain period of instruction teachers will give a summative assessment to see how the students measure up to the essential standards and benchmarks. Many times summative assessments are harder to differentiate because they have specific guidelines, but a teacher can also write summative assessments based on what she has been teaching. This allows her to include what she has actually taught. However, in the case of standardized tests the students are being measured against benchmarks that are not decided on by the teacher. They have specific requirements and are based on the goals determined by the district, state, and federal government.
Accomadations: These factors are in the teachers control and the teacher should consider if any of her students would benefit being accommodated in one of these ways.
- Seating: Provide opportunities for students to choose comfortable places to work, make a specific seating assignment to meet an individual's need, space the desks to all free movement for monitoring.
- Time: If possible, decide how many tests to administer each day, and select the most appropriate time to give them, plan brief transition sessions of enjoyable, physical activity in fresh air to rejuvenate the students' brains. If it is not possible to go outside between assessment segments, engage the learners in challenging but relaxing activities in high-interest areas; if possible, administer assessments when the students are most alert. For example, research reveals that high school students are most alert in the afternoon.
- Tools: Provide the tools the students need to be successful if they fit within the assessment rules and guidelines. Make scratch paper, calculators, pencils, placeholders, pencil grips and erasers available. Use novel tools to entice the students during assessment sessions.
- Personal needs: Provide a privacy cubicle to a student who is easily distracted, separate students who are peer-dependent, identify learners who have special needs that require specific equipment, and have it available for the assessment session.
Creating a positive testing environment will help set the students at ease.
Give effective directions to ensure that students understand what they are supposed to be doing and the schedule that the testing session is going to take.
Teach test taking skills during normal classroom activities.
(Chapman & King 124-127)
Above I listed and explained a variety of assessments that a teacher can use. The point of all of these was to demonstrate that there are a wide variety of assessments and each and every one of these assessments can be differentiated for different students. A teacher may use different assessments for different students, she may allow one student to answer questions on a different level than another student. Also remember that just because it is called an assessment does not mean there has to be a grade for it. A teacher uses these assessment tools to get to know her students.