Ch. 4 Assessment Instruments and Practices- Understand Assessment Instruments and Practices, the Relationship Between Assessment and Instruction, and How to Use Assessment to Guide Instruction and Monitor Students' Learning Progress

Teachers use formative evaluations to answer the questions,

" What are the students learning? What do the students know or what skills are they demonstrating right now?" For example, a teacher might develop a checklist of skills that students are expected to perform by the end of the lesson and then observe certain students during the lesson, checking off the skills that the students demonstrate correctly. Class discussions and homework assignments can also be used as formative assessments. One of the important reason that teachers use formative assessment is to guide the direction of the lesson- that can use students' response to judge whether the lesson is going well or whether students need additional practice or more information.

Aligning Assessment and Instruction Valid assessment measures, whatever format they take, must be aligned directly with the student learning objectives and the instructional goals set by the teacher. There are two number of ways for teachers to align assessment and instruction

-Instruction guides assessment -Assessment guides instruction

Among most common accommodations for students with exceptionalities, such as learning or intellectual disabilities, are

-Offering additional time to complete an assessment (may be especially appropriate for students with learning or intellectual disabilities) -Providing a separate quiet location for testing (may be especially appropriate for students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) -Allowing breaks during the test period (may be especially appropriate for students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) -Offering large print, Braille, or other modified text (may be especially appropriate for students with visual disabilities) -Allowing assistive devices or resources such as computers, calculators, or dictionaries. (may be especially useful for students with physical or intellectual disabilities)

Objective tests (i.e., selected responses). These include

multiple-choice and matching tests. Objective tests that require students to recognize a correct answer are developmentally appropriate for elementary students, especially when used to asses whether students have learned information that is highly structured or concrete (e.g., identifying names, dates, definitions). Well-designed objective tests can also be used to assess higher level thinking, such as application or analogical reasoning (e.g., this Assessment of Professional Knowledge test requires you to apply your knowledge of teaching strategies to new scenarios).

Other informal assessment strategies include

-Asking students direct questions to see if they are understanding the material presented in a lesson -Having students call out or write answers on the board -Observing students to see if they are performing skills properly, following safety procedures, or staying on task -Reviewing student journals or other reflective writing to review their thought processes, feelings, or skills -Having direct conversations with students, including conferences or individual meetings to review their thought processes, feelings, or skills

When construction objective tests, teachers should:

-Avoid using the exact words from the test. Rather, paraphrase concepts, using developmentally appropriate vocabulary and sentence structure, to ensure understanding -Make each answer choice distinct from the others. -Present distractors that are plausible to students who have not fully mastered the material. -Phrase questions positively rather than negatively.

Some general guidelines to keep in mind:

-In the United States, test scores are confidential information under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Teachers can share assessment results with the students him/herself, that student's parents/guardians, and any school personnel directly involved with the student's education. Teachers cannot post scores publicly or in a fashion that allows identification (e.g., social security number), nor can teachers leave a stack of graded papers for students to pick up. -Teachers should be well informed about the test when communicating results to parents or students. Sometimes it's best to use general statements when communicating assessment results (e.g.., "your child is on target for children of her age"), but if a parents/guardian asks for more detailed or specific information, teachers are required to give it. For example, if a student scores at the "proficient" level on a standardized achievement students achieving this score, and the reliability of the test. -Be attentive to the feelings of the students and/or the families involve. "Your child scored significantly below the rest of the class" may be truthful, but an effective teacher should communicate in a positive, encouraging fashion. -Attend to differences in language and culture when discussing assessment results. Be sure that everyone understands the data and the implication. In some cases, student-led conferences, in which students describe their own work for their parents/guardians, can help ensure that all participants feel comfortable and understand the feedback.

Advantage of informal assessments include:

-Informal assessments can be used easily flexibly and without much advanced planning -Informal assessments can be easily integrated into classroom lessons -With informal assessments, teachers can provide immediate corrective feedback. -Informal assessments are usually not anxiety-producing for students Limitations include: -Informal assessments can be subject to bias. Teachers must take care not to form preconceptions about some students' abilities. -Teachers may not gather the same information from everyone. For example, teachers may call on certain students more than others and thus not adequately assess knowledge of some students

Essay tests (i.e., free-response tests). These tests require students to provide their own answers rather than select from a set of possible responses and are most appropriate for older elementary students who can write with little difficulty. Teachers typically use essays to asses writing and critical-thinking skills. When selecting or constructing essay tests, teachers should:

-Provide a structure or framework for the expected answer -Make sure the question is clear and not too broad of scope -Identify scoring criteria in advance, including examples of excellent or inadequate responses. Teachers may choose to share these examples with the students as models.

Students' assessment of their own work or their peers' work. Peer-and self-assessment can be used with older elementary students, especially for instructional activities that are student directed. Teachers use self-assessment and peer assessment when they want students to become agents of their own learning and to develop intrinsic motivation for schoolwork. The criteria for evaluation should be clear and simple. When peer-and self assessment are used to measure achievements, teachers may need to:

-Provide standards for evaluation in advance and ensure that students understand the standards. Often, students work with teachers to develop the evaluative criteria. -Provide training to ensure that students can reliably evaluate the work. -Develop checklists, rating scales, or other structured recording sheets to guide student evaluation.

Advantages of formal assessment include:

-Teachers have time to make sure the measures and reliable and valid (as discussed below) -Teachers can use one assessment measure, give at one time, to gather the same information about all students. Limitation include: -Formal assessments often take quite a bit of time to prepare, and it can be difficult to develop a reliable and valid measure. -Formal assessments usually take class time to administer. They should be written into the lesson plan appropriately -If standardized formal assessments are used (e.g., chapter exams created by the textbook company, state-wide achievement tests), teachers must be sure that they are appropriate and/or adapted for use with their students.

When providing feedback to students, then, teachers should

-Tie feedback directly to learning goals. For example, unless spelling and grammar are stated as learning goals, teachers may consider not marking all spelling errors in student writing (e.g., science experiments, math word problems). -Consider why the student made an error. If teachers can identify a misconception and the reasons it may have occurred, they can address it directly, help clarify the student's understanding and work with the student to identify strategies to correct the error or avoid it later -Describe the errors rather than just marking them. For example, "This statement isn't quite correct because it states that the veins carry blood away from the heart. Veins have a different job." describes the erroneous statement. Avoid making judgements about the student or his/her study strategies, such as "You don't see to understand" or "You must have read the information incorrectly." -Offer concrete strategies for improvement. For example, "If you check your textbook on p. 84, you will find the name of the blood vessel that carries blood away from the heart, and also a description of what veins do." provides a strategy the student can use to correct the error. -Balance feedback about errors or inconsistencies with feedback that focuses on student successes. For example, a teacher might say, "Your story has a good plot and is exciting. There is one event that might fit better in a different place in the story. Can you figure that out what that event is and where it might go?" -Offer feedback as soon as possible. Students need to recall their thinking processes to be able to consider why they made particular errors. Timely feedback is especially important for assessment measures that come in the midst of a lesson or unit, when students have opportunities to correct misconceptions or practice a skill before moving on to more advanced activities or new topics.

With young elementary students, teachers may need to guide these evaluations through specific questions or in individual conferences. When using portfolios, teachers should:

-Work with students to select materials for their portfolios -Develop criteria for evaluation, and share them with students in advance. -Share portfolios with parents/guardians at conferences or at the end of the year.

Teachers may also use informal measure, such as class discussion or journals, to identify what students know or think prior to beginning instruction and to help identify the appropriate level of instruction that is necessary. Teachers can use summative (i.e., end of unit) assessments in this way as well.

For example, if most of the teachers do poorly on a test or if they consistently show a particular misconception, teachers can re-teach the material right away, and they can redesign instruction to be more effective for later classes. In some cases, teacher can give both diagnostic assessments and summative assessments (i.e., a pretest and a post-test) on the same material to make inferences about what students learn from the lesson itself.

Interpreting and Communicating Assessment Scores To understand and communicate about student achievement, teachers have to interpret assessment measures accurately. To do so, they need a basic understanding of how assessment measures are scored and what the scores mean.

For example, the most common type of score, usually indicates the number of correct responses on a particular assessment measure. For example, on a quiz with 10 points, a student can earn 1, 2, 3 points, and so on up to a raw score of 10. Interpreting a raw score requires knowledge of the test-for example, a score of 3 is only useful to someone who know the total number of questions. For that reason, raw scores are often transformed into percentages (i.e., 30% correct) or respond as ratios (i.e., 3/10).

Figure 4.1: Various Forms of Educational Assessments

Informal assessment: Involves spontaneous, unsystematic observations. Formal assessment: Involves preplanned, systematic data gathering Paper-pencil assessment: Involves written responses Performance assessment: Involves non written behaviors Standardized test: Developed by experts for use in many schools Teacher-developed assessment: Developed by teachers for their own classrooms Criterion-referenced assessment: Indicates mastery or non mastery of specific topics Norm-referenced assessment: Compares performance to that of peers Traditional assessment: Assesses learning separate from real-world tasks Authentic assessment: Assesses to apply learning to real-world tasks

Table 4.1 shows recommendations for when to use norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessments. Table 4.1: Two Kinds of Test Interpretations

Norm-referenced test interpretation may work best when they are -Measuring general ability (strengths and weaknesses) in certain areas, such as English, algebra, general science, or American history. -Assessing the range of abilities in a large group -Selecting top candidates when only a few openings are available Criterion-referenced tests may work best when you are -Measuring mastery of basic skills -Determining if students have prerequisites to start a new unit. -Assessing affective and psychomotor objectives. -Providing evidence that students have met learning standards. -Grouping students for instruction.

Portfolio. Teachers use portfolios, which are samples of

a student's work systematically collected over a period of time, to capture a broad pictures of the student's interests, achievements, and abilities and to summarize student performance on complex tasks. Portfolios can include many kinds of items, such as writing samples, constructions or inventions, photographs, audio recordings, video recordings, etc. They frequently include the students' own evaluations and descriptions of their work and their feelings about their achievements.

Self-assessment may be even more challenging for some elementary students to perform because it requires

abstract thinking. In addition, unbiased evaluations of one's own work may threaten students' sense of self-efficacy. Teachers can help students conduct self-evaluations by providing rubrics and checklists. Teachers can also encourage self-evaluation through reflective journals or by guiding student to collect materials for portfolios. As with peer evaluations, students who engage in self-evaluation may need help defining and applying evaluative criteria and may need examples, guided practice, corrective feedback, and reinforcement for effective and accurate self-assessments.

Performance assessments. These are a specific type of observation best used for assessment of procedural knowledge (i.e., skills). Performance assessments are well suited for the

arts and sciences, as well as for motor skills. For example, teachers can observe how students perform a particular skill, such as whether they use one or two hands to bounce a ball or how they hold a pencil when writing. Teachers also may use performance assessments to evaluate the outcome or product of the performance (e.g., how many times the student can bounce the ball before losing control, the neatness of student's writing or the letter formations).

Educational assessments takes many forms,

as show in Figure 4.1. Some of the most important forms for you to know are discussed below.

Assessment guides instruction Teachers can also use assessment to guide instruction. For example, teachers can assess student knowledge before an instructional unit and then plan lessons and activities based on the results of that assessment. This type of assessment can be formal,

as when a teacher gives a diagnostic assessment at the start of a unit to assess students' knowledge prior to instruction (also known as pretesting) and then plans activities to address what the students don't know.

Moreover, teachers need not wait until the end of the unit to use

assessment measures to drive instruction. For example, teachers can assign and review homework, quizzes, and in-class projects. They can also observe or ask questions during the lessons and refocus the lessons mid-stream, rather than waiting until the end of a unit when misconceptions may already be established. Most important is the idea that teachers use assessment data to inform decisions about instruction.

The greatest benefit of using multiple measures of assessment is that, together, the

assessment provide a more complete picture of student performance and therefore allow the teacher to make more informed decisions about instruction.

Teachers can offer rubrics or checklists that include

both grading criteria and examples of effective and less effective student responses and can provide opportunities for guided practice. Allowing students to help create the grading criteria can enhance both their understanding of the standards and their engagement in the task itself.

Teachers can use standardized tests when they want or need to

compare the results from various student subgroups. For example, if a student take the same standardized achievement test in both the fourth and fifth grades, a teacher (or parent/guardian) can compare the results to determine how much the student learned in the intervening time.

Other sources of feedback Effective feedback can come from sources other than the teacher. For example, for some types of lessons, teachers may choose to use

computer-based learning tools that provide immediate feedback on each question.

When assessing students who are English language learners, teachers need first to

consider the students' proficiency in English. In some cases, teachers may be able to test English language learners in their heritage languages; this adaptation may be required if the students also receive instruction in their heritage languages. When a language-specific assessment is not available or appropriate, teachers and/or educational professionals can support English language learners by providing extra time, allowing English dictionaries or translators, or offering test instructions in the students' heritage language. In all cases, teachers need to ensure that any modifications are the students' heritage language. In all cases, teachers need to ensure that any modifications are reliable, valid, and fair-they must not provide any benefit to any student over his or her peers.

Using multiple measures is particularly beneficial when assessing students with special needs who may have

difficulty with certain testing formats. In some cases, teachers not only need to use multiple assessment measures but also may need to modify the measures to address students' needs. Two examples are students who are English language learners and students with exceptionalities.

Providing Effective Feedback Effective teachers know how to

discuss grades and other evaluations with students in ways that reduce anxiety but provide honest and constructive feedback that focuses on ways to improve. Keep in mind that good feedback promotes new learning, but students may need help to interpret or understand the feedback.

Practicality refers, broadly, to

ease of use. For example, when evaluating practicality, teachers may ask, "Is the measure affordable given the budget?" "Can it be administered by current staff or with little training?" "Is special equipment needed?" "Can it be completed in the time allowed?" Sometimes, measures that are standardized, reliable, and valid are simply impractical in given circumstances (e.g., a 2-day achievement test must be sent to the test creator for scoring).

Characteristics of High Quality Assessments When considering a particular assessment measurement measure, teachers should

evaluate the tool or instrument based on four characteristics. The acronyms RSVP is used to help recall these characteristics: Reliability, Standardization, Validity, and Practicality.

When one person's performance is compared to the average (i.e., mean) score for all students in the same grade taking the same test, a

grade-equivalent scored is reported. For example, if the average (raw) score for all fourth graders taking a reading achievement test in the first semester is 72, then any student who scores a 72 would have a fourth-grade equivalent score; students score above 72 would be performing comparably to students in a later semester or in a higher grade. Similarly, age-equivalent scores are computed by comparing one person's performance to the average score for all individuals at the same age taking the same test.

The validity of an assessment instrument refer to

how well it measures what it is intended to measure. For example, a final exam which only has 10 multiple-choice questions is probably not a valid assessment of everything a student has learned in an entire term. On the other hand, a 50 question test will only be a more valid measure if the questions are appropriate to the content of the curriculum whether their measures are valid by aligning the content of any test with the learning objectives and/or content standards and by asking, "Does this assessment measure what I expect the students to have learned?" Measures that are not valid should not be used.

Selecting Assessment Instruments and Practices Selecting the appropriate assessment instrument depends primarily on the specific instructional situation. In other words, effective assessments align with the

instructional objectives, and certain kinds of assessments fit better with certain lessons or assignments. Written tests may be the most commonly used assessment measures. Alternative assessment approaches include observations, performance evaluations, portfolios, peer evaluation, and student self-evaluation, among others. Examples of assessment instruments, along with their typical uses, follow.

Observations of student behavior. Observation can be informal or formal and is especially useful when a teacher is

interested in nonverbal behaviors. Observations is most systematic when teachers identify or list specific behaviors to observe. Teachers can use checklists or frequency charts to guide an observation and to summarize the students' behaviors easily. For example, a teacher might observe a student during class discussion, keep a tally of the number of times the student performs a particular action (e.g., raise hand, speaks out of turn) during each discussion, and then compute an average for that student.

Reliability. The reliability of an assessment instrument refers to

its consistency in measurement. In other words, if the same person took the same test more than once under the same conditions and received a very similar score, the instrument is highly reliable. Note that it is rare that a student will receive EXACTLY the same score on two administrations of the same test. Sometimes the student will face a difficult question and will guess differently on each administration. Sometimes students make careless errors in marking or computation, and sometimes factors in the test environment (e.g., noise, heat) affect student performance. This difference in scores across repeated administration of a test is known as the standard error of measurement. A reliable test will have a low standard error of measurement.

In addition to evaluating the RSVP characteristics of assessment measures, teachers must ensure that the

measures-and those who score them-are fair and unbiased. Sometimes the content is biased. For example, questions that require material that would be unfamiliar to students from a particular background should not be used. In other situations, the testing procedures is biased. For example, students with limited English-language skills may have trouble understanding formal written instructions. Measures that are biased should be modified or replaced.

Standardized tests. These tests are developed by test construction experts and are used in many different schools and settings. Standardized tests can include both

objective and essay components. Teachers most often use standardized tests to measure achievement of state content standards. If using a standardized test in class (e.g., one that was provided along with the textbook), teachers should ensure that it is valid-that it assessed material that students were taught in class.

Informal assessments are spontaneous measures of student achievement. For example, teachers who listen to the types

of questions ask during a lesson are informally assessing the degree to which they comprehend the lesson. Similarly, when teachers observe students during daily tasks-at play, with peers, at their desks, during routines-they are informally assessing them.

Another way to align assessment with the instruction that precedes it is to

plan all assessment measures at the same time as the lessons are initially planned. For example, a chemistry teacher may have an instructional goal for students to learn about a particular chemical reaction. The teacher may then plan a laboratory exercise during which students mix chemicals to test reactions and, at the same time, a question for a unit-final exam (given at the end of a term) that ask students to predict the outcome of certain mixtures of chemicals.

Formal assessments are

planned and structured. Teachers use formal assessments to assess each students' knowledge, so usually every student completes the same assessment. Quizzes, exams, homework assignments, and in-class projects are formal assignments. Specific instruments that are most commonly used in formal assessments, including testing, performance evaluations, and portfolios, are discussed in detail in the next section.

Feedback from peer assessment can be an effective learning tool, but many students are

reluctant to provide negative feedback to peers. In addition, most elementary students do not know how to focus on the most relevant aspects of peer work that reflect understanding of the learning goals (e.g., some will focus on spelling or handwriting instead of content). As a results, students will need guidance when learning how to evaluate each other. (checklists)

Competency 4

requires that you recognize commonly used assessment formats and measures and know how and when they are best applied. It is critical that the proper assessment formats and measures and know how and when they are best applied. It is critical that the proper assessment be selected for the intended purpose. For example, if the instructional objective involves students' use of proper spelling in written work. Understanding processes, benefits, and limits of peer evaluation and self-assessment is also expected.

Instruction guides assessment Teachers need to ensure that assessments are appropriate and valid for the instruction-are they testing what they are teaching? One way to do this is to use

standardized tests that come with textbooks. These assessments were typically validated-in other words, the test creators designed them to ensure that the content of the test aligns with the content of the book. If the teacher covers all content in the textbook, for example, a standardized final exam should be a valid assessment that aligns properly with the instructional goal.

Teachers must also explain results of assessments using language appropriate for the audience, whether that audience includes the student themselves, the parents/guardians or school administrators. Keep in mind that the most effective feedback addresses the

student's specific needs, is honest about strengths and weaknesses, and offers suggestions for improvement.

Criterion-referenced assessments are designed to provide information about whether

students have mastered particular educational objectives. For example, a teacher might give a 20 question math test to measure whether students understand how to divide fractions. Each student is scored against the criterion-how much of the content or how many of the goals has the student met? In contrast, scores or norm-referenced assessments are determined by comparing a student's performance with the performance of others. Table 4.1 shows recommendations for when to use norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessments.

In other situations, such as standardized testing, scores are reported in percentiles or scale scores. In percentile ranking, each student's individual score is compared with the individual scores of other students taking the same test at the same time (i.e., a norm-referenced score). The percentile rank shows the percentage of

students in the group who scored equivalent to or below a particular raw score-not the percentage of correct answers. For example, if a student accurately answered 83% of the questions on a test and had the highest score in the class, the students would have a percentile rank of 100%-100% of the group scored at or below 83% correct. In this situation teachers would describe this student as "in the top 1% of the class."

When teachers want an overall summary of what students have learned, such as at the end of a lesson, they use a

summative evaluation. Final exams are summative assessments; so are high-stakes achievement tests. As with all assessments, it is critical that any measure designed for summative assessment adheres closely to the learning objectives.

Woolfolk provides a comprehensive list of

testing accommodations for students with special needs. Note, however, that a student who receives special education services will have an Individualized Education Program that may recommend or specify modifications that can or should be made. A teacher's first step when considering modifications for a student with special needs, then, is to consult that student's IEP.

Criterion-referenced assessments and norm-referenced assessments differ in

the way they are scored.

Teachers can also evaluate the reliability of an assessment by having

two teachers score the same performance (e.g., if two teachers give the same grade for one student's essay, the test is reliable) or by comparing a student's scores on part of the test to another comparable part of the test (e.g., on a reliable test, students have similar average scores for all the even and all the odd questions). If an assessment instrument is not reliable, teachers should not use the results to draw inferences about students' achievement or abilities.

Standardization refers to

uniformity in the content and administration of an assessment measure. In other words, standardization measures have similar content and format and are administered and scored in the same way for everyone. For example, a teacher offers a standardized procedures when all students have the same amount of time. Measures that standardized help reduce bias in testing and scoring.

Multiple Assessment Measures Assessments should provide a

valid and reliable record of what students know, have learned, and/or can do. However, no single test is a perfect measure of what all students know or can do. For this reason, it is appropriate, when evaluating student achievement, to use multiple assessment measures. For example, a student with test anxiety may perform poorly on standardized achievement tests but extremely well on homework, in-class activities, and projects. Or, a student who prefers visual material may be better able to demonstrate understanding when using a graphic or manipulative materials than pencil-and-paper tests.