Classroom Assessment Chapter Four

manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the mind

attitude

the act or an instance of motivating, or providing with a reason to act in a certain way:

motivation

the process by which an organism detects and interprets information from the external world by means of the sensory receptors

self perception

Analyze scoring criteria

checklist: simple listing of criteria and you will simply check off whether they do it or not, it is a yes or no decision, good for evaluating a sequence of steps rating scale: used to indicate the degree to which each criteria were met, provides a way to record and communicate qualitatively different levels of performance rubric (holistic or analytical): scoring guide that includes a scale that spans different level of competency, holistic rubric is one in which each category of the scale contains several criteria and yields a single overall score, analytical rubrics is one in which each criteria receives a separate score

ways to evaluate a portfolio - individualized

informal feedback on work samples

Steps in designing a performance task

-Step 1: IDENTIFY PERFORMANCE TASK: what the students are required to do, what subject it is, level of complexity it will be, restricted type (gets a narrowly defined skill and requires brief responses, structured and specific, told exactly what to do, fairly quick to do), extended type (complex and elaborate, students use a variety of sources for info, takes a longer time to complete, students are allowed to choose an activity for the project) -Step 2: PREPARE THE TASK DESCRIPTION: purpose is to provide a blueprint or list of specifications to ensure certain criteria is met and that the task is reasonable, needs to match what was learned and done in class so students are familiar with what they need to do, include the following: content and skill targets to be assessed, description of activity, group or individual project, is help allowed, what resources are needed, what is the teacher's role, how to administrate the task, and the scoring procedure.... -Step 3: PREPARE THE PERFORMANCE TASK QUESTION OR PROMPT : needs to clearly identify what the final outcome or product is, outlines what the students are allowed to do, explains the criteria

Questions to ask to students to encourage self-assessment and reflection for a portfolio assessment

-let them see examples, engage in their own reflection orally with other students, let them label their work as best work & most creative & most improved etc.. -Elementary students: give them open-ended statements to answer "this piece was selected because...", "what I would do to make this better is.."- Middle School and High School: for individualized pieces ( what do you see as the strengths on this work? what have you learned from this work? if you could keep working on this, what would you do?) for comprehensive reflection on the entire portfolio (how has your work changed over time? what have you learned from developing this portfolio?)

Essential components of performance-based assessments

-should integrate the most essential aspects of the content being assessed with the most essential skills -should be authentic (real life situation) -assess multiple learning targets -structured so that you can help the students succeed -make the task possible for students but slightly challenging -allow for multiple answers -task should be clear -include explicit scoring criteria -include restrictions for the task

Identifying key characteristics leading to good scoring criteria of a performance

Determining the proficiency level for a skill for a performance-based assessment -be sure the criteria focus on important aspects of the performance-match the type of rating with the purpose of the assignment (ex. use holistic rubric if you want an overall judgment. use analytical rubrics if you want to provide feedback about different aspects of the assessment) -description of the criteria should be CLEAR characteristics in the rubric should be specifically defined so the students know exactly what you are looking for-take steps to minimize scoring error (look at ways to ensure fairness when grading)-use a fair amount of criteria, focus on what is important and limit the number of criteria

illustrates competence on completion of a single task, examples: history final presentation

Project Portfolio

Limitations of performance-based assessments

Reliability: they are subject to personal judgement in scoring so it lowers reliability Sampling: they are time consuming so you will not do a ton of them so you will have few samples of student ability to use, if the task is restrictive and you tell the student every step to do it may not gather info about all their skills in a certain area, can not assess everything they might know Time: it is very time consuming, it is difficult to interact with all students and give them all meaningful feedback, it is difficult to guess how much time the students will need to complete the task

weaknesses of portfolios

scoring is time consuming low scoring reliability teacher training needed time consuming to develop and score students may not make a good selection of what to put inside, sampling of student products may lead to weak generalization, parents may find them difficult to understand

strengths of portfolios

students are actively involved in self evaluation and self reflection promotes collaborative work enhances motivation systematic assessment is ongoing focuses on improvement not comparison focuses on student strengths assessment process is individualized allows demonstration of student accomplishments provides concrete examples for parent conferences products can be used for teacher diagnosis flexible and adaptable

the ideals, customs, institutions, etc., of a society toward which the people of the group have an affective regard. These values may be positive, as cleanliness, freedom, or education, or negative, as cruelty, crime, or blasphemy

value

Ways to ensure fairness and/or consistency when grading subjective items (essays & performance assessments)

-anonymous grading -avoid the halo effect (he is nice so he is also smart) -when using a rubric score one criteria at a time for all students and do it in one sitting -when using a scoring guide, review each submission and place them in piles based on levels of competency. then grade each pile to make sure you agree with your first impression -for demonstrations or performances, record it so it can be reviewed several times

Weaknesses of methods to assess affect

-consider the type of trait or belief you want to assess -observation is best to get a socially orientated affect -take into consideration the use of the info

shows improvement over time, examples: examples of writing that shows difference in skill

Growth Portfolio

shows levels of achievement reached in relation to learning targets

Standards based Portfolio

ways to evaluate a portfolio - checklist

a document that required contents are present

affective targets

emotions or feelings we have towards someone or something

attitudes towards oneself

self esteem

Key characteristics of all performance-based assessments

students explain, justify, and defend their answers students perform, create, construct, produce, or do something use clear criteria and rubrics for scoring-requires sustained work typically no single correct answer uses engaging ideas of importance and substance students use reasoning skills

ways to evaluate a portfolio - entire portfolio

the entire portfolio should reflect the developmental nature of the assignment. point out strengths and then weaknesses

ways to evaluate a portfolio - rubric

to evaluate student skill in completing the requirements

shows student's best work, encourages self-assessment & reflection, difficult to score, examples - best project, highest scored test, highest graded paper

Celebration / Showcase Portfolio

Expected outcomes after performance-based assessments have been implemented

students motivation goes up