assessment and the iowa core curriculum
Post on 08-Jan-2016
46 Views
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Assessment and the
Iowa Core Curriculum
Ideas about what to do right now
Learning Goals for this session
• Participants will understand the major components of an assessment system.
• Participants will understand reasons to focus on the classroom level of assessment.
• Participants will recognize that a thorough understanding of the Essential Concepts and Skills is a prerequisite to development of assessments aligned with the Iowa Core Curriculum.
What do we know?
• People are asking what they need to do with assessment relative to the Iowa Core
• Iowa Core content hasn’t talked a lot about assessment issues yet
• None of these have changed:– Chapter 12 rules related to assessment– The big ideas of good assessment– Our need to know what kids know & can do
What don’t we know?
• We don’t know the impact of National Standards on implementation of the Iowa Core Curriculum.
• We don’t know what changes may happen with Chapter 12 over time.
What IS going on?
• Iowa End-of-Course Assessments available• ITBS/ITED is up for revision/renorming (2011?)• Iowa is developing Assessment For Learning
professional development resources• Assessment Advisory
Group has providedrecommendations tothe DE (not yet released)
What is NOT going on?
• As far as anyone knows:– There is no comprehensive test being designed to
assess all essential concepts and skills of the Iowa Core Curriculum
– There is no secret plan to abolish Chapter 12 assessment requirements
– There are no plans to abandon the Iowa Tests– There is no evidence of a new high-stakes
assessment tied to graduation requirements
What else have you heard?
• Talk with your neighbors…• Be prepared to share
Iowa’s Assessment System
Accountability for the State; uses sampling, every other year
Accountability for the State; uses sampling, every other year
Accountability for Districts & Schools for Chapter 12 & NCLB (ITBS/ITED)
Accountability for Districts & Schools for Chapter 12 & NCLB (ITBS/ITED)
Accountability for Schools & Classrooms; supports instructional planning
Accountability for Schools & Classrooms; supports instructional planning
Ongoing assessment to guide instruction at classroom & student level
Ongoing assessment to guide instruction at classroom & student level
Big ideas in assessment
• The curriculum is important• All of your kids are important• It is important to know to what extent each of
your kids are learning and mastering the whole curriculum
• Your assessment system needs to give you this information in a consistent, trustworthy way
• No single assessment will do this for you• Compromises are inevitable
Assessment and the Three Bears• Large grain for national & state assessments• Smaller grain for district assessments• Fine grain for classroom assessment• ITBS too big for guiding daily instruction• Can’t assess everything for large-scale testing• Find the “just right” size for each purpose
Purposes of Assessment
• Screening• Diagnostic• Formative– Assessment for learning (instruction-embedded)– General Outcome (progress monitoring)
• Summative/Outcome
Where to work first?
• Given the ideas in the last few slides, where are we the weakest right now? Where should LEAs be focusing their efforts?
• Talk at your table.
Think about it…
LessControl
More Control
LessControl
More Control
Point to ponder
• In order to build or buy new assessments,we must first thoroughly understand the Essential Concepts and Skills we plan to measure
• If we don’t understand the ICC, we’ll end up building or buying assessments that don’t measure the right stuff or do it poorly.
• Vendor claims of alignment should not be trusted – they should be tested
Assessing the Core
ECS Reading (paraphrased) How to test?
Independently read text from a variety of genres
Read for a variety of purposes
Use strategies to comprehend nonfiction
Use strategies to comprehend fiction
Read fluently to support comprehension
Use strategies to understand vocabulary
???
???
ITBS/ITED?
ITBS/ITED?
ITBS/ITED?
DIBELS?
Assessment for Learning
• Research suggests quality classroom formative assessment practices will make a big difference in outcomes for students
• Formative Assessment is a process used by teachers and students as part of instruction that provides feedback to adjustongoing teaching and learning toimprove students’ achievementof core content.
Assessment for Learning
• Lives inside of “characteristics of effective instruction” content (Outcome 6)
• Assessment for Learning is embedded and inseparable from instruction
• Includes both planned and on-the-fly assessment opportunities
• Cannot happen effectivelywithout a strong understandingof the content
Iowa Core CurriculumDetermine learning
goals&
Define criteria for success
Formative Assessment Misconceptions
• Formative assessment is a thing (a test or quiz)• I already “do” formative assessment because I:– watch kids to see if they understand– give a pretest at the beginning of a unit– use data to make decisions about what to teach
• The XYZ assessment is formative. Itsays so right here!
• It’s too hard for the common teacherto do
What can we do now?
• FIRST… Help all educators develop a deep understanding of the essential concepts and skills of the Iowa Core Curriculum
• THEN… Begin to study best practicesin formative assessment.
• But remember, if you don’t knowthe content, you can’t teach it. If you don’t teach it, don’t assess it.
To worry or not to worry…
No worries:• New assessment
requirements• Buy a new test NOW• Train teachers in
formativeassessment ASAP
• Redo the entireassessment system
Worry about this:• Thoroughly understand
the Essential Concepts and Skills
The bottom line
All educators need a deep and thorough understanding of the Essential Concepts and Skills of the Iowa Core Curriculum across grades.
top related