Establishing and Establishing and sustaining assessment for sustaining assessment for

learninglearning

Presented by Rob StonesPresented by Rob Stones with a lot of help from with a lot of help from

Lorraine Lee Que, Sherrie Davis, Tina Lorraine Lee Que, Sherrie Davis, Tina Barnes, Anj Dillon, Geoff Griffin and Ian Barnes, Anj Dillon, Geoff Griffin and Ian

Mackenzie.Mackenzie.

The Phenomenon of the The Phenomenon of the Black Black BoxBox!!

• Know how to play “the assessment game”

• Have the learning background and literacies to tease out implicit expectations

• ASSUMPTIONS

• Literacy levels

• Prior learning

• Ability to access learning dimensions

• Presentation skills

May be transient, have a mismatch between home language and/or culture from that of the school. May have difficulties with decoding or have slower intellectual development FAIL (again)

• Front- End the assessment. Plan the Front- End the assessment. Plan the assessment with the unit (ie: before assessment with the unit (ie: before teaching and learning begins)teaching and learning begins)

• Use a process or format that ensures Use a process or format that ensures that all the required elements of the that all the required elements of the assessment are embedded.assessment are embedded.

• Clearly identify the task, the skills and Clearly identify the task, the skills and processes to be demonstrated and the processes to be demonstrated and the criteria and standards used for grading.criteria and standards used for grading.

• Explicitly teach the students what the Explicitly teach the students what the standards mean using models.standards mean using models.

One way to create a sustainable process is to One way to create a sustainable process is to develop a common task sheet, develop a common task sheet,

as Lorraine Lee Que has done for Southport High.as Lorraine Lee Que has done for Southport High.

• UNIT DESCRIPTION / CONTEXT)UNIT DESCRIPTION / CONTEXT)• TASK:TASK:• GENRE:GENRE:• LENGTH:LENGTH:• CORE CURRICULUM ELEMENTS CORE CURRICULUM ELEMENTS

INCLUDEDINCLUDED• CONDITIONS:CONDITIONS:• SCAFFOLDING FRAMEWORKSCAFFOLDING FRAMEWORK

• Clarify details and expectations of the taskClarify details and expectations of the task– Refer to the Literacy booklet for genre Refer to the Literacy booklet for genre

guidelines and provide directions re:guidelines and provide directions re: structure, structure, language/vocab stylelanguage/vocab style grammar, grammar, verb tense, verb tense, methods of cohesive link, methods of cohesive link, author –audience relationship, etcauthor –audience relationship, etc

– Indicate requirement for referencing and/or Indicate requirement for referencing and/or bibliographybibliography

– Include planning sheets, research sheets etc.Include planning sheets, research sheets etc.

• Write assessment criteria and Write assessment criteria and standards to specifically address the standards to specifically address the set task (in accordance with syllabus/ set task (in accordance with syllabus/ programme requirements)programme requirements)

How to construct an assessment How to construct an assessment matrixmatrixAdapted from ideas presented by Sherrie Adapted from ideas presented by Sherrie Davis.Davis.• Begin with a thorough knowledge Begin with a thorough knowledge

and understanding of the assessment and understanding of the assessment criteria. These are specific to each criteria. These are specific to each discipline and it is crucial that discipline and it is crucial that students understand them. students understand them.

• Plan to teach these criteria explicitly Plan to teach these criteria explicitly so that students understand the way so that students understand the way in which their work will be evaluated.in which their work will be evaluated.

• Unpack the ‘knowledges’ and Unpack the ‘knowledges’ and ‘literacies’ in the assessment piece.‘literacies’ in the assessment piece.

• Match the ‘knowledges’ and Match the ‘knowledges’ and ‘literacies’ with the assessment ‘literacies’ with the assessment criteria.criteria.

• Write the standards, which must be Write the standards, which must be written in plain language and can be written in plain language and can be explicitly modelled.explicitly modelled.

Write the standards Write the standards for the sub-criteriafor the sub-criteria

• It is really important to write them in It is really important to write them in language that the students understand – language that the students understand – you may have to teach that language.you may have to teach that language.

• Identify specifically what each achievement Identify specifically what each achievement level will look like in terms of each sub-level will look like in terms of each sub-criterion.criterion.

• Stay away from using terms like “high Stay away from using terms like “high level”, “satisfactory”, “developed”, level”, “satisfactory”, “developed”, “limited” unless you specify what that looks “limited” unless you specify what that looks like. Using these vague terms makes the like. Using these vague terms makes the standards a mystery for students unless standards a mystery for students unless they are shown to them. (Modelled)they are shown to them. (Modelled)

• Identify, and include, all the scaffolding required to ensure that Identify, and include, all the scaffolding required to ensure that you are not assessing prior learning. Without this step indigenous you are not assessing prior learning. Without this step indigenous students, itinerant students and those with low literacy or students, itinerant students and those with low literacy or numeracy levels will increasingly fall behind and eventually give numeracy levels will increasingly fall behind and eventually give up.up.

• We can scaffold by re-teaching pre-requisites, helping students We can scaffold by re-teaching pre-requisites, helping students with planning or time management and by making sure that the with planning or time management and by making sure that the key elements of the assessment are made explicit.key elements of the assessment are made explicit.

• Scaffolding “fills in” the missing pieces for students. With Scaffolding “fills in” the missing pieces for students. With scaffolding, the marginalised students are explicitly taught what scaffolding, the marginalised students are explicitly taught what faster, more consistent learners implicitly understand.faster, more consistent learners implicitly understand.

• Scaffolding helps establish effective patterns (provides strategies) Scaffolding helps establish effective patterns (provides strategies) for future learning behaviour. for future learning behaviour.

• Plan cooperatively and offer professional Plan cooperatively and offer professional learning episodes to help everyone learning episodes to help everyone (especially new staff) understand and (especially new staff) understand and appreciate the assessment expectations.appreciate the assessment expectations.

• Include a mentoring, accountability or Include a mentoring, accountability or buddy process that takes care of buddy process that takes care of consistency, accessibility of language and consistency, accessibility of language and attention to the process. This step should attention to the process. This step should ensure that the range of assessment tasks ensure that the range of assessment tasks is accessible and aligned with the purpose is accessible and aligned with the purpose of the learning.of the learning.

REVIEWREVIEWin the light of the resultsin the light of the results

The best test of an assessment piece is The best test of an assessment piece is ““did it work”? did it work”? We are not simply looking at an assessmentWe are not simply looking at an assessment item as a discriminator but as an opportunity item as a discriminator but as an opportunity

to demonstrate learning and a celebration of to demonstrate learning and a celebration of what the student knows.what the student knows.

A wise colleague (Mark Asher) once told me A wise colleague (Mark Asher) once told me “when you get an unexpected result from a “when you get an unexpected result from a test item, question the item rather than your test item, question the item rather than your own judgement of what the student has own judgement of what the student has learned”.learned”.