Come to the edge,He said,They said,We are afraid.Come to the edge,He said.They came.He pushed them…And they flew!

Guillame Appolinaire (1880-1919)

Understanding by Design

A way of thinking about teaching and learning!

Describe a negative assessment/learning experience.

What were the qualities?

What is exemplary assessment/learning experience?

Describe the characteristics of an exemplary assessment experience.

Qualities of Exemplary Assessment

Persistence Learn from

mistakes Fun Challenging Immediate

Feedback Authentic Need Evidence Collaborative

Do over time Apply to a new

context Personal Audience Goal-setting Knows expectations Learned from it

Why do we assess?

Core Premise

The aim of assessment is to improve student performance, not merely audit it.

-Grant Wiggins

Assessment must be:

CredibleBalancedIntellectual-

ly Rigorous

FeasibleHonest yet

FairUseful

Credible

Assessment results must be clear to and respected by all key constituencies-Students

-Parents -Teachers -School boards -Policy-makers

Balanced Reform is not about “either-or” in

assessment Every method of assessment has a

place The aim is to expand the repertoire and

correct the current imbalance Each method of assessment is limited

and flawed A goal is to better assess depth of

understanding and genuine competence.

Honest yet Fair

Assessment must be balanced. Honesty- accurate reporting the level

of achievement against standards Fairness- apt weighing of performer’s

prior experience against reasonable expectations

A single-score or letter grades is thus inadequate

Useful

Primary “user” is the student Assessment must provide more

helpful feedback Tests the test: student should be

able to self-adjust with increasing effectiveness if the system is working

Data-drive staff meetings

Intellectually Rigorous

Genuine competence and sophisticated understanding required

Curriculum anchored by demanding and authentic tasks

Tasks must be designed to require quality work Effective know-how,not just superficial textbook

knowledge Accurate and precise use of core knowledge,not tasks

requiring merely generic skill Effective performances, not just good-faith efforts

Rigor through assessment design standards and performance standards, not just content standards

Feasible

Making form follow function A schedule designed for good

assessment Use of technology and personnel

wisely R&D part of the job description and

appraisal On-going training and peer review of

designs

Assessment is central to learning

Not “after” teaching and learning are over: learning-

Assessment/Instruction seamless Requires a recursive, not a linear

curriculum Through cycles of model-practice-

feedback-revision-perform-feedback

Assessment must be educative Test can and must “teach”, not just

measure Authentic tasks, criteria standards,

contexts Effective feedback built in Self-assessment and self-correction assessedBased on valid, powerful exemplars and

models

We assess what we value, we value what we assess.

Reality

The things we value the most are the hardest to assess

The things we value the least are the easiest to assess

Understanding

How do we know one truly understands?

-J. Piaget

“Real comprehension of a notion or a theory implies reinvention of this theory by the student. Once the child is capable of repeating certain notions and using some applications of these in a learning situations he often gives the impression of understanding; however this does not fulfill the condition of reinvention. True understanding manifests itself by new spontaneous applications.”

Teaching for Understanding or Coverage?

Avoid mere coverage Avoid The egocentric fallacy: I

taught, so they must have learned.

Do integrate assessment and instruction

Do reconsider ideas

You don’t really understand something unless you can…

Avoid common misconceptions or simplistic views

Acts on it effectively in different cases and contexts

Verify it Defend it Critique it Teach it Reveal its power and its limits Apply to novel situations

Understanding

Depth of insight and sophisticated explanation

PerspectiveEmpathyContextual “savvy” (performance

know-how)Self-knowledge

What are the levels of understanding?

SophisticatedGood/SolidKnowledge but naïveMisunderstanding

Design Backwards

Start with the end in mind!

Three stages

Identify desired results

Evidence

Instructional Plan

What do you want your students to understand?

Designs for Understanding

The designs must cause students to dig deeper and revisit ideas

The design must provide reasons and opportunities to rethink what one “know”

What will serve as evidence of understanding?

Performance Assessment Products/Performances Test/quiz Self-Assessment Checks of Understanding

How can you make your performance assessment authentic?

Goal Role Audience Situation Product/Performance Standard

Authentic, Elaborated

Performance is always in “messy” context Good judgment required Realistic (vs. unrealistic) constraints Performance options Inherent distractions Competing purposes Appropriate resources not given, but

available Arbitrary secrecy minimized

Feedback

Key to Improving Student Performance!

From the Harvard Assessment Seminars 1990

“The big point—it comes up over and over again as crucial—is the importance of quick and detailed feedback. Students overwhelmingly report that the single most important ingredient for making a course effective is getting rapid response on assignments and quizzes.

Harvard Assessment cont’d

“Students offer the suggestion that it should be possible in certain courses to get immediate feedback. They suggest that the professor should hand out an example of an excellent answer.

Harvard assessment cont’d

“Secondly… an overwhelming majority are convinced that their best learning takes place when they have chance to submit an early version of their work, get detailed feedback and criticism, and then hand in a final revised version… Many students observe that their most memorable experiences have come from courses where such opportunities are routine policy.

Research by John Hattie (1992)

His findings:Providing students with specific

information about their standing in terms of particular objectives increased their achievement by 37 percentile points!

“The most powerful single innovation that enhances achievement is FEEDBACK. The simplest prescription for improving education must be ‘dollops of feedback’.”

Indicators of an effective feedback system

Learners seek out feedback. They welcome and do not fear or resist it.

Learner performance improves at all levels, especially novice

Improved performance occurs more rapidly than expected

Few quarrels about the results;disputes grounded in evidence

Revision opportunities and coaching built into the curriculum and assessment systems

Norms and standards rise overtime; what was once considered extraordinary performance becomes more common

Rubrics

Pigs Don’t Get Fat by Weighing Them

What is a rubric?

A rubric is a set of guidelines for scoring performance against criteria

Performance is described along a scale of quality

Descriptors are provided for each level of performance

Descriptions provide general traits and concrete indicators to make each level clear (and scoring reliable), avoiding mere comparative and evaluative language when possible.

Kinds of rubrics

Different rubrics serve different needs

Holistic-Analytical Developmental/longitudinal Criterion-specific-

Genre -specific

Holistic vs. Analytic

Efficiency vs. effectiveness trade-offs

Holistic: a single descriptor and score for a complex performance

Analytical-trait: separate scores for distinct performance

Stage 3- Learning Plan

W-Where H-Hook E-Equip R-Rethink E-Evaluation T-Tailor O-Organize

How People Learn

How does the WHERETO ensure improved student performance?