Assessment Connections

Matrix

Catharina
Wagner Group B

My assessment philosophy is that quality assessments should be designed by teachers in a way that they
can be used to improve student learning and achievement. The design of quality assessments takes a
number of different aspects of assessment into account, including understanding by design, backward
design, the use of essential questions, and the use of multiple assessments such as pre-assessments,
self-assessment, peer-assessments, and performance tasks. When these different pieces of assessment
are used together, well-rounded assessment plans can be developed to support and improve student
achievements and learning.
Understanding by design allows me as a teacher to stay focused on what students need to achieve
because it involves keeping desired learning results in mind with everything I do. Backward design
supplements understanding by design by beginning with the end in mind before creating assessments to
gather evidence of this learning, and finally instructional strategies that will facilitate the required
learning. To keep focus on the desired results, essential questions frame big ideas in units of study. These
questions keep students focused on the learning, and make the content relevant and interesting to them.

My
Assessm
ent
In order for students to meet desired learning goals, a variety of assessment strategies should be used.
Philosop
Diagnostic assessment, or pre-assessments, are important for directing instruction, and using effective
hy
instructional strategies for the students in the classroom because it takes their strengths, needs, and
preferences into account. Peer and self-assessment are important for students to take part in as these
types of assessment allow students to self-direct their own learning, as well as collaborate with peers
about learning. One important way in which student learning can be demonstrated is through
performance tasks. These tasks allow students to show the extent to which they have met the desired
learning outcomes.

Assessment is not a static concept, but instead, diverse and ever-changing. Although assessment should
be used to communicate, reflect upon and improve student learning, the way in which it is used to do this
will vary from class to class, and even unit to unit. Assessments should be designed with the students in
mind, finding the best way to meet their needs and allow them to show what theyve achieved.
Assessment should be used to its full potential by serving students strengths and providing them with
opportunities to grow.

Assessment
Concept

Sources

Davies, A. (2011). Making

Classroom Assessment
Work Third Edition.
Courtenay, BC:
Connections Publishing
Understanding
By Design

McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G.

(2005). Understanding
by
Design Second
Edition.
Alexandra, VA: ASCD

Davies, A. (2011). Making

Classroom Assessment
Work Third Edition.
Courtenay, BC:
Connections Publishing
Backward Design

McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G.

(2005). Understanding
by
Design Second
Edition.
Alexandra, VA: ASCD

Summary
Understanding by design supports the
idea that teachers should have desired
results for their students in mind before
choosing the methods and materials they
will use in planning curriculum (McTighe, J.
and Wiggins, G., 2005, p. 14). Curriculum
planning should revolve around results
sought rather than from methods and
activities from which we are comfortable
teaching with. This is the most effective
way to achieve specific results.
Davies (2011) states: When teachers and
students know where they are going, they
are more likely to achieve success (p.
25).
Backward design parallels understanding
by design, but it provides a specific
template that teachers can use in order to
design a unit that focuses on
understanding. Backward design follows
three stages: 1. Identify desired results, 2.
Determine acceptable evidence, and 3.
Plan learning experiences and instruction
(McTighe, J. and Wiggins, G., 2005, p. 18).
Davies (2011) also supports the backward
design, stating: Once you have described
what students need to learnit is time to
consider what kind of evidence you will
need to collect, in order to plan ongoing
instruction and ensure validity and
reliability (p. 45).

Application in my Planning

In the design of my UAP, I have planned all

assessments with the desired results of
student learning in mind. Instead of choosing
assessments and learning materials first, and
then seeing how they match up with
curriculum, I have first chosen what learning
I would like the students to achieve,
designed assessments that I think will best
serve as evidence of those specific learning
targets, and then chosen materials,
activities, and instructional strategies to use
to meet these learning targets.

In the design of my UAP, I first identified

desired results. I identified what students
would know, understand, and be able to do
by the end of my unit. After that,
corresponding with stage two of backward
design, I determined what would be
acceptable evidence of student learning. I
thought about what would be acceptable
evidence of students achieving the desired
results. Lastly, learning experiences and
instruction were planned. This is where I
considered which instructional activities
would best help the students achieve the
desired results that I originally identified.

Essential
Questions

McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G.

(2013). Essential
Questions:
Opening Doors to
Student
Understanding.
Danvers, MA:
ASCD
Wilhelm, J.D. (2012).
Essential
Questions. New York,
NY:
Scholastic Inc.

Assessment
Concept

Sources
Alberta Learning. (2003).
Senior
high school english
language
arts guide to
implementation.
Edmonton,
AB: Alberta Learning.

Performance
Assessment

Erlandson, C. (n.d).
Performance
assessments: a
wealth of possibilities.
Saskatoon, SK:
Saskatchewan
Professional
Development
Unit.

An essential question frames a unit of

study as a problem to be solved. It should
connect students lived experiences and
interests to disciplinary problems in the
world (Wilhelm, 2012).
McTighe and Wiggins (2013) add that
these questions make unit plans more
likely to make learners thoughtful and
focused.

When it came to designing my UAP, I

planned all assessments around two
essential questions that will frame my unit.
Both of these questions (1. Which economic
system allows for a higher quality of life, and
2. How do values underlying economic
decision making in Canada and the United
States impact quality of life?) offer a
framework for the unit to unfold in that
involves critical thinking, and poses a
problem to be solved throughout the study of
the unit. These questions allow students to
connect their own experiences to real-life
problems, and to come to informed
conclusions about these problems. The
summative performance task that I designed
for my UAP (a PowerPoint presentation)
requires the students to answer the essential
questions that were posed to them at the
beginning of the unit, giving the learners a
focus throughout the unit, as well as the
ability to answer the overarching questions.

Summary

Application in my Planning

Performance assessments are a

measurement of performance. These
types of assessment require students to
demonstrate their ability to reason,
perform particular skills, and/or create
specific products (Erlandson, C., n.d.).
Alberta Learning (2003) states that
performance assessments are a way for
students to demonstrate their
understandings that arise from the focus
questions of the unit, and that they help
students and teachers determine the
extent to which the specified SLOs have
been achieved.

I have included a performance assessment

directly in my UAP. In my UAP, as a
summative task, the students are required to
create a PowerPoint that answers the critical
inquiry question of the unit: Given the
economic systems of Canada and the United
States and how they impact quality of life, in
which country would you prefer to live?
Answering this question through the
performance task of a PowerPoint requires
students to demonstrate their ability to
reason through the question and then
demonstrate their
understandings/conclusions that arose from
this question. This performance task will also
help me determine how well the students
have learned the SLOs of the unit.

Peer and SelfAssessment

Case, R. (2008). Building

student ownership of
assessment. In P.
Clark, & R.
Case (Eds.), Canadian
anthology of social
studies:
Issues and strategies
for
secondary teachers.
Vancouver, BC: Pacific
Educational Press.
Hanrahan, S.J., & Isaacs,
G.
(2001). Assessing self
and
peer-assessment: the
students views.
Higher
Education Research &
Development, 20(1),
53-70.

Assessment
Concept

Diagnostic
Assessments/
Pre-Assessments

Sources
Hockett, J.A. & Doubet,
K.J.
(2013). Turning on the
lights:
What pre-assessments
can
do. Educational
Leadership,
71(4), 50-54.
McTighe, J., & OConnor,
K.
(2005). Seven
practices for
effective learning.
Educational
Leadership,
63(3), 10-17.

Self-assessment is when students assess

their own work, and peer-assessment is
when students assess the work of other
students Hanrahan, and Isaacs (2001)
state that Self-assessment will help
students to set goals and thus to learn for
themselves. Peer-assessment will help
them to contribute constructively in
collaborative efforts (p. 54).
Case (2008) confirms this idea, pointing
out that self and peer-assessment help
student build ownership for learning (p.
379).

Peer and self-assessment opportunities for

students have been included in my UAP. Like
the referenced sources state, I wanted
students to build ownership for learning in
constructive ways. In my UAP, students
engage in self-assessment when they
complete a checklist for their reasoning
maps/PowerPoints. In this activity, they are
able to gauge their own progress, seeing the
strengths of their own project, as well as the
areas that still require work. This allows the
students to set goals for what they would like
to achieve by the end of the project. In my
UAP, students engage in peer-assessment
through peer evaluation of each others
projects. This allows students to get
feedback from their peers about strengths
and areas of need in regards to their
projects. This allows students the chance to
collaborate on projects and get a second
opinion about how their project is going.

Summary

Application in my Planning

Diagnostic assessments, which are also

known as pre-assessments occur before
instruction takes place. They are used to
check prior knowledge, interests, and
readiness of students, identify
misconceptions, and to reveal learnerstyle preferences (McTighe, & OConnor,
2005).
Hockett, and Doubet (2013) add that preassessment provides evidence that should
be used to plan instruction that will meet
learners needs.

My UAP has pre-assessment embedded into

it. By talking with the students teacher, I will
be able to get useful information about what
the students already know, how they learn
best, and what their interests are. This will
allow me to plan for instruction that is
effective for the particular classes I have,
and allow me to modify instruction between
classes if need be, since I will have two
different classes to teach. Also, by
introducing the inquiry question, and having
discussions with the students on the first day
of the unit, I will be able to gather more
information about how much prior knowledge
they have, as well as any misconceptions
they may have.