Assessment for learning

Collecting information

Draw a face

At the end of an activity or lesson, ask learners to draw a face to show how confident
they are about the topic. Smiley face = ready to move on, neutral face = fairly
confident, sad face = not confident, need to review.

Summary sentence

Ask learners to write one sentence to summarise what they know about the topic at the
start or end of a lesson. You could focus this by telling them to include e.g. what or why
or how etc.

Pair share

At the end of a lesson learners share with their partner:

 Three new things they have learnt

 What they found easy
 What they found difficult
 Something they would like to learn in the future.

Traffic lights

Give learners red, yellow and green cards (or they can make these themselves at
home). At different points during the lesson, ask them to choose a card and put it on
their desk to show how much they understand (red = don’t understand, yellow = partly
understand, green = totally understand).

Assessment of learning
Innovative Formative Assessment: 10 Useful
Approaches
Formative assessment is assessment for learning and as learning.
This continual cycle of feedback and improvement makes learning useful and
effective. What follows are 10 innovative formative assessment strategies for
teachers to try out.
1. Analyzing Student Work
A great deal of information can be learned from students’ homework, tests,
and quizzes. This is especially so if the students are required to explain their
thinking. When teachers take the time to analyze student work, they gain
knowledge about:
 A student’s current knowledge, attitudes, and skills about subject matter

 Strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles

 Need for further, or special, assistance
This approach lets teachers modify their instruction to be more effective in the
future.

2. Round Robin Charts

 This strategy involves passing charts among groups to assess understanding.
Each group of 4 or 5 students begins with a chart and some markers.
The group records an answer to an open-ended question. They can also
share knowledge they have on a topic covered in class. Once the students
finish with the chart, they pass it on to the next group. Once every group has
worked on every chart, responses are discussed as a class.
3. Strategic Questioning
Questioning strategies may be used with individuals, small groups, or the
entire class. Effective formative assessment strategies involve asking
students to answer higher-order questions such as “why” and “how.” Higher-
order questions require more in-depth thinking from the students. They can
help the teacher discern the level and extent of the students’ understanding.

INNOAtive summative assessment

Tests- a procedure intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something,

especially before it is taken into widespread use.
2. Performance Task-a performance task is any learning activity or assessment that asks students
to perform to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and proficiency. Performance tasks yield
a tangible product and/or performance that serve as evidence of learning.
Performance

Conducting an experiment
Musical auditions; group auditions
Conducting an ensemble / rubric
Conduct band rehearsal / rubric
Create musical arrangement / rubric
Dance or dramatic performances
Dramatic readings
Skits
Role-plays / handout
Talk show performances; another example
Book talks
Debates; another example / rubric
Panel discussions
Fishbowl discussions
Coffee shop conversation
Athletic competitions
Oral presentations; another example; another example
Teaching/explaining
Speeches
Interviews
Self-introduction
Cooperative group behavior; another example

Product
Essays, stories, or poems
Ballads
Obituaries
Satirical pieces
Metaphors
School rules
Research reports; another example
Annotated bibliographies
Works cited pages
Reading strategies and rubric
Projects / rubric; another example / rubric; another example
Literary analysis; another example; another example
Character analysis; another example
Diction analysis
Advertisement analysis
Biography/Autobiography analysis
Argument analysis / rubric
Analyzing primary sources
Analysis of painting
Film analysis
Geometric analysis
Article reviews
Book reviews / rubric
Case study / rubric
Speech critiques
Extended journal responses
Identification of goals
Reading guides
Feudal contracts / rubric
Art exhibit or portfolio
Models; another example
Constructing objects
Floor plans
Musical compositions
Photo compositions
Design an advertisement
Design an experiment
Lab reports; another example
Surveys
Data recordings
Graphing of data
Data analysis; another example; another example
Anaysis of statistical use in media / rubric
Real-world problem solutions; another example / rubric
Logical sequences
Error analysis
Planning for a task
Preparing for a discussion
Proposals and criteria
Road trip directions
Map construction / rubric
Road trip budget
Scavenger hunt
Newspapers
Newscasts; another example
Editorials; another example
Peer editing / rubric
Posters; another example; another example / rubric
Collages
Pamplets; another example
Brochures; another example / rubric
Magazine covers
Bulletin boards
Videos / rubric
Podcasts
Games; another example; another example
Comic strips
Books; Booklets
Timelines; another example / rubric
Issue awareness campaigns
Letter writing; persuasive letter writing; complaint letter
Advice letter; letter to Congress; letter to Emperor

1. Research on how to assess higher order thinking skills. Give 2 examples of test items that
measure applying and analysing.

General Principles for Assessing Higher-Order Thinking

Constructing an assessment always involves these basic principles:
 Specify clearly and exactly what it is you want to assess.
 Design tasks or test items that require students to demonstrate this knowledge or skill.
 Decide what you will take as evidence of the degree to which students have shown this knowledge or
skill.

This general three-part process applies to all assessment, including assessment of higher-order thinking.
Assessing higher-order thinking almost always involves three additional principles:
 Present something for students to think about, usually in the form of introductory text, visuals, scenarios,
resource material, or problems of some sort.
 Use novel material—material that is new to the student, not covered in class and thus subject to recall.
 Distinguish between level of difficulty (easy versus hard) and level of thinking (lower-order thinking or
recall versus higher-order thinking), and control for each separately.
Example of test item

 Compare and contrast progression of cold and flu, or

Analysis
 Determine if a patient has a cold or the flu
  Describe the standard process for determining if a patient has a cold
Application
or the flu

Curriculum guide

selects 3D objects that are well proportioned, balanced and show emphasis in design

. creates a useful 3D object: a pencil holder, bowl, container, using recycled materials like plastic bottles

appreciates the creativity of local and indigenous craftsmen and women who created artistic and useful
things out of recycled materials like the parol, maskara, local toys, masks

Fs 4

New Trends in Classroom

Authentic Assessment
By Katherine Bradley

Students can work collaboratively to demonstrate mastery.

Authentic assessment refers to the practice of assessing student mastery via the
completion of real-world tasks in which the student applies knowledge and skill
acquired in the instructional process. Authentic assessments may include writing
assignments, individual or cooperative projects, portfolios, teacher observations,
performance or demonstration assessments, or any other assigned task that provides
evidence of competency. It is a good idea to use a selection of assessment types
that match a variety of learning styles.

Demonstration or Performance Assessments

Authentic assessment may take the form of demonstration or performance. This
means that a student has the opportunity to demonstrate, through practical means,
that a standard has been mastered. For instance, a student might provide, through
design and performance, evidence of mastery of a theater standard focused on
knowledge of blocking, upstage, downstage, center stage, monologue and projection
rather than via a paper-and-pencil vocabulary test. Such assessments can be used in
other classes and tailored to different subject matter.

Portfolio Assessments
Portfolio assessments are often used when units are large or cover a number of
standards. Assessment pieces contained in the portfolio provide evidence of mastery
of individual standards or may provide evidence of increasing depth of
comprehension of materials. For instance, a science portfolio may contain written
vocabulary words associated with mollusks, drawings that outline structure and
function and a three-dimensional model created by the student. This type of
portfolio's value is that it allows students to demonstrate mastery by a variety of
means — in this case, through writing, drawing and creative manipulation.

Oral Assessments
Oral assessments are popular with students who do not possess high-level writing
skills. Oral assessments can take the form of storytelling or focus on documentation
of question-and-answer periods in class. A teacher may use a student's oral
responses to determine whether the content has been mastered. Student mastery
can be assessed as part of a group exercise or individually in a private testing
session. This type of assessment can be used informally with or without student
knowledge, thus eliminating testing anxiety.

Project Assessments
Project assessments provide the opportunity to demonstrate competency through
completion of a project. Project assessments can be performed individually or
collaboratively. Students may work together to complete a project in math that
indicates proficiency in probability concepts. For example, student may use a set of
dice and record the results of rolls to learn about probability. A deck of cards might
also be used to learn about probability.
 References

 Current Trends and Issues in Instructional Technology, Authentic Assessment;

Nathan Karet & Elizabeth Ross Hubbell
 Authentic Assessment Toolbox
 American Association of School Librarians: Authentic Assessment

Resources

 Park University: Incorporating Authenic Assessments

Episode 5 portfolio

TURNING THE TABLES ON OUR GRADING STORY

“First and foremost, grades need to be accurate reflections of student achievement.”

“Reporting is more subjective ... the more ‘effort’ is considered, and the more ‘behavior’ influences
judgement.”

Assess Work Habits Separately Separate work habits/behavior from academic performance