Diane Ankenmann's List: assessment, student learning

• with the Common Core standards exemplifying the 4Cs: Creativity and Critical Thinking (through performance-based assessments), Collaboration, and Communication (in particular through the use of interdisciplinary writing), we are looking at a more fluid future in testing formats
• The assessment must have value
• to the individual student who is taking it. It must intend to impact the world beyond the student "self," whether it is on the school site, the outlying community, the state, country, world, etc. And finally, the assessment should incorporate skills that students need for their future.

• Criteria for a Meaningful Classroom Assessment

    

  To address these requirements, I ask myself the following guided questions:

    
  1. Does the assessment involve project-based learning?
    
  2. Does it allow for student choice of topics?
    
  3. Is it inquiry based?
    
  4. Does it ask that students use some level of internet literacy to find their answers?
    
  5. Does it involve independent problem solving?
    
  6. Does it incorporate the 4Cs?
    
  7. Do the students need to communicate their knowledge via writing in some way?
    
  8. Does the final draft or project require other modalities in its presentation? (visual, oral, data, etc...)
• we owe it to them to make sure that not only are our tests aligned with skills they must know for their future, but to make sure that we've been transparent in our rationale.
• They should and still can be a mere snapshot of ability. Additionally, those occasional assessments need to take a back seat to the real learning and achievement going on in every day assessments observed by the teacher.

• Remember the 4 Cs and ask this: does the assessment allow for:

    

  Creativity Are they students creating or just regurgitating? Are they being given credit for presenting something other than what was described?

    

  Collaboration Have they spent some time working with others to formulate their thoughts, brainstorm, or seek feedback from peers?

    

  Critical Thinking Are the students doing more work than the teacher in seeking out information and problem solving?

    

  Communication Does the assessment emphasize the need to communicate the content well? Is there writing involved as well as other modalities? If asked to teach the content to other students, what methods will the student use to communicate the information and help embed it more deeply?
• So as an activity for myself, I created a rubric to look at whenever I was wondering if an assessment was going to be a waste of time or was going to connect with the students
• ask the students what they thought. Design a survey after each major unit or assessment.
• , add a row that's only for them to fill out for you. That way, the rubric's feedback is more of a give-and-take, and you get feedback on the assessment's level of meaningfulness as soon as possible.

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• Want to spend class time wisely? Formative assessments can help. The trick: taking the time to analyze the data and put it to use.
• Before the lesson, I set aside some time to anticipate the most common problems or sticking points, based on what I know about students. Most times you can anticipate the 4 or 5 ways that students will miss a problem, so you can build problem sets that help them work through the process with a partner to get “unstuck.”
• The key to effective practice time is having students focus on the parts that they don’t understand or can’t reliably do every time. Teachers have been partnering students for a long time…what’s different about this method is that you anticipate the areas of difficulty and customize the practice.
• Students use personal dry-erase whiteboards to show me how they are solving the problems so that I can easily see how they are doing or where they are stuck. Looking at student work is the most powerful way to get a handle on what they are thinking.

• If I were lucky enough to teach in a place where a colleague was teaching the same lessons or had the same prep periods, I would jump at the chance to collaborate. We could help each other prepare, discussing what we anticipated as common misunderstandings and difficulties.

   

  We could also jot down how things went and whether we were on target about the categories of remediation—then compare data. Over time, we could create a very effective set of questions, additional practice, and grouping techniques to use the next time we taught that lesson. (Of course, I can do the same in my own classroom, but I think collaborative results could be even stronger).
• If students quickly share their data, the teacher can support them in getting to the next phase more easily. Some students will be finished and ready to move onto the next phase. You don’t wait until the whole lab is done and ready for evaluation to realize that students didn’t understand how to do the first step. It’s also a great time to introduce a bit of student choice about some additional experimentation for students who are able to move quickly through the lab, analysis, and write-up.
• formative assessments can help maximize learning for all students. It guides me in differentiating what each student does and ensuring that the class, as a whole, is ready to move onto the next step.
• Sorting students into trios and pairs helps me do a better job giving feedback. I’m able to meet students where they are in their learning. Best of all, I know that every second of practice time counts.

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• • One of Damian Cooper's recommended sources of Performance Assessment for Language Students, from Virginia, U.S.A.
• Performance Assessment for Language Students
• The assessment tasks, both formative and summative, and accompanying rubrics are laid out in a program called PALS:

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• This generation is motivated by achievable challenges. They actually thrive on assessment and improvement. They play video games or participate in sports or other organized activities for hundreds of hours to “get good” at them.
• They use immediate feedback to reflect on their strategies and their progress and welcome practice and “do-overs” so they can improve their skills and knowledge. Yet their approach to goal attainment outside school may conflict with the way their teachers try to help them attain academic goals in school.
• 1. Please show us the essential concepts, vocabulary, and skills in each unit and clearly communicate the learning goals.
• 2. Please use a variety of assessments that have real-life connections and show and tell us the characteristics of a great product or performance.
• Assessment-literate teachers vary their assessments, using product and performance assessments and authentic tasks to give students opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge and apply what they’ve learned
• 3. Please assess us often, covering smaller amounts of information at a time and giving us feedback about our progress.
• Today’s students are accustomed to continuous feedback and immediate gratification—when they play video games or sports, they know every minute how they are doing. They are motivated by the progress they see.
• 4. Please analyze the assessment results to determine my strengths and weaknesses, teach me strategies to improve, and let me redo or retake assessments.

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• “What makes you proud of this work?”
• • “What does this make you curious about now?”
   
  • “What do you want to learn next?”
• “I need to write this down. I don’t want to forget what you just said!”
• • “You need a wider audience. Who else should we share this with?”
   
  • “I just sent your parents an email. They need to know you blew me away today!”

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