Taking the Mystery Out of Assessments:

Five Essential Qualities of Any Assessment

Donna Snodgrass, Ph.D.Formative Instructional Training Services

President, Collaborative Assessment Project (CAP)

© 2013 Donna Snodgrass.

Ohio Middle Level AssociationFriday, February 21, 2014

Learning Targets, each participant will:

1. Understand how to place assessments along a formative/summative assessment continuum.

2. Understand what five conditions result in an assessment being categorized as a more formative or a more summative assessment.

3. Understand that summative assessments are products and formative assessments are processes.

4. Understand the inherent reciprocal relationship between instruction and assessment in an environment that promotes learning.

Why are tests important?

Tests are tools. Make sure the tools you select are just right for the job!

1. When tests measure what their authors say they measure the tests are considered valid.

2. When tests function in a consistent manner the tests are labeled reliable.

List below all the types of assessments used in your classroom or school that generate data on how your

students are performing.

Balanced Assessment System

More Formative

Most Formative

More Summative

Most Summative

Purpose

Primary Users

Balanced Assessment System

More Formative

Most Formative

More Summative

Most Summative

For Learning

Users are people closest to the classroom

Accountability, Progress Monitoring Evaluation

Users are people farthest from the classroom

The Essential Quality of a

Formative Assessment…

Time for

Descriptive

Feedback &

Revision

… is that it must take place when there is enough instructional time left for students to revise their responses, based on the descriptive feedback.

Assessments……have their greatest positive impact on

learning the closer the test results are made available to the actual instruction!

Assessments……have their greatest positive impact on learning

when test items have direct instructional value!

Items with direct instructional value provide teachers and students with information about targeted and immediate instructional actions they can take to help ensure student learning stays on course.

Objective: The student will tell time to the minute.

Which of the assessment items on the next two pages has the most direct instructional value, item 1 or item 2?

A change in thinking is needed from:

Being singularly focused on assessment items that measure skills AT a rigorous level..

To focusing on assessment items that measure skills TO a rigorous level.

Balanced Assessment System

More Formative

Most Formative

More Summative

Most Summative

For Learning

PROCESSESPRODUCTSproducts products

Support the Learning

Sadler’s KEY POINT is that for student work to move forward: students must have the capacity to monitor the quality of their own work during actual production.

Formative Instructional Process

Students as Full Partners

Set Clear

Targets

Gather Evidence

of Learning

Provide Students

with Descriptive Feedback

Provide Time for Revision

Provide TargetedInstruction

Students/Teachers Decide

on the Next Instructional Steps

Administer Summative Assessment

Reflect on the Evidence of

Learning

Five Essential Qualities of Any Assessment

1. Identify the purpose of the assessment.

2. Identify the primary users of the data generated by the assessment*

3. Determine if the feedback from the assessment is ongoing during the instructional-cycle or takes place at the end of the instructional-cycle.

4. Determine if students have time after they receive the feedback to use the feedback to revise their original responses.

5. Decide if the assessment items have direct instructional value.* Stiggins

Place each of the assessments that you listed earlier in this PowerPoint on the continuum below. When you are finished, discuss if changes might be made to create a more balanced

assessment system in your classroom or school.

Most Formative Most Summative