How are we doing?Assessment Design and

Technology

Justin Reich

EdTechTeacher.org

Harvard Graduate School of Education

Objectives• Explain the manifold purposes and possibilities of

assessment• Examine the role of assessment in Backwards Design• Design rubrics and incorporate them in ongoing

conversation with students• Leverage technology to make student behavior visible

and to more easily collect and analyze assessment data• Incorporate assessment data in ongoing conversations

about teaching and learning

Summative vs. Formative Assessment

Summative

• Happens at the end• Emphasis on evaluating

understanding• Typically higher stakes• Demonstrates

understanding of goals• Drives unit and lesson

design

Formative

• Happens throughout• Emphasis on fostering

understanding• Typically lower stakes• Evaluates intermediate

understandings• Drives unit and lesson

adjustment in real time

Purposes of Assessment: assess student comprehension or mastery via performance of understanding benchmark progress assess teacher efficacy hold teachers, students, administrators, others accountable clarify expectations (for students, parents, teachers, colleagues…) motivate students to work/study/stick to requirements motivate teachers to work/study/stick to requirements teach new material in context of assessing student mastery of other

material/skills assign grades sort students (or teachers) compare students (or teachers) to an external norm or set of criteria conform with/adhere to external requirements (MCAS, etc.) demonstrate to students how much they’ve learned – give them something to

show off or celebrate help students become better at taking tests

Types of Assessment

Backwards Planning (UbD)Select learning goals

What do you want students to be able to do by the end of the lesson or unit?

Design assessment tasksHow will students demonstrate their developing mastery of those goals?

Develop lesson activitiesHow will you prepare students to master the goals and

succeed on the assessment task?

Backwards PlanningSelect learning goals

What do you want students to be able to do by the end of the lesson or unit?

Design assessment tasksHow will students demonstrate their developing mastery of those goals?

Develop lesson activitiesHow will you prepare students to master the goals and

succeed on the assessment task?

Intermediate Goals/

Formative Assessment

Good Learning Goals

If Goals Assessments, then they must be:

Clearly articulated

Observable/Measurable

Appropriate

Mini-Lesson: Characteristics of Good Learning Goals

Clearly articulated students, parents, educators, and

general public can understand them without additional explanation

focused and specific

Good Learning Goals

Clearly articulated

Observable/Measurable– teacher can measure or assess student

mastery of the goal

– students and parents can assess student mastery of the goal

– short-cut evaluation for cognitive learning goals: uses a verb from Bloom’s Taxonomy

Good Learning GoalsClearly articulatedObservable/MeasurableAppropriate

– goal meets students’ and/or society’s needs as defined by teacher, school, district, state, etc…

– goal is achievable given context timeframe, class size, students’ ages and backgrounds,

available resources, externally-imposed constraints

– goal is worthwhile aligned/consonant with teaching aims

Writing/Revising Cognitive Learning Goals

Original Goal: Students will understand causes of the U.S. Civil War. Task: Revise this goal to be clearly articulated, observable, and appropriateContext: 7th grade U.S. history course in Oxford PS, untracked

If it helps, look at the Bloom action words!

Goals• Students demonstrate their understanding

of the chronology of the origins of the civil war by will arrange in chronological order the 4 or 5 events that caused the civil war in three class periods…

Discussion Questions• First, discuss one idea or strategy from this

morning that you can implement in your own instruction this year. What is one thing you may do differently? Ask probing questions of your colleagues to understand their ideas.

• Second, what ideas or strategies from this morning could grades/departments/ teams/colleagues at GOMS implement collaboratively to improve student learning. Develop an action plan for one idea as a group.

Google Form Challenges• Create a new form• Give your form a title• Add 2 questions of two different “types”• Post your form link at todaysmeet.com/edtechteacher• Answer two people’s quizzes• Look at your data summary• ADVANCED: create a summary of your data using

equations or graphs• ADVANCED: develop a quiz/survey for your class

Rubistar Challenges• Go to rubistar.4teachers.org• Scroll down and choose a subject area • Choose a specific project to create a rubric for• Enter the basic title information• Select a category• Revised a benchmark in a prepopulated category• Create a new category• Submit and Preview

Using Data to Address Instruction

Further Reading: Data Wise and Data Wise in Action

Backwards Planning (UbD)Select learning goals

What do you want students to learn by the end of the lesson or unit?

Design assessment tasksHow will students demonstrate their developing mastery of those goals?

Develop lesson activitiesHow will you prepare students to master the goals and

succeed on the assessment task?

Things I showed at the end

• Typewith.me

• Meebo.com

• Blogger.com

• Wikispaces.com

Synchronous Discussion

Discussion Boards and Chat

Synchronous Discussion• Conversation about Conversation

– Write down 5 thought questions to inspire discussion about the effective use of discussion in class

• Assign groups– Elect a leader– Discuss questions on forums– Refresh often– Use @Justin to respond to particular people if

unclear

• The leader from each group should invite the other members into a chat. From this point forward: NO TALKING, ONLY TYPING.

• Each person will then in turn ask one of their discussion questions. You will be given 15 minutes to discuss. The goal is to discuss questions as deeply and thoroughly as possible. I'd rather read an in-depth examination of two questions than brief discussions of six. GO DEEP!

• You will get a 5 point grade for this exercise. While I will raise the standards later, for now the grade will be mostly based on the following:

• 1) Do you stay on topic?• 2) Do you carefully read and respond to each other?• 3) Do you ensure that you finish each question before moving

on?• In the future, I will also expect you to actively challenge one

another and to incorporate evidence from the source material.• When you are finished, the leader should copy and paste the

chat into an email and send it to turninreich.

• Pablo Toribio-09[10:11:31 AM]: Why is Arjuna is reluctant to fight?• Jess Lippincott-09[10:11:54 AM]: because he doesn't want to kill all of those

people• Pablo Toribio-09[10:11:55 AM]: Arjuna is reluctant to fight because he believes those

people are his family.• Jess Lippincott-09[10:12:02 AM]: and his teachers• Vinesha Collymore-09[10:12:07 AM]: yeah• Jess Lippincott-09[10:12:09 AM]: and his great uncles• Vinesha Collymore-09[10:12:22 AM]: his family, he didnt want to kill them• Jess Lippincott-09[10:12:29 AM]: right• Vinesha Collymore-09[10:12:39 AM]: he felt like he was close to these people• Jess Lippincott-09[10:13:12 AM]: yeah, and he thought it would be cruel and

unnecesary to kill them• Vinesha Collymore-09[10:13:17 AM]: yeah• Jess Lippincott-09[10:13:28 AM]: +, he says he doesnt want a kingdom• Jess Lippincott-09[10:13:30 AM]: right• Vinesha Collymore-09[10:13:32 AM]: he became overcome with grief• Pablo Toribio-09[10:14:04 AM]: "Then Arjuna saw in both armies fathers,

grandfathers, sons, grandsons; father of wives, uncles, masters;brothers companions, and friends. When Arjuna thus saw his kinsmen face to face i both lines of the battle, he was overcome by grief and despair and thus he spoke with a sinking heart. "

• Jess Lippincott-09[10:14:20 AM]: right• Vinesha Collymore-09[10:14:44 AM]: so that's our conclusion for number 1• Jess Lippincott-09[10:14:49 AM]: then "I have no wish for victory Krishna,

nor for a kingdom, nor for its pleasures"

Asynchronous Discussion

Blogs and Discussion Boards

New Ways to Develop

Fundamental Skills

Rehearse for 21st Century Situations/

Environments

Improve Student Engagement

Hypothesized Benefits to teaching with Web 2.0

Enable Rich CollaborationEnable Rich Collaboration

Motivate StudentsMotivate Students

Improve Writing Skills

Improve Writing Skills

Engage in New Civic

Dialogue

Train for Web 2.0

Applications in Business

Engage in New Global

Dialogue

Learn New

Media Literacies

Learn New

Media Literacies

Practice Deeper and

Richer Discussion

Practice Deeper and

Richer Discussion

Train for Writing

under Real World

Conditions

New Ways to Develop

Fundamental Skills

Rehearse for 21st Century Situations/

Environments

Include More Students

Include More Students

Improve Student Engagement

Hypothesized Benefits to teaching with Web

2.0

Some Exemplar Blogs• Professor Cooper's Fundamentals of Writing Blog• Comparative Religions• The Secret Life of Bees • Middle East Studies• Daisy• Nobles goes to Tanzania• Chris’s American Literature 11• Stephanie (U.S. History)• Extreme Biology• Sargent Park Math Zone• HHC Collaboration Blog

Blog Challenges:• Create a Blog• Add a post

– Use formatted text– Include a link– Include an image– Publish the post

• Add a post– Save as a draft

• Go to Justin’s blog– Add a comment to the

new post (how could you use a blog in your class)

– Reply *directly* to someone else’s comment