How Assessment Supports RTI2 and Closing the Achievement Gap Barb Williams barbwilliams.ela@gmail.com Allen Pratt allen.pratt@lmunet.edu

Norms Active participation (questions welcomed!) Respect for all colleagues and students If you need to stand and stretch/move about, please do so.

To examine actual summative assessment in small groups Goals To review classroom assessment practices that support district/state/national assessments and RTI²: Tier 1 To examine actual summative assessment in small groups To revise items to reflect assessment practices discussed

The Need for Quality Assessments

Balanced Assessment

Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment (How?) Curriculum (What?) Strategies; RTI2; Differentiation; Collaboration; Flexible Grouping; etc. Standards; Curriculum; Pacing Guides Assessment (How Well?) Formative; Summative; Common Assessments; Benchmarks; State; National

A Balanced Assessment System Assessment Data W.I.N. (What I Noticed) Responsive Teaching Common Benchmark Assessment Formative Instruction State Testing Value-Added Analysis & Class Reports Check & Change Did your goals and strategies make a difference? What will you do to improve teaching and learning? Look for Strengths & Weaknesses; Formulate Goals

Assessment in Your Classrooms

Alignment of Assessment to Standard Consider This “Research shows that teachers spend from a quarter to a third of their professional time on assessment-related activities. Stiggins, R.J. (1999). Evaluating classroom assessment training in teacher education. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 18 (1), 23-27.

The Need for Assessment to Inform Instruction Selecting Purposeful Assessments Developing Local Assessments Balanced Assessments Effective Use of Data to Guide Instruction Measuring and Closing Achievement Gaps Student Mobility/Placement Computer-Based Assessments

Connections to Formative Instructional Practices (FIP) Using clear learning targets Collecting and documenting evidence of student learning Providing effective feedback Student ownership of learning

Balanced Assessment System: What do I know about my students?

The Foundations of Quality Assessments

High-quality Assessment

High-quality Assessment

Ways to Improve Validity Eliminate assessment items that contain content unrelated to what is intended to be measured. Ensure a representative distribution of assessment items. Ensure item alignment to both the content and the skill levels. Ensure that demonstration of mastery of content and skills being measured is not affected by content and skills not being measured.

Alignment Since our ultimate goal is to improve learning and teaching through the use of the data generated from student growth measures, the assessments used must be closely aligned to articulated standards taught in the classroom.

Content Skills Alignment What do I want my students to know and be able to do? Content Skills

Is this item aligned?

Is this item aligned?

Is this item aligned?

Is this item aligned? Handout 2 Let’s look at a classroom assessment for alignment. Review the standards on Handout 2 [NF = Numbers and Fractions]

Is this item aligned? Handout 2 Let’s look at a classroom assessment for alignment. To what standard would these questions likely be aligned? Examine questions 1-3 Examine questions 4-7 Examine question 8 Examine question 9 Examine question 10

Planning for Quality Assessment

Webb’s Depth of Knowledge vs Blooms Taxonomy Many new standards require teachers to look beyond the verb to determine the level of cognitive complexity. 1st Grade: Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story using key details. 2nd Grade: Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. 3rd Grade: Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings), and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

Review Assessment Quality: 3rd Grade Math 3rd Grade Math –Fractions Apply Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Levels to this Assessment.

Assessment Blueprints Start With a Plan Record the prioritized learning expectations that will be on the assessment. Identify the assessment methods to be used. Identify the level of complexity of the learning expectations and the assessment items. Determine how much “weight” each learning priority will receive. Balance the rigor of the assessment.

Assessment Blueprints Handout

High-Quality Assessment Design

Review samples of revised assessment items Handout

Resources TNCore.org – sign up for updates http://www.parcconline.org/ - The latest on instruction & assessment for Tennessee about CCSS! www.battelleforkids.org/Tennessee Each school has an access code, but you can get to some resources without it. The FIP training modules (code required) go into depth on the all Formative Instructional Practices – New Modules. http://ati.pearson.com/tools-resources/index.html (Pearson -- integral to TN assessment) Open Education Resources http://www.oercommons.org