“I guarantee that we will see mathematics scores fall sharply…This is an indication that we are expecting more of students, not that they are learning less” -- Pat Wright, Virginia State Superintendent of Education

Math Assessments: Creating Technology Enhanced Items and Adding Rigor Henrico County Public Schools August 2012

What is your name? Where do you teach? Which type of assessment item (True/False, multiple choice, matching, etc.) best matches your personality? 3 Introductions

Our Goals 1.Identify shifts in assessment practices and brainstorm implications of these changes 2.Identify current assessment instruments used to measure academic growth and their strengths and limitations 3.Examine current assessments to identify areas of rigor and relevance 4.Examine standards (verbs) and determine appropriate assessment options 5.Begin the process of creating or revising assessments – distinguish short and long-term goals

Curve of Change Implementation 5 Past Practice Denial Anger Fear Depression Understanding Acceptance Progress Where are you?

Key Questions What do we want students to be able to do? How do we want them to demonstrate it? How can our assessments help determine the level of understanding? Why does Virginia/Henrico assess students? Why do teachers assess students?

We MUST change instruction! ▫Teachers must instruct in the manner that we are going to assess. ▫Students must have experiences with these assessments regularly in their classroom. ▫Teachers must learn how to ask good questions.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Traditional Assessment Standards/ Objectives Instructional Activities Assessment Standards/ Objectives Real-World “Ends” Assessments Instructional Activities 21 st Century Assessment

SOL Assessment Changes – All Levels Increased focus on multistep and applied (“practical” or “real world”) problems Increased emphasis on models and multiple representations 16

We all have a role in a quality implementation of new standards 17

Mathematics Supervisors Curriculum/pacing guide updates Resources realignment Communication of changes and countywide PD efforts/emphasis Collaboration ▫Within the division ▫Among divisions Professional development 18

School-level Administrators When observing, notice who is doing the most thinking – teachers or students Communicate with the mathematics supervisor and/or central office staff about what is being observed Facilitate common planning periods for teachers (general and special education) of the same subjects – when possible Provide guidelines and expectations for planning (learning community) meetings 19

Teachers Engage students in the learning, providing relevant and rigorous activities and tasks Ask high-leverage questions – make students work harder than you Require students to communicate their thinking and listen carefully to them Make students justify their thinking Use multiple models 20 Process Goals!

Teachers Use formative assessments to learn about the level of student understanding and reflect on your own teaching Know what needs to be taught and to what extent 21

22 2 minute group discussion What did we learn about assessments in college? How should we assess students?

Types of Assessment Informal and Formal Formative ▫Checking in on the formation of learning ▫Diagnostic in nature – should lead to changes in instruction ▫Assessment for learning ▫Questions (verbal), homework, classwork, quizzes, benchmark tests ▫Includes a lot of student feedback

Summative ▫Assessment of learning ▫Provides a numeric evaluation ▫Tests, projects, simulation tests ▫Less feedback Types of Assessment

Multiple choice Open response ▫Short response  fill in the blank  solve/simplify/select/sort/compare  create/describe/shade  explain why/justify ▫Open-ended  no predefined answer  synthesizes multiple concepts Types of Assessment

How will you plan to use assessments to better determine your students level of understanding? It is time to upgrade Our knowledge Our instruction Our assessments

Are you smarter than a Geometry student? 27 NEW OLD

Increased Rigor Understanding the “increased rigor” of the new SOL comes through analysis of the SOL and the Curriculum Framework

Exercise #1

Instruction, Assessment, and Backwards Design STEPS 1.Analyze an SOL and Curriculum Framework - what students should be able to do 2.Brainstorm ways to assess the SOL 3.Develop an assessment 4.Brainstorm instructional strategies 5.Develop instructional resources/lesson plans 30

Analyze the SOL and list at least 5 different things that students should know and be able to do. SOL 6.13 The student will describe and identify properties of quadrilaterals Sort and classify polygons as quadrilaterals, parallelograms, rectangles, trapezoids, kites, rhombi, and squares based on their properties. Properties include number of parallel sides, angle measures, and number of congruent sides. Identify the sum of the measures of the angles of a quadrilateral as 360°. 31 Analysis - What should students be able to do?

Developing Assessments and Appropriate Instruction – Backwards Design 1.Analyze an SOL and Curriculum Framework - what students should be able to do 2.Brainstorm ways to assess the SOL 3.Develop assessment items 4.Brainstorm instructional strategies 5.Develop instructional resources 32

1.Analyze an SOL and Curriculum Framework - what students should be able to do 2.Brainstorm ways to assess the SOL 3.Develop assessment items 4.Brainstorm instructional strategies 5.Develop instructional resources 33 Developing Assessments and Appropriate Instruction – Backwards Design

Exercise #2 Compare the 2001 SOL to the 2009 SOL group discussion

How has the rigor increased? 2001 SOL 7.22 The student will a) solve one-step linear equations and inequalities in one variable with strategies involving inverse operations and integers, using concrete materials, pictorial representations, and paper and pencil; and b) solve practical problems requiring the solution of a one-step linear equation SOL 7.14 The student will a) solve one- and two-step linear equations in one variable; and b) solve practical problems requiring the solution of one- and two-step linear equations. 35

Trending articles Backwards Planning Takes Thinking Ahead Edutopia: planning-thinking-ahead-rebecca-alber planning-thinking-ahead-rebecca-alber

Technology Enhanced Items (TEI) Format of Questions: Fill in the blank Drag and drop Hot-spot: Select one or more “spots” to respond to a test item, i.e. select answer option(s), shade region(s), place a point on a grid Creation of graphs

Technology Enhanced Items (TEI) Spring 2012 Test Administration For online tests that assess 2009 Mathematics SOL: Grade 6 through End-of-Course (EOC): TEI will be operational (approximately 15% of the test form)

39 Sample TEI – Fill in the Blank

40 Sample TEI – Drag and Drop

41 Sample TEI – Hot Spot

Sample TEI – Create Graphs 42

It is essential that students have experiences with the Practice SOL Items prior to testing. Use of the Practice Item Guides is STRONGLY recommended. Practice Item Guides provide: ▫Guided practice with tools ▫Information specific to TEI functionality ▫Information on item format 43 Practice SOL Items

Modifying Assessment Items Use these guiding questions to “upgrade” the following SOL questions How could a test item writer ask this in a TEI format? What types of classroom activities or assessments could I use to prepare students? 44

Modifying Assessments 45

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Where can I get ideas for quality assessment items? NAEP released items (searchable database) PISA released items APEC Mathematics Assessment Database Heinemann Mathematics (not free, but cheap) JMU Center for STEM Education Outreach (by SOL in Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II)

Edutopia article – July 31, 2012 How Can We Make Assessments Meaningful? assessments-meaningful-heather-wolpert-gawron

Let’s Make Some Assessments! 53

Analyzing the Data 1.Arrange yourself with other teachers in the same content area. 2.Examine the division Student Performance By Question (SPBQ) handout. 3.Identify 5 questions that had the lowest percentage correct. 4.Why do you think students had difficulty with this content?

Creating the Assessment 1.Working in pairs, assign a different question to each group. 2.Brainstorm ways to assess the SOL or find a previously released SOL question that assesses each topic to upgrade. 3.Create an assessment question that addresses each of the questions.

TEI Creation 1.Download the ActivInspire template from the Math Assessments blog posting on the HCPS math website. 2.Individually or as a group, convert the questions to TEI items. 3.Share! your creations (with the grade level/SOL identified) to me –

Key Messages We must not solely focus on multiple-choice assessments We must provide students with rich, relevant, and rigorous tasks that focus on more than one specific skill and require application and synthesis of mathematical knowledge We must connect mathematics content within and among grade levels and subject areas to facilitate long term retention and application We must reflect on our own teaching and resist the urge to blame students