Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel

Formative Assessment: Two Teachers’ Journey

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Now you’ll hear about two teachers’ journey in formative assessment: Olivia Lozano and Gabriela Cardenas Handout includes the script and PPT slides. Implementing Formative Assessment Slide 1

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Where Our Journey Began… Slide 2

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Our School Context Slide 3 Para Los Niños Located in skid row 98% of the students come from families with incomes below poverty level 90% of the students are English Language Learners Most parents work in the Downtown area (garment, flower, produce districts)

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Creating a Safe Place for Learning Slide 4 For our students to be accessible for learning, we needed to create an environment that supported: Asking questions Sharing one’s thinking Building on each other’s thinking Participating in supportive and collaborative relationships Being challenged Taking risks Trying something new Showing learning in a different way Communicating needs (“I don’t understand it, yet.”) Trusting that the teacher will always be the model

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Standard Student’s Current Learning Status Gap Shifting Our Focus Slide 5

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Administrative Support Slide 6 Create a safe school for learning Foster a professional learning community Provide opportunities for collaboration and discussion Provide supportive feedback by regularly observing teachers Analyze evidence of student learning with teachers to modify instructional practice Support the development of teacher knowledge through professional development

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Opportunities for Collaboration and Discussion Slide 7 Pupil-Free Days Weekly Planning Meetings (“Banked Time”) Teachers as Mentors

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Formative Assessment Model at PLN Slide 8 Discuss evidence of student learning Examine student work Discuss strategies Collect evidence of learning Increase interpretive skills

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Taking the Lead in the Area of Science Slide 9 Through peer feedback and self reflection: Developed the skill of listening to student conversations Developed knowledge of metacognition Developed students background knowledge

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel School-wide Challenges Slide 10 Understanding formative assessment Sufficient content knowledge Sufficient time (analyze student work, collaborate and discuss, research) Quality resources to support understanding of formative assessment

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Collaboration Change in Practice Taking Risks Reflection Trust Our Implementation of Formative Assessment Slide 11

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Supports in Our Journey Slide 12 Practitioner books Formative Assessment for Literacy: Building Reading and Academic Language Skills Across the Curriculum (Alison L. Bailey and Margaret Heritage) Formative Assessment: Making it Happen in the Classroom (Margaret Heritage) Articles from Education Journals Having clear focused goals for implementation of formative assessment Professional development out of school to develop our content knowledge Opportunities to analyze research and discuss findings COMMITTING TO MAKING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT A PRIORITY

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Taking It a Step Further Slide 13 GABRIELA Applying the formative assessment approach to math Developed content knowledge Developed assessment knowledge OLIVIA Applying the formative assessment approach to literacy Developed content knowledge Developed assessment knowledge

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Increasing Student Involvement Self-AssessmentReflection Analysis and Application Peer Assessment Guided Through Conversational Prompts Creating Self-Directed, Life-Long Learners Slide 14

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel DETERMINING CLEAR LEARNING GOALS DEFINING CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS Developing a Learning Progression Slide 15

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Learning goals shared with students Criteria for success shared with students Goals and criteria are manageable Goals and criteria are in language students can understand Criteria made explicit through exemplars Learning Goals and Success Criteria Slide 16

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Student’s Current Learning Status Learning Goal Formative Assessment Scaffolding/Instruction ZPD Instructional Adjustments/Feedback (Heritage, 2009) Closing the Gap Slide 17 Gap

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel New grade level New curriculum New challenges New demographics Our Journey Continues at the UCLA Lab School Slide 18

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Adjustments to Our Instructional Approach Slide 19 Creating a common language Goal setting Teacher modeling of Metacognitive skills Peer feedback Self-assessment Parent feedback

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Increasing Student Involvement Self-AssessmentReflectionGoal Setting Analysis and Application Peer Assessment Teacher Modeled Guided Through Conversational Prompts Reevaluating Our Approach Slide 20

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Benefits of Formative Assessment Slide 21 Becoming a more reflective teacher Meeting the needs of each individual child Developing independent life-long learners

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Our Recommendations Slide 22 Based on our experience we feel the following are critical to the implementation of formative assessment: Willingness to change Dedication of time Making the effort to develop new skills and knowledge Commitment to making formative assessment a priority

Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel Your Turn With a partner or in small groups, use these questions to discuss Gabriela and Olivia’s formative assessment journey: What have you learned from Gabriela and Olivia? What supports did Gabriela and Olivia have that helped them to effectively use the process of formative assessment? What are you thinking about now that you have heard Gabriela and Olivia’s story? Slide 23 Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel

Share three important ideas from Gabriela and Olivia’s formative assessment journey with others at your school. OR Share the PPT and script/audio of Gabriela and Olivia’s formative assessment journey with your colleagues. Discuss these experiences in your TLC before starting Lesson 3. Try It Out Slide 24 Copyright © 2012 Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center & North Central Comprehensive Center at McRel