The 21st Century Context for Standards-Focused Project Based Learning

Create a Balanced Assessment Plan Stage 2 A balanced assessment plan for a project will include a variety of assessments closely tied to the outcomes—the content standards, learning skills and technology skills, or as they are called in the Buck Institute materials, the Habits of Mind and skills. PBL moves students and teachers away from traditional paper and pencil tests and toward more authentic assessment practices. The authentic practices being measured are collaboration, communication, problem solving, and teamwork. Thus these performance based assessments are more diverse.

Balanced Assessment Plan Formative assessments that allow you to give feedback as the project progresses – Classroom Assessments for Learning Classroom Assessments of Learning that provide students with a culminating appraisal of their performance

Align products with Outcomes. Planning effective assessments requires that you work backwards to align the product or performances for the project with the outcomes. Once the outcomes for the project have been decided…Refer to the slide. Products are the presentations, papers, exhibits or models that are completed during a project. What products will prove adequate evidence of student learning and achievement?

Align Products with Outcomes This requires: Identifying culminating products for the project Using multiple products and providing feedback to students Using artifacts – evidence of the process of student thinking – to assess learning skills or habits of mind Introductory remarks: Every outcomes must be assessed. Students must be given the opportunity to demonstrate-through their products- what they are required to know and do.

Establish Performance Criteria How well do the students know the content? What is their skill level? How well did they apply their knowledge and skills as they prepared their product? After you have determine the products, you must then define the performance criteria to assess each performance or product. To do this, review the performance descriptors for the content standards and objectives. Read the identified objectives carefully and determine the learning targets for each objective. Design rubrics that allow you to answer the three questions on this slide.

How will products allow students to demonstrate their learning? If the project asks students to demonstrate proficiency in three areas, each outcome must be assessed and included in one or more of the components of the products for the project.

For example, You have identified: Four (4) content objectives Three (3)learning skills objectives Two (2) technology tool objectives You may first decide the products students will produce: Exhibition Research paper Journal Assessing the quality of student work in these products requires different methods. The presentation (Exhibition such as a video or an oral presentation requires then to demonstrate content knowledge and presentation skills) and the research (topic encompassed by the content standards)can be assessed using a performance rubric. Journals can be assessed formally or informally. Additional content outcomes can also be assessed through an exam. If we do all of these, we have an effective assessment plan using a culminating product, multiple products and artifacts along the way.

Culminating Products Research papers Report to school staff or authentic audience Multimedia shows Presentations at school-wide assemblies Exhibitions in the school or community Websites Public service announcements A culminating product is due at the end of the project and often represents a blend of content knowledge and skills that gives students an opportunity to demonstrate learning across a variety of topics and skills. Culminating assessments are presented during high stakes instances, preferable with an audience beyond the classroom walls. Students go above and beyond “show and tell” and demonstrate in-depth learning. Exhibitions include performances, portfolio defenses, presentations, displays, and student-led events. Exhibitions lend themselves to different types of assessment. When students are asked to reflect, or self-report, following the exhibition, they have an opportunity to explain how their thinking changed as a result of their participation.

Advantages to using exhibitions Participant involvement in establishment of criteria Demonstration of progress toward different goals or criteria Teamwork that provides emotional support and feedback Exercises in meta-cognitive training Students as knowledgeable practitioners Multiple assessors When used as culminating assessment, Exhibitions have a number of advantages. Students can help plan exhibitions and establish the criteria by which they will be judged. Preparation for the exhibition can become as important as the event itself. Multiple exhibitions over time enable students to demonstrate their progress toward different goals or criteria. Exhibitions are good exercises in meta-cognitive training, such as planning, goal setting, self-monitoring, knowing when to seek help, keeping to a schedule. With exhibitions students are treated as knowledgeable practitioners who have information to share with others. The teacher’s assessment is supplemented with assessment by peers, evaluation by local experts, student self-assessment and the judgment of parents and other community members. Assessment criteria can be used to provide feedback as students practice their performances.

A systematic set of checkpoints for project products will not only help keep students on schedule, but it will also help them refine and improve their work. Multiple products are due during the early, middle and final stages of the project. Multiple products give students more opportunities to improve over time and to meet the project outcomes. Multiple products give the teacher more control over the process, giving the teacher an early look at whether students are meeting the goals of the project or encountering problems. Multiple products also provide specific content checkpoints at which students and teachers can assess student progress, determine alternative directions, provide scaffolding, or make realistic estimates of the amount of time necessary for project completion. Remember these checkpoints can also include quizzes, short assignments or tests. Keep in mind multiple products give students multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning and proficiencies. It helps them refine and improve their work. Each activity the students engage in should yield information and build skills that will result in a succesful product. If the activity does not meet this criteria, it is busy work.

Examples of multiple products Proposals Outlines Plans Blueprints Drafts Edited drafts revised drafts models Product critiques Videos Final versions of papers Field guides Biographies Websites When we are designing a project we must carefully plan our activities and products. For example, a research paper based on interviews of various people may be a culminating product for a project. However, we, the teachers, and the students must be sure the students know how to conduct a formal interview. While the interview is an activity, it may result in designing an interview plan—another product for the project.

Artifacts Notes Journal entries E-mail/Telephone records Records of conversations, decisions, revisions Interviews using a structured set of questions developed by the students Short reflective paragraphs describing the progress of a project Task chart Project Team Contract Meeting notes The power of effective PBL design lies in the ability of projects to pull students through the curriculum by engaging them in complex, relevant problem solving. This may initially be uncomfortable for teachers and students who are not comfortable with the ambiguity. There is a creative stage in which students investigate, think, reflect, draft and test the hypotheses. All of this takes place in a collaborative setting and this can be noisy and disordered. However, this is the way the world works and that is what makes it valuable. It is important that we guide them through the process with a set of tools and that we evaluate the methods they use as they engage in the process. The process then becomes part of the content of the project. We need to look for artifacts of the process—evidence that the process of planning, questioning and probem solving has occurred. Artifacts can be used to evaluate learning skills and technology tools, or as the Buck Institute would say, habits of mind.

Know What to Assess Unpack the content standards and objectives Series of specific statements of what needs to be learned Think about unpacking the task(s) Define the “habits of mind” or learning skills and technology tools by specific statements or indicators These statements become the basis for the assessment process and guide students in what they should learn.

ASSESSMENT PRACTICES Exhibitions of work Variety of assessment tools ACADEMIC RIGOR ADULT RELATIONSHIPS AUTHENTICITY ACTIVE EXPLORATION APPLIED LEARNING ASSESSMENT PRACTICES Exhibitions of work Variety of assessment tools Professional standards of performance Student involvement in creating criteria for project (rubric)

TRADITIONAL ASSIGNMENT RESEARCH PAPER Required Elements: Select a disease to study Go to library and do research Write ten pages Use proper essay form Include a bibliography

PBL ASSIGNMENT HEALTH PROJECT Required Elements: Develop family medical histories Write proposal to study health issue of personal or community interest Keep research log, including citations Produce a newsletter Develop lesson plans and materials for underserved population Present to real audience

TRANSFORMING PRACTICE Traditional Assignment Student works alone Context is school Assessment by teacher only PBL Assignment Student works alone and in teams Context is family and community Assessment by real audience and teacher

WHY ASSESS? What role does assessment play in project-based teaching and learning? We have placed a copy of a well-written brochure on Classroom Assessment for Learning on the Teach 21 site. This publication is also found in the folder titled “General Sessions” on your computer. This is a publication created by Lisa Youell. There are two clinics focused on Classroom Assessment for Learning on the clinic schedule. I highly recommend that you come to understand the assessment vocabulary that accompanies a balanced assessment system.

PURPOSES OF ASSESSMENT Help students become aware of areas of need Formative -- help students along the way, ongoing Proof of learning, growth Feedback helps create better product/project Opportunity to test depth of understanding Helps to define lesson design and performance Helps teachers determine what to reteach Allows for natural adult connections Helps to share the workload Checkpoint for integration

DESIGN FOR ASSESSMENT Traditional Approach: Outcome-Based Approach: CONTENT PLAN INSTRUCTION INSTRUCTION PLAN ASSESSMENT ASSESS Outcome-Based Approach: OUTCOME PLAN ASSESSMENT PLAN INSTRUCTION INSTRUCTION ASSESS

BALANCED ASSESSMENT COLLECT EVIDENCE AT VARIOUS STAGES OF THE WORK USE A VARIETY OF METHODS: Tests Product assessments Performance assessments Self-Reports

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT START END In-Process Feedback: WHEN? WHO? Key considerations: Frequency, Timing, & Who Gives Feedback This slide is designed to help open up the key design considerations when planning for those formative, along-the-way assessment experiences. Frequency: How often do students need feedback? How often is logistically possible? Timing: Do students have enough time for revisions? Does the feedback come far along enough in the process that they actually have something to look at? Who Gives Feedback: Options include the teacher (of course), peers (requires some training and maybe a rubric) and adult experts (a great option) The line a the bottom provides a visual representation of where formative feedback may come during a project process. START END

Curricular Priorities and Assessment Methods Traditional quizzes and tests (selected response)……. Quizzes and tests (constructed response)……. Performance tasks and projects… Performance tasks and projects (complex, open-ended, authentic)……... Worth Being Familiar With... All Students Should Know and Be Able to Do... Certain types of assessment methods lend themselves to specific curricular priorities. Let us look at this visual. In our work with the development of instructional guides, standards-based units, and now standards-focused PBL units, we help our teachers understand how the classroom assessment for learning is a critical component of the instruction process. Enduring Understandings

With the PBL units, the template requires a more detailed assessment plan. You will see that we ask the author, or designer, to think about the major group products, as well as major individual projects. You see that we have assessments cited that represent all three circles within the 3-circle audit. The teachers must consider what rubrics will be used to assess student performance and you see rubrics for collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving, oral communications, written communication, content knowledge, etc. Reflections are very important with Project Based Learning.

PBL FRAMEWORK Stage 3 PROJECT ASSESSMENT CURRICULUM & EVALUATION DESIGN Stage 3 ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION RESOURCES & CONSTRAINTS

The Rigor/Relevance Framework D G T A X O N M Y Evaluation 6 5 4 3 2 1 C Assimilation D Adaptation Synthesis Analysis Application A Acquisition B Application Understanding I offer this visual to capture our goal for 21st century curriculum in our West Virginia schools. Our goal for the 21st century learner is to move both learning experiences and assessment into the D Quadrant of the Rigor and Relevance Framework. This Framework is a tool developed by the staff of the International Center for Leadership in Education to examine curriculum, instruction and assessment. The Rigor/Relevance Framework is based on two dimensions of higher standards and student achievement. First, there is the continuum of knowledge that describes the increasingly complex ways in which we think. The Knowledge Taxonomy is based on the 6 levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The low end of the continuum involves acquiring knowledge and being able to recall or locate that knowledge in a simple manner. The high end of the Knowledge Taxonomy labels more complex ways in which individuals use knowledge. At this level, knowledge is fully integrated into one’s mind. They can take several pieces of knowledge and combine them in both logical and creative ways. Assimilation of knowledge is a good way to describe this high level of the thinking continuum. Assimilation is often referred to as a higher-order thinking skill. At this level the student can solve multi-step problems and create unique work and solutions. The application Model, or the second continuum, is one of action. The five levels of this continuum describe putting knowledge to use. While the low end is knowledge acquired for its own sake, the high end signifies action-sue of that knowledge to solve complex real-world problems and to create projects, designs, and other works for real-world situations. Awareness 1 2 3 4 5 Apply across disciplines Apply to real world predictable situations Apply to real-world unpredictable situations Knowledge Apply in discipline APPLICATION MODEL