State Support for Classroom Assessment Fen Chou, Ph.D. Louisiana Department of Education National Conference on Student Assessment June 27, 2012

 Formative assessment (assessment for learning) studies demonstrate evidence of strong achievement gains in student performance as measured by standardized tests.  All students show achievement gains, and the largest gains are for the lowest achievers. * Bloom, Black, Wiliam, Meisels, et al. See Shepard (2005) for complete review. What Research Studies Indicate

Formative Assessment  Teachers use assessment to inform their instruction. They change and adjust their instruction based on the needs for each student.  Students use assessment to inform their learning. They make adjustments to what they are learning and develop strategies for learning. 3 formative assessment n. A process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning for the purpose of improving students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes.

Rationale for EAGLE Program  Local requests for state assessment reports at the sub-strand level  Teachers’ desire to have item-level information  A product that supports formative assessment process 4

EAGLE – Vision  Provides teachers with access to standards- and curriculum-aligned items  Can be used at any time  Provides evidence about student learning to make instructional decisions  Allows teachers to assess student learning continuously  Helps students to evaluate their learning 5

Use Formative Assessment Concept to Design EAGLE 6 Analyze Adjust Assess

Key Elements in Design Process: Assess 7 Analyze Adjust Assess Key Elements: - Alignment - Item Quality - Item Formats - Item Selection - Test Construction

EAGLE Item Bank  Online pool of test items aligned to content standards and grade-level expectations (GLEs) English language arts, math, science, and social studies Grades 1-12 Multiple-choice, short-answer, constructed- response, writing, and interactive items Approximately five items per GLE with a range of complexity of skills  Teachers can create their own tests or use premade tests. 8

Engaging Content 9

Engaging Formats 10

Key Elements in Design Process: Analyze 11 Analyze Adjust Assess Key Elements: - Reports at various levels - User-friendly design - Progress monitoring

Analysis of Test Questions Report 12

Student Report by Test 13

Instructional Needs Report 14

Key Elements in Design Process: Adjust 15 Analyze Adjust Assess - Use data to understand student learning - Adjust instruction - Meet students’ learning needs

Use Data to Adjust Instruction 16  Review and discuss these items with students  Focus on the incorrect answer choices that your students selected most frequently. Ask students why they selected those choices and identify any common misconceptions that emerge.  Find related activities and instructional materials  Provide additional instruction and assign additional homework related to these GLEs  Have students retake this test again or take a new test that includes these GLEs

Targeted Resources 17

16 Teachers can show students the Handscoring Tutorial and focus on sample rubrics that depict examples of strong and weak responses to questions and how points for responses are assigned. Scoring Rubrics

Future Plan for EAGLE  Align existing items to Common Core State Standards (CCSS)  Develop new items aligned with CCSS  Develop technology-enhanced items  Modify reports  Upgrade Instructional Resources Database  Update handscoring tutorials 19

Questions? Fen Chou Louisiana Dept. of Education