1. Building capacity for instructional leadership in the KVEC region
WELCOME to April ISLN!
Building capacity for instructional leadership in the KVEC region

2. Science Network Teachers
&
District Teams

3. Norms Start and end on time Cell phones on vibrate Rule of two feet
Contribute…YOU are ISLN.
Others?

4. ISLN Facilitation Team
Stacy Noah, Effectiveness Coach
Jennifer Carroll, PGES Strategy Lead
Carole Mullins, ELA Instructional Specialist
Chris Bentley, Science Consultant
Katrina Slone, STEM
Vacant, Social Studies
Abbie Combs, ARI Educator Effectiveness

5. Four Pillars of ISLN and TLN Meetings
Kentucky’s Core Academic Standards
Characteristics of Highly Effective Teaching and Learning/KY Framework for Teaching
Assessment Literacy
Leadership
9:20
Emphasize the pillars/focus areas of ISLN and TLN- ask participants to think about their role in building capacity. Who, from your district, is here today? Where do you feel you are in the process of building capacity? These are questions for you to personally think about. Think about evidence you have to support the questions. If you are building capacity for all stakeholders, what evidence do you have? Just jot your thoughts down on a sheet of paper. This is only for you to think about. How is your school/district improving as a result of your work? What reform has taken place? Who has grown as a result of your attendance at ISLN? Who has grown as a result of district leaders attending ISLN?

6. Be sure to submit!
Did each district get this completed??? Do we know who the members are?

7. April 2015 Learning Targets
Identify components of a balanced assessment system.
Discuss appropriate uses of assessment tools and techniques.
Discuss the need for a balanced system to improve student learning.
Utilize teacher leaders to support professional learning needs.
9:15-9:20 Do we need to follow up on these targets???

9. Assessment Literacy
Component 1: Develop a structure to oversee and implement Assessment Literacy.
Component 2: Establish a common vocabulary related to Assessment Literacy.
Component 3: Integrates the implementation of assessments through the curriculum.
Component 4: Creates a systemic process of identifying, communicating and supporting assessment literacy professional growth needs.
Component 5: Establishes data teams to utilize student performance data and teacher reflection to drive instruction.
Component 6: Creates a culture of shared accountability for continuous student progress.

10. Assessment Literacy KVEC Region
Quick review of posters to see where bulk of ratings fall.
Assessment Literacy

11. Table Talk
What are the benefits for our students and our faculty when we are operating at a Level One or Two for implementation in all components?

12. Balanced Assessment System
“To maximize student success, assessment must be seen as an instructional tool for use while learning is occurring, and as an accountability tool to determine if learning has occurred. Because both purposes are important, they must be in balance.”
From Balanced Assessment: The Key to Accountability and Improved Student Learning, NEA (2003)
Balance occurs from weight not numbers

13. Define Assess Comes from the Latin verb ‘assidere’
meaning ‘to sit with.’ in assessment one is supposed to “sit with” the learner. This implies it is something we do with and for students and not to students. (Green, 1998)

14. Assessments have various purposes, provide answers to different questions, address different users, and have varying implications for an assessment system.
Are we using assessments correctly? Think about the uses and users and statements we make about our districts through assessments. Are these conclusions we draw realistic?

15. Three Types of Assessment “(In)formative Assessments,” Harvard Education Letter, 2006
Summative
Interim/ Benchmark
Formative
Key Question
Do you understand?
(yes or no)
Is the class on track for proficiency?
What do you understand?
When Asked
End of unit/ term/year
6 – 10 times per year
Ongoing
Timing of Results
After instruction ends
Slight delay
Immediate

16. Shifts in Assessment Practices
FROM:
Separating successful from unsuccessful learners
Primarily summative
Focus on large-scale assessments
Teacher directed
TO:
Ensuring universal competence/success
Balance of formative and summative
Balance large-scale w/ classroom assessment
Teacher and student focused
Think about a resource we can use to lead participants to these big shifts!!!!!
Need to find resource!!!

17. Balance Both Sides of Assessment
Summative Formative
Large-scale Classroom

18. Group Activity
As table groups take 10 minutes to discuss and fill in the blanks on your framework sheets. Be ready to share.
Yes, it’s tough….

19. Answer Check/Discussion

20. Teachers Students and Teachers Classroom Assessments Key Issues
Formative Applications
Summative Applications
Purpose of the assessment? Key decision(s) to inform?
What comes next in teaching? Diagnose student strengths and areas needing re-teaching.
Who is the decision maker?
What information do they need?
Evidence of each student’s mastery of each relevant standard
How will the information be used?
Provide feedback to students
Plan further instruction / differentiate instruction
Revise teaching plans for next year / semester
Students self-assess, set goals for further study
Determine report card grade
What are the essential assessment conditions?
Clear curriculum maps per standard
Accurate assessment results
Descriptive feedback
Results that point student and teacher clearly to next steps
What standards has each student mastered?
What grade does each student receive?
Students and Teachers
Teachers
Evidence of where a student is now on a learning continuum toward each standard
Clear and appropriate standards
Accurate evidence/focus on achievement only
Evidence well summarized
Grading symbols that carry clear and consistent meaning for all

21. Classroom Assessment Formative Summative
Includes instructionally embedded activities
Usually teacher/locally developed
Yields rich diagnostic information
Happens while material is being taught
Informs and focuses instructional decisions
Isn’t used for grades
Occurs after material is taught
Includes unit tests and other graded performances
Can be developed locally or purchased
Counts toward grades
Isn’t diagnostic

22. Interim/Benchmark Assessments Instructional Leaders
Key Issues
Formative Applications
Summative Applications
Purpose of the assessment? Key decision(s) to inform?
Did the program of instruction deliver as promised? Should we continue to use it?
Who is the decision maker?
What information do they need?
Evidence of which standards students are struggling to master
How will the information be used?
Identify program needs
Plan interventions for groups or individuals
What are the essential assessment conditions?
Accurate assessments of mastery of program standards aggregated over students
What standards are our students not mastering? Where can we improve instruction right away? Which students need specific help?
Instructional leaders, learning teams, teachers
Instructional Leaders
Evidence of mastery of particular standards
Determine program effectiveness
Clear and appropriate standards
Accurate assessment results
Results that reveal how each student did in mastering each standard

23. Benchmark / Interim Assessments
Are usually a form of summative assessment
Can be used as an early warning of performance on later high stakes tests
Often constructed by external sources
Can cover some or all of a year’s curriculum
Provides broad domain or sub-domain coverage (minimally diagnostic)
Results raise programmatic questions that require further investigation (*formative for program – not current student)

24. Annual Accountability Assessments
Key Issues
Formative Applications
Summative Applications
Purpose of the assessment? Key decision(s) to inform?
Measure of level of achievement on state content standards. What percentage of students is meeting proficiency on state standards?
Who is the decision maker?
School and community leaders
What information do they need?
Percent of students meeting each standard
How will the information be used?
Determine programs / interventions for groups or individuals
What are the essential assessment conditions?
Accurate evidence of how each student did in mastering each standard aggregated over students
What standards are our students not mastering?
How can we improve instruction next year?
Curriculum and instructional leaders
Standards students are struggling to master
Determine AYP
Determine program effectiveness
Compare schools and districts
Accurate evidence of how each student did in mastering each standard aggregated over students

25. High Stakes Accountability Tests
Provide broad domain or subdomain coverage (minimally diagnostic).
Usually constructed by an external source.
Results raise programmatic questions that require further investigation.
Satisfy accountability requirements – state and federal.
Can give the “big picture” view of state and school performance.

26. Balanced Assessment System
Table Talk: How do these three work together to create a Balanced Assessment System?
Balanced Assessment System
High Stakes Accountability
Interim Benchmark
Classroom Assessment
Which assessment type does your district stress? Teachers? Why? Is your daily classroom work a true indication of High Stakes Assessment results? Why or why not? What does balance look like?

27. Balanced Assessment Systems

28. Balanced Assessment System
What changes in your district have to happen to get to this point?
Balanced Assessment System
POSSIBLY GET GUIDING QUESTIONS FOR PARTICIPANTS TO USE AS THEY ANALYZE THE VISUAL

29. Next Generation Science Assessment System
March 25th, KEDC at Ashland
West Ed. Interviewed teachers from 3 Cooperatives and analyzed evidence of tasks and student work those teachers brought to the meeting. Teachers from KVEC and other regions will get an online session to communicate with West ED.
The goal was to develop an idea of how teachers are gathering evidence of student attainment of NGSS performance expectations.
Their findings are….

30. Assessing NGSS West Ed Takeaways
Teachers are too grounded in content
Need to think about practices and crosscutting concepts as well as content
Suggested teachers pair a practice with a concept and select up to 4 separate DCIs that include those two items.
PRACTICE: Developing a model Crosscutting Concept: cause and effect Now find 3 pieces of content that contain these.

31. Assessing NGSS West Ed Takeaways
Task development was an issue
Tasks were not written clearly in regards to their guiding instructions.
This allowed students within the same class to produce work that demonstrated completely different levels of thought
Suggested that teachers use multi-step, guiding processes that lead students to the desired level of depth (scaffold questions)?

32. Assessing NGSS West Ed Takeaways
Teachers were inferring too much from student work
Evidence of student completion of a task must be tangible
When a student walks away from an assessment we can only score what they leave behind
Teachers accept less detailed work from students with whom they are familiar
“Use evidence from prior discussions/ conversations/ performance to frame the student’s understanding on current assessment.”

33. Assessing NGSS What are the requirements of NGSS tasks/assessments? 3D
Content is congruent
Practices are embedded
Crosscutting Concepts are present
Produce tangible evidence of student completion of PE 3D
Must be both 3d and congruent to PE

34. Assessment Task Activity
Individually work through the assessment task
As a district, answer the questions on the assessment conclusions page

35. Discussion Content knowledge:
Content knowledge was not needed to correctly answer any of the questions within the task.
It may have been helpful for students to understand succession of species but unnecessary to get the right answer.
Huge problem with ACT type assessments is they do not have DCI congruency.

36. Discussion Science Practices
Practices such as analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations, and obtaining information are all present within the task.
“The practices of inquiry”
ACT is high on science practices. They do a good job of targeting student reasoning.

37. Discussion Crosscutting Concepts
The crosscutting concept of Stability and Change is fundamental to this task.
The change or evolution of the system is the critical element of study
Also, CCC is addressed within the framework of all ACT science reasoning exams.

38. Discussion The Evidence
The only evidence that can be directly collected from this task is: The student is capable of choosing or “bubbling in” a letter.
Everything else about the student’s knowledge and understanding is inferred.
Can teachers render a judgment about how the student missed the item? Got it correct? NO!!! Can you change instruction? NO!!! Can districts gauge the strength of program? NO!

39. Discussion NGSS Quality??? Perhaps: but with some tweaks…
Directly aligned to DCI
Provides the ability to directly observe the student's ability to analyze data, construct explanations and obtain knowledge.
Inferences are not good enough when making teaching and programmatic decisions
A better question is what is the purpose and who are the uses of data from the act assessments????

40. Place your modifications in the NOTES section.
Discussion
As a group take 5 min to discuss how this assessment might be modified to collect necessary evidence to inform instructional decisions and guide curriculum.
Place your modifications in the NOTES section.
Be prepared to share.
Not directly tied to a DCI or PE. Does not offer direct observation of student learning progression. Students do not need to be in class to do well on task.

41. Assessment Task #2 Stating Claims, Gathering Evidence and Reasoning
Districts: What needs to happen for your students to be equipped to perform at a high level on this type of assessment?
Teachers: What supports do you need from your district to equip your classroom/students for success?
Discussion of strengths and weaknesses of this assessment task. Also, district discussion about where they are in the development of these tasks.

42. Districts were to have completed a self-assessment- should provide guidance on next steps for developing a strong PL plan.

43. Professional Learning
Think about best practice criteria for PL and sketch out a PL plan for NGSS for all teachers.
How can Science network teachers be utilized?
How are other science teachers being exposed to new standards? Communication from meetings? Sample assessments?
What comprehensive system of support will be offered to Science teachers in your district?

44. Supports Needed? What you have? Science Teacher Leader (PLC)
What do you need???
Summer Curriculum Work
Ongoing structures
Monitoring of implementation
Assessment Literacy

45. Allow districts time to plan

46. Please Complete Evaluation