1. Classroom Assessments
General understandings
Stiggins Chapter 1

2. For Discussion What is the end of education?
Is your philosophy of assessment in alignment with the end of education?

3. General Notions
Alignment – Educators who excel at their task understand the need for alignment between the following:
Purpose of Education
Role of Assessments
Role of Content/Standards
Role of Assignments
Role of Learning Activities

4. The Purpose of Education
Humans have a spiritual end
Purpose of education
The formation of the whole person
The development of the person’s intellect to discover the order in the world and to encounter that which is true, good, and beautiful
Assessments exist within this context
The purpose of education and the role of assessments all exist within a context. That context is the spiritual end of the human being.
If one is not careful, one can misplace emphasis and make something that belongs within a larger context the focus of the context. This happens in China. The Gao Kao is a compulsory exam for all Chinese students – they must pass this exam to have access to further education.
In studying about assessments, it is important to keep in mind that Assessments are not the context. They exist within a context and they must be in alignment with other educational elements.

5. What do you use assessments for?
Used with skill, assessment can motivate
the reluctant, revive the discouraged, and thereby increase, not simple measure achievement
Motivate
Revive
Increase
Measure
What strikes you the most about this statement?
One thing that struck me the most is assessment as a source of motivation – most students do not look at assessments as a source of motivation
This implies a paradigm shift in thought – a radical change in how we look at assessments and their purpose and role in education
Proper use of assessments in education will enable us to incorporate assessments that motivate, revive, increase, and measure student achievement

6. Two columned purpose of assessments
Support student learning
Offer valuable information for student areas of strength and areas of deficiency
Offer valuable information for differentiated instruction
Verify student learning
Offer information to drive instruction
Offer information to instructor to determine what students know, need to know, and want to know

7. 5 Keys to Quality Assessments
Clear purpose for the assessment
Clear learning targets
Sound assessment design
Effective communication of results
Student involvement in assessment process
Through research and practice Jan Chappuis and Rick Stiggins have come up with 5 keys to quality assessment – as we go through them, bring to mind assessments you currently use and how your current use of assessments would measure up to these 5 keys

8. Key 1: Clear Purpose Two columned purpose of assessments
Two types of assessments
Formative assessments – assessment FOR learning
Physical – see how you are doing and what needs work
Summative assessments – assessment OF learning
Autopsy – the information tells us how this person applied what learned content to their lives
Listed before as supporting student learning and verifying student learning – the goal is to have the information affect instruction – if your assessments are not having a direct impact in how you are developing lesson plans then you need to revisit your assessment philosophy
The end goal of formative assessments is to support student learning – they are to help you differentiate instruction, they are to help you determine student weaknesses and areas of deficiency. Formative assessments should be followed by immediate feedback that is clear and tells students clearly how they are strong and what they need to work on
Example from Scripture – Parable of the Sower – Formative Assessments – Sheep and Goats – Summative Assessment
Most teachers tend to make assessments summative – at the end of a lesson or chapter. Most teachers do allow the results to drive their instruction. This does not motivate students

9. Key 2: Clear Learning Targets
Determine the learning that needs to be assessed
Help students understand the learning path
Students’ chances of success improve when they start out with a vision of where they are headed
Determining what learning needs to be assessed is both at the level of content and skills. Are you assessing mere content or what students can do with the content?
Determine and help students understand the “why?” behind the assessment. They may know you are assessing a standard but they also ought to now why that standard and why now. (Do not give them an answer to a question they do not have nor do they know the importance of the question)
Why are curriculum maps and scopes and sequences this major secret from students – will it magically change the game for them NO but it can have a positive impact.

10. Key 3: Sound Assessment Design
Ensure your assessment method is getting you the necessary information
If you are assessing a student’s ability to function at a higher level of thinking and give them a test that assesses a lower level then there is a flaw in the design
There are four major types of assessments: selected response, written response, performance assessment or personal communication
These four types are more like categories. We will look at each separately in later modules

11. Key 4: Effective Communication of Results
Determine the intention of the data acquired
Who is your audience?
Results must be relayed in a timely manner and in an understandable way
Different audiences require a differentiated format for relaying results

12. Key 5: Student Involvement in the Assessment Process
This is a major paradigm shift
Student decide the following:
Is the learning worth the effort required of them
If they are capable of reaching the learning targets
If they should keep learning or quit working
Student buy in increases their interest and motivation
What possible teacher fears can arise from this paradigm shift?
(Think of it as formation of conscience – the primacy of conscience – and simply filling it

13. Attitude towards classroom assessments
Tests that truly reflect the curriculum content
Assessments that have clear learning targets
Transparency – students know what they are accountable for learning
Some are just for the sake of growing in learning
Assessments are used as learning experiences
Assessments helps students identify their strengths