1. Assessments for gauging student learning

2. Key Focus Question:
How can you assess what the students are learning in class?

3. Learning Outcomes By the end of this section, you will have:
Identified different methods of assessing your students
Reflected on your current methods of assessments
Brainstormed formative assessments you can use in your classroom starting tomorrow
As we go over these activities and techniques, keep your classroom in mind and think about how you can use these in your own teaching

4. What is an assessment?
A method of measuring students’ knowledge or skills on a topic at any given time during their education.

5. Types of Assessments:
Initial
Formative
Summative

6. Types of Assessments:
Initial
Formative
Summative

7. Initial Assessments What is it?
An assessment you give the students at the start of a unit
Why do we do it?
To see what your students already know about the unit
Establish a baseline for which individual growth can be measured
Warning: Can discourage the students before the start of the unit

8. Types of Assessments:
Initial
Formative
Summative

9. Do these sound familiar?
Do you understand?
Does anyone have any questions?

10. Formative Assessments
What is it?
An informal way of checking
students’ understanding
Why do we do it?
Provides insight on how much the students are learning on a daily, or on-going, process.
Intended to find areas of improvement before moving forward

11. Formative Assessments
What do they look like?
Whole-group discussions
Exit Ticket / Mini-Quiz
Drafts
Fingers 1-5 for understanding, hold up a letter A-D,

12. Activity Be sure to time yourself on this task:
For the next two minutes, think about a class you currently have and reflect on the way(s) you have assessed their learning.
Then, take two more minutes to add at least 3 new ways you can assess your students, either as an initial or formative assessments.
Pause this video and begin.

13. Types of Assessments:
Initial
Formative
Summative

14. Summative Assessments
What is it?
An formal way of determining how much a student has learned over a long period of time
Why do we do it?
To summarize student learning
To assign a grade or pass/fail the student

15. Summative Assessments
What do they look like?
Tests / Exams
Large projects

16. Seeing Assessments Visually…
Summative
Formative
Formative
Formative
Formative
Formative
Formative
Formative
Formative
Formative
Initial

17. Characteristics of Assessments
Valid
Reliable
Accessible
Informative

18. Valid
The learning objective or key concepts are addressed in the assessment

19. Reliable The results should reflect the students’ abilities
If the assessment was repeated, similar results should be seen

20. Accessible
The assessment uses scenarios and language that the students know
The amount of work is appropriate for the given time frame, students’ age group, and abilities.

21. Informative Allows students to see what she/he knows
Informs you about students’ knowledge
guide your teaching

22. Learning Outcomes By the end of this section, you will have:
Identified different methods of assessing your students
Reflected on your current methods of assessments
Brainstormed formative assessments you can use in your classroom starting tomorrow
As we go over these activities and techniques, keep your classroom in mind and think about how you can use these in your own teaching

23. Assessing Student Learning
Thank You!
Assessing Student Learning