1. Assessments and Pedagogical Readjustments: The Use of Interim Assessment Data in two U.S. School Districts
INRP Seminar
The Place of Assessment in Teacher Professional Development
May 26, 2009
Leslie Nabors Oláh
Consortium for Policy Research in Education
University of Pennsylvania

2. Research Question
What do teachers do when they get the interim assessment results?
This is important because: 1) this is the link between formative assessments and formative assessment, and 2) there is an assumption out there that given student data, action will follow; therefore, it is crucial to know what happens at this juncture.

3. Interim Assessment Results Spreadsheet for the Urban District
SchoolNet Item Analysis view. Green checks indicate correct answer; Red letters show the incorrect response given; percentage totals for each student and for each item. Also, one of the top rows indicates the PA standard to which each item is aligned.

4. Interim Assessment Results Spreadsheet for the Suburban District

5. What do teachers do? Primarily identify content areas of weakness
Teachers link performance to state standards
And low-performing students
We found similarities in how teachers approached their data – these happened in roughly sequential order.

6. What do teachers do?
Teachers seek to (in) validate benchmark assessment results
Is the item valid for measuring student understanding?
Was the content covered?
How did my grade group partner do?
The important part is that Ts did not necessarily assume items to be valid indicators of student learning.

7. What do teachers do?
Teachers offered various types of diagnoses for student errors:
Procedural diagnoses
Conceptual diagnoses
Other learning/cognitive diagnoses
‘External’ diagnoses
THESE DIAGNOSES ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE, but we saw many more procedural diagnoses (than conceptual).

8. What do teachers do?
In general, teachers reported that the interim assessments
Did not provide new or surprising information
Were useful in confirming what they already knew about their students’ mathematical understanding
THESE DIAGNOSES ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE, but we saw many more procedural diagnoses (than conceptual). The end!

9. District differences
Urban teachers focused more on re-teaching to the lowest performing students
Suburban teachers more likely to plan enrichment activities and to allow students choice in activities
Suburban teachers expressed more confidence in ability to interpret interim assessment results

10. PD considerations How do assessments align and complement one another?
What is the nature of PD?
For interpretation?
For instruction?
What do we assume about teachers’ content knowledge?

11. Implications for PD Getting from here
We identified six conditions that helped teachers learn from and make use of assessment data.
Alignment of assessment, standards and curriculum
Expectations for use
User-friendly information management systems
Professional Support
Time
Leadership

12. Implications for PD
To here

13. PRIME: Penn Research-Informed Mathematics Education initiative
Instruction and Formative Assessment
Supporting teachers in instructional improvement, increasing content knowledge, and assessing students’ understanding of mathematics.
Support for Instructional Planning
Identifying and capitalizing on opportunities for teachers to implement the mathematics curriculum.
Periodic Assessment
Monitoring school-wide achievement in mathematics.
Examples: LASW in order to teach content and children’s development of mathematical ideas; recording information for administrator use; curriculum review to alleviate burdens of the pacing guide; assisting the schools in curriculum use
Curricular & Instructional Planning
Suggesting modifications to curriculum and pacing with the goal of meeting both teachers’ and students’ long-term needs.
Ebby, Nabors Oláh, & Oettinger, ©2009