1. Assessment and Authentic Learning
ASSESSMENT SESSION 1
Assessment and Authentic Learning

2. “Assessments and instruction can be one and the same if and when we want them to be.”
RICK STIGGINS 1

3. Objectives:
Build knowledge about the kinds of assessments that are truly meaningful to students and promote enduring learning
Reflect on how high-quality assessment design can impact student learning 2

4. Reflect:
Think back to an experience in high school or college when you truly felt like you learned something enduring (that you still think about or use today).
Write silently in response to these prompts:
What did you learn?
How was your learning measured or evaluated?
What made this experience so powerful? 3

5. Share and discuss:
Based on your own experiences as both a teacher and a learner, what makes an assessment meaningful and enduring? 4

6. Overview of High-Quality Assessments
What do these varied assessment types look like in different content areas and at different grade levels?
How do certain assessment types build higher-order thinking?
Introducing the Hess Matrix
Most educators have heard of Bloom’s Taxonomy when thinking about HOT skills. Bloom’s taxonomy was developed in the 1950s to classify and rank intellectual behaviors in terms of the complexity of the thought processes being used. It is an enormously important tool for thinking about thinking. However in practice, Bloom’s has numerous shortcomings in that some of the “higher” thinking skills can be used in superficial manners -- for instance, when asked to brainstorm a list of creative writing topics, students would be creating new knowledge, but they would not be doing so at a particular deep level. In response Norman Webb created an alternate Depth-of-Knowledge Matrix that looks at how students interact with knowledge, placing their thinking in a more practical context.
The Hess Matrix represents a synthesis of these two methods of thinking about cognitive rigor. Karin Hess combined the two scales, mapping cognitive rigor both along complexity of the skills required and depth of knowledge needed to complete them, creating a tool for describing rigor and deep learning. The most superficial quadrant is in the upper left corner, while the deeper more complex quadrant is in the lower right.
Standardized multiple choice
Standardized multiple choice with open-ended questions
Mastery-, performance-, and outcomes-
based
Authentic, project-based
Bits and Pieces
Higher-Order Thinking 5

7. The Qualities of Authentic Assessment
See Think Wonder
Types of Assessment
Bits and Pieces
Performance
Authentic
Covers broad content ✓
Ranks students
Enables feedback
Applies skills in combination
Integrates knowledge areas
Connects to real world
Adjusts to different contexts
Is Intrinsically motivational
Introducing the Hess Matrix
Most educators have heard of Bloom’s Taxonomy when thinking about HOT skills. Bloom’s taxonomy was developed in the 1950s to classify and rank intellectual behaviors in terms of the complexity of the thought processes being used. It is an enormously important tool for thinking about thinking. However in practice, Bloom’s has numerous shortcomings in that some of the “higher” thinking skills can be used in superficial manners -- for instance, when asked to brainstorm a list of creative writing topics, students would be creating new knowledge, but they would not be doing so at a particular deep level. In response Norman Webb created an alternate Depth-of-Knowledge Matrix that looks at how students interact with knowledge, placing their thinking in a more practical context.
The Hess Matrix represents a synthesis of these two methods of thinking about cognitive rigor. Karin Hess combined the two scales, mapping cognitive rigor both along complexity of the skills required and depth of knowledge needed to complete them, creating a tool for describing rigor and deep learning. The most superficial quadrant is in the upper left corner, while the deeper more complex quadrant is in the lower right. 6 6

8. Apply:
Consider the assessment you reflected on in Step 1 and then on the assessment(s) for an upcoming unit you are planning to teach.
Which characteristics of standard and authentic assessments does each task embody?
What tweaks would increase the number of characteristics from the right column?
Where would the majority of the assessments that your students take land on this continuum? 7

9. Connect:
What successes or challenges have you and your students experienced in implementing authentic, mastery-, performance-, or project-based tasks?
What are the implications of today’s learning for assessment design at our school? 8

10. Learning Wrap-Up Reflect on what you learned today.
How do your takeaways compare to the session’s learning objectives? How were these objectives addressed today?
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Build knowledge about the kinds of assessments that are truly meaningful to students and promote enduring learning
Reflect on how high-quality assessment design can impact student learning 9

11. What’s next? Learn more about authentic assessment
Learn more about project-based learning
Review Assessments Session 3
Repeat today’s activity with additional assessments
Explore examples of authentic assessment
Analyze student work 10