1. Getting the Most Out of Assessment
“You haven’t taught until they’ve learned.”
– UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden
“So how do you know they have learned?”

2. 2012 Legislation
Requires Colorado to participate as a Governing Board member in a consortium of states that focuses on the readiness of students for college and careers.
Requires the Board to rely upon the assessments developed by the consortium expected to be ready for spring 2015.
Encourages the Board to conduct a fiscal and student achievement benefit analysis of Colorado remaining a Governing Board member starting on or before January 1, 2014.

3. Proposed Summative Assessment Timeline
2013
TCAP and CoAlt Continue as is
Field test new social studies and computer based science items
2014
TCAP and CoAlt Reading, Writing, and Math will continue
First year of new social studies and science assessments will be operational
2015
New Reading Writing, and Math assessments
Second year of new social studies and science assessments will be operational

4. Tensions-Multiple Measures
validity vs. reliability
performance/constructed response tasks vs. selected response items
all students vs. sampling
content vs. skills
local educators vs. professional testing contractors
local scoring vs. outside scoring
student work vs. numeric scores
summative vs. formative
holistic vs. analytic
stand-alone vs. embedded
one-year’s growth vs. differences in resources (instructional time, etc.)
mandate by edict vs. preparation through professional development
Moving Through Tensions
Re-envisioning the purpose of assessment -asking key questions to invite innovative thinking regarding evidence of student learning

5. Evidence of Student Learning
Office of Assessment, Research & Evaluation
Evidence of Student Learning
A Private Universe/ MIT and the Light Bulb
Honors Student and the Light Bulb
What Causes the Seasons?

7. Assessments and protocols which uncover private thinking
You and the Moon
More examples (Traffic Light, etc.)
Honeycomb!

9. Tensions-Assessment Literacy
validity vs. reliability
performance/constructed response tasks vs. selected response items
all students vs. sampling
content vs. skills
local educators vs. professional testing contractors
local scoring vs. outside scoring
student work vs. numeric scores
summative vs. formative
holistic vs. analytic
stand-alone vs. embedded
one-year’s growth vs. differences in resources (instructional time, etc.)
mandate by edict vs. preparation through professional development
Moving Through Tensions
Defining purpose s for assessment across all disciplines

11. Office of Assessment, Research & Evaluation
Formative Assessment
“Process used by both teachers and students during instruction that provides ‘in the moment’ feedback for adjusting teaching and learning. It reveals points of confusion, misunderstanding or progress toward mastery of an idea.” (CDE, 2011)
Typical uses
An instructional process used to inform instruction and learning during the learning process
Aligned to standards and focused on learning progressions
Intended to motivate students towards learning targets
Used for instructional purposes and is not punitive or used to compare students to students, teachers to teachers, schools to schools, or districts to districts
Using informal and formal instructional strategies to gather, interpret, and use information to adjust and monitor teaching and learning.
Examples
Exit ticket
Formative Performance Task
Think-Pair-Share
Self-Assessments
Response Journals
Observations
Anecdotal Records

12. Office of Assessment, Research & Evaluation
Interim Assessment
“Assessments typically administered every few months to fulfill one or more of the following functions: instructional (e.g., to supply teachers with student diagnostic data); evaluative (e.g., to appraise ongoing educational programs; predictive (e.g., to identify student performance on a later high-stakes test).” (CDE, 2011)
Typical uses
Provides a predictive measure of postsecondary & workforce readiness;
Provides student demonstration of current knowledge and progress towards mastery of standards;
Informs instructional and/or programmatic adjustments;
Results can be used in educator effectiveness evaluation
Examples
Acuity
Galileo
NWEA
Quarterly District Assessments

13. Office of Assessment, Research & Evaluation
Summative Assessment
End of unit or end of year, comprehensive and standardized measurement of student mastery in order to assess student learning, inform taxpayers, state policy makers, support identification of successful programs, and/or serve a variety of state and federal accountability needs.” (CDE, 2011)
Typical uses
Accountability, including school, educator, and student (e.g., graduation)
Certify mastery
Program/curricular evaluation
Monitor trends and progress
Know students’ achievement levels
Grades
Examples
TCAP
NAEP
End of Unit Summative Assessment
Final Exam

14. Tensions-Diverse Stakeholders
validity vs. reliability
performance/constructed response tasks vs. selected response items
all students vs. sampling
content vs. skills
local educators vs. professional testing contractors
local scoring vs. outside scoring
student work vs. numeric scores
summative vs. formative
holistic vs. analytic
stand-alone vs. embedded
one-year’s growth vs. differences in resources (instructional time, etc.)
mandate by edict vs. preparation through professional development
Moving Through Tensions
Commitment to collaborative approaches and multiple layers of implementation

15. Content Collaboratives
Dawn
P-12 educators from around the state are gathering to identify and create high-quality assessments, which are aligned to the new Colorado Academic Standards and may be used in the context of Educator Effectiveness evaluations.
The Content Collaboratives, CDE, along with state and national experts, will establish examples of student learning measures within each K – 12 content area including:
Cohort I
Dance
Drama & Theatre Arts
Music
Reading, Writing and Communicating
Social Studies
Visual Arts
Cohort II
Physical Education
Science
World Languages
Comprehensive Health
Mathematics

16. 2012-2015 Work of Content Collaboratives
Researchers offer assessments for consideration to the Content Collaboratives
Cohorts I & II of Content Collaboratives review/create/recommend assessments for piloting & peer review, based on technical criteria provided by the Technical Steering Committee
Cohort I assessments begin piloting in Fall 2012 to determine its utility within educator effectiveness evaluations
Guiding principles and criteria posted on the website for designing and vetting assessments to be used in ed. Effectiveness evaluations
2013
Continue piloting of Cohort I assessments & begin peer review of assessments in terms of how the assessments function for the purposes of educator effectiveness evaluation
Begin piloting of Cohort II assessments in January 2013, with peer review in summer 2013
Begin populating Resource Bank with assessments in August 2013
Content Collaboratives, using identified measures, begin working on instructional practice aligned to the Colorado Academic Standards
2014
Continue to refine and build the Resource Bank
Build out sophisticated instructional lessons that respond to gaps in student learning
2015
Continue to build statewide capacity
Continue build-out of the bank in regards to instructional practices

17. Cohort I & II: Flow Chart of Work
Dawn
Pilot then
peer
review
Colorado Content Collaboratives
Bank
National
Researchers
Technical Steering Committee
Future Work
I: Jan-Mar 2012
II: Jun-Aug 2012
I: Feb-May 2012
II: July-Nov 2012
I &II: Feb-Dec 2012
I & II: Aug Aug 2014
I: Aug 2013 II: Aug 2014
Researchers gather existing fair, valid and reliable measures for
Consideration.
Collaboratives use protocol to review researchers’ measures for feasibility, utility and gaps.
Prepare to fill gaps.
Provide recommendations to Technical Steering Committee.
Technical Steering Committee creates frameworks and design principles for collaboratives to use in reviewing and creating measures.
Committee reviews recommendations of collaboratives.
Piloting and peer review of measures.
Aug 2012-Aug 2013: Cohort I piloting & peer review
January 2013-Aug 2014: Cohort II piloting & peer review
Measures placed in online Education Effectiveness Resource Bank for voluntary use.
Format slide to fit text boxes

18. High Quality Assessment Review Tool
A high quality assessment should be...
Aligned to the content you want students to master
Uses clear and rigorous scoring criteria
Is fair and unbiased
Provides students with an opportunity to learn
colorado content collaboratives cde

19. How are we doing this? Who is involved?
Office of Assessment, Research & Evaluation
How are we doing this? Who is involved?
Researchers
Content Collaborative Members
Technical Steering Committee
Center for Assessment (NCIEA)
Pilot Districts
Peer Reviewers
Other states and districts

21. Inventory of Assessments
colorado content collaboratives cde

23. Review Progress
colorado content collaboratives cde

25. How Colorado Will Determine Student Learning
Quality Criteria for One Measure
Multiple Measure Design Principles for Combinations of Measures
Growth Measure Composite
colorado content collaboratives cde

26. Assessment in DPS Denver Public Schools
Teachers in math, reading, and writing have a variety of standardized state and/or district assessments that can contribute measure of student growth to a teacher’s evaluation
In all other subjects, there are neither state nor district assessments that can be used in a similar way
Nearly 70 percent of the 4500 teachers in DPS teach something other than math, reading, or writing

27. Non-Tested Subjects Assessment Development
Beginning in November 2011, DPS embarked on developing assessments in traditionally non-tested subjects
Working collaboratively with teachers
Assessments will be used to develop measures of student growth and contribute to teacher evaluations
Work will continue through summer of 2014

28. Current and Future Work
Cohort 1
Music
Visual Arts
Physical Education
Work during the school year will include:
Dance
Drama/Theater Arts
Social Studies