1. Evaluating Student Achievement
How do you measure if your students are learning?

2. Agenda Explore methods of formative evaluation.
Explore methods of summative evaluation.
These are our objectives for the next hour.

3. Formative and Summative Assessment
Formative Assessment is intertwined with your teaching, it happens all the time.
Summative Assessment happens at the end of a unit, chapter, class and measures the students level of learning at that specific moment in time.
The two major categories of student assessment.
Each serve their purpose well.
But they require us to change how we look at teaching and evaluation.

4. Bloom’s Taxonomy

5. Your Evaluation Has to Match Your Objectives
What do your students need to learn?
Evaluation
Make judgments
Synthesis
Creates meaning
Analysis
Break it down
Application
Use a concept
Comprehension
Understand meaning
Knowledge
Recall or recite
This goes back to your objectives; it always does.
Objectives, teaching, and evaluation are intimately tied together.
HANDOUT
What keywords are showing up in your objectives
There has to be a clear line between your objectives – teaching – and evaluation

6. Formative Assessment
Formative Assessment lets the student know how well they are grasping the material
Formative Assessment lets YOU identify the gaps between what is being taught and what is being learned.
These are done early and often.
Mixed in with your teaching all semester long.

7. Examples of Formative Assessment
Just ask
One minute paper
Toughest point
One sentence summary
Application cards
Mind Map
Stop/Start/Continue

8. Just Ask
This by far the most common formative assessment we use because it is fast and easy.
“does this make sense?”
“did you all get that?”
“is this clear?”
It works, but we can dig a little deeper.
What are the pros and cons
Pros: Very fast, easy
Cons: Not everyone will speak up, afraid of looking dumb.

9. The One Minute Paper Sixty seconds to answer a question
Most important thing today?
Most important question unanswered?
Why is this important?

10. The Toughest Point What was the “toughest” point about the lesson?
What are you having trouble with?
Notice that we are moving to student centered assessment. Not what do you want to tell them, but what they need to hear.

11. One Sentence Summary
How well can learners summarize the important points?
One long sentence

12. Application Cards
Write one real-world application of the major concept
Index cards, threaded discussion

13. Mind Map for Evaluation
Have the students try to draw a conceptual outline.
Evaluating Students
Formative
Summative
Just ask
One minute paper
Muddiest point
One sentence summary
Application cards
Mind Map

14. Start/Stop/Continue
Let students conduct a formative evaluation on your teaching.
On index cards and ask them to list three things:
What should I start doing?
What should I stop doing?
What should I continue doing?
Do this early and often
You know you are going to have a summative evaluation at the end of the semester. Conduct your own formative evaluation; we do them formally and informally in Tifton.

15. Wrapping Up Formative Assessment
Try an Application Card
Take a index card or sheet of paper and write down how you can use three of these formative assessments in your upcoming class.

16. Summative Assessment
How do we conduct most of our summative assessment?

17. Examples of Summative Assessment
Here a few of my favorite summative evaluation techniques.
Test – we will save for another day
Portfolios
Product-Based
Performance-Based
Journals & Learning Logs
Quiz and Test
We are going to discuss several different types of assessment strategies. Jeannie suggested we focus on Rubrics. You probably use some of these tools already. Please add to our discussion with your experiences.

18. Advantages for the student
Allows for a broad range of demonstration of knowledge
Allows for legitimate self assessment.
Individual strengths and abilities are recognized.
Goals (objectives) are clearly stated in the beginning of a unit of study.
Students are able to assess themselves as they move through material. They often find problem areas and deficiencies before being formally assessed by the teacher. Students will learn to gage their own learning as well as develop time manage skills.

19. Advantages for the Teacher
Learning goals (objectives) are shared with students before material is introduced. Students know exactly what you want them to learn.
Tests all 6 levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Gives a clearer and broader picture of each students abilities, strengths and knowledge.
There are several methods we will talk about that easily allow the teacher to address all levels of learning.
Knowledge-observe and recall
Comprehension-understand, interpret, compare, contrast
Application- Use information, solve problems
Analysis- organization of parts
Synthesis- Draw conclusions, generalize
Evaluation- Compare ideas, assess value of information

20. Challenges Will you accurately evaluate students?
Will your assessment tool provide you with information that is useful for improving instruction?
How do you know the student did all of their own work?
How do you develop new assessment tools?
If tools are not well developed and matched directly to your learning goals and instruction, can you be assured your tools is valid and reliable?
I suggest you begin with the one type of assessment tool that you feel the most comfortable with and just jump in.

21. Alternative Assessment
Let’s Begin with Portfolio Assessment.

22. Portfolios Focuses on students ability to produce a quality product
Integrates and produces knowledge
Provides meaningful tasks
Provides framework for learning
Provides evidence of conceptual understanding
Here are a few of the pros of portfolios.

23. Portfolio Time Frame The time frame depends on your purpose. Semester?
Unit?
Labs only?
Research?
Reflections?
If you have never used a portfolio assessment, you might want to start small. You probably have required students to keep a lab notebook or a journal of observations for research. If so, you have used a portfolio. You might want to try adding a reflection segment in which the students evaluates what they have learned in keeping the journal.

24. Reflective Thinking Portfolios should include a reflection component.
Being a reflective thinker is a learned process. Students must actively engage in the thought process to become proficient at it.
This encourages self evaluation, the highest cognitive process.
Reflection is a self assessment tool. Your students should become reflective learners understanding that this skill should be taught to their future students.

25. Reflective Thinking Continued
Reflective Starters
I can demonstrate that I understand _______________ by evaluating it on _______________
I am most proud that I know ____________.
The section I most need to improve is __________________.
A Portfolio without reflection is a collection of stuff that may or may not be used again. Make your requirements relevant to your students learning process and needs, both present and in the future.

26. Product Based Assessments
Investigate a controversial issue using a debate format
Multimedia presentation
Oral report with visuals
Poster Board
Collections
Slide show or Photo essay
Video production
What are some more…
Product based assessments are usually used for single objectives or a limited number of objectives. They allow a student to create something they should be able to use some day.
The depth the topic goes into depends on your requirement.
Share some ideas

27. Product Based Assessments
As with all evaluation you need to let the students know what you expect of them.
Share your objectives.
As you might have already guessed, we are going to suggest using rubrics on all of the alternative assessment strategies we discuss. Students perform at the highest levels of achievement when they know what is expected. They want to give you what you want, so don’t keep it a secret. Allow them to develop and expand their thinking skills and classroom performance by creating a product.
(Hand out and discuss rubric)

28. Performance Based Assessment
This is where
and when your student can show you their
“stuff’.

29. Performance Based Assessment
Demonstrate lab techniques
Demonstrate observation skills in the field
Oral explanations of processes
Debates
Defend a scientific investigation procedure, demonstrating techniques and equipment
This is one area that I would guess many of you are already using. Any time you are discussing a topic with a student you are assessing them. It may be informally, which is important, but it is assessment. You can use these discussions as formal assessment also if you plan ahead.

30. Journals & Learning Logs
Lab notes
Research notes
Reflective thinking
Field observations
Reference material
Syllabus
All of you are probably more familiar with this type of assessment than we are. But have you used a journal for student assessment? Journals can be assigned grades weekly, monthly, or once a semester. They can include any of the listed components plus any other information that is specific to your class. You should include Journal requirements in your syllabus. And of course (new slide)

31. How do I grade all this?
The best way I have found to grade these assessment tools is with the use of a rubric.
The rubric will give clear instructions on what you expect of the students and how the work will be graded.
Valid because it includes objectives and reliable because it uses a scoring rubric.

32. Steps in Rubric Development
Determine learning objectives.
Each rubric item should focus on a different skill.
Evaluate only measurable criteria.
Ideally, the entire rubric should fit on one sheet of paper.
Reevaluate the rubric. (Did it work?)

33. Terms for measuring range
Needs Improvement….Satisfactory….Good…Exemplary
Beginning..Developing..Accomplished..Examplary
Needs work…. Good…. Excellent
Novice…. Apprentice…. Proficient…. Distinguished
Basic…. Proficient…. Advanced
Numeric Scale ranging from 1 to 5, for example
These are general terms you can use the determine a scoring level. Remember each of these terms must be defined in detail to be effective. You can apply any value to each range and interpret as a grade to fit your grading scale.
(Refer to rubric samples)
For example, your total points can equal 100 or you can assign a GPA equivalent.

34. Steps in Rubric Development
After you write your first paragraph of the highest level, circle the words in that paragraph that can vary. These words will be the ones that you will change as you write the less than top level performances.

35. Steps in Rubric Development
Concept words that convey various degrees of performance
Depth…Breadth…Quality…Scope… Extent…complexity…Degree
Presence to absence
Complete to incomplete
Many to some to none
Major to minor
These will be used in your description of each level of achievement.

36. Steps in Rubric Development
Remember:
Adapt your rubric to the task at hand.
Apply the scoring system that best suits you.
Start small and keep adding and changing when necessary.
Give the students the rubric before, or when you give the assignment.
Be sure to go over the rubric with them. Bring examples of the best and the worse.

37. Quiz and Test True/False Multiple Choice Fill in the blank
Short answer
Essay
Bloom’s cognitive domain

38. Wrapping Up Summative Assessment
Let’s try a quick formative assessment technique.
We will try to expand our Mind Map we made earlier to include Formative Assessment.

39. Mind Map Evaluating Students Formative Summative Portfolios Just ask
Project-Based
Product-Based
Journals & Learning Logs
Test & Quiz
Just ask
One minute paper
Muddiest point
One sentence summary
Application cards
Mind Map
Stop/Start/Continue
Measure these using a rubric

40. And After All That Work…
Evaluate your evaluation techniques?
Do you use a variety of evaluation techniques?
Do they measure student learning?
Revise, and try it again.

41. Wrapping Up Evaluation
Two major points on evaluation
Use Formative and Summative Assessment to evaluate student learning.
Keep objectives, teaching, and evaluation in line with each other.

42. Wrapping Up Today The three major points for today
Develop clear objectives.
Align teaching with objectives.
Build evaluation around objectives.