1. Assessment Literacy & Student Growth within the Teacher Professional Growth and Effectiveness System (TPGES)
The goal of this session is to make visible the assessment literacy practices that are not only embedded within the goal setting for student growth process but also to guide you to think about the larger role assessment plays in effective practice.
Having a better understanding of effective assessment practices will not only help you in the goal-setting process, but help you make assessment evident in daily practice.

2. Common language for teacher effectiveness
Domain 1: Planning & Preparation
Domain 2: Classroom Environment
Domain 3: Instruction
Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities
The Kentucky Framework for Teaching was adapted from Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching. You probably have already taken some time to become familiar with its design and to reflect on how it could be used to identify and support effective teaching practices – whether you are an administrator or someone else in a position to support teachers or a teacher reflecting on your own practice.
This document provides common language for teacher effectiveness. Using the performance levels, it allows for supervisor and teacher discussion, evaluation, and teacher reflection around a rubric. You’ll want to have this this document readily available for conversations about what it means to be an effective teacher. If you read through the performance levels in this document, you’re sure to see that there are no surprises. It all makes sense when defining effective teaching.
You will see several connections to assessment practices in the FfT – including the design of instruction and assessment, and implementation of summative and formative assessment to guide instructional practice

3. Professional Practice in the TPGES
The Teacher Professional Growth and Effectiveness System (TPGES) is comprised of professional practice and student growth. This chart in the Model Certified Evaluation Plan created by KDE shows us how evidence of professional practice will result in ratings in each of the Domains of the Framework for Teaching. Notice on the left that there are several sources of evidence for this, including observation, student voice, professional growth plans and self-reflection. Also, notice that districts can also identify other sources of evidence as appropriate.

4. Student Growth in the TPGES
The second component of the TPGES is student growth. There are two kinds of contributions for student growth, state contribution and local contribution. The state contribution applies to teachers of grades 4-8 who teach reading and/or math and based on student growth percentile scores. To learn more about student growth percentiles, see the PowerPoint posted on the KDE student growth website.
The local contribution of student growth applies to ALL teachers (including the grades 4-8 teachers who received percentile scores). ALL teachers will write and implement a student growth goal.
Making good assessment choices, implementing on-going formative assessment choices, and analyzing data are all integral components of successfully implementing student growth goal-setting.

5. I can explain the role of assessment in teaching and learning.
Targets
I can explain the role of assessment in teaching and learning.
I can explain how these assessment practices are embedded in the goal setting for student growth process.
So, while we want you to see the alignment of these very important processes: effective assessment practices and goal setting for student growth, we also want you thinking about the broader use of assessment in practice.

6. What is Assessment Literacy?
Classroom assessment literacy is the knowledge and skills needed to do two things:
gather accurate information about student achievement, and
use the assessment process and its results effectively to improve achievement.
Chappuis, Stiggins, Chappuis, & Arter, 2011
Let’s begin with what we mean by assessment literacy.
“When people think about assessment quality, they often focus on the accuracy of the instrument itself—the extent to which the assessment items, tasks, and scoring rubrics produce accurate information. This is a key feature of assessment quality, but it gives a far from complete picture of what we have to understand to use assessment well in the classroom.”
“When viewed as a larger picture, we see that the accuracy of assessment items, tasks, and scoring rubrics is only one slice of the pie. Prerequisites must be in place to ensure accuracy of results. In addition, classroom assessment quality requires that we use the assessment process and its results effectively. If our assessment practices don’t result in higher achievement, we would say a component of quality is missing. And, because accurate assessment skillfully used benefits learning, this expanded definition of classroom assessment literacy must become part of our understanding of what it means to teach well.”

7. Which Assessment to Use Next Steps to Improve Learning
Interpret Data
Next Steps to Improve Learning
Assessment Literacy is … knowing which assessment to use for a specific purpose, knowing how to interpret the results AND knowing how to act on the results. 
Assessment
Literacy

8. From Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing it Right, Doing it Well
-Stiggins, Arter, Chappuis, & Chappuis (2004)
Many of you are familiar with one of the resources used in the Kentucky Content Leadership Networks to learn about effective assessment practices, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing it Right, Doing it Well (CASL) by Stiggins, Arter, Chappuis, & Chappuis. If so, the 5 Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment will probably look familiar to you. Take a moment and read through these 5 keys. We will reference them as work through the student growth process.
Note: If you are presenting to others, this is a good place to stop and take a poll: Who is familiar with formative assessment practices? Who is familiar w/CASL, who understands the difference between FOR/OF, Who is familiar with the 7 strategies shared in the CASL materials?
All of the pieces contributing to sound classroom assessment instruments and practices are built on a foundation of the following five keys to quality:
1. They are designed to serve the specific information needs of intended user(s) .
2. They are based on clearly articulated and appropriate achievement targets .
3. They accurately measure student achievement.
4. They yield results that are effectively communicated to their intended users.
5. They involve students in self-assessment, goal setting, tracking, reflecting on, and sharing their learning.
(From CASL, page 27)

9. Assessment Literacy & the TPGES
Domain 1:
Planning and Preparation
Domain 2:
Classroom Environment
Domain 3:
Instruction
Domain 4:
Professional Responsibilities
Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy
Demonstrating Knowledge of Students
Setting Instructional Outcomes
Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources
Designing Coherent Instruction
Designing Student Assessments
Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport
Establishing a Culture for Learning
Managing Classroom Procedures
Managing Student Behavior
Organizing Physical Space
Communicating with Students
Using Questioning and Discussion Techniques
Engaging Students in Learning
Using Assessment in Instruction
Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness
Reflecting on Teaching
Maintaining Accurate Records
Communicating with Families
Participating in a Professional Community
Growing and Developing Professionally
Showing Professionalism
This slide outlines each of the domains and their related components.
So let’s make a connection between the FfT and assessment literacy. As I think about Assessment Literacy, I think about Domain 1 Planning & Preparation (as you get ready to go into the classroom), Domain 2 Classroom environment (high expectations), Domain 3 Instruction (as you are delivering the instruction and providing feedback), and Domain 4 (as you reflect on your teaching and work with colleagues to improve teaching and learning).
Assessment Literacy is … knowing which assessment to use for a specific purpose, knowing how to interpret the results AND knowing how to act on the results. 
AL supports the student growth process in particular, but it also improves teacher practice (demonstrated through observations) and impacts student voice (STUDENT).  AL might also be a priority for Professional Learning.  So, AL impacts the bigger picture of teacher effectiveness in many ways.
If you are presenting this PowerPoint, this might be a place to pause and ask participants to answer: How do you think having a good understanding of assessment purposes, uses, and effective implementation practices would impact student learning?

10. Traits of teachers who positively impact student learning:
Are adept at using and creating a variety of assessments to monitor student learning
Assess frequently
Understand how to interpret and use assessment data
Use assessment data to adjust instruction
If you participated in any sessions on student growth, you may have heard that the goal setting for student growth process is based on the work of Dr. James Stronge. Dr. Stronge, in his book, Student Achievement Goal Setting: Using Data To Improve Teaching and Learning, points out that (see slide).
Stronge goes on to say that “these attributes are critical” to goal setting for student growth. “For teachers to set appropriate goals, they must have knowledge and skills in creating and using appropriate assessments and in analyzing and interpreting data.”
Stronge & Grant (2009)

11. Goal setting for student growth –
Setting a goal based on current student need followed by an on-going process of reflection and analysis to support students in attaining that goal.
So let’s go a little deeper to look at how assessment is embedded within the student growth process. Let’s begin with a definition of goal setting for student growth. Goal setting for student growth is the act of (read)

12. High-Level Assessment Practices and Goal Setting for Student Growth
Step 1:
Determine needs
Step 2:
Create specific learning goals based on pre-assessment
Step 3:
Create and implement teaching and learning strategies
Step 4:
Monitor student progress through ongoing formative assessment
Step 5:
Determine whether students achieved the goals
This graphic shows the link between high level assessment practices and the student growth process. Take a moment and read through all steps.
This process will be used to write, implement, and monitor goal setting for student growth. As we talk together about this process, you will notice that assessment is embedded throughout the student growth process.

13. 1: Clear purpose Step 1: Determine needs Step 2:
Create specific learning goals based on pre-assessment
Step 3:
Create and implement teaching and learning strategies
Step 4:
Monitor student progress through ongoing formative assessment
Step 5:
Determine whether students achieved the goals
1: Clear purpose
So let’s start putting these two processes together – high level assessment practices and goal setting for student growth.
As we already shared the first step of the goal setting process is to determine needs. Here we reference the first of the 5 keys to quality assessment – Clear purpose: Why assess? Teachers begin their school year getting to know their students’ abilities through a variety of evidence.
For instance, a 6th grade science teacher would begin by formatively assessing where students are in the enduring skills/learning she is responsible for teaching and for which her students should master. She will want to learn where students are in relationship to the learning that will occur in her classroom. She can review last year’s data, have conversations with previous teachers, but she will also formatively assess students.

14. Sources of Evidence: Variety
Student Performances
Products
Common Assessments
District Learning Checks
Projects
There are a variety of possibilities when determining need.
Evidence might be collected from classroom assessments, performance assessments, products, portfolios, projects, district learning checks or common assessments. Several of these would be accompanied by descriptive rubrics.
Many schools use interim assessments. Think about these kinds of assessments that are used in your school or district. Do they meet the rigor of the standards? How can they be used as one source of data in this collection of evidence?
Also, many of you may be involved in Literacy Design Collaborative and developing modules. The Classroom Assessment option in an LDC module can be used to obtain baseline data, assess students’ progress, and determine student growth at the end of the course. The LDC rubrics are aligned to the standards.
Those involved with Math Design collaborative who are implementing formative assessment lessons may design assessments appropriate for measuring student growth over time as well. Teachers who implement the Five Strategies of Formative Assessment from the MDC model are already utilizing research based instructional strategies (Black and Wiliam, 1998).
LDC/MDC Classroom Evidence
Student
Portfolios
Interim Assessments

15. Gathering Baseline data
2: Clear targets
Once you know your students Decide upon sources of evidence that can provide pre- and post-data on student progress toward the identified skills & concepts for your content area.
After gathering formative data on students, the science teacher will decide on an area of need, select the enduring skills/learning to be assessed, then choose the most appropriate collection of evidence to measure student ability. Data already collected may contribute to the baseline or the teacher may decide that more data is needed specific to the enduring skill or skills identified for the focus.
To continue the example of the science teacher, let’s assume that after assessing her students in various ways and reviewing past data, she decided that her students have very little understanding of planning and carrying out scientific investigations as reflected in the Next Generation Science Standards. She also determined that she could use the district’s science assessment, along with its rubric, to determine baseline on this skill.

16. 3: Sound design
Another thing to consider is if there a good match between the rigor of the standard to be assessed and the method used to collect evidence?
For instance, if the best way to determine if students are meeting the rigor of a standard is a performance, then the task should be a performance that demonstrates where students are in meeting mastery of that standard.
The resource Classroom Assessment for Student Learning provides guidance in matching the learning target with the best suited evidence source for that learning. Lets’ take a moment and look at this chart. The words down the left side of the chart identify the different kinds of targets, while across the top you’ll notice the various methods for assessment. The important question teachers need to ask is: Will students need to demonstrate knowledge, reasoning, a skill, or create a product? Once you identify the kind of target you should use with any given standard, the chart can be used to make the best choice for assessing the standard.
For instance, if the standard is about development of a skill, then the best way for students to demonstrate mastery of that skill is a performance event. Likewise, if a standard asks students to reason, there are two strong matches: a written response or personal communication either can be used to assess students mastery of that standard.
You can see in the chart that some methods are better matches than others. Again, if you are familiar with the CASL resource, you may have seen this chart before. If not, be sure to take some time after this session to get acquainted with this chart. There are teacher leaders in your district who participated in the Leadership Network. They can be a helpful resources to help others with assessment choices.
After the science teacher collects data, she analyzes the data to learn where students are in their content understanding.
This data becomes the baseline data of the student growth goal.
Click for key 3 – this contributes to the 3rd key of quality assessment – sound design

17. Sources of Evidence: Variety
Student Performances
Products
Comparable across Classrooms
Aligned to Standards
Common Assessments
District Assessments
Projects
Provide pre- and post-data
Whatever sources of evidence you use for collecting baseline data, note that these need to be aligned to standards and provide information on the enduring skills, concepts, and processes of the discipline.
Selected sources of evidence also need to provide both baseline data and end of year or course data as well as comparable mid-term data.
We have already mentioned that descriptive rubrics would need to accompany many of these choices. Note that the rubrics also need to be clearly aligned with expectations of the standards.
Let’s talk more about comparability across classrooms and what that means. (next slide)
Enduring
Skills, Concepts & Processes
LDC/MDC Classroom Evidence
Student
Portfolios
Interim Assessments

18. Comparable across classrooms: Teacher Reflection
Do the measures used to show student growth expect students to demonstrate mastery of the standards at the intended level of rigor? Do my selected measures reach the level of rigor expected across the district?
So, what does comparable across classrooms mean? To ensure validity, similar classrooms should be measured with similar criteria. This will ensure that all students are treated fairly. The measures for getting baseline data should meet the rigor and expectations for mastery of the standards.
For teacher-generated measures, one way to meet comparability might be for teachers to work collaboratively in like teams to determine the enduring skills/learning, concepts and processes to be measured then develop an appropriate assessment items for demonstrating mastery that are approved by their district.
The next question asks us to compare what we are doing in our classroom to other classrooms across the district. Is it meeting the same expectation for rigor?

19. Congruency to standards
Rigor
Congruency to standards
Do the measures ask students to demonstrate mastery of the identified skills, concepts or processes at the level of rigor intended in the standard?
So, what do we mean by rigor. For the purpose of identifying the right measures for goal setting for student growth, we mean congruency to the standards.
In other words, the sources of evidence demonstrate high expectations toward college and career readiness and meet or exceed the expectations of the standards being assessed. Note that the verbs in the standards provide the intended level of complexity and thus the expected level of rigor.

20. It is the congruency to standards that make our measures both rigorous and comparable.
Evaluating students at the level of rigor expected of the standards in all our classrooms provides the comparability not only across our districts but across our state.
Districts will need to set in place guidance to schools on determining whether data collection meets this expectation for rigor and for comparability.

21. Making the Right Choices
3: Sound design
So, considering all these things within step one of the student growth process, choosing the right kinds of questions & tasks, choosing or designing rigorous and comparable sources of evidence, all align with the 3rd key of quality assessment, sound design.

22. High-Level Assessment Practices and Goal Setting for Student Growth
Determine needs
Step 1:
Create specific learning goals based on pre-assessment
Step 2:
Create and implement teaching and learning strategies
Step 3:
Monitor student progress through ongoing formative assessment
Step 4:
Determine whether students achieved the goals
Step 5:
Once the teacher has determined needs through a variety of formative assessments, then determines how to gather appropriate baseline data, she is ready to create a student growth goal based on that data for step 2 of the student growth process. Teachers will need to make sure their goal meets the SMART criteria. To learn more about the SMART criteria, see the other PowerPoint resources on the KDE website.
After setting the goal, teachers confer with their principals. Conversation with principals would include things like why did you choose this enduring skill/learning? How did you gather baseline data? What about your students led you to this goal? What resources do you need to help students reach the goal?

23. A Science Goal
This school year, all of my 6th grade science students will demonstrate measurable growth in their ability to plan and carrying out scientific investigations. Each student will improve by two or more levels on the district science rubric, Designing and Implementing Scientific Investigations. Furthermore, 80% of students will perform at level 3 (Proficient) on the rubric.
Again keeping with the 6th grade science teacher example, let’s look at a sample student growth goal the teacher may have created.
Take a moment to read the goal. Notice the assessment choice included, level of rigor of the goal (two or more levels growth). The teacher would have determined the expectation for growth and proficiency based on how students performed when collecting baseline data. You must know the baseline in order to determine if the goal expectations are rigorous, yet doable.
If presenting, stop and have a conversation here – Have you set student growth goals in the past? How does this compare to goals you have developed for students?

24. 4: Effective Communication
Determine needs
Step 1:
Create specific learning goals based on pre-assessment
Step 2:
Create and implement teaching and learning strategies
Step 3:
Monitor student progress through ongoing formative assessment
Step 4:
Determine whether students achieved the goals
Step 5:
In Step 3 of the student growth process, teachers decide upon and implement the teaching and learning strategies to help students attain the goal. In Step 4, teachers monitor progress through an process of on-going formative assessment.
Together these steps align with the last 2 keys of quality assessment: Effective communication and student engagement. The science teacher will monitor student students’ growing understanding of designing and implementing scientific investigations. As she does so, she will adjust instruction and strategies as needed to ensure that students meet the goal. Persistent communication with students on where they are in their learning and engaging students in tracking their progress helps students become owners of their learning.
4: Effective Communication
5: Student Engagement

25. Seven Strategies of Assessment FOR Learning
Where am I going?
1- Provide students clear learning targets.
2-Use models of strong and weak work.
Where am I now?
3-Offer regular descriptive feedback.
4-Teach students to self-assess and set goals.
How do I close the gap?
5-Focus on one learning target at a time.
6-Teach students focused revision.
7-Engage students in self-reflection/assessment.
Also, from CASL, the 7 strategies of Assessment FOR Learning can guide teachers in a recursive formative assessment process aligned with steps 3 & 4.
Our session simply does not allow enough time to go deeply into these useful formative assessment resources, but you can learn more about them using the resources referenced in a later slide.

26. Determine needs
Step 1:
Create specific learning goals based on pre-assessment
Step 2:
Create and implement teaching and learning strategies
Step 3:
Monitor student progress through ongoing formative assessment
Step 4:
Determine whether students achieved the goals
Step 5:
1: Clear purpose
Finally, in step 5, the teacher will determine if the goal was met. To do this, teachers will give again collect data to compare to baseline. This of course, aligns with pre-assessment and baseline data collected early in the year. Now teachers can compare the baseline data to the end of year/course results to determine if the goal was met and if growth occurred.
This brings us back to the purpose or Why Assess key of quality assessment. AT this point teachers can determine if their students have attained the goal. Let’s look back at the sample science goal.

27. A Science Goal
This school year, all of my 6th grade science students will demonstrate measurable growth in their ability to plan and carrying out scientific investigations. Each student will improve by two or more levels on the district science rubric, Designing and Implementing Scientific Investigations. Furthermore, 80% of students will perform at level 3 (Proficient) on the rubric.
Highlighted within the goal statement is how the science teacher will examine the summative assessment data to determine if the student growth goal was met. This data will provide the teachers specific information on whether individual students have met the goal. Reflection on this data can inform the teacher of strategies that need adapted in the future with these students or next year’s students.

28. What is Assessment Literacy?
Classroom assessment literacy is the knowledge and skills needed to do two things:
gather accurate information about student achievement, and
use the assessment process and its results effectively to improve achievement.
Chappuis, Stiggins, Chappuis, & Arter, 2011
So, we have talked about assessment literacy not only in the larger context of practice, but also made specific connections to the student growth process. Although we can see very explicitly how knowledge of purposes, uses and effective implementation of assessment supports the student growth process, we also want to continue to consider how knowledge of effective assessment practices impacts everyday practice.

29. Sample Connections to the Framework
5 Keys
Framework for Teaching
1: Clear purpose
3d using assessment in instruction
2: Clear targets
1c clear instructional outcomes
3a communicating with students
3: Sound design
1e designing coherent instruction
1f designing student assessments
3b quality of questions
4: Effective communication
2b establishing a culture for learning
5: Student engagement
3c engaging students in learning
3b engages students in questioning/discussion
Returning to the 5 keys that we used to show how assessment is embedded in the goal setting for student growth process, here we can see that quality classroom assessment also is embedded within instruction, domain 3, planning and preparation of that instruction, domain 1 and also impacts the classroom environment, domain 2. As Stronge puts it, “the use of data to improve student performance is at the heart of teaching and learning” and so we see here how effective assessment practices is embedded within the Framework that exemplifies effective teaching.

30. I can explain the role of assessment in teaching and learning.
Targets
I can explain the role of assessment in teaching and learning.
I can explain how these assessment practices are embedded in the goal setting for student growth process.
So, while we want you to see the alignment of these very important processes: effective assessment practices and goal setting for student growth, we also want you thinking about the broader use of assessment in practice.

31. Resources
Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing it Right –Using it Well by Stiggins, Arter, Chappuis & Chappuis
Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning by Chappuis
Student Achievement Goal Setting: Using Data to Improve Teaching and Learning by Stronge & Grant
PD 360 resources on Assessment Literacy
While there are many resources on assessment, these are those referred to in this session.

32. QUESTIONS
Conversation - Address questions collected

33. Next steps . . .
1. Review the resources provided and those attached. Possibly a book study is a next step for you. 2. Pull on the expertise of teachers who have studied assessment literacy in the Ky Content Leadership Networks. 3. Use the Target-Method Match on slide 16 to inventory the kinds of assessments you use or that are available to you.

34. Next steps . . .
4. As a district, think about how you can provide guidance to schools on sources of evidence that meet rigor and comparability.
Think about the kinds of assessments you use for student growth goal-setting. Does it provide baseline (pre-assessment) data as well as mid-course and post-assessment data?
For #4, note that at this time, this may simply learning more about what that means.