1. Assessment Literacy Module
California Department of Education
Tom Torlakson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Assessment Literacy Module
Unit 3: Assessment Literacy for Educators

2. Welcome to Unit 3
Welcome to Unit 3 of the Assessment Literacy Professional Learning Module. The purpose of this unit is to explore the concept of assessment literacy and to identify specific attributes of assessment-literate educators.
What does it mean to be assessment literate? What specific skills and knowledge do assessment literate educators possess?
This unit will explore those questions and offer some answers to those questions from experts in the assessment field.

3. Learning Objectives for Unit 3
By the end of this unit, participants will be able to:
Explain the multiple purposes and uses of
student assessment.
Explain the concept of assessment literacy.
Explain a four-step, integrated Teaching-Assessment Cycle.
This unit will begin with a discussion of the multiple purposes and uses and users of student assessment data.
A four-step Teaching-Assessment Cycle will be introduced and key attributes of assessment literate educators will be mapped onto that cycle.
Identify the attributes of an assessment-literate educator.

4. Purposes and Uses of Assessment
Consider federal, state, local, and classroom uses of assessment as you think about and respond to the questions below:
1. Why do we assess students?
2. What are the purposes of student assessment?
3. Who are the users of assessment?
This unit begins with an exploration of the purposes of assessment.
Based on your personal experience, take a few minutes to reflect on these questions.
Identify the users and uses of student assessment data based on your responses to these questions and record your answer on the Assessment Purpose and Use Graphic Organizer in your participant packet.
Share your thoughts with a table partner.
[Have participants share out with the whole group as time allows]
4. How do educators use assessment information?
Handout
Assessment Purpose and Use Graphic Organizer

5. Purposes and Uses of Assessment
View the completed graphic organizer to compare your answers and ideas.
Now refer to the completed Assessment Purpose and Use Graphic Organizer in your participant packet and compare the answers with the answers you provided on your graphic organizer.
Handout
Assessment Purpose and Use Graphic Organizer Completed

6. Assessment Information Usage
In the following video clip, Dr. John B. King, New York State Commissioner of Education, talks about the use of assessment information. As you watch, compare Dr. King's key points to the ideas you recorded in your Assessment Purpose and Use Graphic Organizer.
“Commissioner King in Conversation:
How Do the Common Core Assessments
Fit into our Children's Education?”
How did Dr. King’s key points compare to the ideas you recorded in your Assessment Purpose and Use Graphic Organizer?
Discuss the common points with an elbow partner.

7. Types of Assessment Information
Note how the authors of a publication titled, Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right – Using It Well (2011) address the need for and use of different kinds of assessment information:
“Who uses assessment information? The first answer that may come to mind is ‘the teacher,’ followed perhaps by parents, students, administrators, and the public. They all need assessment information to make decisions, but they make different kinds of decisions. No one assessment can fill everyone’s information needs;…the different users at each level face different decisions and, therefore, need different kinds of information to do their jobs of (1) supporting and (2) certifying student learning.”
—J. Chappuis, Stiggins, S. Chappuis, & Arter 2011
Take a few minutes to read the quote on this slide.
It is clear that the multiple stakeholders in the arena of public education all have the need for student assessment data and that there are a wide range of ways that the data may be used.
Because of the variety of users and uses, multiple sources and types of assessment data are needed to support and validate student learning.

8. Types of Assessment Information
Recall that the Recommendations for Transitioning California to a Future Assessment System emphasized the development and implementation of an assessment system focused on teaching and learning rather than accountability. The SSPI specifically recommended an assessment system that:
Has a primary purpose of modeling and promoting high-quality teaching and student learning activities
Recall that the recommendations in the SSPI’s assessment transition document recognized this need for a variety of assessments and assessment methods.
Includes a variety of assessment approaches and item types
Is aligned with college and career readiness, addresses 21st Century Skills, and has meaning for students

9. Types of Assessment Information
Respond to the questions below:
1. In what ways might data from assessments be used at the school and classroom levels?
2. Explain why no single assessment is sufficient for making educational decisions.
Reflect on these questions, respond to them in your journal, and discuss with a partner.
Sample Responses:
To certify student competence (e.g., graduation, promotion) To evaluate program effectiveness and instructional materials To evaluate effectiveness of teaching strategies and techniques To diagnose student learning needs To track student progress To identify needs for intervention To determine grades To assist in instructional grouping and flexible grouping
Different users of assessment data have different informational needs, and no one assessment can meet all of those needs. Users face different decisions and thus need different kinds of information to guide those decisions.

10. Integrated Teaching-Assessment Cycle
The following quote highlights the critical role of assessment in the teaching and learning process:
“Assessment is an integral part of a cycle of standards, curriculum, and instruction that forms an ongoing feedback loop to provide desired information to teachers, parents, and students."
–Recommendations for Transitioning California to a Future Assessment System 2013
Read the quote on the slide.
Reflect on how student assessment and the results of that assessment should be an integrated part of the continuous teaching and learning process.

11. Integrated Teaching-Assessment Cycle
The graphic we will review next illustrates the major phases involved in designing and implementing an Integrated Teaching-Assessment Cycle at the classroom level. Each of the four phases in this cohesive cycle will be explored in greater detail throughout the module. In this unit, the assessment literacy attributes that educators need to effectively implement the teaching-assessment cycle will be identified.

12. Integrated Teaching-Assessment Cycle
There are four key phases in an integrated Teaching-Assessment cycle:
This graphic illustrates the key phases in an integrated Teaching-Assessment cycle: Prepare, Teach, Assess, and Analyze and Act.
Teachers begin the process with careful, deliberate planning for assessment and instruction.
During the teaching phase, information is continually gathered on student progress through assessment activities built into the lesson.
Teachers analyze that assessment information and act on it to adjust teaching and learning activities to meet student needs.
The arrows in the graphic demonstrate the continuous, integrated relationship between teaching and assessment.

13. Assessment Literacy at the Classroom Level
The following quote from Test Better, Teach Better by W. James Popham highlights a key aspect of assessment literacy:
“Just about everyone realizes that if a teacher does a great instructional job, that teacher's students will usually perform better on tests. It's the other side of the equation that is less often understood, namely that how a teacher tests–the way a teacher designs tests and applies test data–can profoundly affect how well that teacher teaches. The connection between one's teaching and one's testing is a critical one that, if properly understood, can lead to a substantial increase in instructional effectiveness" (2003).
Let’s further explore the concept of assessment literacy.
W. James Popham points out that the way teachers use assessment and assessment data can be a key factor in increasing the effectiveness of classroom teaching.

14. Assessment Literacy Defined
A key question to consider when defining assessment literacy is:
What do teachers need to know and understand about assessment to strengthen the critical connection between teaching and assessing student learning?
What do teachers need to know and be able to do to be considered assessment literate?

15. Assessment Literacy Defined
Review the following definitions of assessment literacy put forth by experts in the assessment field. What common words or phrases do you note?
“...the knowledge about how to assess what students know and can do, interpret the results of these assessments, and apply these results to improve student learning and program effectiveness."
–Webb 2002
"Assessment-literate educators…come to any assessment knowing what they are assessing, why they are doing so, how best to assess the achievement of interest, how to generate sound samples of performance, what can go wrong, and how to prevent these problems before they occur."
–Chappuis et al. 2011
"Assessment literacy encompasses the knowledge and skills educators need to: (1) Identify, select or create assessments optimally designed for various purposes…and (2) Analyze, evaluate, and use the quantitative and qualitative evidence generated by…assessments…to make appropriate decisions…to advance student learning."
–Kahl, Hofman, & Bryant 2013
Look for the common elements in these three definitions of assessment literacy.
As you read them, reflect on your own assessment practices.
What common words or phrases did you note as you read the experts’ definitions of assessment literacy?

16. Assessment Literacy Defined
Reflect on how the quotes on the previous slide relate to your role. What are your assessment responsibilities as an educator?
1. Create a bulleted list of your professional responsibilities related to assessing student learning.
Respond to these prompts in your journal as you continue to think about your roles and responsibilities in regard to student assessment.
As time allows, compare your bulleted list to those of members of your table group.
How are they similar and different from the attributes described in the experts definitions of assessment literacy?
Sample Responses:
What common words or phrases did you note as you read the experts' definitions of assessment literacy?
What students know
How to assess
Analyze and interpret
Apply to improve student learning
Improve and advance student learning
Administer district and state tests. Develop, administer, and share common assessments with grade level or department team. Administer and grade teacher-developed assessments. Analyze assessment data. Write action plans based on data. Grade students’ work. Grade students’ quarterly report cards
Develop and administer assessments. Analyze and interpret data. Use data to make decisions. Act on the data by applying it to instructional planning and delivery to improve learning.
2. Which items on your list relate to the attributes of assessment-literate educators described in the assessment literacy definitions above?

17. Assessment of Student Learning
The California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTPs) “…are intended to provide a common language and a vision of the scope and complexity of the profession by which all teachers can define and develop their practice. The standards seek to serve and support professional educators in fulfilling their professional roles and responsibilities from pre-service teacher to experienced practitioner.” (CSTP 2009)
Many of you are familiar with the California Standards for the Teaching Profession.
They were developed by the California Teacher Credentialing Commission and are used as a framework for teacher preparation programs.
They are also used in some districts to guide the teacher evaluation process.
The CSTPs specifically address teacher skills and knowledge in the area of assessment.

18. Assessment of Student Learning
What assessment knowledge and skills are included in the CSTPs? Read Standard 5 to answer that question.
“Teachers apply knowledge of the purposes, characteristics, and uses of different types of assessments. They collect and analyze assessment data from a variety of sources and use those data to inform instruction. They review data, both individually and with colleagues, to monitor student learning. Teachers use assessment data to establish learning goals and to plan, differentiate, and modify instruction. They involve all students in self-assessment, goal setting, and monitoring progress. Teachers use available technologies to assist in assessment, analysis, and communication of student learning. They use assessment information to share timely and comprehensible feedback with students and their families."
–CSTPs 2009
As you read the CSTP standard, look for common elements with the expert definitions of assessment literacy that you read previously in this unit.

19. Assessment of Student Learning
Compare the assessment-related knowledge and skills described in the CSTPs with the list you made in the previous reflection. Discuss how they are the same and how they are different.
Note the knowledge and skills that you previously included in your bulleted list of professional responsibilities.
Go back to your journal and review the bulleted list you created and reflect on this prompt through discussion with colleagues.
To download a copy of the CSTPs, visit the Web link on this slide.
Learn more about the CSTPs at

20. Council of Chief State School Officers
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that focuses on action to improve U.S. education.
The work of this national organization illustrates the wide recognition that assessment is a critical element in the instructional process, and recently developed the Draft National Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers (FAST) Standards.
CCSSO was one of the leading organizations in the development of the CCSS.
The national organization has an active assessment working group that focuses on enhancing educational assessment in U.S. schools.

21. Council of Chief State School Officers
Below are some characteristics identified by the CCSSO as necessary for assessment-literate teachers. How does this set of characteristics compare to the CSTPs and the definition of assessment literacy provided previously in this unit?
1. The teacher understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learners’ progress, and to guide the teacher’s and learners’ decision making.
What elements do these characteristics have in common with the experts’ definitions of assessment literacy previously reviewed?
With the CSTP standard for assessment?
With the list of your roles and responsibilities in regard to assessment?
Discuss your response to these questions with an elbow partner. Be prepared to share ideas from your discussion with the whole group.
2. The teacher uses assessment to engage learners in their own growth.
3. The teacher implements assessment in an ethical manner and minimizes bias to enable learners to display the full extent of their learning.

22. Council of Chief State School Officers
Read Attributes of Effective Formative Assessment at
For additional information about the work of the CCSSO visit
Visit these Web sites for more detailed information on CCSSO and their work on assessment.

23. Council of Chief State School Officers
Review the assessment-related job responsibilities you identified earlier in the unit. Add to your list based on the attributes described in the CSTP and FAST standards.
Take a few minutes to add to the list of assessment related responsibilities you previously identified using the CSTP and FAST definitions as a resource.
Sample Responses:
Engage learners in their own growth.
Implement assessment in an ethical manner.
Minimize bias.

24. Attributes of Assessment-literate Teachers
1. Understand the purpose for specific assessments.
2. Establish learning objectives based on content standards and assessment data.
3. Identify, select, and/or create appropriate assessments.
4. Implement multiple levels of assessments.
5. Gather accurate, relevant student performance information.
6. Analyze, interpret, and evaluate student performance data.
7. Use assessment results to make decisions to advance student learning.
Based on the resources we have explored—assessment experts’ definitions of assessment literacy, the CSTP Standard on assessment and the assessment literacy attributes identified by CCSSO, this list represents the key skills and knowledge assessment-literate teachers possess and apply in their daily work.
How do these attributes fit into the Teaching-Assessment Cycle introduced earlier in this unit?
8. Plan, differentiate, and modify instruction based on assessment data.
9. Continuously monitor student progress.
10. Provide feedback to students and their families about student learning.
11. Involve students in the use of their own assessment data.

25. Attributes of Assessment-literate Teachers
Refer to the Teaching-Assessment Cycle handout to aid your thinking as you review each component of the cycle.
Refer to the Teaching Assessment Cycle in your participant packet and on the next slide to review each phase of the cycle to see where teachers apply the assessment literacy attributes as they move through this Teaching-Assessment cycle.
Handout
Teaching-Assessment Cycle

26. Attributes of Assessment-literate Teachers
Think about the four phases of the Teaching-Assessment Cycle. How do the Assessment Literacy Attributes fit into this cycle?
Refer to your Assessing, Teaching, and Learning Cycle handout to see the components of the learning cycle: Prepare, Teach, Assess, and Analyze and Act.
Note that the center of the graphic illustrates the attributes that occur continuously during the cycle.

27. Ranking Attributes
Arrange the Assessment Literacy Attributes into rank order from 1 to 11 based on your perception of your greatest personal strengths and the areas where you have the most potential to learn and grow.
Reference the Assessment Literacy Attributes activity provided in your participant packet to complete this ranking activity.
Reflect on your personal skills and knowledge in relationship to these specific attributes of assessment literate educators.
Which of the attributes do you view as personal strengths? Which are the attributes where you have the potential to grow and enhance your skills and knowledge?
Rank the attributes from 1-11 with 1 being your strongest area and 11 the area where you have the most potential to grow as an educator.
Handout
Ranking Attributes

28. Ranking Attributes
When you finish, compare your list to those of your colleagues. What do you have in common? How do your strengths differ?
Compare your ranked list to others in your group. How were your responses similar and/or different?
When you finish, take time to reflect on your strengths and needs in regard to being an assessment-literate educator. Establish one or two personal learning goals to strengthen your assessment skills and knowledge and record the goals in your journal.
Record one or two personal learning goals for strengthening your assessment literacy skills and knowledge.

29. Summary of Unit 3
There are multiple users and uses of assessment data. Users range from federal legislators to teachers, students, and families, each needing different kinds of assessment information to make decisions about teaching, learning, and assessment. No single assessment or test can satisfy the varied needs for information.
The definition of “assessment literacy” can be personalized to fit unique contexts, but in general, it means “the knowledge about how to assess what students know and can do, interpret the results of these assessments, and apply these results to improve student learning and program effectiveness” (Webb 2002).
This unit began with a discussion of the multiple users and uses of assessment data and the necessity for multiple assessments and kinds of assessment data to satisfy the variety of needs for information.
Then the concept of assessment literacy and the attributes of assessment-literate educators were identified and mapped onto a four step cycle of integrated teaching and assessment.

30. Summary of Unit 3
Attributes of assessment-literate educators include the ability to:
Understand the purpose for specific assessments.
Establish learning objectives based on content standards and assessment data.
Identify, select, and/or create appropriate assessments.
Implement multiple levels of assessments.
Gather accurate, relevant student performance information.
Analyze, interpret, and evaluate student performance data.
Use assessment results to make decisions to advance student learning.
Plan, differentiate, and modify instruction based on assessment data.
Continuously monitor student progress.
Provide feedback to students and their families about student learning.
Involve students in the use of their own assessment data.
Regardless of the type of assessment being used or the level at which it is implemented (for example, state, district classroom), assessment literate educators possess the skills and knowledge identified in these attributes.

31. Summary of Unit 3
Respond to the questions below to check your understanding of the ideas in Unit 3.
1. Identify at least three users of student assessment data and describe how they use assessment information.
2. Briefly explain each of the four steps in the integrated Teaching-Assessment Cycle.
3. What is meant by the term “assessment literacy?”
Use your journal to respond to the summary prompts for this unit.
After completing your individual journal entry, discuss your answers to questions 3 & 4 with your table group. Be prepared to share ideas from your table conversation with the whole group.
Sample Responses:
Teachers Students Parents/Families School Administrators School Board Members Legislators
Step one is to prepare and plan for teaching by analyzing the content standard and developing learning goals and targets. Step two is to teach, which involves checking for understanding during the instructional process. Step three is to assess, which involves pre-assessment, assessment during instruction, and assessment at the end of instruction. Step four is to analyze the information from assessment and act on that information, which involves adjusting instructional content or techniques to address student needs. These steps occur in a continuous feedback loop where teaching and learning strategies are adjusted as assessment data is gathered.
Assessment Literacy is knowing how to assess what students know and can do in regard to established learning targets, analyzing and interpreting the results of these assessments, and applying these results to teaching, learning, and assessment activities.
Gather accurate, relevant student performance information, involve students in the use of their own assessment data, and provide feedback to students and their families about student learning. I chose these attributes because without accurate and relevant student performance information, none of the other attributes matter. I believe that students must be responsible and accountable for their learning so that is the second attribute I selected. Meaningful feedback will help students know what they need to do to progress in their learning so that is the third attribute I chose.
4. Identify what you consider to be the three most important attributes of an assessment-literate educator and explain why you chose those particular attributes.