An Urban District Uses Assessment Data to Improve Instruction

Astrid Fossum & Sharonda M. Harris Mathematics Teaching Specialists

Milwaukee Public Schools fossumag@milwaukee.k12.wi.us

harrissm@milwaukee.k12.wi.us

In this session participants will:

Explore a professional development model used to inform classroom instruction.

Examine how district leaders are working with teachers to support the use of formative assessments in mathematics.

Engage in writing effective descriptive feedback.

Milwaukee Public Schools

209 schools 87,360 Students

2006-2007, percentage of students proficient/advanced in mathematics

Grade 4, 52% Grade 8, 40% Grade 10, 29%

4,793 Teachers

Milwaukee Mathematics Partnership

NSF/MSP Grant

Math Teacher Leader (MTL) positions

Assessment Pilot Leaders (APL), Grades K-7

Foundation Level Assessment Leaders, Grades 8 and 9

Comprehensive Mathematics Framework

ReferencesNational Research Council. (2001). Adding it up. Mathematics Learning Study Committee, Center for Education, Division of Behavioral Sciences and Education, National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.National Research Council. (2002). Helping Children Learn Mathematics. Mathematics Learning Study Committee, J. Kilpatrick & J. Swafford, Editors. Center for Education, Division of Behavioral Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. (1998). Wisconsin’s model academic standards for mathematics. Madison, WI: Author.

CABS: Classroom Assessments Based on Standards

Who?

What?

When?

Why?

District Learning Targets

D. Measurement Grade 6

MPS Learning Target #5 (Grade 6)

MPS Learning Target #6 (Grade 6)

Estimate and measure attributes of objects (including angles) and make unit conversions within and between customary and metric systems.

Estimate and determine perimeter/circumference, area, distance, and elapsed time in real-world contexts and explain strategies.

Descriptors Measurable attributes: 1, 2 Direct measurement: 3, 5

Descriptors Direct measurement: 3, 4 Indirect measurement: 6, 7, 8

State Assessment Descriptors

Wisconsin Sub-skill Descriptors (Beginning of Grade 7) Sub-skill D.a: Measurable attributes 1) Select the appropriate unit of measure to estimate the length, liquid capacity, volume,

weight/mass of everyday objects using U.S. customary and metric.

2) Convert units within a system e.g., feet to yards; ounces to pounds; inches to feet; pints to quarts. Approximate conversions of units between metric and U.S. customary systems using a model or in context (quart/liter; yard/meter).

Sub-skill D.b: Direct measurement 3) Apply appropriate tools and techniques to measure down to the nearest 1/4-, 1/8-, or 1/16-

inch or nearest centimeter or millimeter.

4) Determine and compare elapsed time in problem-solving situations.

5) Measure and/or draw angles up to 180 degrees.

Sub-skill D.c: Indirect measurement 6) Estimate area given a reference.

7) Determine perimeter/circumference and area of squares, rectangles, triangles, parallelograms, and circles in real-world context.

8) Determine the distance between points using a scale.

Description of Assessment:

CABS Class Summary Report

School: Teacher:

Date: Grade Level: _______Sp.Ed _______Reg.Ed

MPS Learning Target(s):

State Descriptor(s):

Expectations:(What do you expect to see on student’s paper to demonstrate understanding?)

Students’ Successes: Students’ Challenges:

Next Steps:

Description of Assessment:

CABS Assessment OverviewAfter working through the assessment, reflect on what you expect students to do. Complete the following table before developing your descriptive feedback.

School: Teacher:

Date: Grade Level: ______Sp.Ed _______Reg.Ed

Identify appropriate Key Mathematics Features students may develop as a response to this assessment:

Identify misconceptions you anticipate students will demonstrate:

Identify misconceptions you observed in the students’ work:

Descriptive Feedback…Our Journey

To use student work from CABS to drive instructional decisions on “what we do next” in the classroom and to provide appropriate and continuous feedback to students.

How do teachers give students descriptive feedback that prompts them to self-reflect on ways to improve their work?

Types of Feedback

Motivational Feedback

Evaluative Feedback

Descriptive Feedback

Effective Descriptive Feedback

Motivational Feedback

Goal is to make the learner feel good.

Feedback that is intended to encourage and support the learner.

Does not give guidance on how to improve the learner’s reasoning.

“I like how you completed the assignment.”

Evaluative Feedback

Goal is to measure student achievement with a score or a grade.

Feedback that is intended to summarize student achievement.

Does not give guidance on how to improve the learner’s reasoning.

73%

Descriptive Feedback Goal is to improve student achievement by telling the

learner what steps to take in order to move forward in the learning process.

Feedback that is intended to tell the learner what needs to be improved.

Gives specific guidance as to how to improve the learners’ reasoning.

“You accurately found the number of students in 4th grade who said ice cream was their favorite. You now need to divide this number by the total number of students to get the percent who said ice cream was their favorite.”

Effective Descriptive Feedback

Goal is for students to internalize the effective feedback.

Feedback that is intended to be used by the learner to independently move their reasoning to the next level.

“I agree with the pattern that you have identified in the table. I am not convinced that the rule you wrote works for all the values in the table. How could you prove this?”

Types of FeedbackMotivational Evaluative Descriptive Effective

Feedback is primarily motivational

Feedback is primarily evaluative

Descriptive feedback primarily tells the student how to correct their reasoning.

Descriptive feedback asks the student what to do to move their reasoning to the next level.

Purpose: to encourage and support the learner

Purpose: to measure student achievement with a score or a grade

Purpose: to improve learning by indicating to the student what needs to be improved

Purpose: to improve learning, by moving student reasoning to the next level

More Summative More Formative

Description of Assessment:

Student Feedback Summary

School: Teacher:

Date: Grade Level: _______Sp.Ed _______Reg.Ed

Student Name:

Descriptive Feedback to Student(Frame with language to students that challenges them to revise, redo, relearn, or expand.)

Summary of Instructional Decisions(How much re-teaching is needed? What follow-up is needed? Do my lesson plans need to be revised?)

Successes Teacher

Conversations around student work

Identify different student strategies

Increased understanding of formative assessment

Instructional decisions based on identified misconceptions and challenges

Descriptive Feedback can save on re-teaching time

Student Increased achievement Ability to clear up

misconceptions on second attempts, without re-teaching/intervention

Self-reflection on ways to improve their work

Increased involvement in self-assessment

Challenges Teacher

Buy-In Time commitment Record-keeping Grading Redundancy

Student Interpretation of the

feedback Looking for a grade Lack of motivation

Resources Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising

standards through assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(2), 139-148.

Brookhart, S.M., (2007). Feedback That Fits. Educational Leadership, 65(4), 54-59.

Stiggins, R.J., Arter, J., Chappuis, J., & Chappuis, S. (2005). Assessment FOR Learning: An Action Guide for School Leaders. Portland, OR: Assessment Training Institute.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

The Milwaukee Mathematics Partnership (MMP), an initiative of the Milwaukee Partnership Academy (MPA), is supported with funding from the National Science Foundation under Grant No. EHR-0314898