assessing your assessment misd
TRANSCRIPT
How Do You Know?
or “How do I know you
know what I want you to
know, you know?”
Our Goals Today•To collect strategies and examples to help you better assess your students’ learning.•To develop a deeper understanding of assessment to help your students perform better on many types of assessments.
What do you rate, rank or score?
•Interest Rates•Sports Teams•Consumer Reports•Gas Mileage•Best & Worst Dressed
What is ranked or rated in education?
•States•Districts•Schools•Teachers•Students
Does assessment matter?
•Who values assessment? •What is its purpose?•Can we make it matter?
We value what We value what we assess and we assess and we assess what we assess what
we value.we value.
What is Assessment?
“Any standardized procedure for eliciting
the kind of behavior we want to observe or
measure.” (Frederiksen, 1984)
Assessment is a double-edged
sword.Reported scores get
attention – whether it’s good attention or
bad attention.
Have you heard kids say…
Will this be on the test?
Hurry and give me the test before I forget what I studied!
Why do I need to know this?
What’s Our Purpose?TAKS Test
Unit Test
Benchmark Test
Informal Assessment
Engaging Test Items Include
•Some kind of hook that captures students’ interest
•Some real world connection
•Information that the student may learn while taking the test
Thought Provoking Test Items
•Require the use of both knowledge and skills in order to arrive at the answer.
•Go beyond reading and recalling.
Well Constructed Test Items
•Do not give away the answer.
•Do not favor the test-wise student.
•Do not favor the good reader over the good student.
•Match the objective.
Well-Constructed Test Items
• Avoid the use of negative words in the stem and/or options.
• Have responses in logical order.
• Have one clearly correct answer.
• Are factually correct.
Well-Constructed Options
•Are free of excess repetition
•Are parallel in degree of specificity
•Are parallel in length
•Are parallel in grammatical structure
Well-Constructed Options
•Do not subsume other options
•Are not the opposite of one another
Well Constructed Distractors
•Are plausible to the naive student, i.e., there is a rationale for why a student might choose the distractors
Take a 6 Minute Break
Sample Questions
Sample Science Question
Electrical fires are NOT extinguished with—A waterB foamC dry chemicalsD carbon dioxide
Improved Science Question
If the electric pencil sharpener in class began to burn, water would be a poor choice to extinguish the fire because water—A is a conductorB may not be nearbyC will ruin classroom cabinetsD is the universal solvent
Use “NOT” sparingly
The discovery of what natural resource in California in 1848 and 1849 caused rapid population growth in the region?
A. Gold B. Silver C. Copper D. Iron
Sample S. S. Question
TEKS requires analysis of effect, not simple identification.
What effect did the discovery of gold in California in 1848 and 1849 have on people in the U.S.? It resulted in—
A. massive population growth in that regionB. decreases in silver and iron productionC. increases of copper and tin productionD. record high employment numbers
Improved S. S. Question
Higher level question rather than straight recall.
These people served as public officials during the Civil War. Which of the following matches is incorrect?
Jefferson Davis — secretary of state for the Confederacy Ulysses S. Grant — commander of the Union army Robert E. Lee — commander of the Confederate army Abraham Lincoln — president of the United States
Sample S. S. Question
Low level question asking for which is incorrect.
Robert E. Lee was a significant individual during the Civil War because he was—
A. president of the United StatesB. commander of the union armyC. commander of the confederate armyD. secretary of state for the confederacy
Improved S. S. Question
Higher level question asking for a generalization.
Sample Literary Question
Which answer means “applying human characteristics to nonhuman objects?”A hyperboleB personificationC onomatopoeiaD simile
Improved Literary Question
Which sentence is an example of personification?A He has a brain the size of a pea.B Playing the piano is like a bird soaring high.C The playful dog greeted us with his bow-wow.D The flowers were suffering from the immense heat.
Application
A Christmas Carol-Scrooge is able to change because— A. Marley puts a spell on himB. he learns to feel for those around himC. he is afraid of dyingD. it is the Christmas season
Sample L. A. Question
Does not have one clearly correct answer.
Scrooge’s change in attitude at the end of the story is caused by—
A. his fear of dyingB. his new found compassion for othersC. his love of moneyD. his experience visiting “Christmas Past”
Improved L. A. Question
When Mrs. Avery discovers that her son T.J. went to the forbidden Wallace store, T.J. lies, saying he went only to retrieve his brother Claude. As a result, Mrs. Avery whips Claude. That Claude allows his mother to punish him for his brother’s lie shows that—
A. Claude is not very brightB. Claude is more afraid of T.J. than of his own motherC. T.J. is a responsible son and brotherD. Mrs. Avery is not very tough when she whips her children
Sample L. A. Question
Favors the good reader.
Claude allows his mother to punish him for his brother’s lie. This shows that Claude is—
A. not very brightB. more afraid of T.J. than of his own motherC. a responsible son and brotherD. a silly child
Improved L. A. Question
From Older Run—From her actions on page 160 we can infer that one of Cookie’s characteristics is that she is—
A. a followerB. loyal C. meanD. scared
Sample L. A. Question
Choices are not grammatically parallel.
From Older Run—From her actions on page 160 we can infer that one of Cookie’s characteristics is that she is—
A. weakB. loyal C. meanD. scared
Improved L. A. Question
What is the predominant literary device used in “Oh Captain, My Captain”?
A. Extended metaphorB. DictionC. RepetitionD. Allusion
Sample L. A. Question
Favors the test-wise student.
The title and contents of the poem, “Oh Captain, My Captain,” is an example of—
A. Extended metaphorB. DictionC. RepetitionD. Allusion
Improved L. A. Question
The newspaper articles in Lincoln’s wallet suggest that he—
A. never realized that he was dislikedB. never realized he was admiredC. cared about what others thoughtD. knew he would go down in history as a great president
Sample L. A. Question
Answer choices A & B subsume one another
Assessment
We must assess the TEKS (Student Expectations) to the Depth and Complexity of the TAKS.
The verbs in the student expectations tell us the level to which the student should achieve.
How to Write an Aligned Question
Identify TEKS/SE for Development of Questions:
Use sample and released questions as one guide for development.
Look to grade levels above for other examples.
Use open-ended examples.Read the verbs of the SEs and interpret the
meaning.
How to Write an Aligned Question
Identify Reading Selections
• Narrative
• Informative
• Functional
Sometimes use those with a theme connection.
Steps in Thinking
Identify steps required for correct answer.Identify level of question:• Find it – answer is stated• Look closer – Stated but difficult to locate• Prove it – Inferred or implied based on
clues• Take it apart – viewing reading from a
writing perspective through literary analysis and author’s perspective.
Write Questions
Use good question stems that mirror TAKS.
Write the correct answer and the text evidence required for each answer.
Write the corresponding TEKS/SE.
TAKS Open-Ended Response
Most of them deal with character analysis:
• Actions
• Personal conflict
• Point of view
• Trait
• Attitude about relationships
TAKS Types of Passages
In Junior High, passages are about 50/50 Fiction vs. Nonfiction (Informative)
Paired passages may be same of both or one of each.
Most Significant Errors (All Tests)
#1 Students use prior knowledge not connected to information in passage.
#2 Students “match” information on an inference question.
#3 Students use personal experiences.
#4 Students substitute answer choices for word meaning rather than using context.
Question Starters• Predict “What will happen if…?”• Evaluate “Which of these best
explains…?”• Apply “Which of these is required to …?”• Analyze “What were the effects of …
on…?• Compare “How is … like (different)…?• Draw conclusions or hypothesize
“Which of these is supported by …?
Develop an Engaging Item• Use a theme/ unit /topic
• Use a sentence or two to engage the student
• Ask for a prediction or inference (you may use a question starter)
• Think of three wrong answers and one correct one
• Explain why a student might choose each of the wrong answers
•Use your knowledge of item writing and your checklist to critique the items others have written.
•Ask others to critique your test items.•Look over past tests with fresh eyes.
Work Smarter
Using the feedback of others
improves your questions.
Take a 6 Minute Break
Write an Item
•Improve a “rotten” item•Write a new item
Share an Item
•What made the original item “rotten?”•What did you do to improve it?•Was this task difficult? Why or why not?
Surviving Test Development
• Use question starters that lead to higher order questions.
• Clone good items.• Use open-ended questions.
Convert student wrong answers into options for multiple choice items.
Surviving Test Development
•Review existing item resources for possible items to bank
•Use a checklist to evaluate items•Only keep higher order thinking
skill items•File the items by TEKS
Bump up the LevelApply the Skill
A student is putting together an insect collection for a scout project. Today she found a moth, a dragonfly and a spider. The spider should not be included in her collection because the spider—A does not have wingsB is an arachnidC lays eggsD is poisonous
Bump up the LevelAsk students to predict
A toaster catches on fire in your kitchen and your mother begins to fill up a pitcher with water. If water is poured on an electrical fire it will—A extinguish the fireB cause the fire to spreadC protect the toasterD damage other appliances
Bump up the LevelAsk students to make a
generalizationThe MASH doctor wouldn’t go outside because—A he was afraid of the dark.B he sunburned easily.C he could hear the bombs nearby.D he was tired.
Bump up the LevelSynthesize – Main Idea
The main idea of MLK’s speech is --A all men can achieve their dream.B all people should be able to live together and have equal rights.C men will no longer go to war against each other.D people dream too much
Bump up the LevelUse a graphic organizer
Raising the Bar
If you can’t say it, you don’t know it.
In what ways can students “say it” in your
classroom?
Raising the BarAsk for an open-ended
response
Free response on tests“What do you know that
wasn’t asked on this test?”“Tell your neighbor.”
Raising the BarAssess Often
•Ticket out the door
•Lab write-ups, journal entries, topic summaries•Ask “why” as a follow-up
The most powerful tool a teacher possesses to
assess student knowledge.
“Tell me why.”
Every test question can be improved.Improving tests
improves instruction.
Test writing isn’t for wimps!