improving assessment literacy at the classroom, school, and district levels · 2011. 5. 13. ·...
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Improving Assessment Literacy at
the Classroom, School, and District
Levels
Damian Cooper
(905) 823-6298
Canadian Association of Principals Conference
Charlottetown
May 18 – 20, 2011
School and System
Improvement
Improvement by Contract
-external threats and rewards
Improvement by Culture
-partnerships, collaboration, teamwork,
community
Caring is as important as learningHargreaves, 2003
Professional learning communities use evidence and intuition in order to work and talk together to review their practices and to increase their success…In a professional learning community, the culture changes – everyone sees the big picture and works for the good of the whole community. Professional learning communities bring together culture and contract. They value both excellence and enjoyment.
Hargreaves, 2004
School and System Improvement
The Big Ideas of Professional
Learning Communities
Ensuring that students learn
A Culture of Collaboration
A Focus on Results
DuFour, 2004
The Big Ideas of Professional
Learning Communities
Ensuring that students learn:
-Focus on learning
-What do we want each student to learn?
-How will we know when each student has
learned it?
-How will we respond when a student
experiences difficulty in learning?
DuFour, 2004
The Big Ideas of Professional
Learning Communities
A Culture of Collaboration
-partnerships
-sharing knowledge and learning
-team work
-community
-conversations
DuFour, 2004
The Big Ideas of Professional
Learning Communities
A Focus on Results
-establish baseline data
-set improvement goals
-work together to achieve goals
-gather frequent evidence of progress
-identify strategies that lead to the greatest gains
-share these with colleagues DuFour, 2004
Teacher Learning: What Matters(Linda Darling-Hammond, 2009)
Centred on student learning
Integrated with school
improvement
Active, sustained learning
Principal Leadership(DuFour and Marzano, 2009)
Create schedules so teams meet at least
one hour per week
Create collaborative structures for teams to
focus on issues that directly affect student
learning
Provide teams with training, support, and
resources to implement new approaches
Monitor progress through tangible products
and dialogue
Time to Talk the Research
Discuss the comments from
Hargreaves, DuFour, Darling-
Hammond, and Marzano
To what extent does your school`s
current approach to improvement reflect
their recommendations?
Which of their recommendations require
your attention?
School Improvement through
Assessment Reform
It’s June, 2013 – the end of your
3-Year Assessment Improvement
Plan. You are conducting a
Walkabout on your campus. Use
your creativity to communicate to
your colleagues what you see and
hear during your Walkabout.
Dare to Dream!
“Attaining any vision of assessment
excellence requires that certain conditions
be in place. Those conditions include
well-defined learning targets for students,
supportive school and district policies,
clear communication systems, and most
important, assessment-literate teachers
and administrators.” Rick Stiggins
A Vision is Essential!
Improving Assessment Literacy:
Essential Elements - Cooper
Clear mission and vision
Alignment of curriculum, assessment,
and communication systems
Clear and coherent curriculum map,
K-12
High-quality, “backward-designed” units
High-quality assessments and tools
Improving Assessment Literacy:
Essential Elements - Cooper
Assessment and grading policy to guide
and support practice
School-wide assessment literacy
Students empowered to self and peer
assess and to act as instructional
support for each other
Well-informed parents who support
initiatives
Ongoing process to monitor project
Time to Talk about Challenges
Individually, identify the major issues
and challenges you face as you
manage assessment reform in your
school
Share your observations with your
colleagues
What are the common challenges you
face?
Redefining “Fair” - Assessment and Grading for the 21st Century
Challenge 1
As evidenced by their reluctance to
abandon traditional grading and
reporting formats, state and
provincial departments of education
have not demonstrated the political
will to change grading and reporting
systems from a norm-referenced
model to a criterion-referenced
model.
Challenge 2
Despite the resources that have
gone into supporting teachers, there
is little accountability to ensure that
“no teacher is left behind” in terms
of acquiring and implementing the
skills necessary to improve learning
for ALL students.
Redefining “Fair” - Assessment and Grading for the 21st Century
Challenge 3
Teachers cling to outdated beliefs
about motivation, discipline,
responsibility, and fairness that lead
to inappropriate assessment and
grading practices.
Challenge 4
The lack of communication
between secondary and tertiary education
systems supports teachers in
holding on to these outdated beliefs.
Damian Cooper,
Ken O'Connor,
with Nanci Wakeman
Designing Down from the Desired State
Goal Area:
e.g. Grading and Reporting
Desired State
Actions
Key Result Areas
Goal Area:
e.g. Grading and Reporting
Current State
1. What specifically needs to be done?
2. How does it need to be done?
3. What is the timeline for doing it?
4. Who is responsible for getting it done?
5. What resources are needed?
6. How will we monitor progress?
7. How often and by what means will we
communicate progress?
8. How will we celebrate success?
Grading
policy
Grading
software
Report
card
design
Smart Goals
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Results-
oriented
Time-bound
Improvement Planning Template
Desired State/Goal:
Current State,
including
Evidence
Indicators
of Desired
State
(may
include
targets)
Specific
Measures
(tools used
to gather
data)
Strategies
(specific actions that will be taken)
Resources
(improvement
teams,
materials)
Lead
Responsibility Timelines Communicating
Progress
Celebration
of Success
Four Conditions for Sustainable
Improvement
Focus
Pressure and support
Collaboration
Stay the course
Case Study: Walkden High School
3-Year Assessment for Learning Project
Year 1: focus on specific, descriptive
oral and written feedback to students
Year 2: strategies for self and peer
assessment
Year 3: Lesson Design
Walkden H. S. – classroom observations
Highly skilled teachers
Respect for all students
Consistent approach to lesson design
School-wide use of interactive
technology
All lessons included movement,
games, student ownership of learning
Planning maximized time-on-task
Case Study: Walkden High School
Self and peer assessment were
routine in every class
All teachers insisted on respectful and
appropriate behaviours throughout the
school
Teachers addressed common errors
and misconceptions
Praise and recognition of achievement
used appropriately
The Big Ideas of Classroom
Assessment
1. Assessment serves different purposes at different times: it
may be used to find out what students already know and
can do; it may be used to help students improve their
learning; or it may be used to let students, and their
parents, know how much they have learned within a
prescribed period of time.
2. Assessment must be planned and purposeful.
3. Assessment must be balanced, including oral and
performance as well as written tasks, and be flexible in
order to improve learning for all students.
The Big Ideas of Classroom
Assessment
4. Assessment and instruction are inseparable because
effective assessment informs learning.
5. For assessment to be helpful to students, it must inform
them in words, not numerical scores or letter grades,
what they have done well, what they have done poorly,
and what they need to do next in order to improve.
6. Assessment is a collaborative process that is most
effective when it involves self, peer, and teacher
assessment.
The Big Ideas of Classroom
Assessment
7. Performance standards are an essential component of
effective assessment.
8. Grading and reporting student achievement is a caring,
sensitive process that requires teachers’ professional
judgement.
Four Conditions: Focus
Identify areas of greatest need
-human bar graph
-survey data
-observation
School-wide focus
Embed within other initiatives
Time to Talk About Focus
Would these two tools to help you gather useful data about assessment and grading practices in your school?
How might you wish to change them?
What other data-gathering tools & approaches would you need to feel confident about your focus for improvement?
Time to Talk about Focus
How focussed is our school’s improvement plan?
Do we need to sharpen the focus to improve our plan?
Time to Talk about Focus
What sources of
data are identifying
our focus for
improvement?
Are these data
sufficient?
If not, what further
data do we need to
gather?
Pressure & Support: Walkden High School
Head and Assistant both teach a class
8 AFL Key Teachers who work across
departments to model and coach best
practice
They have half day per week outside of
school to do research
Every committee and meeting must
have an AFL component
Four Conditions: Pressure ...
Examples:
Teachers submit tangible evidence of
their collaborative work e.g. Units of
study, common assessments, etc.
Annual improvement plans for all
teachers include the initiative
Struggling teachers teamed with those
who have mastered the desired skills
Time to Talk about Pressure
How are teachers held accountable for improving their practice?
How do we move from “pockets of improvement” to a critical mass?
Dealing with resistance
Time
“if it ain’t broke…”
Habits
Student resistance: marks!
Parent resistance: marks!
Implementation dip
Four Conditions: ... and Support
Common resources
to communicate best
practice, etc. (print
resources,
handbook, on-line
resources, etc.)
PD events to
communicate the
message
Key teachers to lead
the charge and
provide training
Time to Talk about Support
What professional learning resources
are available to leaders and teachers to
inform this improvement initiative?
What professional learning opportunities
are available to teachers during this
project?
Four Conditions: Collaboration
Within grade or course teams (unit design)
Between grade or course teams (program
design)
System-wide: e.g. efficient use of technology
to create banks of units, assessments, tools,
etc.
Coaching and mentoring within grade or
course teams
Key Teachers provide training across the
school
Time to Talk about Collaboration
What collaborative structures exist in our school that facilitate improvement?
Are these structures sufficient?
If not, what needs to change?
Time to Talk about Collaboration
Is peer coaching part of our
improvement initiative?
If not, could it be?
If it is, how well is it working?
How might it be improved or expanded?
What PLC or similar approach is being
used to facilitate our improvement
initiative?
Four Conditions: Staying the Course
Minimum 3-Year, ``design down``
from desired state plan
Frequent monitoring of progress
Adjust plan according to data
Integrate with other initiatives as they
occur
Celebrate success as it occurs
Plan for sustainability
Time to Talk about Staying the Course
How are we monitoring our
improvement initiative:
- teacher self-monitoring?
(e.g. reflective journals)
- teacher peer-monitoring?
- administrative monitoring?
Time to Talk about our
Improvement Plan
Where are we in our plan?
What progress have we made?
Are we staying the course?
Some final thoughts...
“Change is a process, not an event…
beware the implementation dip.” (Fullan)
Teachers must not work alone. Collaboration
will help them problem solve and will improve
the quality of your school’s initiatives.
Be proactive - communicate with parents and
students before changing practices and
procedures.
Commitment to Action
Spend a few moments reflecting on your learning today….
What was your most significant learning?
What specific actions do you plan to take between now and September 2011?
Who will be involved?
What results would you like to see from these actions?
How will you assess the effectiveness of these actions?
48
School Improvement Bibliography
Cooper, Damian. Talk About Assessment: High School Strategies and Tools, Nelson Education, 2010.
ISBN-10: 0-17-635712-2
Darling-Hammond, L. & Richardson, N. Teacher Learning: What Matters, Educational Leadership,
February 2009, 46-53
DuFour, R. &Marzano, R. J. High Leverage Strategies for Principal Leadership, Educational Leadership,
February 2009, 62-68
DuFour, R., R. Eaker, R. DuFour, and G. Karhanek. 2004. Whatever it Takes: How Professional Learning
Communities Respond When Kids Don't Learn, Solution Tree, Bloomington, IN.
Guskey, Thomas R. Evaluating Professional Development, Corwin Press, 2000, ISBN 0-7619-7561-6
Hargreaves, Andy. Teaching in the Knowledge Society: Education in the Age of Insecurity, Teachers College Press, 2003. ISBN. 0-8077-4360-7