Informal Assessment

Informal Assessment

• Authentic, performance-based assessment is often called "alternative" assessment, because it does not measure reading proficiency with standardized tests.

• While test situations are often contrived, we can learn much about readers through direct, authentic assessment of student performance on important learning tasks.

Informal Assessment

• Authentic assessment (sometimes called naturalistic assessment) helps teachers to measure students' important abilities using procedures that simulate the application of these abilities to real-life situations.

• To assess students' ability to use phonics to decode words, individual students might be given a class roster and asked to read the names aloud while the examiner makes notes about what the child says in relation to the actual names.

Informal Assessment

• Performance Assessment• Portfolio• Direct Observation• Anecdotal Records• Checklist• Informal Interviews

Informal Assessment

What Do You Want to Know?•Do the children use what they know about reading regardless of what they are reading?

Why Do You Want to Know It?•To show comprehension in reading, children need to show that they can use what they have learned.•If not, why not?

Informal Assessment

• Performance assessment is often used as a synonym for authentic assessment because it calls on the learner to show understanding by completing tasks like those required in the instructional environment.

• These demonstrations are sometimes documented in a portfolio (i.e., a selection of the student's work that is meant to show learning progress) or by having students complete a project.

Informal Assessment

• For both portfolios and projects, a scoring system (i.e., rubric) is used to help teachers determine how well students have achieved specified standards.

• Students are usually given these rubrics or invited to help construct one-in advance of the performance task so that they can see how they are going to be evaluated."

Informal Assessment

• They can use this rubric as a guide when preparing for the performance.

• In other words, rubrics can help to reduce subjectivity, but they cannot completely do away with it.

• In fact, we would say that rubrics are "objective subjectivity."

Informal Assessment

• There are some limitations associated with performance assessments.

• First, they can be costly both in terms of time and human resources because performance assessments are individually administered.

• Teachers who videotape students' performances for further analysis can spend enormous amounts of time on each assessment.

Informal Assessment

• Second, some students might not perform at their best when others are watching.

• Third, teachers must have excellent classroom management skills because the performance assessment activity can take the teacher away from the rest of the class.

• Students need to be able to function independently while the teacher is working on the assessments.

Informal Assessment

• Performance assessments are an excellent way to learn about students' reading behaviors.

• As a result of watching students complete a task, we can note strengths and needs and design tomorrow's instruction accordingly.

• Authentic, performance-based assessment is based on a set of assumptions, which include:

Informal Assessment

• 1. Authentic contexts are appropriate for answering assessment questions about individual learners.

• 2. Learners are active participants who should be made aware of their growth and learning and to value both.

• 3. Ongoing evaluation and teacher guidance occur simultaneously.

• 4. Both the end product and the means of arriving there (i.e., the process) are important.

Informal Assessment

• 5. A body of evidence from many sources needs to be collected, interpreted, and used over time.

• 6. Interpretation focusing on students' strengths and needs should be used to plan appropriate instruction.

• 7. The teacher is not the only contributor to the body of evidence. Others, including the students themselves, can provide valid input.

Informal Assessment

• RECORD KEEPING• Using many different kinds of informal

assessment techniques necessitates having a manageable system for keeping track of students' data.

• Establishing a record-keeping system such as a folder for each student in the class is one way to get started.

• Use the folder to gather and store data from different sources.

Informal Assessment

• For example, Mr. Davies, after meeting with Pearl, goes back to his file drawer to pull her folder.

• He wants to record that she is attempting to answer inference questions.

• While looking, he notices that Pearl's folder already contains a number of items he has collected:

• a checklist of activities, a writing sample, • test scores, and a sheet listing specific skills and

strategies she has already attained with the dates these were accomplished.

Informal Assessment

• In the folder there is also a sheet listing the objectives that Pearl has attempted to accomplish.

• He adds a note to this list about her recent work on inference questions.

• Mr. Davies takes the opportunity to invite Pearl over to look at her folder.

• He tells her she can also make contributions and suggestions about what should be in the folder to show her progress.

Informal Assessment

• Like Mr. Davies, students can also keep records that contain valid assessment data.

• Encouraging students to keep records and look at assessment data is one way to encourage them to take ownership of their learning.

Informal Assessment

What Do You Want to Know?•Do children show growth over time?Why Do You Want to Know It?•Children continue to grow as readers and I need to provide evidence of that growth.•I want to be able to show the kind of progress the children are making.

Informal Assessment• Portfolio Assessment• Many educators have promoted portfolios as a

way to enhance students' reading and writing, and today portfolios are used for a variety of purposes.

• However, confusion sometimes exists between the general concept of portfolios and portfolio assessment.

• Portfolios are primarily a storage system that represents samples of students' reading and writing over a period of time.

Informal Assessment• Portfolio assessment deals with some form of

evaluation. • Portfolio assessment takes place when what has

been stored in the portfolio is deemed ready for evaluation in some way.

• This evaluation is often initiated by the student and usually includes not only self-evaluation but also teacher and peer evaluation.

• For the evaluation to be effective, the students and teachers must be aware of the criteria used for the assessment.

Informal Assessment

• Portfolios can be a powerful tool for reading diagnosis because they provide teachers with an ongoing record of their students' reading and writing behavior.

• However there are several questions that need to be asked and answered in order to get the most from using portfolios.

Informal Assessment

• Portfolios do not give students the reading and writing skills they need to become good readers and writers.

• They help teachers gain an idea of the kinds of skills students have and need.

• A close examination can help teachers to design appropriate instruction that will increase student learning.

Informal AssessmentWhat Do You Want to Know?•How do children perform in a variety of contexts?Why Do You Want to Know It?•Watching children as they perform a variety of reading-related tasks is an excellent way for me to see firsthand what they are able to do. •I can also develop intuitions about what they do well and what might need additional work. •I can use these observations as a way of selecting additional reading assessments that will help me to better understand the children.

Informal Assessment

• Direct observation is an essential part of any reading program, and it is especially helpful in diagnosing reading strengths and needs.

• Observation is also useful for evaluation because it helps teachers become aware of students' attitudes and interests.

• It is one thing for students to say that they enjoy reading, but quite another for them to actually read.

Informal Assessment

• Through observation, teachers can observe many reading related behaviors such as whether students are voluntarily choosing to read in their free time and how they approach silent reading, oral reading, selecting books, completing assignments, and writing in response to reading.

Informal Assessment

• Most often, the best method for determining whether students have learned something is to observe whether they are actually using what they have been taught.

• Moreover, watching children in a variety of contexts reveals additional information not provided by other assessment measures.

Informal Assessment

• MAKING OBSERVATIONS OBJECTIVE• Observation is a technique; it is a means of

collecting data. • For observations to be of value, teachers must

be as objective as possible and avoid making premature generalizations about a student's behavior.

Informal Assessment

• For example, by observing that Sharon on one or two occasions is reading mystery stories, Sharon's teacher might conclude that Sharon likes mysteries.

• This may be so, but it may be that she is just trying them out.

• Sharon may actually like only a few mystery writers, and she may read only one or two mysteries a year.

Informal Assessment

What Do You Want to Know?•How do the children view reading?Why Do You Want to Know It?•Faulty perceptions of what it means to read can inhibit reading growth. •Uncovering the children's views can help me to see which are correct and which need to be added to or altered.

Informal Assessment

• Another way to lessen any anxiety related to observation is to use anecdotal records, a record of observed behavior that is as objective as possible.

• When recording observed behavior, make every attempt to put down exactly what has taken place as soon as possible.

Informal Assessment

• Record the date and time of the event, as well as an interpretation of the observed behavior.

• However, the teacher's interpretation should be put in brackets or set off in some way to avoid confusion with the actual observed behavior.

• Recording and observing the student over an extended period of time is best.

• Look for a pattern of behavior, rather than making conclusions based on one observation.

Informal Assessment

• What information should be recorded? • This is a difficult question to answer, and can

be overwhelming for any teacher. • Because teachers using this method record

everything that happens, anecdotal records sometimes capture unusual behavior.

• For example, you might observe a student taking a break from reading and staring into space.

Informal Assessment

• Making a note that the student was staring and then over interpreting the staring could lead to a false assumption about the learner.

• However, recording common behaviors over an extended period of time can be very helpful.

Informal AssessmentWhat Do You Want to Know?•What reading strategies do children think they use when they are reading?Why Do You Want to Know It?•Good readers use a variety of strategies to assist them as they try to comprehend a text. •Relying on one or two strategies to the exclusion of others can prevent growth.•I need to know which strategies readers do and do not use so that I can help all the children to develop a full array of strategies.

Informal Assessment

Check Lists•Checklists usually consist of lists of important and typical behaviors that the observer marks as being present or absent. •Checklists are a means of systematically and quickly recording a student's behavior.

Informal Assessment• Group checklists can be used to follow up on

hunches or to find general trends among a whole class of learners.

• At a glance, a teacher can see who might need help in a specific area and who obviously does not.

• A group checklist can be helpful in planning instruction for the group as well as for the individual, whereas an individual checklist is useful in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of an individual student only.