Oct. 19, 2012

The Role of Diagnosis and remediation in Tier 1:
 - Included in Tier 1 instruction because there may be a need to reteach some skills or concepts multiple times for the benefit of all students
-The need to reteach is informed by regular formative assessment
-Diagnosis at Tier 1 involves identifying problems in the learning process and adjusting instruction for the entire class
-differentiated instruction is a direct application of diagnosis at Tier 1


Core Instruction - evidence based practices selected by the district and school to teach ALL students the common core state standards and social behavior standards
 - Math
     -Process: concrete, representational, abstract
     -Explicit Instructions: I do it, we do it, Y'all do it, You do it
     -Engagement: ALL students saying, writing, doing
     -High probability of success for most students


Learning is not a spectator sport!


Student Engagement
     -to attract and maintain a learner's interest and active involvement in all lesson content and related tasks, with clearly articulated evidence checks of concrete, productive Response to Instruction
     -All Students EVERY LESSON
     -We cannot close the achievement gap unless we dramatically increase engagement or student response to instruction


90% of Engagement comes down to the quantitiy and quality of student
     -Saying - Oral Language
     -Writing - Written language
     -Doing - pointing, touching, demonstrating etc.


At Elementary Level, Most Students that struggle in Math have difficulty with:

• Solving Problems
• Visually representing problems
• Processing problem information
• Memory
• Self-Monitoring
• Fluency of math facts

Instruction

• How do I teach.....
• Quality of instruction - reflects quality of curriculum, lesson prep, and teaching skill
• Appropriate level - lesson is neither too easy or too difficult
• Effective Pacing - time is used efficiently, the pace is "perky"
• Incentive - student are engage and motivated to learn
• consequences should inconvenience the child/student....not you 
• The best way to "fix" behavioral problems is through reward NOT punishment
• 
  
• Relationships with students can affect behavior.....if you care, they care
• 
  

Instructional Strategies for Building Skill Accuracy

• Explicit Teaching (I do it, we do it, y'all do it....)
• Teacher modeling, guided practice, independent practice
• Teacher Feedback
• Specific positive confirmations (Correct, great job, Thank you...)
• Corrective feedback on errors (Let's talk about that mistake....)
• Cover, copy, compare 
• math example - give math problem to students to work on, students work on the problem on their own and then cover up their work.  The class does the problem together, and then the student compares what he/she did compared to what was done as a class.  

Explicit Instruction

• Precise and consistent language
• clear, accurate, and unambiguous teaching
• I do it, we do it, y'all do it, you do it
• Why is it important?
• so when students move on to other classes/grades the vocabulary is consistent....math is a good example of this....
• Teachers need to select only the most generalizable, useful, and explicit strategies
• High achieving countries all implement connections problems as connections problems
• U.S. implements connection problems as a set of procedures

What NOT to teach.....

• Future learning 
• ex: When subtracting, the larger number ALWAYS goes on top. ....is this ALWAYS true"
• make sure you are teaching in a way that can be built upon in future classes, other teachers can build on what students have been taught.
• Accurate conceptual understanding
• ex:  When subtracting, borrow a 1 from the tens place......does this develop a correct understanding of this concept? 

Error Correction Procedures

• Error correction is a key feature of effective instruction
• Error corrective feedback is crucial to the accuracy and efficiency of student learning
• If errors are identified and corrected immediately in the learning sequence, students will master the concept/skill more quickly and with less frustration
• teach students to find their own errors
• Cover, Copy, Compare is a great way to have students catch their mistakes.

Practice, Practice, Practice
Have students track their own progress so they can see improvement
teaching students songs to help remember math facts....etc...

An example of a song to teach skip counting

To go from fluency to automaticity it requires Practice, Practice, Practice...consistent practice

Instructional Strategies for Building Skill Application

• Word Problem Solving
• Use questioning strategies that require learners to go deeper
• Peer tutoring

October 12, 2011

I turned the PowerPoint used in class to a movie.  I was too lazy to type everything.

Sept. 28, 2011

1. Assessment - procedures used to attain information about student performance.
2. Formative Assessment - tells you what is happening, it is for learning, assessing student learning DURING instruction.
3. Summative Assessment - the end of unit assessment, summary or learning, comprehensive view of what the student has learned
4. Common Assessment - within a group, taking the same assessment.  CFA's that teachers do in elementary schools through SuccessNet are an example of CFAs
5. Diagnostic Assessment - determines existing knowledge, skills, attitudes, interests, and needs.  Usually given individually, but does not have to be.
6. Pre  Assessment - an assessment given  before the actual lesson, unit is taught.  Done before the teaching to evaluate the students learning and knowledge
7. Post Assessment - evaluation of someone after the unit/lesson has been taught
8. Self Assessment - delierate thought by the learner about what the learner is learning and how they are learning it.
9. Performance Assessments (task) - application of knowledge, skills, and work habits through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging. 
10. Open vs. Closed tasks - open = when you are assessing kids and there is more than one answer closed = there is only one answer
11. Interim Assessments - inbetween formative and summative assessments.  The CFAs, M-COMPS and M-CAPS are examples of these types of assessments.
12. Rubric(s) - student/teacher run assessment that breaks apart  areas of learning and assigns a score based on finishing or understanding the material
13. Bias - a test which is swayed to a particular group of people
14. Curriculum-Based Measures (CBM) - a method of monitoring student progress that is quick, easy and powerful (example: CFAs, Aimsweb, Dibles)
15. Acuity Analysis  (materials) - An in depth analysis.  You need a test, report for class to analyze, a mastery report for your class, and test scores to report for your class. Examples: Common misconceptions kids might have and practices that they can do, or what I understand and what I don't understand
16. Measures of Central Tendency - a measure that tells you where the middle of a bunch of data lies.  The most common are the mean, median, mode.  The mean is used the most.
17. Measures of Spread - tells how much data sample is spread out or scattered.  Its the range, variability and standard deviation
18. Mean - the average.  The sum of values, divided by the number of values.
19. Median - the middle value in the list of number when listed in numerical order
20. Mode - the number that is listed most often
21. Range - the difference between the highest and lowest values in a set
22. Variability - describes how spread out or closely clustered a set of data is
23. Standard Deviation - shows how much variation or dispersion there is from the average
24. Normal Distribution - the most average distributions, it is the bell curve, your data must add up to 100% of your participants
25. Reliability - no matter who administers the test, you always get the same results.  Does not have to be 100%.  You can't always have the same conditions.
26. Validity - testing what it says it's testing.  Vocabulary on a vocabulary test.
27. Confidence Interval - estimated range of values, which is likely to include and unknown population parameter.  You would not say 95% of the people will pass because that is not really feasible.  How confident are you are that the test will truly reflect what the student knows.
28. Standard Error or Measurement - the range of scores within which an individuals true score is likely to fall.  Measuring someones height is an example of this.
29. Criterion - Referenced Test - a test that measures mastery of concepts or skills, comparing students scores to set performance standard. can be used to predict success (many teachers would argue that) CBMs can be a predictor of CRT scores.
30. Norm Referenced Test - tests in which the individual scores are compared with average scores of others. Example: ACT and SAT scores are compared to the "normal" group. Comparing individual students to the "normal" group.
31. Fidelity - the accurate and consistent application of an agreed upon procedure (everyone that administers the test is on the same page.)
32. Standardized Assessment - a test that is administered and scored in a consistent or standard manner. Examples: everything is the same.....questions, tests, procedures
33. Raw Scores - the total correct responses on a test. 
34. Percentiles - a score that represents the percent of other scores that are equal to or lower than it.  For example, if you are in the 85 percentile.  85% of participants scores are equal to or lower than your score
35. Stanines - a method of scaling test scores on a nine point standard scale with a mean of 5 and a standard deviation of 2.  
36. Grade Equivalents - a score that is determined by comparing an individual's score on a standardized test to the scores of students in a particular age group.  The first digit represents the grade and the second digit represents the month of that school year.
37. General Outcome Measures (GOM) - powerful measures that are simple accurate and efficient indicators of a performance that guide and inform a variety of decisions.  Example: CBM
38. Standard Scores - a standard score is derived from raw scores using the norming information gathered when the test was developed.  Instead of reflecting a student's rank compared to other, standard scores indicate how far above or below the average (the "mean") an individual score falls, using a common scale, such as one with an "average" of 100.
39. Progress Monitoring - assessing student performance and the effectiveness of instruction often
40. Strategic Monitoring - frequent assessments given once a month to students who are at tier 2 to monitor achievement and improvement.  Example: Aimsweb...doing the progress monitor once a month.
41. Feedback - the return of information about a person's performance of a task.  Example: "Lisa, nice job on your powerpoint.  I liked,,,,,"
42. Baseline - a minimum or starting point used for comparison.
43. Tier 3 - a customized learning intervention for specialized support. Example and IEP (individualized education plan)...resource
44. Tier 2 - identify an intervention strategy and take action.  Example: progress monitor using CBMs
45. Tier 1 - provide access to and progress in the general education curriculum.  Example:  differentiation in the curriculum.  Audio software, reducing assignments.  Best practices to the general curriculum.
46. Outliers - an observation that is numerically distant from the rest of the data.  Examples:  Kids that are above or below the whisker plot 
47. Longitudinal Study - a study that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time.  

September14, 2012

Research Paper

• Read and reflect on 2 articles about assessment
• 3-5 page paper
• Due in two weeks 
• APA style
• Bibme.org is a great resource for created bibliographies

Common Assessment

• Take standards and learning objectives and align them with the curriculum
• curriculum is aligned with essential outcomes
• are created by same grade level teachers (elementary) or same department (secondary)
• the goal is that the students get "The Big Rocks"
• are COMMON, TEAM-DEVELOPED FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
• help identify groups of students who need additional support and time to ensure their learning

Common Assessments are NOT

• a lock step mechanical manner in which to teach
• designed to evaluate teachers

PLC's or Data Teams

• analyze and study data from the CFAs
• where students learning lagged
• areas of shortcomings
• areas of strength
• what to reteach
• which students require additional support/enrichment/intervention
• short term/long term systemic solutions

Characteristics of Quality Common Assessments

• teacher/team generated
• all students take the same content assessment regardless of who their teacher may be
• item analysis occurs at the end of assessment
• narrative summary/analysis using the data (What's the next step?)

Questions to Ponder

• What do we want our students to know?
• How will we know they have learned it?
• What do we do when they do not learn it? Or already know it?

Common Assessments Assure:

• that all students will learn a set of specific common unit objectives
• that every student will learn the same content regardless of which teacher they were assigned

September 7, 2011

Reflection:

• Effective feedback to students
• positive reinforcement
• highlight what the student is doing correctly
• don't dwell on the don'ts and can'ts
• feedback needs to be timely and appropriate (not after the fact)
• display work (on wall, document camera)
• showing work on the board
• "thumbs up"
• work it into your every day flow 
• Active involvement of students in their own learning
• In math - have students explain their thinking.....talk about math
• Have students share their mistakes, and how they would fix their mistakes
• whiteboard activities
• partner work
• math journals
• Adjusting teaching to take into account after of assessment
• approach concept in different ways
• show students different ways to solve the same problem
• if most students are missing the same problem revisit that problem.  Reteach.
• PLCs
• A recognition of the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and self esteem of students.
• The need for students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve
• have students share their mistakes (create a safe learning environment)
• work with partners and compare answers
• Have students explain their thinking

Five key Strategies of Assessment for learning

1. Sharing Learning Expectations
2. Eliciting Evidence
3. Feedback
4. Self Assessment
5. Peer Assessment

7 Basic Assumptions of classroom assessment

1. quality of student learning directly related to quality of teaching
2. to improve effectiveness teachers need to have specific goals, comprehensive feedback on how they are achieving their goals
3. to improve learning students need to receive appropriate and focused feedback often, and need to learn how to assess their own learning - students need to have the opportunity to give and get their feedback on their learning goals before they are evaluated for grades.  **The grade should not be the feedback.  
4. the type of assessment most likely to improve teaching and learning is that conducted by faculty to answer questions they themselves have formulated in response to issues or problems in their own teaching
5. systematic inquiry and intellectual challenges are powerful sources of motivation, growth, and renewal for college teachers - classroom assessment can provide such a challenge
6. Classroom assessment does not require specialized training; it can be carried out by dedicated teachers from all disciplines
7. By collaboration with colleagues and actively involving students in Classroom Assessment efforts, faculty (and students) enhance learning and personal satisfaction

5 Key Strategies

1. Clarifying, sharing and understanding goals for learning
2. engineering effective classroom discussions, questions
3. Provide feedback
4. Activate students as owners of their learning
5. Activate students as learning resources for one another

Formative Assessments

• Justified list
• Traffic light cups/cards (similar to thumbs up or thumbs down)
• Fist to Five
• Learning Goals Inventory
• missed conception
• Ten two

Self reported grades has the greatest influence of student learning.

• students have reasonable accurate understanding of their levels of achievement
• high level of predictability about achievement
• should question the necessity of so many tests when students appear to already know much of the information the tests supposedly provide
• may become a barrier for some students

Reciprocal Teaching

• Teacher moves students from being "spectator" to being "performer"
• Students check understanding of the material by generating questions and summarizing
• Used mainly as a strategy to teach reading

Key Feedback Questions

• Where are they going?
• How well are they getting there
• Where to next?

5 "Must Have" Moves - Creating Student to Student Dialogue

• writing
• turn and talk
• tell me more
• can you rephrase that
• I'll come back to you

• Writing
• What does it look like?
• students writing their explantations of their thinking
• students writing what they would say
• journals
• Why is it important?
• it gets students thinking at a higher level
• it's difficult to explain your thinking to someone else
• creates accountability
• gives them time to develop their answer and thinking
• gives them record of what they are thinking
• Turn and Talk
• What does it look like in the classroom?
• students explaining their thinking to teacher and/or peers
• students have the opportunity to become the teacher
• pairing should be switched up a lot
• students are talking about what they are  learning
• mix the pairings a lot 
• Why is it important
• just like the writing students are explaining their thinking
• encouragement from teacher and/or peers
• students have the chance to defend their ideas which leads them to the "why"
• Tell me More
• What does it look like in the classroom
• students expand their thinking.  
• teacher asks questions to get students to explain their thinking
• students are explaining the "whys"
• Why is it important?
• students are thinking about the problem deeper and understand what they are thinking.
• The WHYS are important
• Can You RePhrase that
• What does it look like?
• there will be small changes to what was said, but that is due to how we internalize listening
• After a student give a response you ask "Can you rephrase that"
• Why is it important?
• student's voice myst be given value
• gives students' voices value - they feel what they have to say is important because others are listening
• It will motivate students to participate.....and pay attention
• It clears up misconceptions and allows for clarification
• I'll Come Back to You
• What does it look like in the classroom?
• never used when a child gives you the wrong answer, this is if students don't know
• The teacher will rephrase the student's correct answer
• Then call on another student to answer the same question 
• go back to the original student and have him/her answer the question (after the answer has been said three times)
• Why is it important
• you aren't letting students off the hook when they say "I don't know"
• ensure that knowledge is important

August 24, 2011

Purpose of assessment:

• develop a deeper understanding
• summative vs formative

How do you assess students in your classroom?

• clickers
• observation notes
• standardized tests
• whiteboards
• CFAs
• Chapter tests

Teachers are constantly assessing.  Many tests are not formal

Assess:

• means to "sit with" 
• in assessment one is supposed to sit with the learner.
• the process of gathering, interpreting, recording, and using informatin about pupils' reponses to and educational task.

Values and Attitudes about Assessment

• teachers value and believe in students
• sharing learning goals with the students
• involving students in self assessment (most successful way to get students to improve their scores)
• providing feedback that helps students recognize their next steps and how to take them (second most successful way to get students to improve their scores.)
• being confident that every students can improve
• providing students with examples of what we expect from them

The State of Assessment

• "A wealth of research - a poverty of practice." (Black and William, 1998)
• A shift from "teaching" to "learning"
• Confusion of terms and conditions
• evaluation - 
• assessment
• pre-assessment
• formative
• summative

Assessment Process

• Pre-assessment
• to determine what students know
• determine flexible grouping patterns and should be used regularly
• Pre-assessment strategies
• checklist
• pre-test
• kwl charts
• graphic organizers
• student discussions
• student work samples
• teacher observation

Formative and Summative Assessments

• formative and summative assessments are interconnected.
• the vast majority of genuine formative assessments are informal
• formative assessment has the greatest impact on learning and achievement
• Formative Assessment
• assessment for learning
• taken at varying intervals throughout a course to provide information and feedback that will help improve
• the quality of student learning
• the quality of the course itself
• provides information on what an individual student needs
• to practice
• to have re-taught
• to learn next
• ".....learner centered, teacher directed, mutually beneficial, formative, context-specific, ongoing, and firmly rooted in good practice" (Angelo and Cross, 1993)
• Formative Assessment Strategies
• conference
• demonstrations
• exit cards
• I learned statements (I can statements)
• interviews
• journal entries
• kwls
• learning logs
• peer evaluations
• problem solving activities
• quiz
• response groups
• self-evaluations
• Summative Assessment
• assessment of learning
• generally taken by students at the end of a unit or semester to demonstrate the sum of what they have or have not learned
• summative assessment methods are the most traditional way of evaluation student work
• good summative assessments -- tests and other graded evaluations -- must be demonstrably reliable, valid and free of bias
• Summative Assessment Strategies
• Unit tests
• performance task
• product/exhibit
• demonstration
• portfolio review

Factors Inhibiting Assessment

• a tendency for teachers to assess quantity and presentation of work rather than quality of learning
• greater attention given to marking and grading, much of it tending to lower self esteem of students, rather than providing advice for improvement
• a strong emphasis on comparing students with each other, which demoralizes the less successful learners

Self - evaluation

• Where would you place your assessment practice on the following continuum

quantity or work/presentation <------------------------------------------------------------->quality of learning

marking/grading   <-------------------------------------------------------------------------> advice for improvement

comparing students <--------------------------------------------------------------> identifying  individual progress

Classroom Assessments

• Some teachers talk about learning while Some teachers talk about grades
• Can these co-exist peacefully?
• if you are focused on learning and select your grading scale carefully, your grading can become a reflection of your learning
• Should one receive emphasis over the other?

HW Article: The Role of Assessment in Elementary Math

Math Endorsement Materials (article is found on this wikispace)

• read the article 
• what is the role of the CFA in your classroom
• Respond to this statement: "A CFA is formative so much as the teacher uses the information  to inform instructional decisions.  (Example: the teacher reteaches misunderstood concepts.)  If a teacher chooses to not take any instructional action based on student  performance on a given CFA, that test then becomes summative"
• Who or what resources do I have available to me if I have any concerns or questions as I implement a balanced math "assessment toolkit"?

A Balanced Assessment System

• Screening assessments 
• diagnostic assessments
• formative assessment - assessment for learning
• summative assessment - assessment of learning
• classroom
• standardized

Which stakeholder group currently makes the best use of assessment information?

• teachers 
• screening assessments (example: CBM)
• determine interventions and what students
• progress monitoring
• diagnostic assessments
• highlight problems
• to find holes in learning
• formative assessments
• to decide what to teach and how to teach
• summative assessments
• for a grade, to determine mastery
• standardized tests
• some send it on, or don't look at it 
• some preview student scores at beginning of year
• some improve instruction
• students
• screening assessments
• comparison to other students
• formative assessments
• demonstrate what they are learning to teacher
• summative assessments
• they compare
• they feel good or bad
• standardized tests
• they don't
• administrators
• screening assessments
• school-wide interventions
• diagnostic assessments
• where to put the resources
• where to spend the money
• what teachers need support
• formative assessments (don't have much say in this)
• if involved in PLC can help teachers fill those holes
• summative assessments (not applicable)
• standardized tests
• AYP
• parents
• screening assessments
• how can they help students improve learning at home
• support student at home
• diagnostic assessments
• how can they help students improve learning at home
• formative assessments
• parents can see student progress, and areas of improvement that they can support at home
• summative assessments
• to see their student has learned a concept
• standardized assessments
• look at scores when deciding what school to send their students to
• community
• screening assessments (don't see these scores)
• diagnostic assessments (don't see these scores)
• formative assessments (don't see these scores)
• summative assessments (don't see/use these scores)
• standardized assessments
• legislatures use it to say how well our state is doing

What type of assessment methods can be used?

• selected or closed response
• multiple choice, matching, fill in the blank....etc
• extended written or open response
• short answer
• performance assessments
• students are given a situation, a practical application
• forced to produce something
• term essays
• projects
• example: science fair project
• personal communication
• journaling
• reflections
• learning logs
• personal interaction with student (in person and/or responding to their logs)

Homework

Read the article, Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment, by Black and Wiliam in preparation for next week’s class.

Scatter Plots

This link takes you to site that will create a scatter plot for you.  You enter the x and y data, and the graph is created for you.