Assessment TIPR
Current Teacher Behaviors
1. How does the teacher assess student learning? Identify specific instances of informal and formal, formative and summative assessment and explain the types of assessments (e.g., self-assessment, portfolio, project, performance, etc.) that are used. How valid, reliable, biased, and practical are these assessments?
In every classroom I've been in I really have seen a variety of assessments taking place. Some examples of formal formative include the starters students have to complete. In an Ancient World History class I observed, the teacher was able to use the fact that only two students were even able to complete the starter to realize that her instruction on the topic had been inadequate and needed repeating. Some of them use this as a graded assignment based on content, others simply award participation points if its done at all. To be honest, I see this as a less than reliable way of assessing each student's understanding of the topic because only part of the class participates in the following discussion, and most of the time the teacher doesn't appear to check each student's work to see how well each one is understanding. It seems to only really allow for class overall assessment. Unfortunately all the final unit summative assessments I've seen are all traditional exams. Most are multiple choice exams with a couple short essay responses. This type of assessment is definitely the most practical but falls short in validity and reliability because for all I know, students don't understand what I expected them to but are able to guess correctly so their true inadequacies are hidden. Another type of formative assessment I saw a lot was take home work that needed to handed in at the beginning of class the next class. Expecting students to complete work outside class time is inherently biased since different students have different situations as far as after-school responsibilities, home support, or access to materials.
edTPA Prep
How does the teacher use formative assessment to monitor learning throughout a lesson or unit?
Many of the teachers use observation and discussion as the main informal formative assessment techniques. During their lectures, they'll ask questions to the class and review information as needed. I also saw them walking around partner and group work to listen and clarify issues students might have had as they completed the work. While I absolutely recognize the value these techniques have on the class as a whole, I really don't see teachers following up with individual students after these assessments or starter/exit slip assessments. I think a lot of the time they assume that by covering some topics again for the whole class that will indirectly help any students that are struggling with the information, but I'm not sure that always works. Some students that are disengaged, whether because they feel lost or because they are hesitant to participate, don't seem to receive that benefit at all.
How does the teacher design or adapt assessments to allow students with specific needs to demonstrate their learning?
In the main class I'm observing, this seems to be a real issue with the teacher. A lot of her approach is half-hearted due to some personal issues in her life, so much of her teaching is robotic and repetitive in my opinion. Therefore, I don't see a lot of adapting or changing design to re-teach a concept that doesn't seem to be understood by the class. Even when introducing a new project idea to liven things up, the instructions were so confusing that I can't see how the final assessment could be valid or reliable. Different groups were focused on different aspects of the instructions, and none seemed to truly grasp how the work, although fun, would tie into the standards they were supposed to learn.
How does the teacher (a) give feedback on these assessments, (b) help the students understand that feedback, and (c) encourage/give opportunities for students to use that feedback to improve?
Several of the teachers I spent time with complained about being behind in their grading. This leads me to believe that students are failing to receive timely feedback on their work, and therefore are missing out on the chance to correct misinformation. Another problem with this is that it makes what should be a dynamic process of teaching, assessing, and adapting, into more of a stagnant blockade of information. The teacher doesn't realize quickly enough what students aren't learning and then can't adapt her lessons to teach it in a better way. In many instances they seem to just present the information, take an assessment, then move on to the next teaching concept, assess, repeat.
Student Needs
2. What are these students' needs with regard to assessment in this class? What more could or should be done?
These students need more valid assessments with attention paid to individual responses to catch students that are confused. I've seen several students in the classes I've visited multiple times, NEVER say one word, or participate in ANY group work. While I acknowledge that more intervention might happen in classes I don't attend, I just don't see how these students are having any of their needs met as far as assessing whether they are truly learning the material. And if they do quickly complete the starters before handing in their notebook, how could it possibly have any impact on learning something that happened weeks before? I also find it ineffective, however practical it might seem, to make all the teachers give the same unit summative assessments when expecting student engagement and understanding. These students just study to the test, multiple choice format, using the study guide every class gets. So, while this might provided good data for a norm-referenced approach, it does very little to shed light on an individual student's criterion-referenced results.
Plan for your Lesson
3. How will you address these needs when you teach your mini-lesson in this class?
One of the examples I really liked from the videos we watched was the Guided Groups approach. This seems to really address the problem I've seen in classes concerning assessing where each individual student is in their understanding. By having them rate themselves at the end of a concept/lesson, and then sort into groups based on their understanding, that would keep the assessment practical as far as time and effort. Then I can talk to each group based on their needs and ensure better learning. This is a valid, practical, reliable, and fair formative assessment.
1. How does the teacher assess student learning? Identify specific instances of informal and formal, formative and summative assessment and explain the types of assessments (e.g., self-assessment, portfolio, project, performance, etc.) that are used. How valid, reliable, biased, and practical are these assessments?
In every classroom I've been in I really have seen a variety of assessments taking place. Some examples of formal formative include the starters students have to complete. In an Ancient World History class I observed, the teacher was able to use the fact that only two students were even able to complete the starter to realize that her instruction on the topic had been inadequate and needed repeating. Some of them use this as a graded assignment based on content, others simply award participation points if its done at all. To be honest, I see this as a less than reliable way of assessing each student's understanding of the topic because only part of the class participates in the following discussion, and most of the time the teacher doesn't appear to check each student's work to see how well each one is understanding. It seems to only really allow for class overall assessment. Unfortunately all the final unit summative assessments I've seen are all traditional exams. Most are multiple choice exams with a couple short essay responses. This type of assessment is definitely the most practical but falls short in validity and reliability because for all I know, students don't understand what I expected them to but are able to guess correctly so their true inadequacies are hidden. Another type of formative assessment I saw a lot was take home work that needed to handed in at the beginning of class the next class. Expecting students to complete work outside class time is inherently biased since different students have different situations as far as after-school responsibilities, home support, or access to materials.
edTPA Prep
How does the teacher use formative assessment to monitor learning throughout a lesson or unit?
Many of the teachers use observation and discussion as the main informal formative assessment techniques. During their lectures, they'll ask questions to the class and review information as needed. I also saw them walking around partner and group work to listen and clarify issues students might have had as they completed the work. While I absolutely recognize the value these techniques have on the class as a whole, I really don't see teachers following up with individual students after these assessments or starter/exit slip assessments. I think a lot of the time they assume that by covering some topics again for the whole class that will indirectly help any students that are struggling with the information, but I'm not sure that always works. Some students that are disengaged, whether because they feel lost or because they are hesitant to participate, don't seem to receive that benefit at all.
How does the teacher design or adapt assessments to allow students with specific needs to demonstrate their learning?
In the main class I'm observing, this seems to be a real issue with the teacher. A lot of her approach is half-hearted due to some personal issues in her life, so much of her teaching is robotic and repetitive in my opinion. Therefore, I don't see a lot of adapting or changing design to re-teach a concept that doesn't seem to be understood by the class. Even when introducing a new project idea to liven things up, the instructions were so confusing that I can't see how the final assessment could be valid or reliable. Different groups were focused on different aspects of the instructions, and none seemed to truly grasp how the work, although fun, would tie into the standards they were supposed to learn.
How does the teacher (a) give feedback on these assessments, (b) help the students understand that feedback, and (c) encourage/give opportunities for students to use that feedback to improve?
Several of the teachers I spent time with complained about being behind in their grading. This leads me to believe that students are failing to receive timely feedback on their work, and therefore are missing out on the chance to correct misinformation. Another problem with this is that it makes what should be a dynamic process of teaching, assessing, and adapting, into more of a stagnant blockade of information. The teacher doesn't realize quickly enough what students aren't learning and then can't adapt her lessons to teach it in a better way. In many instances they seem to just present the information, take an assessment, then move on to the next teaching concept, assess, repeat.
Student Needs
2. What are these students' needs with regard to assessment in this class? What more could or should be done?
These students need more valid assessments with attention paid to individual responses to catch students that are confused. I've seen several students in the classes I've visited multiple times, NEVER say one word, or participate in ANY group work. While I acknowledge that more intervention might happen in classes I don't attend, I just don't see how these students are having any of their needs met as far as assessing whether they are truly learning the material. And if they do quickly complete the starters before handing in their notebook, how could it possibly have any impact on learning something that happened weeks before? I also find it ineffective, however practical it might seem, to make all the teachers give the same unit summative assessments when expecting student engagement and understanding. These students just study to the test, multiple choice format, using the study guide every class gets. So, while this might provided good data for a norm-referenced approach, it does very little to shed light on an individual student's criterion-referenced results.
Plan for your Lesson
3. How will you address these needs when you teach your mini-lesson in this class?
One of the examples I really liked from the videos we watched was the Guided Groups approach. This seems to really address the problem I've seen in classes concerning assessing where each individual student is in their understanding. By having them rate themselves at the end of a concept/lesson, and then sort into groups based on their understanding, that would keep the assessment practical as far as time and effort. Then I can talk to each group based on their needs and ensure better learning. This is a valid, practical, reliable, and fair formative assessment.
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