Assessments
Introduction
My assessments are purposefully given to students to guide short and long term instructional decisions. Two types of assessments, formative and summative, are provided that will reflect the classroom instructional goals. My formative assessment help me identify what I taught well and what I need to work on. Summative assessments can help direct network wide policy and curriculum. There are various ways this can be done in real time that students can track their own progress. Both formative and summative assessments help tie the gap in achievement to the standard "to support, verify, and document learning" (InTASC Stadard 6a).
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FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
Formative assessment strategies are part of the heart of any modern classroom. They provide crucial information about what students understand and what they don’t. These ungraded assessments are also valuable guides for students. It can help them enhance their performance. I can use them to determine if further instruction is necessary.
Using innovative formative assessment consistently and effectively removes the surprises from getting final grades. When integrated into teaching and learning on an ongoing basis, students can constantly improve and excel.
Daily Exit Tickets with Google Forms
Exit Tickets quizzes assess the progress of the class on a daily basis. Digital exit tickets through Google Forms offer instant feedback. I can view stats and graphs and grade in real time for both multiple choice and open responses. Google Forms provides visual graphs, comparisons with other classes, classes. instant checks for understanding for teachers. Student engagement is especially high with this form of daily assessments. Students look forward to taking online assessments. Students can view their scores, and review their correct/incorrect answers. Tools like Google forms and Gooru lend to a streamlined way to enter in data for goal and data trackers. Instant visual CFUs, seeing which questions/standards need revisiting.
Bi-Weekly Quizzes with EdPuzzle
Students have formative assessments from question embedded videos on EdPuzzle or PlayPosit. Checks for understanding can be viewed in real time for further conversations with small groups for mini-reteaches. I open the teacher progress window and can see how much of a video has been viewed as well as read multiple choice as well as open responses. Student scores are exported twice a week into digital data trackers and student grade books.
Weekly Vocabulary Assessments with Quizlet
Students get to preview content vocabulary a week in advance. Vocabulary is practiced with the the Learn, Spelling, and Write functions. Formative assessment data is collected with the TEST tab. When students have completed the other sections at their own pace, they take the 15 question TEST section. This can be viewed upon completion, exported to data trackers as well as student grade book.
Summative Assessments
The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark. Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value.
End of Unit Writing Task
As a culmination of our Westward Expansion unit, students wrote a persuasive letter to President Jefferson against the Louisiana Purchase.
End of Unit Hands on Activity
Its important to provide multiple ways for students to express knowledge and skills (InTASC Standard 6e). For a summative assessment for our US regions unit, students made restaurant menus for resources that could only be from their certain US region.
Network Benchmarks
Quarterly benchmarks are analyzed across network schools for trends in instruction.
Conclusion
Assessments are at the heart of data driven instruction. With formative assessments, I can consistently know where my students are at in their year-end goals. Formative assessments also inform me about the various way students absorb material and express their knowledge. Summative assessments are essential for comparable studies. If summative assessments show continuing gaps in student knowledge and learning objectives, a school can then decide if a new curriculum is the next step. Continuing to find ways to "employ technology," for example "to engage learners more fully and to assess and address learner needs" (InTASC Standard 6i).