Assessment For Learning Presentation On Sep 21

Assessment for Learning

Arthur Lee [email protected] Sep 21, 2009

The point of assessment in education is to advance learning, not to merely audit absorption of facts.

http://www.edutopia.org/healthier-testing-made-easy

http://www.edutopia.org/

Thinking about assessment 1. Why do we assess? 2. What do we assess? 3. How do we assess?

Purpose

Characteristics

Assessment

Objects (What is assessed?)

Mode

Diagnosis

Guidance

Evaluation of Reliability teachers, institutions, curricula

Usability

practicality

Prediction Validity

Purpose (formative / summative)

Selection Grading

comprehension

application

equity

Characteristics practical

analysis

written

oral

portfolios

aural

projects

synthesis

coursework

knowledge

evaluation

Assessment

Items

investigations options chosen / free responses continuous

Concepts & Procedures

Occasions

Objects (What is assessed?)

timed

Procedures & Circumstances

tools allowed

open book

Disposition

Reasoning

discrete

Reporting

Mathematical Processes

Problem Solving

Mode

Judging & Recording

take home group work

Communication criterion-referenced

norm-referenced

Diagnosis Prediction

Selection

Grading

Guidance

Evaluation of teachers, institutions, curricula

Purpose (formative / summative)

Assessment

oral

Assessment

written

practical aural

projects portfolios coursework

Items

investigations options chosen / free responses

Mode Occasions

continuous discrete

Procedures & Circumstances

Reporting Judging & Recording criterion-referenced

timed tools allowed

group work

norm-referenced

open book take home

levels of cognition (e.g. Bloom's Taxonomy) Bloom's Taxonomy - Google Search

Assessment

application comprehension analysis synthesis

knowledge

evaluation

Objects (What is assessed?)

Concepts & Procedures

Mathematical Processes

Disposition

Problem Solving Communication Reasoning

see e.g. Process Standards from NCTM Overview: Standards for School Mathematics http://standards.nctm.org/document/chapter3/index.htm

Reliability Validity

practicality

Characteristics Usability Assessment

equity

Framework of School Assessment Practices Formative Assessment

informs learning and teaching

Learning & Teaching Process

Summative Assessment

Internal Assessments

measure attainment

External Assessments

http://www.emb.gov.hk/index.aspx?langno=1&nodeID=2410 http://www.edb.gov.hk/index.aspx?langno=1&nodeID=2410

EDB - Assessment for Learning

http://www.edb.gov.hk/index.aspx?langno=1&nodeID=2410

A FRAMEWORK OF SCHOOL ASSESSMENT PRACTICES Leads to more successful results

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT (informs learning and teaching)

Learning and Teaching Process z z

z z

z z z

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT (measures attainment)

Internal Assessments

Sharing learning objectives with students Effective questioning (e.g. wait / pause time, a variety of question types – open / closed questions, content-centred to student-centred) Observation (e.g. body language, facial expression) Peer learning (e.g. listening and reflecting on other students’ answers in whole class setting) Effective feedback (e.g. clear advice for improvement / reinforcement) Active involvement of students in their own learning Raising students’ self-esteem

z

z

z

z Diversity  Different modes of assessment (e.g. pen and paper tests, classroom observations, assessment z for learning resource bank (web-based z assessment), projects, portfolio) to match learning objectives and processes  Different parties (e.g. self / peer / teachers / parents)  Different strategies to assess the quality of learning (e.g. setting assessments that are both challenging and suitable for students’ competence) Tests which are used diagnostically to inform learning and teaching (e.g. spelling, comprehension, Maths tests) Opportunities for students to learn and exhibit their progress and achievement in learning rather than compare marks with others

Feedback Loop http://www.edb.gov.hk/index.aspx?langno=1&nodeID=2410

Tests / examinations which are used to assign grades or levels (e.g. end of school term / year) Recording  For tracking students’ learning progress Reporting  Qualitative feedback, reducing reliance on grades and marks

External Assessments z

z

Territory-wide System Assessment (formerly known as Basic Competency Assessment System Assessment) of Chinese, English and Mathematics Hong Kong Attainment Test (at schools’ discretion to use these tests for assessing students’ performance)

(Adapted from Shirley Clarke ) ( Updated 22 Dec 2003)

Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B. and Wiliam, D. (2003). Assessment for Learning: Putting it into Practice. Maidenhead: Open University Press http://library.hku.hk/record=b3859574 Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998a) Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education, 5( 1): 7-71. http://library.hku.hk/record=b1966404 Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998b) Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment. London: School of Education, King's College. See also Phi Delta Kappan, 80( 2): 139-48. http://library.hku.hk/record=b1399986 Assessment and classroom learning

Paul Black; Dylan Wiliam Assessment in Education; Mar 1998; 5, 1; Academic Research Library pg. 7

Inside the Black Box Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment

By PAUL BLACK AND

DYLAl'" \VILIAM

Finn evidence shows that formative assessment is 011 essC11tialCOmpOllellt of classroom worl.' and that its development can raise standards ofachieve1l1C11t, Afr. Black and llfr. lViliam point 01lt. Indeed, they k,l0W of 110 other way ofraising stOlldards for which such a strongprima facie case COIl be made.

R

AISING the standards oflearn· ing that are achieved through schooling is an important national priority. In recent years, gOY· emments throughout the world have been more and more vigorous in making changes in pursuit of this aim. National, state. and district standards; target selting; enhanced programs for the external testing of students' performance; surveys such as NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) and TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study); initiatives to improve school plan-

PAUL BLACK is professor emeritus in the Schoolo/Education, King's College. London. where DYLAN W/UAM is head ofschool and professor 0/ educational assessment. Illustration by A. J. Garces

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

OcrOBER 1998

139

A Poverty of Practice

(Black & Wiliam, 1988b)

The most important difficulties with assessment revolve around 3 issues. effective learning ● The tests used by teachers encourage rote and superficial learning even when teachers say they want to develop understanding; many teachers seem unaware of the inconsistency. ● The questions and other methods teachers use are not shared with other teachers in the same school, and they are not critically reviewed in relation to what they actually assess. ● For primary teachers particularly, there is a tendency to emphasize quantity and presentation of work and to neglect its quality in relation to learning.

A Poverty of Practice

(Black & Wiliam, 1988b)

The most important difficulties with assessment revolve around 3 issues.

negative impact ● The giving of marks and the grading function are overemphasized, while the giving of useful advice and the learning function are underemphasized. ● Approaches are used in which pupils are compared with one another, the prime purpose of which seems to them to be competition rather than personal improvement; in consequence, assessment feedback teaches low-achieving pupils that they lack "ability", causing them to come to believe that they are not able to learn.

A Poverty of Practice

(Black & Wiliam, 1988b)

The most important difficulties with assessment revolve around 3 issues. managerial role of assessments ● Teachers' feedback to pupils seems to serve social and managerial functions, often at the expense of the learning function. ● Teachers are often able to predict pupils' results on external tests because their own tests imitate them, but at the same time teachers know too little about their pupils' learning needs. ● The collection of marks to fill in records is given higher priority than the analysis of pupils' work to discern learning needs; furthermore, some teachers pay no attention to the assessment records of their pupils' previous teachers.

Can improving formative assessment raise standard? ... governments, their agencies, school authorities, and the teaching profession should study very carefully whether they are seriously interested in raising standards in education. However, we also acknowledge widespread evidence that fundamental change in education can be achieved only slowly through programs of professional development that build on existing good practice. Thus we do not conclude that formative assessment is yet another "magic bullet" for education.

Black & Wiliam, 1998b

Reference Materials from EDB in HK Mathematics Education Section, Curriculum Development Institute. (2003) Assessment for Learning (Secondary Mathematics); The Open-ended Questions. Hong Kong: the Printing Department. Mathematics Section of Advisory Inspectorate Division (1996). Setting and Marking of Homework Assignments. Hong Kong: Education Department. Mathematics Section of Advisory Inspectorate Division (1997). A Guide to Internal Assessment. Hong Kong: Education Department.

..

1991

Assessment for Learning (Secondary Mathematics) The Open-ended Questions Examples of open-ended questions and samples of students' work can be found in this booklet. It is prepared by the Mathematics Education section of EDB and distributed to schools in 2003.

Teachers are currently in the midst of the curriculum reform. They face several issues that require particular attention. One of these is the change in the concept of assessment: from "assessment of learning" to "assessment for learning" (which is recommended and emphasized in the CDC Report "Learning to Learn - The Way Forward in Curriculum Development" (CDC, 2001)). To realize this assessment concept, diversified assessment tools and strategies are encouraged to assess students' performance on different aspects of their learning. CDI (2003) p.1

Purpose of Assessment In the past, assessment was used as a measure of success and failure by simply giving a grade to students and was regarded as a terminal activity. However, assessment has nowadays taken on a broader meaning than what we usually perceive. For example, Rowntree (1977) considered assessment as a way of getting to know students and the quality of their learning and Ramsden (1992) described it as a way of teaching more effectively through understanding what students know and do not know while Wiggins (1998, p.7) held that the primary aim of assessment is to "educate and improve student performance, not merely to audit it". CDI (2003) p.1

Traditional assessment items in mathematics such as multiple-choice items, fill-in-blank items and close-ended items are popularly used in schools of Hong Kong. However, complex thinking and learning involve processes that cannot be reduced to a routine and knowledge is a complex network of information and abilities rather than a series of isolated facts and skills (Gibbons, 1992). There are aspects like the 3Cs (i.e. creativity, critical thinking skill and communication skill) which could not be appropriately assessed by these items. Moreover, the report on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1999 (Mullis, et.al., 2000) pointed out that Hong Kong students performed well in solving routine and computational questions, but they did not perform equally well on non-routine questions which require them to think and communicate their thoughts and ideas. CDI (2003) p.2