Building Common,

Informative Assessments
FOCUS ON STUDENTS
AND RESULTS

Context for Common Assessments

What is it we expect them to learn?

Essential Learnings

How will we know when they have learned it?

Common assessments (Formative & Summative)

How will we respond when they dont?

Pyramid of Interventions

How will we respond when they do?

Enrichment and Differentiation

Essential Question
How can we create common assessments to monitor

and promote student learning?

Standard:

High quality assessments are collaboratively developed and

collectively used to monitor, measure, and promote high levels
of student achievement.

The Mission
Understand the rationale for and process of using

common assessments, including assessment for and

assessment of learning
Identify strategies for aligning standards and
assessments
Identifying the key factors to consider when
developing common assessments

A Balanced Assessment System

Assessment of

Summative
Norm references,

standardized, often
teacher made
A snapshot in time
Essential questionWhat have students
already learned?

Assessment for

Formative
Teachermade
A moving picture
Essential question-

How can we help

students learn more?

What is a common assessment?

Any assessment created by and given by two or

more educators with the intention of

collaboratively examining the results for:
Shared learning
Instructional planning for individual students
and/or curriculum, instruction, and/or
assessment modifications.
(DuFour)

Why common assessments?

Assessment for learning, when done well,
is one of the most powerful, high-leverage
strategies for improving student learning
that we know of. Educators collectively
become more skilled and focused at
assessing, disaggregating, and using
student achievement as a tool for
ongoing improvement.
Michael Fullan

High Quality Classroom Assessment

Educators need to ask themselves:
Why

am I assessing?
What am I assessing?
What is the best assessment method?
How do I communicate the results?

Formative Assessment

When implemented well, formative assessment can

double the speed of students learning .

Dylan William (December/January 2007 Educational

Leadership, pg. 36)

Assessment FOR Learning vs. Assessment OF Learning

FORHow can we use assessment to help students

learn more?

OFHow much have students learned as of a

particular point in time?

Adapted from Stiggins

Assessment of Learning

The purpose is to measure student achievement for

reporting and accountability--document mastery of
standards.
Uses include certifying student competence, sorting
students, promotion and graduation decisions, and
grading.

Assessment for Learning

The purpose is to promote further improvement of
student learning during the learning process and
involve students in the ongoing assessment of their
learning.
Uses include providing students with insight to
improve, help teachers diagnose and respond to
student needs, and help parents see progress over
time.

Essential Questions:

How can we create common

assessments to monitor and
promote student learning?

Keys to Quality Classroom Assessment

Why Assess?
Assessment for Learning

Diagnose needs and strengths

Collaborative Teams will use the information from

the assessment to make instructional decisions for

the students in the class

Assess What?
What Are the Learning Targets?
A learning target is any achievement expectation we have for

students on the path toward mastery of a standard.

It clearly states what we want the students to learn and should be

understood by teachers and students.

Learning targets should be formatively assessed to monitor progress

toward a standard.
Collaborative Teams must discuss and resolve a description of a

proficient student on the standard.

Achievement Targets
Knowledge: What knowledge will students need to

demonstrate the intended learning?

Reasoning: What patterns of reasoning will they need

to master?
Performance Skills: What skills are required (if

any)?
Products: What product development capabilities

must they acquire (if any)?

Achievement Targets
Knowledge

Mastery of substantive subject content where mastery includes both

knowing and understanding it

Reasoning

The ability to use knowledge and understanding to figure things out

and to solve problems

Performance Skills

The development of proficiency in doing something--where it is the

process that is important such as playing a musical instrument,
reading aloud, speaking in a second language

Achievement Targets
Products

The ability to create tangible products, such as term papers, science

fair models, and art products, that meet certain standards of quality
and that present concrete evidence of academic proficiency.

Guiding Principles
Focused on Learning Targets

Focus on the targets that are part of the larger essential

learning. Do not create an assessment for the entire concept
select specific skills or content that contribute to students
learning toward the standard (essential learning).

Appropriate Assessment Method

Well-written items, tasks, and rubrics

Samples student achievement in such a way to make
appropriate inferences about student learning

Assess How?
Choosing the Best Assessment Method
Educators need to deliberately choose an

assessment method that fits the standards being

assessed.

Methods of Assessment
Selected Response

MC, T/F, Matching, Enhanced MC

Extended/ Constructed Written Response
Fill-in-the-blank, short answer, essay ,label a diagram,
show your work, nonlinguistic representation
Performance-Based
Product (essay, project)
Performance Based (presentation
Process (oral questioning, observation)
Personal or Oral Communication

Psychometric Properties of
Good Tests
Valid

Does the test measure what you think it measures?

Are scores appropriate and accurate?

Reliable

Does the test measure student achievement consistently?

Are scores trustworthy and dependable?

Next Steps & Further Training

Administer the common assessment
Engage in collaborative scoring & data analysis

The Now What of the process!

Done properly, formative assessment can generate dramatic
improvements in teaching and learning but how teachers
use the information about the teaching and learning is the
rest of the story!

Next Steps

The power of formative

classroom assessment
depends on how you use
the results.
(Guskey)