Standards-based Assessment: Final Reflection

Teacher Leadership Program Standard No. 11: Utilize formative and summative assessment in a standards-based environment

Background

In my previous work with professional learning communities, I have experienced the stress of formative assessment. The formal PLC model advocated by Rick DuFour includes a component on how teachers will know whether or not their students have learned. When I worked in California, my school district required that formative assessments, the “how,” must include measurable data that could be shared in our teams. The prominent form of this assessment came in multiple choice tests, and during the early years of my career, this is how I viewed formative assessment: it was another test to give students. All of my professional development on formative assessments focused on this attribute, and rarely did I view formative assessment as anything other than a multiple choice quiz.

The “how” component is critical, but the heavy emphasis on multiple choice blinded me to the potential and benefit of formative assessment. Upon starting a new teaching assignment in Washington state, I worked with colleagues and a school district that viewed formative assessment differently. It did not need to be formal, but it still needed to answer how I would know if the students had learned. Colleagues shared tools such as exit slips and questioning, many things that I had done for years but had never viewed as formative assessments. Entering my Standards-Based Assessment class, I had a small collection of tools and a general idea of what they were good for.

Learning and applied practice

Dylan Wiliam’s (2011) book Embedded Formative Assessment has been helpful in the process of learning about the role formative assessments play in my classroom. Wiliam’s definition of formative assessment emphasizes that it happens during learning, and this has had a tremendous impact on my thinking. Stopping instruction to give a test was counterproductive, especially if the results of that test were not analyzed until a later date. By the time my team had gone over the results, the class had moved on to another unit. We knew that was a problem at the time, but we plowed ahead anyway, following a school district mandate. Wiliam’s practical techniques open up the toolbox and allow the assessments to occur naturally and at appropriate times to allow the teacher to influence student learning.

Through the process of writing the assessment into action paper I discovered even more resources. The idea of writing workshops has me excited, as my students can choose the type of feedback and assessment they want through that process. I learned about Kaizena, an app that allows students to record questions and attach them to their papers and allows the teacher to record feedback. These are two of the elements I will incorporate into my practice this year.

Issues encountered

For my present teaching assignment, one dilemma for me will be the lack of a colleague to work directly with. I will be the only AP English Language teacher, so any discussion of how my students are meeting the learning expectations will have to be in the context of vertical or cross-curricular alignment. Fortunately, I have options in this area. By identifying the specific skills students are lacking, I can take those skills to other English teachers and solicit their input. Across the board, English-language arts skills generally are the same at the secondary level, so strategies that work in one class will transfer to another class with different content.

Supported by research

Wiliam’s (2011) book will be critical to my future practice. I appreciate his practical approach to formative assessment and his classroom applications are simply explained and varied in their use for elementary and secondary environments.

Shelby Scoffield’s (2016) article on Edutopia about writing workshops has strongly influenced my approach to giving feedback. This has been a bone of contention for me for years, the ingrained idea that I have to write comments on every paper, but the knowledge that students do not read them. Scoffield’s ideas about organizing writing workshops will help me provide my students feedback they can actually use.

Finally, the ideas about peer feedback I learned from Gielen, Tops, Dochy, Onghena, and Smeets (2010) will help me develop peer review sessions. Their findings showed that students improved when they were given writing prompts to use for peer feedback, such as “I paid attention to,” and “I found it difficult to” (p. 152). I can incorporate these sentence frames into feedback forms that allow me to clearly see how my students are doing.

Overall impact

I didn’t think formative assessment was an area of need for me, but after this course I appreciate the opportunity to grow in this area. I enter the school year with a lot of ideas that I can incorporate into my practice immediately.

References

Gielen, S., Tops, L., Dochy, F., Onghena, P., Smeets, S. (2010). A comparative study of peer and teacher feedback and of various peer feedback forms in a secondary school writing curriculum. British Educational Research Journal, 36:1, 143-162. doi: 10.1080/01411920902894070.

Scoffield, S. (2016). Creating a writers’ workshop in a secondary classroom. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org.

Wiliam, D. (2011). Embedded formative assessment. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Significance and uncertainty as part of my theory of action

As part of my action research project, I created a graphic reconstruction of my theory of action. In the next step of determining research questions I first determined the significance of the different aspects and relationships of my theory of action. Those are visualized below, with an S showing a significant aspect or relationship.



The second walkthrough determined my confidence in the assumptions of my theory of action. Those are visualized below, with a U showing that I am relatively uncertain about the aspect or relationship.

Teaching with Technology - Reflecting on my triggering question (Module 3)

In my exploration of ISTE Standard 3 these past two weeks I’ve discovered much about how I use technology and how I can better use technology to help my students. Standard 3 asks teachers to “exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society” (ISTE, 2008). I’ve always been excited about using technology in my classroom, from being one of the first at my school in California to use a document camera, to being one of the first at that school to use Remind101, a text messaging application that later dropped the “101” from their name. The fun of getting to use these tools helped me integrate them into my classroom, even if somewhat awkwardly at times.

One of the biggest challenges I have with technology, however, is matching the desire to use all of the technology with the need to have focus in how I use technology. My triggering question for Module 3 was How can I best share knowledge of educational technologies, such as Google Apps and blogs, with my students? Upon reflection, I want to add “colleagues, administrators, and parents” to the end of that question. My research initially took me to an article titled “Supporting 21st Century Learning Through Google Apps,” by Roger Nevin, a teacher librarian in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Nevin writes about some of the benefits of using Google Apps, including the ability to access information wherever you have internet access and collaboration features (Nevin, 2009). Nevin’s article provides a framework for supporting the use of Google Apps in the classroom, and I realize that the best way to share the information is to implement it in my classroom. Previous research had already sold me on Google Apps, and I’ve started to move in that direction, although I’m a long way from full implementation with my students.

By luck, I discovered another article through reddit, an online collection of links to images and information, often of dubious reputation. While browsing the ELATeachers subreddit I came across a blog post titled “Streamlining the Student-Blogging Process.” Shay writes about how he uses Kidblog to have students post their work, and how he requires them to revise their writing until they have A work before they can post it (Shay, 2016). The timeliness was uncanny as I have already planned to have my students set up blogs this week using Blogger, Google’s blogging tool that we already use for the SPU TLP program. Shay’s blog led me to Kidblog, and the privacy tools available through that program are more in line with what my district will likely require. Namely, the ability to control access to the blogs and to set up individual classes will help me manage students’ online behavior, a potential problem with high schoolers that could derail the entire project if it gets out of control. Shay’s comments helped raise my awareness of issues I hadn’t even thought of. Whether he intended to or not, he was modeling Standard 3 by sharing his knowledge with his colleagues.

The Vialogue for this module also helped tremendously. Before the video was even finished I was already using Diigo, an online resource management tool. This may be the first tool I use to share information with my colleagues, although my colleagues’ familiarity with Google Docs may work out better. Either way, I know I have tools at my disposal, and it’s up to me to start using them.

I’m excited about using all of the tools. And I’m losing my anxiety about it not working. I told my students last week that the blogging would be an experiment. If it works, great; if not, we’ll make it work better next time.

Works cited

ISTE Standards: Teachers. (2008). International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-T_PDF.pdf

Nevin, R. (2009). Supporting 21st century learning through Google apps. Teacher Librarian, 37, no. 2, 35-38. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.spu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=eric&AN=EJ869558&site=ehost-live

Shay, J. (2016, November 4). Streamlining the student-blogging process [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://mr-shay.blogspot.com/2016/11/streamlining-student-blogging-process.html

Wicks, D. (2016). EDTC 6433 Fall 2016 Module 3 hangout recording [Vialogue; video recording]. Retrieved from https://vialogues.com/vialogues/play/32833/?ak=e9e0fd1e8991d29280fb95c548c32345

Master of education in teacher leadership program standards

Seattle Pacific University | Master of Education in Teacher Leadership Program Standards

Competencies: The Seattle Pacific University Master of Education in Teacher Leadership will center on the following program competencies aligned with the Washington State teaching criteria but also serve as a foundation for teacher leadership:

1. Continuous improvement of teaching and learning, promoting student growth

2. Commitment to high levels of achievement for all students

3. Development of safe and responsive community schools

4. Commitment to the moral, ethical, and professional practices that characterize leadership in education

	Standard	Course	Product/artifact/portfolio exhibit
		Foundations and Research
	Teacher Leaders…
1	model ethical and moral behavior.	EDU 6085    Moral Issues in Education (3)	A document that articulates the moral piece of a vision as an educational leader that can guide the student as they proceed in their professional career.
2	analyze learning to promote student growth.	EDU 6979   Action Research in School Settings (3) EDU 6528 Accomplished Teaching	Review of educational material for specified group of students.  Analysis of classroom practices/environment for student engagement.
3	improve teaching and learning through the use of educationalresearch at the classroom and school levels.	EDU 6979    Action Research in School Settings (3)	Initial action research project – classroom level
		EDU 6980   Applying Research in School Settings (3)	Article critiques and data analyses connected to both primary and secondary sources
		Teacher Leadership Focus
4	engage in analysis of teaching and collaborative practices.	EDU 6528     Accomplished Teaching (3)	Analysis of teaching and collaborative practices that support improved instruction. Video segments of classroom and coaching strategies.
5	establish a culturally inclusive learning climate that facilitates academic engagement and success for all students.	EDU 6525     Culturally Responsive Teaching (3)	Plans for improving the cultural sensitivity of an educational setting.
6	communicate and collaborates with a variety of stakeholders	EDU 6600     Communication and Collaboration:  Parents, ​Colleagues, Community (3)	Educator Professional Learning Plan connected to SIP
	communicate and collaborates with a variety of stakeholders	EDAD 6589   Engaging Communities (3) EDU 6600   Communication and Collaboration (3)	CEP – Community Engagement Plan Educator Professional Learning Plan connected to SIP
7	utilize instructional frames to improve teaching	EDAD 6580   Leadership in Education (3)	1. LEP – Learning Environment Profile Analysis  2. Introduction to the Professional Growth Plan
8	present professional practice for the review of colleagues	EDU 6990     Teacher Leadership Capstone (3)	Presentation of reflective capstone project – end of program reflections aligned to all TL standard areas.
		Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Focus
9	evaluate and use effective curriculum design	EDU 6524     Curriculum Design (3)	Curriculum maps or analysis of curriculum alignment
10	understand effective use of research based instructional practices	EDU 6526     Survey of Instructional Strategies (3)	Analysis of implementation for several classroom-basedinstructional strategies
11	Utilize formative and summative assessment in a standards based environment	EDU 6613     Standards Based Assessment (3)	Comprehensive formative and summative assessment plan for a classroom-based unit of study.
12	evaluate and use technology for teaching and learning	EDTC 6433   Teaching with Technology (3)	Student and teacher tools, strategies, products demonstrating effective use. (ISTE standards)