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Using Music to Enhance Student Learning: A Practical Guide for Elementary Classroom Teachers: Volume 1- 2nd Edition -2014, Ebook PDF Version
and Practice that Enhance Student Learning and Motivation
Eighth Edition
James H. McMillan
Virginia Commonwealth University
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: McMillan, James H., author.
Title: Classroom assessment: principles and practice that enhance student learning and motivation / James H. McMillan, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Description: Eighth edition. | Hoboken: Pearson Education, Inc., [2024] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022034920 | ISBN 9780137849147 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Educational tests and measurements. | Examinations—Validity. | Examinations—Interpretation. | Motivation in education.
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022034920
ISBN-10: 0-13-784914-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-784914-7
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Preface
Iremember it well: When I took my first “tests and measurements” course in graduate school at Michigan State University, I was fairly apprehensive—what would this class have to do with teaching and learning? Would I be using complex mathematics and learning about the technical aspects of “standardized” testing that really had little to do with what I wanted to do day in and day out in the classroom? Well, the course met some of my negative expectations! It was interesting, but not as helpful as I hoped when applied to teaching. I have written this book to address this shortcoming, to be directly relevant to instruction so that student learning and motivation are enhanced.
The premise of this book is that classroom assessment has a direct and powerful impact on student learning and motivation. It is through everyday interactions with students, as well as quizzes, unit tests, papers, and assignments, that teachers communicate what is important in learning, the standards that indicate proficiency and more advanced levels of understanding and skills, and communicate with students about what they understand and what needs further learning. While much recent emphasis has been placed on large-scale accountability testing, classroom assessments, from what I have seen in schools, show what is really being learned, as well as what influence teachers have had on student achievement and motivation. Classroom assessment is the most direct, specific, and helpful indicator of what students know, the depth of their understanding, and the nature of their interpersonal and intrapersonal dispositions.
Over the past two decades the field of classroom assessment has changed considerably. There is much more emphasis on how student assessment is an integral part of ambitious teaching that effects student learning and motivation, not just something that is done after instruction to measure
what students have learned. Importantly, sociocognitive and sociocultural theories of learning and motivation are emphasized as foundational for assessment, with clear implications for practice. Much attention is focused on formative assessment—what is also called assessment for learning. Standards-based instruction and assessment is present at every level of education and nearly every subject. State accountability tests reinforce the emphasis on assessing students’ levels of proficiency, which will have direct implications for what you do for your classroom assessments. There is now a much-needed emphasis on equity and cultural relevance in the classroom that needs to be reflected in assessment and grading. Technology is ubiquitous, operationalized in online assessments and grading systems. These four influences—assessment as part of instruction to improve student learning and motivation based on contemporary research, standards-based education, equity and cultural relevance, and technology, form the foundation for this book. All are essential factors in understanding how classroom assessments need to be designed and implemented to improve targeted student outcomes.
This book, then, is designed to provide prospective and practicing teachers with:
• a concise, nontechnical, and engaging presentation of assessment principles that clearly and specifically relate to student learning and motivation;
• current research and new directions in the classroom assessment field; and
• practical and realistic examples, suggestions, and case studies.
The approach I have taken to meet these goals is to build assessment into the instructional process, focusing on assessment concepts and principles that are essential for effective teacher
decision making, and integrating principles of learning and motivation. The emphasis throughout is on helping teachers to understand the importance of establishing credible performance standards (learning targets), communicating these standards to students, and providing feedback to students on their progress. There is much less emphasis on technical measurement concepts that teachers rarely find useful, though there is extensive discussion of aspects of assessment that result in high quality and credibility, such as accuracy, fairness/equity, matching assessment to clearly and publicly stated standards, positive consequences, and practicality.
With minor exceptions, the basic organization of the text is unchanged from the seventh edition. Chapters 1 through 3 present the fundamental principles of assessment and instruction, with an emphasis on the importance of the teacher’s professional judgment and decision making, as well as student perspectives, as integral to making useful and credible assessments that enhance learning and motivation. Chapters 4 and 5 cover formative assessment, but here I’ve made a significant change. Chapter 4 is retitled informal/embedded formative assessment, the type that occurs “on the fly” during instruction, and Chapter 5 formal formative assessment, such as chapter or unit tests. Both Chapters 6 and 7 focus on summative assessment—Chapter 6 for summative assessments like tests and quizzes that occur weekly or monthly, and Chapter 7 for externally designed, large-scale tests tied to accountability. The next few chapters (8–11) are organized by type of assessment, beginning with selected-response item formats. Each of these chapters shows how to assess different types of learning targets.
Chapter 12 presents what is now termed interpersonal and intrapersonal disposition assessments that are used to measure attitudes, values, interests, beliefs, self-efficacy, student self-reflection, and other dispositional traits, as well as many 21st-century skills. Chapter 13 reviews the assessment of students who have special needs and are included in the regular classroom. The heavily revised Chapter 14 presents culturally and linguistic responsive assessment practices that are
needed for our increasingly diverse student population. The final chapter examines grading and reporting the results, with a strong emphasis on standards-based grading.
New to This Edition
There have been significant additions and revisions throughout for the eighth edition:
• Perhaps most importantly, there is now an integration of equity and cultural relevance throughout the text, with examples and explanations of how culturally relevant assessment is essential for improving learning of all students.
• Over 50 new sources are cited; with a total of now more than 300 citations, to provide a comprehensive integration of contemporary research and theory with practice.
• Sociocognitive and sociocultural tenets of learning and motivation are incorporated throughout to situate classroom assessment to have a positive impact on students.
• All new Teacher Corner excerpts provide examples of how National Board Certified teachers practice assessment in their classrooms.
• Videos that feature K-12 classroom teachers and students are embedded in all chapters to illustrate key learning outcomes.
• Learning Objectives are now specified throughout each chapter and are aligned with new digital content that is available within the Pearson Learning Management System with including interactive self-check quizzes and application exercises.
• There is greater coverage of the role of technology in assessment, grading, and reporting of information. This includes coverage of computer-enhanced–type test items, eportfolios, digital badges, and electronic grading systems.
• The self-instructional review exercises that were included in Appendix C are now at the end of each chapter, with the answers in Appendix C.
• Revised case studies and reflection questions begin each chapter to engage readers in actual classroom assessment scenarios (with answers at the end of the chapter).
• Revised cognitive maps provide readers with a graphic advance organizer.
• New author reflections are included that provide my personal insights and suggestions.
Several instructional aids are included to facilitate understanding and application of the content. These include boldface key terms; chapter summaries to review essential content; comprehensive interactive Self-Check Quizzes and Application Exercises keyed to major learning objectives to provide opportunities for practice and application (see the following section for more on this); self-instructional review exercises and applied action exercises at the end of each chapter; extensive use of examples, diagrams, charts, and tables; complete example of a student IEP, and a glossary of key terms.
New to This Edition by Chapter
The following summarizes major changes and revisions to individual chapters.
Chapter 1: The Role of Assessment in Teaching and Learning
• New section on equity to significant factors influencing classroom assessment.
• New section on ambitious teaching to emphasize the integration of strong instruction with assessment.
• New section on assessment literacy; less reliance on standards of assessment and more emphasis on the situated, contextualized nature of classroom assessment.
• Enhanced integration of sociocultural theories and the importance of cultural relevance.
Chapter 2: Standards and Cognitive Learning Targets
• Clarification of types of cognitive learning targets into three categories: (1) knowledge
and simple understanding; (2) deep understanding; and (3) reasoning, with new descriptions and examples.
• New section on the use of Student Learning Objectives.
• New section on Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DNK) framework, with descriptions and examples of the four DNK levels.
Chapter 3: High-Quality Classroom Assessment
• Revision of the fairness principle to fairness/ equity to emphasize cultural relevance.
• Greater emphasis on the functional aspects of validity for classroom assessment (use and consequences), including the addition of trustworthiness as a way to characterize the quality of CA in terms of impacts on students.
• New section on managing classroom assessment.
Chapter 4 : Informal/Embedded Formative Assessment (new title)
• Use of informal/formal description to more clearly differentiate types of formative assessment.
• Greater emphasis on equitable formative assessment practices.
• New information about using digital platforms.
• Major revision of the feedback section to emphasize self-regulation/self-direction and the nature of feedback that is most effective.
Chapter 5: Formal Formative Assessment (new title)
• Replaced “summative-based” with “formal.”
• New emphasis on cultural relevance of homework, preassessments, and seatwork assignments to ensure students can meaningfully relate to the exercises.
• New emphasis on use of digital tools for formative assessment, including online polling, virtual quizzing, social media, and memes.
• Revision of feedback section to be tailored to formal formative assessment, including equity concerns.
• Updated section on learning progressions, with new examples.
Chapter 6 : Planning and Implementing Summative Classroom Assessments (new title)
• Substantively revised case study to open the chapter.
• Greater emphasis on the use of digital tools for summative assessment.
• Greater emphasis on the importance of sampling error.
Chapter 7: Using Large-Scale Standards-Based, Growth, and Other Standardized Tests (new title)
• New section on the interpretation and use of growth assessments.
• Additional emphasis on cultural bias and standardized testing issues for culturally diverse students.
• Revised test-taking skills needed for students for digital testing.
Chapter 8: Selected-Response Assessment: Multiple-Choice, Binary-Choice, Matching, and Interpretive Items (new title)
• Expanded coverage on use of selectedresponse items to measure reasoning skills.
• Greater emphasis on technology-enhanced items, including drag-and-drop, use of drawing tools, and use of dropdown menus.
• Greater emphasis on culturally relevant selected-response assessments, with a new section on avoiding cultural irrelevance and bias.
Chapter 9: Constructed-Response Assessment: Completion, Short-Answer, and Essay Items
• New section on avoiding cultural irrelevance and bias, with an emphasis on the influence of culture and prior experiences.
• Clarified the difference between assessing knowledge/simple understanding from deep understanding/reasoning.
• New section on technology-enhanced scoring of constructed-response questions.
Chapter 10: Performance Assessment: Projects, Papers, and Presentations (new title)
• New examples of tasks and rubrics in several disciplines, including the visual arts.
• New table and narrative on culturally responsive performance assessments.
• New table and discussion to introduce types of performance assessment, including concise stand-alone, unit-based, and complex tasks.
Chapter 11: Portfolios: Paper and Digital
• Greater emphasis on eportfolios, including the use of voice-recording, blogs, and videos.
• New section on digital badges, including use of badges for intrapersonal dispositions such as civic awareness and personal responsibility.
Chapter 12: Assessing Social and Intrapersonal Dispositions and Skills (new title)
• Changed “noncognitive dispositions” to “social and intrapersonal dispositions.”
• New coverage of social-emotional traits, with strengthened ties to cultural relevance and achievement.
• Expanded coverage of intrapersonal dispositions & skills.
• New section on measuring student attitudes toward assessment.
• Greater emphasis on cultural factors in assessing social and intrapersonal dispositions.
Chapter 13: Assessment for Students with Disabilities and Exceptionalities (new title)
• Updating of descriptive terminology.
• Substantial revision of assessment and grading accommodations section.
• New section on universal design for learning as an approach to determining assessment accommodations.
Chapter 14 : Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Assessment (new title)
• Expanded section explaining that culturally responsive assessment is being proactive, not focusing on what to avoid doing.
• Reduced emphasis on enculturation with much more coverage of English Learners.
• New section on race/ethnicity to student characteristics influencing assessment.
• More on formative assessment, including four types of culturally responsive formative assessment.
Chapter 15: Grading and Reporting Student Performance
• Greater emphasis on learning management systems now commonplace as electronic grading programs.
• Greater emphasis on equitable grading and parent/guardian conferences, including consideration of cultural differences with respect to utilizing nonacademic factors.
• New section on grading as a means of providing feedback.
• Greater clarity in marking and grading individual assessments.
LMS-Compatible Assessment Bank
Learning Management System (LMS)-Compatible Assessment Bank, and Other Instructor Resources
With this new edition, all assessment types— quizzes, application exercises, and chapter tests—are included in LMS-compatible banks for the following learning management systems: Blackboard, Canvas, D2L, and Moodle. These packaged files allow maximum flexibility to instructors when it comes to importing, assigning, and grading. Assessment types include:
• Learning Objective Quizzes Each chapter learning objective is the focus of a Learning Objective Quiz that is available for instructors to assign through their Learning Management System. Learning objectives identify chapter content that is most important for learners and serve as the organizational framework
for each chapter. The higher order, multiple choice questions in each quiz will measure your understanding of chapter content, guide the expectations for your learning, and inform the accountability and the applications of your new knowledge. Each multiple choice question includes feedback for the correct answer and for each distractor to help guide students’ learning.
• Application Exercises Each chapter provides opportunities to apply what you have learned through Application Exercises. These exercises are usually short-answer format and can be based on written cases, scenarios modeled by pedagogical text features, or a strategy from the Compendium. A model response written by experts is provided to help guide learning.
Chapter Tests Suggested test items are provided for each chapter and include questions in multiple choice and short answer/essay formats.
Instructor’s Manual
The Instructor’s Manual is provided as a Word document and includes resources to assist professors in planning their course. These resources consist of chapter overviews, learning objectives, guidance for using available PowerPoint® slides to promote concept development, questions for discussion, supplemental teaching suggestions, and worksheets.
PowerPoint® Slides
PowerPoint® slides are provided for each chapter and highlight key concepts and summarize the content of the text to make it more meaningful for students. Often times, these slides also include questions and problems designed to stimulate discussion and to encourage students to elaborate and deepen their understanding of chapter topics.
Acknowledgments
Throughout the development and writing of this book I have been fortunate to have the support and assistance of classroom teachers who have provided quotations, practical examples, and suggestions. I am very grateful for their willingness to help, for their patience in working with me, and, most of all, for keeping me grounded in the realities of teaching. They include Andrea Johnson, Anthony Swann, John Arthur, Ashley Depugh, Greg Lyndaker, Tedra Hall, Avia Ennis, Shannon Wakefield, Brian Letourneau, Rachel Boyd, Jamie Mullenaux, Susan Pereira, Marie Wilcox, Carole Forkey, Beth Carter, Tami Slater, Arleen Reinhardt, Patricia Harris, Ann Marie Seely, Andrea Ferment, Terri Williams, Steve Myran, Suzanne Nash, Steve Eliasek, Daphne Patterson, Craig Nunemaker, Judy Bowman, Jeremy Lloyd, Marc Bacon, Mary Carlson, Michelle Barrow, Margie Tully, Rixey Wilcher, Judith Jindrich, Dan Geary, Joshua Cole, Christy Davis, Elizabeth O’Brien, Beth Harvey, Rita Truelove, Rita Driscoll, Dodie Whitt, Joe Solomon, Stephanie Stoebe, Elizabeth Shanahan, Dan Leija, and Leslie Gross.
I am deeply grateful for the essential contributions of Dr. Heather Bumgarner, who initially authored the introductory case studies, and Stephanie Moore for updating the case studies for this edition. In particular, they worked tirelessly to construct the introductory case studies as realistic examples of assessment situations facing teachers that reinforce major points in the relevant chapter. I know their inputs have helped to keep the book grounded in reality, better organized, and more accurate. Lauren Cabrera and Stephanie more did great work editing the selfinstructional quiz questions.
I would also like to express my appreciation to the following college and university professors who offered insightful and helpful comments and suggestions. For the first edition, thanks go to Cheri Magill, Virginia Commonwealth University; H. D. Hoover, University of Iowa;
Kathryn A. Alvestad, Calvert County Public Schools; John R. Bing, Salisbury State University; John Criswell, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania; George A. Johanson, Ohio University; Catherine McCartney, Bemidji State University; and Anthony Truog, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater; for the second edition, Lyle C. Jensen, Baldwin-Wallace College; Cathleen D. Rafferty, Indiana State University; Gerald Dillashaw, Elon College; Daniel L. Kain, North Arizona University; Charles Eiszler, Central Michigan University; and Betty Jo Simmons, Longwood College; for the third edition, Gyu-Pan Cho, University of Alabama; Saramma T. Mathew, Troy University; E. Michael Nussbaum, University of Nevada; and Kit Juniewicz, University of New England; for the fourth edition, Sally Blake, University of Texas at El Paso; Roberta Devlin-Scherer, Seton Hall University; Carla Michele Gismondi Haser, Marymount University; and Saramma T. Mathew, Troy University. For the fifth edition, thanks go to Rondall R. Brown, Eastern Oregon University; Carolyn Burns, Eastern Michigan University; Candyce Chrystal, Mount Marty College; Stephanie Kotch, University of Delaware; Alan L. Neville, Northern State University; and Tasha Almond Reiser, The University of South Dakota.
For the sixth edition, thanks go to Kristen Bjork, University of Nevada–Las Vegas; Patricia Lutz, Kutztown University; Linda Fortune-Creel, Troy University; and Alton Corley, Texas State University. For the seventh edition, appreciation is extended to Nelson J. Maylone, Eastern Michigan University; Shambra Mulder, Kentucky State University; Christopher Palmi, Lewis University; Amy Lynn Rose, University of North CarolinaGreensboro; and Bo Zhang, University of Wisconson Milwaukee.
I am very grateful for the encouragement and direction of my editor of previous editions, Kevin Davis, and for the current edition Senior Analyst Rebecca Fox-Gieg. Curtis Vickers has provided outstanding editing and suggestions on all draft chapter revisions. In addition, many thanks to others at Pearson, especially Content Analyst Bridget Daly, Content Manager Jenifer Niles, Digital Producers Joshi Shruti and Abinaya Rajendran, Product Manager Drew Bennet, and Katie Ostler of Ostler Editorial, Inc.
On a more personal note, I continue to be amazed at the support provided by my wife, Jan—for putting up with all that has been required to complete the book editions over the years.
AND PURPOSE OF ORAL QUESTIONING FOR INFORMAL/EMBEDDED FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT 128 • CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE QUESTIONING FOR INFORMAL/ EMBEDDED FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Administering,
Assessments
Administering Summative Assessments
Using Summative Assessment Results 200 Summary 201 • Answer to Introductory Case Study 202 • Self-Instructional Review Exercises 202 • Applied Action Exercises 203
Exercises 437 • Applied Action Exercises 439 • Additional Resources for Practice 439
14 Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Assessment 440
Introductory Case Study 441 Why the Emphasis on Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Assessment? 443 Who Are “Culturally and Linguistically” Diverse Students? 444
Acculturation 445
ACCULTURATION STAGES 446 • ASSESSMENT OF ACCULTURATION 447
LANGUAGE AND LITERACY SKILLS 449 • EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND 450 • SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS 450 • RACE/ ETHNICITY 451 • CULTURAL FACTORS 451
Classroom Assessment Difficulties for CLD Students 452
DIFFICULTY COMPREHENDING TEST LANGUAGE 453 • DIFFICULTY EXPRESSING WHAT IS KNOWN 454 • LACK OF CONTENT AND CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE IN TEST ITEMS 454 • UNFAMILIARITY WITH TEST FORMATS 454 • EMOTIONAL STRESS 454
Bias and Sensitivity 454 Assessment and Grading Adjustments for Diverse Classrooms
STRUCTURED EXERCISES AND IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS 458 • PRETESTS 459 • HOMEWORK 459 • QUIZZES, UNIT TESTS, AND INTERIM ASSESSMENTS 459 • DIGITAL
Summary 465 • Introductory Case Study Answer 465
15 Grading and Reporting
WEIGHTED CATEGORIES VERSUS TOTAL POINTS METHODS 499 • USING JUDGMENT WHEN COMBINING GRADES 500 • CHEATING 501 • RECOGNIZING TEACHER FALLIBILITY 501
Reporting Student Progress to Parents/ Guardians 503
Parent/Guardian–Teacher Conferences
Student-Led Conferences 506
Summary 507 • Introductory Case Study
Answer 508 • Self-Instructional Review Exercises 509 • Applied Action Exercises 509 • Additional Resources for Practice 510
Appendix A Fundamental Descriptive Statistics and Scaled Scores 511
Appendix B Example of Student Individualized Education Program (IEP) 523
Appendix C Chapter Self-Instructional Review Exercise Answers
Chapter 1 The Role of Assessment in Teaching and Learning
Integrating Instruction and Assessment
• Realities of teaching
— fast paced
— hectic
— complex
• Teacher decision making
• Ambitious teaching
— rigorous learning goals
— authentic learning opportunities
— sense of safety and belonging
— equity
Types
• Preassessment
• Formative assessment
• Summative assessment
• Of, for, and as assessment
Factors Influencing
• 21st-century knowledge, skills, and dispositions
• Technology
• Principles of cognitive and sociocultural learning and motivation
• Standards-based education
• High-stakes testing
• Equity
Research on Learning, Motivation, and Instruction
• Cognitive/Constructivist theories
• Sociocultural theories
• Motivation
— feedback
• Purpose
• Gathering evidence
ROLE OF ASSESSMENT IN TEACHING
Students’ Perceptions of Assessment
Recent Trends
• Alternative assessments
• Assessment integrated with instruction
• Student self-evaluation
• Authenticity
• Use Components
Assessment and Grading Decision Making
• Interpretation
Chapter 1 Concept Map
• Contextualized application Assessment Literacy
• Assessment standards for teachers
• Teacher beliefs and values
• External factors
• Student Perceptions
• Public standards and criteria
• Student involvement with assessment
• Formative assessment
• Equity
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1.1 Explain how seven important contextual influences in education impact classroom assessment.
1.2 Describe how classroom assessment before, during, and after instruction can be integrated with ambitious teaching.
1.3 Describe the nature of classroom assessment, its purposes, components, and characteristics.
1.4 Explain how teacher beliefs, external factors, and students’ perceptions of assessment could influence teachers’ assessment decision making.
1.5 Summarize key elements of classroom assessment literacy.
Introductory Case Study
What Should the Team Do?
During their weekly content team meeting, the math teachers at Whitmore Middle School were discussing their upcoming unit on fraction computation. For each unit this year, the team had given a computerized end-of-unit summative test using questions available on the testing platform. The tests had 30 multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and technology-enhanced items similar to those on the end-of-year high-stakes test.
Abby suggested that it might be a good idea to make some changes to how they were assessing student learning on this test. She wanted to give a constructed-response assessment with fewer items that followed recent assessment trends and learning theories. Her proposed assessment would be a real-world problem of cooking pizzas that would allow student choice for which eight of ten teacher-created open-ended problems students wanted to complete. Students would also create and solve two of their own fraction problems. Throughout the fraction unit, students would be completing these types of tasks and Abby knew that the feedback she would provide to students would increase their progress in mastering the learning targets. Abby knew using an authentic task and a rubric for scoring would allow her to emphasize student effort, which she knew would encourage her students to stay motivated for learning.
Since Rohan had collaborated with Abby in designing most of their previous real-world activities, Abby thought they could create the assessment for the team. Rohan however, suggested they stick with the current computerized assessment because he believed the current assessment provided reliable standardized feedback to teachers and parents on students’ mastery of learning targets. Additionally, teachers could use the efficient computer data analysis to drive immediate remediation efforts. He also believed it was important for students to be exposed to assessments similar to the end-of-year high-stakes test so students would have practice in preparing for it. Abby countered that she believed the traditional summative assessment was solely for providing students with a grade, that this test didn’t align with their teaching methods, and that the end-of-unit assessment did not positively impact student learning and motivation.
Rohan suggested that the real-world assessment ideas could be incorporated throughout the unit of study and that they should give the computerized summative assessment at the end of the unit.
As you read this chapter, think about what the team should do. Should they follow Rohan’s advice and give the computerized assessment or give the real-world assessment? If they follow Rohan’s advice, how can Abby integrate her assessment beliefs and values throughout the unit?
Allow me to begin this book with two stories that are directly relevant to the importance of classroom assessment. When my daughter, Ryann, was 11, she was heavily into gymnastics, working out most days of most weeks. During this particular year, the gym where she worked out hired new coaches, both from Russia. Immediately, the review of her work (performance) changed dramatically. What she was once praised for now received detailed, critical feedback (e.g., “No, put your hands in this position, not like this”). When the girls were “tested,” doing their routines, they were judged with higher expectations and only received praise when well deserved. Instead of hearing “good” all the time, they heard “wrong” most of the time. Negative comments, though, were accompanied by suggestions for doing something different and practice that would help them. The gym and training assessment environment changed, and with it, eventually, the level of performance. The acceptance of mistakes and honest feedback changed the “assessment” culture in the gym. The end of the story is a happy one. As a team, they were the best in the state, and Ryann made positive contributions!
Consider as well my son, Jon, who decided to be an art major in college. He gravitated toward ceramics, sold his work as a potter after graduation, then enrolled in a master of fine arts program. Jon’s experiences in graduate school impressed me from an assessment perspective. His work was continually and publicly subjected to criticism from both his professors and other students. It was as if this method of instruction, which could be brutally honest, fostered a perspective that what might seem to be “negative” feedback was what was needed to learn. As with my daughter, mistakes and errors were pointed out. They were an integral part of the assessment process and helped him advance in his craft. Another happy ending. Jon is now a ceramics professor!
These stories illustrate how important assessment is for learning, whether in the gym, the studio, or the classroom. It shows how the right kind of assessment, and the manner in which it is integrated with instruction, can have dramatic effects on how much is learned and how well something is performed. Research on teacher decision making, cognitive learning, student motivation, equity, and related topics has changed what we know about the importance of assessment for effective teaching. For example, one finding is that good teachers continually assess their students relative to learning goals and adjust their instruction on the basis of this information. Another important finding is that assessment of students not only documents what students know and can do but also influences learning. Assessment that enhances learning is as important as assessment that documents learning. As a result of this research, new purposes, methods, and approaches to student assessment have been developed. These changes underscore a new understanding of the critical role that assessment plays in instruction, learning and motivation.
The Bigger Picture Context of Classroom Assessment
LO 1.1 Explain how seven important contextual influences in education impact classroom assessment.
OK, so it’s clear that as a teacher you will be responsible for assessing what students in your classroom have learned by gathering evidence of student learning and using that evidence to document and, hopefully, promote student achievement and motivation. But more than that, by your assessments, you influence students in a multitude of ways. All of this occurs in a larger classroom and curriculum context that has changed considerably in recent years. Essentially, there are a number of powerful influences now that affect everything you do in the classroom, including assessment, and understanding these factors is essential in developing and using effective assessments. That’s because of something I’ll be talking a lot about in this text—alignment. Alignment simply means that things are configured so that they reinforce and support each other. In science, for example, it’s important to have alignment between research questions and methods; in gymnastics, it’s critical to align music to the floor routine. Teaching, which includes the use of student assessment, is most effective when these powerful contextual forces are aligned with what the teacher is doing in the classroom. For example, when the curriculum and your instruction are aligned with state standards, it’s likely that students will achieve well on state tests. When your teaching and assessment are aligned to what we know about how students from diverse cultures learn, achievement and motivation are enhanced. What, then, are these contextual influences? I’ve laid them out in Figure 1.1 to emphasize their impact on classroom assessment.
21st-Century Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions
You have probably heard much about what students need to know and be able to do to function effectively in life in the 21st century, and what high school graduates need to do to be ready for college and/or careers. From many levels, including national and state government, business, and educational policy wonks, there is an almost endless series of high-profile calls to action for changes in education to meet the new demands of an information-based, interconnected digital world. We’ll consider these outcomes in more detail in the next chapter, but here is a short summary of what is now considered “essential” for students:
• Deep understanding of fundamental concepts of important content areas and disciplines
• Cognitive skills such as problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, and metacognition
• Dispositions such as self-regulation, responsibility, flexibility, self-direction, determination, perseverance, risk taking, and integrity
Your challenge is to develop and use assessments to foster the development of all of these 21st-century skills, not just to assess the subject you are teaching.
Teacher’s Corner: How One Teacher Emphasizes 21st-Century Skills
Tedra Hall
National Board Certified Middle School Teacher
I make it a priority to incorporate tasks that require critical thinking and problem solving into my instruction as frequently as possible. When I am designing my instructional activities and assessments, I deliberately focus on the skills I want my students to utilize. I place an emphasis on critical thinking and problem solving skills through application, analysis, and evaluation. Instead of using traditional tests, I often used performance-based assessments so that students practice thinking critically instead of relying on rote memorization. It’s essential that students practice these skills regularly in order to be successful in society.
It’s also essential that students work with a variety of people in order to be team players. I utilize a variety of group creation strategies to ensure that students learn to work
with others—student choice, random group generators, counting off, and part-luck/part-choice (where a sign-up list for teams is created and students are chosen in random order to add their name to the sign-up). I emphasize to my students that in order to be true team players, you have to be able to work with everyone, not just friends.
In addition to needing time to practice being critical thinkers, problem solvers, and team players, students also need time to reflect on their performance and set goals for growth. Every time my students complete a large task, I allot time for them to reflect on their work skills, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, etc., using a rubric. I also set aside time for them to chart their progress and make strategic goals for improvement. Incorporating reflection and goal creation gives students autonomy over their learning and results in growth in their critical thinking, problem solving, and team-work skills.
Tedra works hard to get students meaningfully engaged in learning through assessment. What are some ways she does this?
In the first of many Teacher Corner excerpts, note how Tedra Hall, a middle school teacher, emphasizes critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and goal setting, and how she aligns her assessment to both foster and assess these skills.
Technology
The prevalence of technology has significant implications for classroom assessment (Smith, 2022). Not only are we teaching postmillennial digital natives (though careful here—not all students are!) with accompanying expectations, skills, and comfort with technology, we also use new technology in teaching and assessment. Digital tools such as virtual quizzes, online polling, social media, podcasting, blogging, virtual labs and field trips, online rubrics, apps, and other technologies support assessment that can more effectively and efficiently identify student learning gaps and
Teacher’s Corner: Use Technology for Assessment
Anthony Swann 2021 Virginia Teacher of the Year
Technology in the classroom is a must. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic proved that all educators should be utilizing technology more often than normal. Digital tools for classroom assessment have the potential to heighten engagement and collaboration within the classroom.
For example, I can easily review a lesson on multiplying fractions. But utilizing digital platforms
such as Kahoot, Quizlet, Gimkit, and many more will help encourage students to participate in review. These types of assessments not only give students the chance to review, but it helps students to talk amongst themselves and to offer help to peers that may be struggling. Often times teachers feel as though they have to do all of the talking and teaching. On the contrary, some students learn best from other students.
What are some of Anthony’s reasons for using digital tools for assessment? What learning outcomes is he emphasizing?
accommodate greater assessment equity. Improved technology has now made item banking for teachers routine, including the use of adaptive tests that accommodate different levels of student ability (Bennett, 2015). Technology has also provided the capability to use new types of test items, including simulations and other active formats that demand student actions and thinking, with automated scoring. Teachers are now able to access data about students online and record grades electronically. Many teachers now routinely use apps and other programs on electronic devices such as iPads and iPhones to assess students. Technology is a huge influence and, as we will see, provides many new opportunities for novel and effective means of evaluating student learning more efficiently.
Principles of Cognitive and Sociocultural Theories of Learning and Motivation
Here is where the rubber really meets the road. If you want to achieve 21st-century knowledge, skills, and dispositions, you must teach and assess in alignment with what we know about how children and adolescents learn and what motivates them. There has been a flood of research, especially in the areas of cognitive and sociocultural theories, that has led to solid, well-documented principles of learning and motivation that have direct implications for assessment. Learning and motivation are best supported by assessment design and implementation that incorporates these principles, especially to achieve deep learning and 21st-century skills and dispositions.
Cognitive, sociocognitive, sociocultural, and constructivist theories of learning show that acquiring new knowledge is best built on students’ prior knowledge, life experiences and background, and interests. Good instruction provides an environment that engages the student in active learning, which becomes an ongoing process in which students actively receive, interpret, and relate information to what they already know, understand, and have experienced, grounded in their everyday lives and interpersonal interactions. That is, new information needs to be connected to existing knowledge in meaningful ways. More than accumulating knowledge, students need to actively construct new and deeper understanding by integrating knowledge, skills, and procedures to solve problems, and by developing metacognition to monitor learning strategies.
To drive as well as document learning, assessment needs to likewise be meaningfully connected to what students already know and can do. Alignment of instruction with cognitive and sociocultural theories, as well as assessment, promotes cohesion in what students are taught, how they are taught, and how they are assessed.
From a cognitive theory perspective, motivation is intrinsic and students are especially engaged when challenged to revise misunderstandings and solve problems. Assessments need to be structured to reveal misunderstandings and challenge students to solve problems. Cognitive theories of motivation show that it is important for teachers to constantly assess students and provide feedback that is informative. By providing specific and meaningful feedback to students, and encouraging them to regulate their own learning, teachers encourage students to enhance their sense of self-efficacy and self-confidence, important determinants of motivation (Brookhart, 2008). Meaningful learning is intrinsically motivating because the content has relevance. The implication here is that assessment does not end with scoring and recording the results. Motivation is highly dependent on the nature of the feedback from the assessment. Thus, in keeping with the integration of assessment with instruction, feedback is an essential component of the assessment process.
Sociocultural and situational theories of learning and motivation also provide an essential foundation for effective, equitable assessment (Kang & Furtak, 2021; Shepard, 2019). The idea here is that learning is “fundamentally a social and cultural activity” (Kang & Furtak, 2021, p. 1). This perspective emphasizes how individuals in their unique communities are enculturated to shape their knowledge and dispositions. The social dimension, as defined by cultural norms and expectations, influences the nature of interpersonal relationships and establishes boundaries for appropriate behavior. In turn, these social and cultural factors influence the meaningfulness and impact of assessments. Well-designed assessments consider these factors since they are so fundamental to learning and motivation.
The research from cognitive and sociocultural learning theories has laid the foundation for significant changes in classroom assessment (Penuel & Shepard, 2016; Shepard, 2019). As we discover more about how students learn and what motivates them, we realize that assessment practices, as well as instructional practices, need to change to keep pace with this research. The list of principles
Table 1.1 Implications for Assessment from Cognitive and Sociocultural Theories of Learning and Motivation
Theory
Cognitive/Constructivist
Knowledge is constructed; learning involves creating personal meaning that connects new information with prior knowledge.
Sociocultural Theory
Learning is fundamentally a social process, based on the relevance of life experiences and cultural ways of interacting.
Differentiation
There is variety among students on learning styles, language, memory, aptitudes, attention, cultural background, and developmental pace.
Goal Setting
Students perform best when they know the goal, see examples or exemplars, and know how their performance compares with established standards of mastery.
Self-Regulation
Students need to know when to use knowledge, how to adapt it to new situations, and how to monitor and manage their own learning.
Self-Efficacy
Motivation and effort are important components of learning and performance that shape perceptions of capability to succeed.
Implications for Classroom Assessment
• Use multiple modes of assessment that allow flexibility in how students demonstrate knowledge and understanding.
• Assess current state of knowledge to target instruction and subsequent assessments.
• Use assessments that require application of knowledge.
• Individualize feedback so that it is meaningful for each student.
• Use authentic assessment that reflects all students’ cultures, experiences, and backgrounds.
• Present assessment tasks in multiple modes to serve equity goals.
• Encourage students to talk through their reasoning with others.
• Utilize peer assessment.
• Provide choices in how to show mastery/competence.
• Provide sufficient time for all students to demonstrate knowledge.
• Provide students opportunities to revise and retest.
• Use multiple modes of assessment.
• Make standards explicit before beginning instruction.
• Give students examples of performance at different levels.
• Provide specific feedback that links performance with standards.
• Use assessment during instruction.
• Use student self-assessments.
• Use performance assessment with actual “real-life” problems and issues.
• Use student self-assessment.
• Use assessment during instruction.
• Limit objectively scored assessments.
• Provide progress monitoring feedback.
• Use “real-life” tasks and examples.
• Use assessment during instruction.
• Provide individualized feedback to see the connection between effort and performance.
• Provide feedback that encourages internal attributions, especially effort.
is long and I can’t do them justice here, but in Table 1.1 many of them are listed with implications for assessment. I’ve done this to again emphasize the importance of alignment of assessment with the principles. Here’s the main takeaway to remember: for assessment to enhance student learning, not just document proficiency, it must be based on cognitive and sociocultural principles of learning and motivation.
Standards-Based Education
Essentially, we have a “standards-based” educational system in America and many other countries. Standards-based, using commonly accepted objectives for student learning, is now a ubiquitous buzzword in education, if ever there was one. As we’ll see in detail in Chapter 2, standards frame what students should know and do—they formalize and standardize what gets taught and assessed. Every U.S. state has learning standards, with corresponding pacing guides and curriculum at the district level for implementation.
High-Stakes Testing
Like it or not, it is abundantly clear that externally mandated high-stakes accountability tests have a profound impact on teaching and classroom assessment. For most teachers, there is no escaping this reality. What you do in the classroom will be influenced by both the content and the nature of these tests. Students, teachers, and administrators have always been held accountable, primarily at a local school or district level, and sometimes at the state level. In the last two decades unprecedented federal and state accountability testing policy initiatives have increased the pressure on schools to show positive test results, as well as to evaluate teachers on the basis of their students’ test scores. High-stakes tests are ones that have important consequences. This is the case for tests that determine whether a student can graduate from high school, when school accreditation is tied to test scores, or when teacher evaluation is determined by how their students perform on tests.
In 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed to address increasingly unworkable and unrealistic prescriptive requirements from earlier federal legislation, including the 2002 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, and the 2009 Race to the Top initiative. ESSA places much less emphasis on a one-size-fitsall federal process, allowing states more flexibility in testing and standard-setting. For teachers, this means some easing of pressure in one sense but introduces new testing demands that can also be onerous. Regardless, there is little doubt that some kind of federal and/or state pressure will ensure that large-scale accountability tests will have high stakes and negative sanctions for low-achieving schools, resulting in some cases with state takeover of schools. It is also clear that administrators and local boards of education, as well as state-level policy makers, want these measures of student performance to be as strong as possible.
With these accountability requirements, large-scale and common testing has significantly influenced what teachers do in the classroom, including what they do in the selection, construction, and use of their classroom student assessments. Today, in certain tested subjects such as math and English, there is much more selection of possible test items from online databases than from teacher constructed items. There is a great amount of emphasis on “test prep,” on “teaching to the test,” on aligning classroom tests with large-scale tests, and on using classroom test formats that are like the ones used in the state accountability tests. Clearly, classroom assessment must be considered in the current climate that emphasizes high-stakes testing. One purpose of this book is to incorporate these accountability and large-scale testing demands and influences with classroom assessment procedures that we know can enhance student learning and motivation. Unfortunately, for many, teaching to external standards and high-stakes tests conflicts with classroom assessment methods that have changed to be more consistent with contemporary theories of learning and motivation. But here is a silver lining: It turns out that classroom assessments that are selected and implemented on the basis of promoting student learning, rather than just showing student performance, will result in higher accountability test results. The key is focusing on
how classroom assessments will maximize student motivation and learning, rather than on what will result in the highest percentages of students judged at least “proficient.”
Data Literacy
There is no question that we have entered the world of big data, whether called data-driven decision making, data dashboards, or more pessimistically though perhaps accurately data-deluged, resulting in data-diving, data delirium, and sometimes being data doped. Big data are everywhere, and there are recent calls for teachers to be “data literate.” In various forms the need for data literacy skills for all educators has been strongly promoted, and is increasingly present in state certification requirements for teachers and administrators. A key feature of the call for improving educators’ capacities to use data is the emphasis on multiple sources of data, habits of mind (Bocala & Boudett, 2015), data properties, transformation of data, data management, data transformation, and communication (Mandinach, Friedman, & Gummer, 2015). A very important consequence of the emphasis on big data that directly impacts teaching and assessment is a renewed emphasis on understanding and using quantitative analyses related to standardized and other large-scale and common testing. This includes the need to understand with greater depth more technical concepts such as reliability/precision, standard error, pretestposttest analyses, accurate graphic presentations, validity, and a host of other complex topics that are typically given little space, especially in teacher preparation. Since data literacy includes the interpretation of all types of data (including, e.g., classroom climate, attendance records, behavioral, family information, extracurricular activities), you will need to integrate these data into what is needed for assessment. At this point this is uncharted territory, but the train has left the station.
Equity
Since learning is most effectively conceptualized as a cognitive process influenced heavily by sociocultural conditions, it follows that assessment needs to consider these same factors. An emerging concept, then, is the idea that assessment must be equitable and culturally responsive—designed in ways that promote evidence of learning that is fair to all students (Kang & Furtak, 2021; Taylor, 2022). In particular, marginalized students need assessment tasks and feedback that reflect their ideas, perspectives, and values. Viewed through the lens of sociocultural and sociocognitive theories of learning, this means that you need to purposefully include nondominant perspectives into your assessment activities (Mislevy, 2018; Mislevy & Oliveri, 2019). This will provide more fair opportunities for all students to successfully understand, relate to, and demonstrate what they know and can do. Equity is more than avoiding bias in assessments, it is purposefully designing assessments to incorporate examples, language, social norms, expectations, and other cultural factors from nondominant populations.
Another way of thinking about assessment equity is to become aware of how historically dominant values result in assessment practices that are unfair to marginalized students. Are assessment tasks relevant to the lives of nondominant
