Assistive Technology in Assessment

While this topic is always one that I enjoy learning about, I find that it is also one that makes me overwhelmed. I love seeing all of the different types of technology, but get lost on how to even begin to learn about each of them. Game theory sounds awesome, but completely daunting. I get fired up to learn new things, but the idea of changing everything I'm doing makes me slip right back into my usual. That's the easy thing to do, right? I fear this is true of many of us. I am in my 17th year of teaching and I feel like I've changed more in the past three years than I did in the previous 14, but is it enough?

While I generally think of myself as a good, maybe great, teacher, seeing all of the things that I could be doing makes me feel inadequate. Am I providing enough opportunities for my students? Am I challenging them? Am I being innovative? Do I know where to find the resources I need? I hope that the answers to at least some of these questions is yes, but I know I could be doing so much more!

The Changing Paradigm of Classroom Assessment with Technology

For this blog post I am going to look at the three ways to look at technology in assessments and how I have seen them work or not work.

High Stakes Tests: Distal Level

• I like that state tests (MSTEP) have moved to this type of model. I feel like on tests, like the SAT, students quickly figure out where their deficiencies are and get frustrated. By making these tests adaptive, students may not find success on a question, but they may soon find success as the program adapts to their knowledge level. I feel like students may not become so frustrated with these tests with this type of model.
• I'm not sure how I would set this up in my classroom. It seems daunting to come up with a sequence of questions to give students as they either get questions right or wrong. As a former math teacher I could definitely find value in it, and I think in that setting the sequencing of questions would be a little easier to write.

Teacher-made Test: Proximal Level

• Despite this being the traditional method, I still find value in this type of testing. Technology has made these easier because they have provided platforms for the students to complete these assessments as well as giving teachers many descriptive statistics that are helpful with curriculum design.
• One problem with teacher made tests is teachers not collaborating to create these assessments. I know that I teach a class that 5 other teachers also teach. We all started with the same test, but many of us have made adjustments to the assessments over the years to work better in our classroom. If we all are grading students a slightly different way is this a true assessment of knowledge gained in a class?
• Standards based grading is something some classes in my school are trying. These are mostly low-level math classes. I think it works well in this subject because in math many of the standards are concrete, easy to assess skills for a teacher to grade on. Additionally, students who already struggle with math are given the specific skills that they need to be successful.

Recitation and Checks for Understanding: Close Level

• This is where I have put my emphasis this year. I have tried to find some new quick ways of assessing learning. I already use Kahoots, but I would like to continue to look at how I can use things such as ClassKick, Quizlet Live, Flip Grid and other platforms to increase my formative assessments.

Research and Perspectives on Classroom Assessments

For my blog entry, I decided to take the different "categories" of assessments we covered in the Exploration Activity and jot down my notes for future reference...

Evidence Based Assessment

• Could include....observations, tests, peer assessments and practical performance
• Gauges attainment and progress
• Crucial to maximizing student outcomes
• Is not successful on its own. Still needs good teachers who will take this evidence and make it improve instruction in order to be successful.

Competency Based Assessment

• Students progress at their own pace
• The competencies are relevant and demonstratable skills
• Works well with non-traditional students who work different hours or have families.
• Potential setback is the questionable credibility in the eyes of employers
• Credibility is based on the quality of competencies being assessed. 

Performance Based Assessment

• Students apply skills and knowledge from a unit
• Uses higher order thinking skills
• Students complete a task that mirrors the responsibility of a professional
• The assessments must be: complex, authentic, process/product orientated, open ended and time bound

Standards Based Assessment

• What must all students know and be able to do?
• Set high standards for ALL students and make the curriculum match that
• Meets local, state and federal standards
• A diploma or certificate is awarded once the standards have been mastered
• Do ALL students need all of these skills?

The New Wave of Assessment

• Preparation for the Future, Participatory, Dynamic, Playful
• What types of professional development will be available to teach the teachers?
• How will these work with state standards?
• Can we ever fully give up our traditional assessments?

Assessment in the Classroom - Revisited

One of the things I enjoy about being back in graduate classes is that they really make you take a look at what you are doing, in this case in my classroom, and allows you to find places that you can grow. I think that we have a tendency to get in a groove and just keep doing the same thing. These classes wake up my brain and make me excited to try new things.

This unit on assessment did just that. It really made me realize how far I've come with assessments over my 17 year career, but it also showed me I can go even further! I am starting to dabble in Project Based Learning and that has really changed the way I look at assessment. I can remember in a training this summer they said "maybe at the end of the project they don't even receive a grade." Umm...what? No grade? Why would a student do the project if they weren't getting a grade? Then I didn't give a grade....they still did the work! And they still learned things! Mind blown!

One of the things that surprised me in some of the videos that we watched this week was that one of the speakers talked about how traditional testing is cost effective and still a viable option. I was surprised because I expected the videos to take the opposite opinion. However, the speaker went on to talk about how traditional tests make a student retrieve from memory and that when they do that they have a better chance of remembering that information long term. He went on to say that the biggest learning that happens with these traditional tests is when they get something wrong and they have then hyper correction effect. Only through this, and not by seeing the grade in the gradebook, do they actually benefit from getting something wrong and essentially benefit from taking the test. I thought this was an interesting perspective.

I'm excited to keep exploring assessment throughout the semester because I know that there are so many new trends in assessment that were prevalent when I went through my teacher training 18 years ago.