Standard Six:
Assessment
The teacher understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to document learner progress, and to guide the teacher's on-going planning and instruction.
Artifact: Teacher Work Sample (External Artifact)
Performance: 6(a) Balances the use of formative and summative assessment as appropriate to support, verify, and document learning.
6(b) Designs assessments that match learning objectives with assessment methods and minimizes sources of bias that can distort assessment results.
6(e) Engages learners in understanding and identifying quality work and provides them with effective descriptive feedback to guide their progress toward that work.
6(h) Prepares all learners for the demands of particular assessment formats and makes appropriate accommodations in assessments or testing conditions, especially for learners with disabilities and language learning needs.
Essential Knowledge: 6(j) Understands the differences between formative and summative applications of assessment and knows how and when to use each.
6(k) Understands the range of types and multiple purposes of assessment and how to design, adapt, or select appropriate assessments to address specific learning goals and individual differences, and to minimize sources of bias.
6(n) Understands the positive impact of effective descriptive feedback for learners and knows a variety of strategies for communicating this feedback.
6(p) Understands how to prepare learners for assessments and how to make accommodations in assessments and testing conditions, especially for learners with disabilities and language learning needs.
Critical Dispositions: 6(q) Is committed to engaging learners actively in assessment processes and to developing each earner’s capacity to review and communicate about their own progress and learning.
6(r) Takes responsibility for aligning instruction and assessment with learning goals.
6(t) Is committed to providing timely and effective descriptive feedback to learners on their progress.
Description: My Teacher Work Sample is an entire unit on quadratic equations taught to my period three blue day students at Mt. Blue High School. The TWS includes five lessons, handouts, pre-assessments, formative assessments, a summative unit exam, reflections, and other instructional decision making tools. My TWS contains clear learning goals and objectives linked to the Common Core Math Standards and Common Core Teaching Standards.
Rationale: My teacher work sample was created around the topic of quadratic equations and three specific learning goals that students should be able to master at the completion of the unit. The unit was designed and aligned with Common Core Math Standards and the Mt. Blue High School Math Curriculum and each learning goal was pre-assessed before moving forward. Each lesson contained in the TWS contains a variety of formative assessment and summative lesson assessments that helped prepare students for summative unit assessment to show mastery of all three learning goals. I provided my students with feedback in written and verbal form and used a variety of activities and groupings to ensure adequate time for students to ask questions and to practice and prepare for assessments. The TWS is a cohesive collection of five lessons that are connected and planned using backward design to ensure learner development, growth, and success.
Artifact: Plickers QR Code Activity
Performance: 6(c) Works independently and collaboratively to examine test and other performance data to understand each learner’s progress and to guide planning.
6(f) Models and structures processes that guide learners in examining their own thinking and learning as well as the performance of others.
6(g) Effectively uses multiple and appropriate types of assessment data to identify each student’s learning needs to develop differentiated learning experiences.
6(i) Continually seeks appropriate ways to employ learners more fully and to assess and address learner needs.
Essential Knowledge: 6(l) Knows how to analyze assessment data to understand patterns and gaps in learning, to guide planning and instruction, and to provide meaningful feedback to all learners.
6(m) Knows when and how to engage learners in analyzing their own assessment results and in helping them set goals for their own learning.
Critical Dispositions: 6(v) Is committed to the ethical use of various assessments and assessment data to identify learner strengths and needs to promote learner growth.
Description: Plickers is a formative assessment app that allows each student to have an individual QR code that is linked to their name and class and tracks their answers to the questions. The QR code is a way to have each student work out and answer practice problems independently and answer in a low risk way that has no time limit. The app provides immediate feedback of who answered correctly and the percentage of the class as a whole who got the question right to help guide instruction.
Rationale: This artifact provides immediate feedback to students about whether they answered correctly or not, and also gives immediate data on the amount of the class that answered correctly. This immediate instruction allows students to self-evaluate their progress and encourage them to look at their problem solving process and to try and determine where content gaps exist. As the instructor I was able to use proximity and help individual learners when they struggled as each student had a task during this activity. From the immediate feedback I could guide instruction to best meet leaner needs and adjust my instructional planning for the current, and following lessons. Each student had to answer independently and because of this the data was individualized for each learner through the course of the activity and then also showed the class’ performance on the entire activity and could clearly identify which learning objectives were not being met and needed to be addressed. This artifact allowed me to have data driven instruction and in real time adjustments could be made to better serve my students.
