1. Learning-Centered Leadership Development
Program for
Practicing and Aspiring Principals
August 8-10

2. 2
Real Time Embedded Assessments
Goals:
1. To understand the different types of assessments.
2. To understand the impact formative assessments have on
student achievement.
3. To understand the how teacher evaluations, both
formative and summative impact student achievement.

3. Real Time Embedded Assessments
What are assessments?
What is the purpose of these assessments?
Do these assessments provide the data we need?
Do grades motivate students?
Should teachers take responsibility for student learning?
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4. Real Time Embedded Assessments
Kellough (1999) lists the purposes of asssessements
• To assist student learning
• To identify students’ strengths and weaknesses
• To assess the effectiveness of a particular instructional
strategy
• To assess and improve the effectiveness of curriculum
programs
• To assess and improve teaching effectiveness
• To provide data that assist in decision making
• To communicate with and involve parents
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5. Real Time Embedded Assessments
Kellough also suggests that students need the answers to
the following questions:
• Where am I going?
• Where am I now?
• How do I get where I am going?
• How will I know when I get there?
• Am I on the right track for getting there?
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6. Real Time Embedded Assessments
The American Association for Higher Education (AAHE)
has established nine principles for implementing
instructional assessments:
• The assessment of student learning begins with
educational values.
• Assessment is most effective when it reflects an
understanding of learning as multidimensional,
integrated, and revealed in performance over time.
• Assessment works best when the programs it seeks to
improve have clear, explicitly stated purposes.
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7. AAHE Principles (cont.)
• Assessment requires attention to outcomes but also and
equally to the experiences that lead to those outcomes.
• Assessment works best when it is ongoing, not episodic.
• Assessment fosters wider improvement when
representatives from across the educational community
are involved.
• Assessment makes a difference when it begins with
issues of use and illuminates questions that people really
care about.
• Assessment is most likely to lead to improvement when
it is part of a larger set of conditions that promote
change.
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8. AAHE Principles (cont.)
• Through assessment educators meet responsibilities to
students.
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9. Types of Assessments
Marzano (2010) suggests that there are three types of
assessments
1. Obtrusive
2. Unobtrusive
3. Student generated
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10. Types of Assessments (cont.)
• Normed Referenced
• Criterion Referenced
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11. Types of Assessments (cont.)
• Authentic
• Portfolios
• Observation
• Formative
• Summative
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12. Summative Assessments
• State tests (MEAP, MME, etc)
• District benchmark
• Chapter tests
• Unit tests
• Final exams
• All are graded in some form
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13. Formative Assessments - definitions
Bell and Cowie (2001) “the process used by teachers and
students to recognize and respond to learning in order to
enhance that learning, during the learning.”
Popham (2008) as a planned process in which
assessment-elicited evidence of students’ status is used
by teachers to adjust their ongoing instructional
procedures or by students to adjust their current learning
tactics.
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14. Formative Assessments - definitions
Garrison and Ehringhaus (2011) view formative
assessments as providing the information necessary to
adjust teaching and learning while they are happening.
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15. Formative Assessments
Research has shown the formative assessments
implemented properly provide dramatic gains in learning.
The work of Black and William (1998) found that the gains
in learning by using formative assessments were
“amongst the largest ever reported for educational
interventions.”
Formative assessment works and there is no particular
formula to follow and it appears to work very well for
slow learners (Popham, 2008)
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16. Is This Formative Assessment?
Measuring Poetry
Robin Williams Video from the
Dead Poet Society
http://youtu.be/tmayC2AdkNw
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17. Formative Assessment
Marzano (2010) explains the elements of formative
assessment
• Formative assessment is a process, not any particular
test
• It is used not just by teachers, but by both teachers and
students
• Formative assessment takes place during instruction
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18. Marzano’s Elements (cont.)
• It provides assessment-based feedback to teachers and
students
• The function of this feedback is to help teachers and
students make adjustments that will improve students’
achievement of intended curricular aims
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19. Formative Assessment w/o Technology
• Robin Williams’ In Class Assignment
from Dead Poet Society cut 4 3:28 minutes
http://youtu.be/2EdWgsTUhmI
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20. Feedback
Effective feedback is critical in the formative assessment
process.
Students need to know what skills and knowledge they are
to gain, how close are they to achieving those skills, and
what do they need to do next in order to be a successful
learner.
Provides motivation for students.
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21. Feedback
Hattie and Timperley (2007) model for feedback
• Feedback about the task – whether answers are right or
wrong or directions to get more information.
• Feedback about the processing of the task – strategies
used or strategies that could be used.
• Feedback about self-regulation – feedback about student
self evaluation or self confidence.
• Feedback about the student as a person.
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22. Feedback
Marzano (2003) best ways to use feedback
• Feedback should be “corrective” in nature – provide
students with an explanation of what they did right and
wrong.
• Feedback should be timely – immediately following an
assessment
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23. Marzano Feedback (cont.)
• Feedback should be specific to a criterion – it should
reference a specific level or skill or knowledge.
• Students can effectively provide some of their own
feedback – students keeping track of their performance
as learning occurs.
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24. Feedback
Marzano indicates that feedback must be based on
criterion or goals.
• Instructional goals narrow what students focus on.
• Instructional goals should not be too specific.
• Students should be encouraged to personalize the
teacher’s goals.
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25. Goals
Brookhart (2008) states that teachers must be sure to do
the following with each assignment:
• Require student work to demonstrate the content
knowledge or skills specified in the learning target.
• Require students to demonstrate the cognitive process
specified in the learning target.
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26. Brookhart (cont.)
• Provide students with complete and clear directions.
• Specify the criteria for good work (which will be the
criteria for both feedback and final evaluation).
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27. Feedback Strateties
Timing
• Provide immediate feedback for knowledge of facts
• Delay feedback slightly for more comprehensive reviews
of student thinking and processing
• Never delay feedback beyond when it would make a
difference to students
• Provide feedback as often as is practical, for all major
assignments
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28. Feedback Strategies (cont.)
Amount
• Prioritize – pick the most important points
• Choose points that relate to major learning goals
• Consider the student’s developmental level
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29. Feedback Strategies (cont.)
Mode
• Select the best mode for the message. Would a
comment in passing the students desk suffice? Is a
conference needed?
• Interactive feedback is best
• Give written feedback on written work
• Use demonstration if how to do something is an issue
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30. Feedback Strategies (cont.)
Audience
• Individual feedback makes the student feel the teacher
values their learning
• Group/class feedback works if most of the class missed
the concept – re-teaching opportunity
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31. Feedback Strategies (cont.)
Focus
• When possible, describe both the work and the process
• Comment on the student’s self-regulation if the comment
will foster self-efficacy
• Avoid personal comments
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32. Feedback Strategies (cont.)
Comparison
• Use criterion-referenced feedback for giving information
about the work itself
• Use norm-referenced for giving information about
student processes or effort
• Use self-referenced for unsuccessful learners who need
to see the progress they are making, not how far they
are from the goal
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33. Feedback Strategies (cont.)
Function
• Describe – don’t judge
Valence
• Use positive comments that describe what was done
well
• Accompany negative descriptions of the work with
positive suggestions for improvement
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34. Feedback Strategies (cont.)
Clarity
• Use vocabulary and concepts the student will
understand
• Tailor the amount and content of feedback to the
student’s developmental level
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35. Feedback Strategies (cont.)
Specificity
• Make the degree of specificity to the student and the
task
• Make feedback specific enough that they know what to
do, but not so specific that it is done for them
• Identify errors or types of errors, but do not correct
everyone – leave some for the student to correct
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36. Feedback Strategies (cont.)
Tone
• Choose words that communicate respect for the student
and the work
• Choose words that position the student as the agent
• Choose words that cause students to think or wonder
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37. Types of Learners
Successful Students
• Successful students are typically interested in school
and learning and want to do well on assignments.
• They also greatly benefit from constructive feedback on
their skills and knowledge.
• These students do self-assessements spontaneously
whether or not the teacher provides opportunities for this
activity.
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38. Types of Learners
Successful Students (cont.)
• Teachers may often neglect to provide feedback to these
successful students to spend more time with slower
learners.
• Successful students will achieve even more with proper
feedback.
• No student should be neglected by the teacher even
though they are perceived as successful.
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39. Types of Learners
Struggling Students
• Struggling students are those who have fallen behind in
school or haven’t had positive learning experiences.
• These students struggle when they view the large gap in
their knowledge based on criterion.
• Therefore, criterion-referenced feedback is not the best
choice for these students.
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40. Types of Learners
Struggling Students (cont.)
• Self-referenced is much more applicable – comparing
their current work to previous work.
• It is important to make suggestions for improvement in
small steps for struggling students.
• Gradual and small improvements are better for the
students than being overwhelmed and not improving at
all.
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41. Types of Learners
Reluctant Students
• These are students who perceive themselves as failures
are accustomed to viewing any kind of feedback as
confirmation that they are stupid.
• All they hear is what they did wrong.
• The natural tendency for teachers is to do just that, tell
the students what they did wrong.
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42. Types of Learners
Reluctant Students (cont.)
• Reluctant students will benefit from self-referenced
assessments.
• This may take more time, but when students see
success and progress, they become more willing to put
forth effort into the learning process.
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43. How Technology Can Help
• Provide feed back to students in ways that enable the
students to learn better.
• Eliminated the drudgery of assessment.
• Assessing students more accurately, efficiently, and
quickly.
• Make evaluating student skills unobtrusive and easy.
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44. Can Technology Help with
Formative Assessment?
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45. How Technology Can Help
• Individualized assessment
• Immediate nature of the assessment
• Create virtual real-time picture of which
students need helps, where they need it,
and how the teachers can help them best
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46. How Technology Can Help
• Enhancing formative assessment with
technology enables teachers to embed
assessment into instruction and provide
immediate feedback.
• It has become cheaper (some times free)
and easier to use.
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47. Technology Quiz
• What is the largest factor
in determining use of
technology in a school?
1. Technology budget
2. Amount of professional development
3. Teachers interest
4. Principal interest
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48. Quiz Answer
The largest factor in determining use
of technology in a school is the
Principal’s interest that it be used.
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49. Some Ways of Using Technology
for Formative Assessment?
• Differential Instruction
• Rubrics
• White Boards and Clickers
• Problem Based Learning
• Infographics
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50. Rubistar
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51. Some Ways of Using Technology for
Formative Assessment?
• ePortfolios
• Digital Storytelling
• Students as Teachers
• Commercial Tools and Games
• Free Web 2.0 Internet Tools
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52. Free Web 2.0 Tools
• Project Zone
• Quizlet
• ASSISTments
• Star Fall
• ePals
• Twitter in Education
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53. Project Zone Exercise
• Mini Golf game
Go to http://tinyurl.com/projectzone
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54. ASSISTment Demo
Go to http://www.assistments.org/
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55. Star Fall Demo
• A free public service to teach children
to read with phonics.
• http://www.starfall.com/
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56. Acrobat Demo
Create you own ePortfolio
with Acrobat Pro X
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57. What’s Next?
• Learning Analytics - enable teachers and
schools to tailor educational opportunities to
each student's level of need and ability.“
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58. What Next?
• Personal Learning Environments -
allow students to direct their own
learning by themselves or in groups.
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59. Assessing Teacher Performance
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