Assessment Mapping

​For this activity we were asked to make a mind map of all of our knowledge relating to assessment, then after reading about assessment in PYP we were asked to change or adjust our mind map to reflect our new learning. Although I still like my first mind map, I made a new one that follows the PYP assessment vision. One of the main parts that I did not consider in my first attempt at the mind map was who assessment is for, teachers, students, admin, other teachers, parents, and the school community. Often assessment feels teacher and student heavy. In addition the PYP assessment seems to be observation focused which makes sense for the primary years. As a predominantly secondary teacher I am curious as to how this changes through the MYP and DP programs, my thoughts are that it becomes more student record/reflection based.  All in all I feel that I had the same idea of assessment as outlined in the PYP reading but with different connections and formatting. 

Assessment as feedback

• Objective – provide feedback on the learning process
• Students should receive feedback “not as a reward or punishment but as information”
• Reflect learning outcomes
• Student and teacher self-assessment and reflection
• Informs practice
• Looking at what students know, understand, can do, and feel
• Entire school community should be involved (students, teachers, parents, admin)

 
Assessment strategies and instruments

• Rubrics
  • Set of criteria with descriptors
• Exemplars
  • Sample of students’ work
  • One benchmark for each achievement level
• Anecdotal records
  • Brief written notes based on observation
• Checklists
  • Lists of information, data, attributes, elements
• Anchor papers
• Continuums
  • Visual representations of developmental stages of learning
  • Identify where a student is in a process
• Portfolios of work
• Standardized tests

 
Approach to assessment

• Assess the process of inquiry
• Assess the result of inquiry
• Teacher should record student initiated inquiry
• Three areas of assessment
  • Assessing – how we discover what the students know and have learned
  • Recording – how we choose to collect and analyse data
  • Reporting – how we choose to communicate information

 
What teachers should be looking for

• Development of students’ inquiry
• Student awareness of real problems and solutions
• Mastery of skills
• Comprehensive knowledge base
• Demonstrating independence
• Demonstrating ability to work collaboratively

 
PYP Exhibition

• Final year of PYP
• Demonstrate five elements of PYP
  • Knowledge
  • Skills
  • Concepts
  • Attitudes
  • Action
• Transdisciplinary

 
Programme Evaluation

• Continuing improvement of overall programme
• Standards and practices
• Learning outcomes
• Subject-specific overall expectation

 
Types of Assessment

• Summative
  • Informs and improves student learning and teaching process
  • Measures understanding of central idea
  • Prompts students towards action
• Formative
  • Used to plan the next stage in learning
  • What do the students already know and can do?
  • Regular and frequent feedback
  • Helps to recognize the criteria for success
• Examples
  • Collecting evidence of students’ understanding and thinking
  • Documenting learning processes of groups and individuals
  • Engaging students in reflecting on their learning
  • Students assessing work produced by themselves and by others
  • Developing clear rubrics
  • Identifying exemplar student work
  • Keeping records of test/task results

 
Effective Assessments

• Allow students to
  • Share their learning
  • Demonstrate a range of knowledge, understanding and skills
  • Use a variety of learning styles to express understanding
  • Know criteria for quality result in advance
  • Participate in reflection
  • Base learning on real-life experiences
• Allow teachers to
  • Inform every stage of teaching and learning process
  • Plan in response
  • Develop criteria for quality product
  • Gather evidence to draw conclusions
  • Provide evidence for reporting to school community
  • Collaborate
  • Use analytical and holistic scoring
• Allow parents to
  • See evidence of student learning and development
  • Understand the student’s progress
  • Provide opportunities to support and celebrate student learning

 
Observations/Records

• Build a picture of the student and his/her interests
• Identify what and how the student is thinking and learning
• Assess the effectiveness of the environment
• Extend the student’s learning
• Record what students say
• Share observations with students, colleagues, parents
• Analyse interactions within a group
• Plan for future student specific learning experiences

 
Assessment Strategies

• Observations
  • Often and regular
  • Wide angle to close up
  • Nonparticipant to participant
• Performance assessments
  • Goal-directed tasks with established criteria
  • Authentic and significant challenges and problems
  • Numerous solutions
  • Multimodal, require many skills
  • Audio, video, narrative records
• Process-focused assessments
  • Checklists
  • Inventories
  • Narrative descriptions (learning logs)
• Selected responses
  • Single occasion
  • One dimensional
  • Tests/quizzes
• Open-ended tasks
  • Students presented with stimulus, asked to communicate original response
  • Brief written answer, drawing, diagram, solution
  • Goes into portfolio