Building Leadership Teams (BLT)
November 17, 2009
Secondary Buildings
Formative Assessments:
Developing Learning Targets and
Using Formative Assessments to Guide Instruction
2
Session’s Purpose:
• To gain clarity regarding clear learning targets
and indicators of student learning.
• To make progress using formative assessments
to guide instruction.
• To launch reflection and dialogue regarding
what learning is and how we learn.
3
Team Anchor Chart
• What is learning?
• How do we learn?
4
The Learning Journey
5
Established Teaching-Assessment Model
• Teach – Teach – Teach – Teach – Posttest – Grade
• Have we taken our learner along with us?
6
Formative Assessment: Connections
to Last Year
Formative
Assessment
Learning-Assessment Model
Target
Indicators
of Student
Learning
• Determine what the learning looks like.
• Determine how the learning will be assessed.
• Communicate the learning target and indicators of learning to the
students.
Summative
Assessments
Grading
Teach
Formative
Assessments
and Student
Feedback
Instructional
Adjustment
Reflect on
Data
Instructional Strategies
Instructional Strategies
Students
• Establish a clear standards-based learning target.
•Assessments are aligned with the learning target and the indicator of learning.
•The teacher may use multiple assessments or allow students multiple attempts to demonstrate mastery of the learning.
• Teacher may assign grade.
8
Step 1: Establish a Clear Standards-based Learning Target
Step 2: Determine the Indicators of Student Learning
• Clarifying Activity: 4 People
Speaker—Articulates a recent learning target and the
indicators of student learning
Questioner—Asks questions of the speaker to gain clarity
Observers—Makes observations regarding the process
Observers—Makes observations regarding the process
• Then switch roles—The speaker and questioner become
observers, and observers become the speaker and
questioner.
9
Reflection
• What did you learn?
• How do we gain clarity regarding the learning
target and indicators of student learning?
• In what ways might we assist teachers at our
building in gaining clarity on the learning
target and indicators?
10
Classroom Applications of the
Learning-Assessment Model
• Video of RCAS Teachers
• Use Classroom Applications handout
11
Learning-Assessment Model
• Once we have a clear learning target and know
the indicators of student learning, we
communicate the target and indicators to
students.
• Teach – Formative Assessments and Student
Feedback – Reflect on Data – Instructional
Adjustments
• Formative Assessment Strategies
• Anchor Chart Processing
12
Implementation Ideas for Nov. 30
• Consider using a Team Anchor Chart process at your
building to launch reflection and dialogue regarding
what learning is and how we learn.
• Determine your building’s progress regarding formative
assessments. For example, if a review would be a
helpful step, an example is in a file folder in your team’s
envelope.
• Share the Airport Story with your staff, and have them
make the connection to taking our students with us on
the learning journey.
• Discuss the Established Teaching-Assessment Model.
Have we taken our learners with us?
13
Implementation Ideas for Nov. 30
(Continued)
• Introduce the Learning-Assessment Model to
support staff in seeing the big picture.
• Emphasize Step 1 (Establish a clear learning
target) and Step 2 (Determine the indicators of
student learning).
• Sounds simple, right? Have the staff practice
the 4 person activity and strategize about how
they can establish clear targets and indicators.
14
Implementation Ideas for Nov. 30
(Continued)
• Illustrate connections to the model using role plays,
the video clip, or other examples involving your staff.
• Provide various examples of formative assessments,
emphasizing their simplicity and encouraging the use
of one or two to get started.
• Model or discuss ways to look at the assessment
results, and make instructional adjustments based on
the data.
• Determine how principals and various teacher-leaders
(including ISTs, math coaches, BLT members, and
classroom teachers) might provide instructional
leadership to support this work. Everyone must play a
part in order for improvement to be successful!
15
In Conclusion…..
• Formative Assessment: Relevant, Clarification, Also…
• Formative assessment represents one of the most
powerful instructional tools available for promoting
student achievement (Stiggins & DuFour, 2009).
• “To use classroom assessment to make
improvements, teachers must change both the way
they view assessment and the way they interpret
results. Specifically, they need to see their
assessments as an integral part of the instructional
process and as an essential element in their efforts
to help students learn.”
Thomas Guskey, 2007