Proposal Elements:
Bridging the Gap - Assessment

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Assessments:

Assessment is an ongoing process for monitoring both the student and the teacher. It serves as a checkpoint for the teacher to measure the learning outcomes and helps students monitor their progress toward their intended goal. The key is to use assessment to help students believe that the target is within reach.

When dealing with assessment, many questions emerge. Let's begin with the two obvious questions: "Why have assessments?" and "What makes a good assessment?"

Why have assessments?


What makes a "good" assessment?
Assessment is the tool that measures how well the students achieve the learner outcomes. You need to decide what you want the students to know and be able to do. Students' prior knowledge should be taken into account. Focus on assessment that is seamless and ongoing.  Evaluate continuously throughout the project thinking of ways to assess the process as well as the product of their learning. Here are some things to remember about assessment as you go about the evaluation process.

The most important element of performance assessment is engagability. To evaluate your project, you need to determine if your students were allowed:

When creating your project you should consider early on just how and when you plan to assess student learning. The assessment question "What will students know and be able to do after the unit?" should be addressed as the unit objectives/outcomes are being written. When reviewing projects we often look to see if four areas of assessment have been addressed.

Do the learner outcomes and assessment match?

In college it was drilled into us that a good lesson or unit started with well-thought-out and appropriate goals and objectives. Then we moved on to selecting materials and creating the sequence of skills and tasks we would teach students. Too often the creation of assessment tools was left to be designed at the end of the unit. This process tended to result in assessment that reflected the tasks students actually accomplished in class, but did not always match the stated objectives. Somewhere along the way, the unit changed focus and the original objectives were lost.

In creating your engaged learning project, you should be sure that the assessment(s) you create measure each objective listed in your project. Many tasks students perform in and out of the class may incorporate more than one objective, but the rubric or tool you plan to use to assess students' growth should measure each of the skills students perform.

To help you identify good rubrics that align with your outcomes, look at the following examples. The first example shows outcomes that do not align with their rubrics. Following that is an example of outcomes that are accessed in their rubric. Remember these are just some of the more common reasons, and we are emphasizing alignment of outcomes to their rubrics and not the rubrics format. So stay on your toes, thinking caps on, and we're off!

Assessment #1: Bridging the Gap

 

Poorly Matched Outcomes and Assessment

Learner Outcomes:

Students will be able to:

- Identify the characteristics of wetlands.

- Explain the function of a wetland.

- Use a variety of sources to investigate issues and problems surrounding wetlands.

- Compose a well-organized and coherent, persuasive essay stating your viewpoint on a current wetland issue.

Assessment:

Listed here are the two rubrics created for this project.

Rubric 1
Topic 1 Point 2 Points 3 Points
Grammar &
Spelling
More than
10 errors
5-9 errors Fewer than
5 errors
Letter
Format
Missing 2 or
more parts of
a letter
Missing 1 part
of a letter
No parts missing
Use of Specific
Examples
3 or fewer
examples
4-6 examples More than 6
examples
Clear, Easy to Read, and Persuasive Vocabulary used
is difficult to read;
not persuasive.
Good choice of vocabulary; somewhat persuasive. Excellent vocabulary; very persuasive.

Rubric 2
Individual Evaluation

Name: _______________________

Group: _______________________

Use the chart below to rate yourself in each area. A rating of 10 is the best, and a rating of 0 means you need to work in that area.

1.  Time on Task
     0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

2. Variety of Resources Searched
     0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

3.  Amount of Quality Information Found
     0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

4. If you chose 5 or less as a rating in number 3 above (Information Found), please explain why:

5. Do you need more direction or focus in order to be successful?

Group Evaluation

Use the chart below to rate each participant in your group. You are rating each person in your group based on his/her research results and information shared. This evaluation is private and will not be shared with anyone in the class.

A rating of 10 is the best, and a rating of 0 means that person needs to show improvement next week.

 Student Name

 Student Rating
 1.
     0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
2.
     0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
3.
     0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
4.
     0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

5. If you rated any student below a 5, please use the rest of this page to explain (in detail) why.


Assessments #2: Bridging the Gap

 

Well-Matched Outcomes and Assessment

Learner Outcomes:

Students will be able to:

- Use terms such as DNA, RNA, protein, gene, and genome in their presentation.

- Identify current practices in genetic/genomic research.

- Explain the various goals researchers and those that fund the research are trying to accomplish through genetic/genomic research.

- Identify and evaluate the effects of genetic/genomic research on various sectors of society. Explain the connection of research goals, practices, applications, and effects.

Assessment:

Listed here is the rubric created for this project.

Rubric 3
Learner Outcomes
Criterion
Points Earned
  Does Not Meet 0 pts Meets 1 pt Exceeds 2 pts  
2 pts max Students use the terms incorrectly and do not explain how the terms are connected Students use the terms correctly but fail to explain the terms or how they are related. Students use the terms correctly, explain what they mean and explain how the terms are related.  
Students will be able to use terms such as DNA, RNA, protein, gene, and genome in their presentation.        
  Does Not Meet 0 pts Meets 1 pt Exceeds 2 pts  
2 pts max Students have not chosen one current practice to investigate, but discuss many current practices without focusing on one topic. Students have selected a current issue to investigate and focus on this topic during their investigation. They make mention of related research when appropriate. Students choose one research topic. They discuss it thoroughly and knowledgeably, and when appropriate give a description of related topics.  
Students will identify current practices in genetic/genomic research.        
  Does Not Meet 0 pts Meets 1 pt Exceeds 2 pts  
2 pts max Students did not identify any research goals. Student identified research goals but did not explain them. Students both identified and explained various research goals.  
Students will explain the various goals researchers and those that fund the research are trying to accomplish through genetic/genomic research.        
  Does Not Meet 0 pts Meets 1 pt Exceeds 2 pts  
2 pts max Students do not identify the effects on any sector of society or limit their discussion to one sector of society, but poorly, with little detail. Students identify the effects on one or two sectors of society with thought and a fair amount of detail. Students identify and discuss the effects on two or more sectors of society very well, giving appropriate details and thought about the interconnectedness of different sectors of society.  
Students will identify and evaluate the effects of genetic/genomic research  on various sectors of society.        
  Does Not Meet 0 pts Meets 1 pt Exceeds 2 pts  
2 pts max Students mention goals, research practices, etc., but exclude one component. Students make reference to goals, research practices, etc., but do not discuss how these concepts are related to each other and influence each other. Students make reference to goals, research practices, etc., and discuss how these concepts relate to each other and influence each other.  
Students will explain the connection of research goals, practices, applications, and effects.    

Total points 



Reasoning:

Assessments #1 -
Rubric 1 assesses the student essay, which is specific to the 4th learner outcome.

Rubric 2 assesses the students' participation in the project. Although participation is a good performance assessment, it is not being considered in this set of learner outcomes.

Neither Rubric 1 or Rubric 2 assesses the content outcomes.

Assessments #2 -
Rubric 3 assesses all the outcomes listed.

Can you think of any other reasons why the items are poor and ways to transform them into good elements for use within an engaged learning proposal?


Now you are ready to test your skill as a developer of assessments. After reviewing the outline at the top of this page, look at the following examples of assessments and decide if they are poorly written or well written. Be prepared to answer, "Why?" or "Why not?" If your answer is a "thumbs-down," suggest a change to the assessment, making it a "thumbs-up."

After the yellow table included in each "Bridging the Gap" section throughout this lesson, the facilitator notes will indicate a few pointers on why each poorly written item is just that, "poorly written" or "poorly developed." These are not the only reasons that this item may deserve a "poor" rating, just some of the more common reasons. The participants will, and should be encouraged to, come up with many reasons why the item is poor and hopefully how it was transformed into a good element for use within an engaged learning proposal.

Assessments - Thumbs-Up or Thumbs-Down

1) At the end of each day, the teacher of a 2nd grade class exploring the impact of lead pipes on their school's water supply, meets with each team of students to discuss the problems they have encountered and how to overcome them.
2) In a science class, you design a rubric for assessing your students on their design of an alternative source fuel car. The assessment allows 40% on their journal, 40% on daily effort, and 20% on their finished car.
3) In health class, the students are asked to develop a health and fitness plan, based on information they have researched. The health teacher assesses the students on how fast they run the mile.
4) A fifth-grade class is asked to investigate a flooding problem close to their school and advise the city on how to solve the problem. The classroom teacher assesses the students throughout the project on research skills, data collection, proper use of the scientific method, writing of daily logs and creation of their final report. Various assessment tools are used during this process.
5) After a nine-week study on the impact of a highway extension on the wetland environment, the teacher gives a single unit test.

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