The assessment plan that I have developed for this unit of study measures student learning before, during, and after the unit of instruction.  Each of these steps is an important part of any assessment.  Assessments that take place before a unit of instruction can guide the teacher as well as the students in the direction the learning needs to go so that the students can get the most out of their learning experience.  It also clarifies for, not only the teacher, but the students as well the level of their knowledge on given concepts. 

            Multiple assessment approaches and forms are vital within instructional design in order to give the students the best chance at success.  Each student comprehends and is able to demonstrate their knowledge of a given concept in different approaches and forms.  Therefore, my assessment plan, aligned to the learning goals I have set forth, will involve multiple approaches and forms.  Some assessments involve traditional test taking.  The pre-test, for example, is a multiple choice test designed to gain a simple and raw picture of the students’ understanding of the unit before the instruction begins.  Formative assessments that are used to assess students’ understanding as the unit is taught in order to direct me as the teacher where to focus our time and energy as a class.  These forms of assessment include homework, classroom observation, group work, and listening to the students’ questions and comments while encouraging participation within the classroom.  I have also worked into my assessment plan a second pre-test.  This test will be given before we begin review of the unit of instruction before the final post-test.  This will help me as the teacher to know where to focus the review.  It will also help the students to know where they should focus their own personal study time before the final exam.  The post-test is also a traditional test that uses multiple choice.  I chose this format because the department-wide final exam will be in multiple choice format and this counts for the largest part of their semester grade.

            These assessments authentically and appropriately measure student learning.  They directly correspond with the learning goals and objectives that I have set forth and will accurately measure the students’ progress toward meeting the department standards for prealgebra.  To assess learning, the students must be given the opportunity to demonstrate given objectives within the learning goals to prove that they meet the department standards.  This will be done authentically through the pre-assessment, formative assessments, and post-assessments that I have planned for this standards based unit of instruction.

            There are students within my classroom who will surely need adaptations in this assessment plan for them to reach their potential for success.  One student in particular is registered with the Accessibilities and Services Department on UVU campus and will require certain accommodations during testing periods.  I have arranged for him to take the post-test in a distraction-reduced environment within the student testing center.  He will also be given 1 ½ the allotted time for the test.  Other students may require adaptations to my assessment plan as evidenced by their performance on the pre-assessment.  These students may require group work within and outside of the classroom.  This can be done within the classroom by strategically forming groups to put each student at an advantage.  Outside of the classroom, I can encourage students to meet in groups and visit the free Math Lab provided on campus for extra tutoring.  Listening to student cues and answering questions and clarifying concepts where given students have misunderstandings or confusion can also help individual students.

            Aligning the learning goals, objectives, and assessments for this unit of instruction, is crucial to the assessment of the students’ learning.  The learning goals and objectives directly correspond with the objectives and standards put forth by the Developmental Mathematics Department at UVU for the prealgebra class which students must demonstrate their competence in with at least 70% accuracy for them to continue on to the next math course.  The assessments will have students show their abilities and competence of the exact learning goals and objectives that are part of the assessment plan.  For example, one of the learning goals is, “The student will estimate outcomes of operations as well as perform operations using decimals.”  Within this learning goal, the two objectives are:

Objective AGiven two decimal numbers, the students will estimate the sum, difference, product, and quotient of the numbers to the nearest tenth with 75% accuracy.

Objective BGiven two decimal numbers, the students will perform operations such as add, subtract, multiply, and divide involving decimal numbers without the use of a calculator with 75% accuracy.

The assessments planned within this unit will have the students reveal their estimations through group work and homework.  Performing operations with decimal numbers will be shown through the pre-assessments, homework, in-class observations, and the post-assessment which will require them to actually perform these operations with exact accuracy.

            Analyzing the results or outcomes of the pre-assessments and post-assessments will be a fundamental part of the assessment process.  Scoring these assessments and recording the percentage correct will help me to know if the students have met the criteria of the learning goals.  Partial percentage points will also be given to the students as deemed appropriate by the given problem.   My learning goals and objectives ask for 75% accuracy to be demonstrated by the students.  The Developmental Mathematics Department only requires 70%, however I feel that a 75% level of accuracy will increase the students’ chances of success, not only in this course, but in their future math courses.

            Formative assessments measure the “formation” of the students’ understanding.  In this standards-based instructional unit, there will be several methods of formative assessments given.  The first will be homework.  Homework will be given after each class period to provide practice opportunities for the students to do outside of the classroom.  Homework can be done by working the problems straight from the book, or can be done online using MyMathLab.  MyMathLab is a program given to our students through our department which, not only allows students to submit homework, but also provides them with many resources to clarify any confusion and further their understanding of given mathematical concepts.  Homework will be scored daily and recorded so that I can track individual students and their progress.

            Another formative assessment will be a quiz given to the students half-way through the unit.  The quiz will cover the material of the first half of the unit.  The atmosphere of a quiz which is similar to the testing environment will give the students an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge thus far without the help of friends, study groups, textbooks, online tutorials, or any other outside assistance.  It will also allow me to assess their level of accuracy when determining their competence.

            A third formative assessment will be classroom observations.  Observing the classroom and the students’ reactions to instruction is a great tool when assessing their level of understanding.  Facial cues as well as questions asked can tell a great deal about where any confusion may lie.  Giving plenty of wait time for students’ responses to questions asked can also allow students to prove their understanding.  Observing group work within the classroom can also be very useful.  While it may not reflect every students’ understanding, it can be very useful in assessing overall learning of groups and the classroom as a whole. 

            Collecting supporting evidence with formative assessments is central to the overall assessment of the learning within the classroom.  This evidence can help me as the teacher tremendously as I examine and determine where to make adaptations to the assessment plan as well as the instructional design of the unit to increase student understanding and success.  To meet the criteria of 75% accuracy on the post-assessment, I must be confident in my knowledge of where the students may be struggling and where they excel.  This can only be done by careful and observant collecting of evidence of student learning through formative assessments.

            This entire assessment plan should allow me as the teacher to guide my students and assist them in their progress through this unit.  It should also allow me to better myself as a teacher by showing my strengths and weaknesses in instructional design.