Brief overview

My assessment plan includes pre-, post-, and formative assessments. This also includes both formal and informal methods of assessment. In an effort to meet the requirement of multiple assessment approaches and forms, I thought about how I could do lots of informal assessments throughout each lesson.

Multiple Approaches

I chose to develop assessments that would seem more like games to the students than quizzes or tests. The majority of the students I am working with freeze up when they hear the word “test” so I wanted to approach this in a way that would remove that stress and anxiety from them. The first type of informal assessments I created involved students using dry erase boards to write/draw their answers to questions or problems. As part of this plan, it is important to give enough wait time for students to think and respond effectively. At the count of three, students will raise their boards in the air to show me the answer. This serves two purposes. First, this removes the fear of them being wrong and one of their peers laughing at them. More importantly, it gives me the opportunity to scan answers and immediately recognize which students understand and which ones need additional help.

Another type of informal assessment I will use is a quick test. This is a very quick and easy way to gauge learner understanding without being a formal type of quiz. Each student will receive an index card at the end of the lesson. They will write their name at the top. Then they will be given a few questions or problems that they will respond to on their index card. The cards are turned in. This assessment will be very quick and should allow me to see whether or not students understand the lesson.

Foldables are another kind of assessment I will use. This type of assessment is very hands-on, which helps get each student involved in what they will learn. One foldable students will create is a simple 3-tab foldable. They will identify the three symbols used for comparing numbers and give an example for each one. This foldable will then be glued into their math notebooks. This type of activity helps me to see if students are not only learning the aesthetics of skills, but fully understanding how to use this newly acquired knowledge.

Another way to informally assess students will be to play a game with them in which I ask them a question and if they affirm, they respond with, “Yes” and if they disagree, they respond with, “No way.” This is yet another quick but effective way to see who is grasping the skills they need and who might need more help. With this type of assessment, I can quickly see by watching facial expressions any confusion, doubt, or questions students may experience.

Using the Smartboard for practice is another way to measure students’ learning. Students will enjoy “playing” math games, while I will be able to again assess level of understanding. This kind of informal assessment is also a great way to get students to work together. For example, if a student is solving an addition problem on the Smartboard and makes a simple mistake in calculation, another student might see that mistake and point it out. This kind of peer-interaction will help to not only build classroom community, but enable students to experience real-time issues and receive guidance from me as to how they can address it.

Adaptations made to assessments

After reviewing contextual factors and delivering the pre-assessment to students, I made some minor changes to the post-assessment. After students took the pre-assessment, I became aware that my host teacher creates her tests in a similar format to the standardized test students take at the end of the school year. In an effort to maintain uniformity across the board, I tweaked my post-test so that it would be formatted this way as well. Another change I made to the post-test is nearly the entire test is multiple choice. I made this change in order to conform to a couple of students’ IEP requirements. This allows my host teacher to then eliminate two of the choices, in order to serve students’ needs.

Alignment of learning goals, objectives and assessments

When I created my assessment plan, I first looked at the state standards for the information in the two-week unit study assigned to me to teach. Next, I created my learning goals so that I would have an overall bigger picture of where students need to be at the end of the unit. Then I broke down each learning goal into objectives; smaller, measurable steps students need to take to reach mastery of each learning goal.

At this point, I had a clear understanding of beginning to end of my unit of instruction. I brainstormed ways I could assess students without using traditional pencil-and-paper methods. I decided I wanted to use a variety of informal assessments throughout each lesson to informally assess students’ understanding. I determined this could be accomplished by incorporating hands-on and interactive activities, such as partner work, Q&A using dry eraser boards, and foldables inside their math notebooks. Although not all of these will yield a letter grade, they will each allow me to informally check for learner understanding.

Analyzing pre- and post-assessments

I created the pre- and post-assessment by including problems based on my objectives for the entire unit of instruction. In addition, I listed my objective number next to each problem, as a self-reference. This will enable me to know quickly at a glance which objectives have been met or need to be addressed from the pre-test. On the post-test, I can then compare results and see which objectives have been met. To determine if each student has met each of my learning goals, students will need to score at least 70% on the post-assessment. I originally set a goal for 80% accuracy, but my host teacher advised me to change it to 70% for passing on the post-assessment.

Two formative assessments to measure student progress

One formative assessment I will use to measure student progress is a homework sheet. Students will receive a half-sheet of paper that contains sixteen numbers they will round to the nearest ten. They will return this homework the following day, at which time we will go over the answers together. Students will check their own work, then hand in their sheets for me to check them. This will not be a graded assessment, but rather one that will allow me to see how students are progressing.

Another formative assessment I will use is a quiz. This quiz will consist of twenty questions and will be completed in class. This assessment contains problems on comparing and ordering whole numbers. It includes multiple choice questions, fill-in-the-blank, and word problems. This formative assessment encompasses the first two learning goals and will be administered at the half-way point of my two-week unit. It will allow me to determine how well students are progressing through the unit.

Collecting supporting evidence

One reason it is important to collect supporting evidence of student progress is because it can be a valuable resource tool for the student. For instance, part of my informal assessments are achieved through students creating foldables that they glue in their math notebooks. These foldables contain important information they learn within a lesson (e.g. Comparing symbols for less than (<), greater than (>), and equal to (=).) If when I check a student’s foldable in their notebook I see that they have mixed up the less than and equal than symbols, I can use this to either reteach the student or provide additional support.

Another important reason for collecting supporting evidence is that it clearly shows the level of student engagement and learning. This can be particularly helpful during parent-teacher conferences, student-teacher conferences, and for student reflection. Portfolios of student learning throughout a school year is a great way to have a collection of supporting evidence that is kept in such a way that the student (and any other person) can flip through and see just how far they have progressed over the course of the year. This is also very helpful in determining possible deficiencies.