Assessment Plan Essay:

Assessment Plan Table:

My assessment plan uses multiple assessment approaches and forms to measure student learning before during and after instruction by using a pre-test to determine how much knowledge the students have on writing a research paper, then by using a check list of the element that are included in a research paper for each student along with one on one interviews/discussions, and when all the teaching is completed a post test to determine if the instruction was successful. Learning Goal 1- Students will create the elements needed for the body of a research paper. The class I’ve been working with have written essays before so the pre-test was a good measure of how much they knew or remembered from that experience. The skills check list and one on one interviews were a good way for me to measure the student’s progress and check for areas that needed to be re-taught.

Learning Goal 2 - Students will create the elements needed for an introduction and conclusion for a research paper. Again the pre-test was a good way to measure the knowledge the students had retained from their experiences of writing an essay and the skills check list was a way for me to know which skills were mastered and which needed re-teaching.

Learning Goal 3 - Students will create the elements for a coversheet and a reference page for a research paper. I found that the students had not done this before and so spent some extra time making sure the instruction was clear, to do this I used the skills check list and the one on one interviews.

My assessments authentically and appropriately measure student learning by first determining what the students know then measuring what or how much they are learning as the instruction progresses. I used the pre-test to help me know what to teach more in depth and where I need to re-teach some skills the students were supposed to already know. I used my check list of elements of the paper for each student to help me know which students needed more help or instruction, I also used the one on one interviews/discussions to  determine progress and to find where re-teaching and clarification needed to happen. When the instruction was competed the post test was given and a research paper was assigned to be written, the level the students were able to complete the post test and write the paper will show how much the students were able to process the instruction and accomplish the task. 

The adaptations I made to my assessments for individual or diverse needs of students based on my pre-assessment and student contextual factors were for skill levels. Skill levels impacts the design of instruction and assessment of learning because lessons have to be planned around the skill levels and abilities of the students that were to be taught. I had spent time in observations and talking with my host teacher to help determine the skill levels that I should gear my lesson plans toward. The skill levels of the students are very important to know before a teacher creates a lesson plan for the class. The skill levels of the students impact instruction and assessment greatly because if the instruction in the lesson is too difficult or too easy the students will not be engaged with the material. In the same light if the assessment is too easy it will not be a good measure of instruction or learning and if it is too difficult or too far above the students skill levels then it will not be a good measure of instruction. Because of the pre-assessment and student contextual factors I created the check list formative assessment and used one on one interviews with students to check for understanding. I also established small group instruction and peer review time for the students to read rough drafts of paragraphs and give feedback. This helped the slow learners and those who were struggling with the concepts of writing the research paper. I allowed for extra time for several students who have learning challenges to take the pre and post-assessments. I created the pre and post assessments with these students in mind, instead of having constructed responses on the tests I used multiple choice. There are several students who have ADHD in the class and 3 who have processing problems, by eliminating constructed response these students were more able to take the pre and post-test.  

I aligned learning goals, objectives, and assessments that I used in designing my lesson plan by first breaking down the different elements of a research paper and then deciding what the main goals were for teaching the students how to complete a research paper. I used the goals as my big picture and then made decisions on how each element should included in the lesson, as I did this I formed my objectives that aligned with my learning goals. After I had my learning goals and objectives I created a pre and post assessment that would measure what the students already knew and then would also measure what they had learned during the 2 weeks of instruction. I aligned these assessments to measure the elements that were in my learning goals and my objectives. I also created a formative assessment that was a check list for each student that included the elements of the learning goals and the objectives that I could check off when the students had mastered the specific skill for writing a research paper.

I will use the rubric below to analyze and score the pre and post-assessments. The rubric uses the questions on the pre and post assessments as the criteria to determine if the student’s performance meets my defined learning goals.

The two formative assessments that I will use to measure student progress will be a check list of skills for each element of the research paper I will be teaching and one on one interviews with the students. The check list will help me to keep track of which students have mastered the element or concept that was taught and also to know where the students may be struggling. I have attached the formative check list that I used during teaching, the check list includes a detailed list of all the elements that will be included in the final research paper the students will complete. For each student the elements of cover sheet which will include a title, author's name, class name and number are listed to make sure the students know that the cover sheet contains this information. For the introductory paragraph the list will include a hook, transition sentence, and a thesis statement, again so that each student will know that the introduction paragraph contains these elements. For the body of paper the list includes topic statements for each paragraph and paragraphs. For the reference sheet the list includes title for the sheet "References," MLA format which includes hanging indent for all lines after the first line, and

all citations are in ABC order.

  The one on one interviews will help me to know if the student is truly understanding the instruction or if some re-teaching needs to happen. For the one on one interviews I will use this time to ask questions and review work the students have completed to check for understanding and give feedback or have short minnie lessons to re-teach the material.

 The importance of collecting supporting evidence in formative assessments is to help the teacher gage the level of understanding the students have with the material they are teaching. This allows the teacher to make adjustments and re-teach as necessary. The pre and post assessments are important because they show progress from what the students knew to what they have learned and can do at the end of instruction. Without this supporting evidence the teacher could not know if the students gained an understanding of what she was teaching nor could the teacher show progress to parents or school administration. I used my pre/post-assessments along with my formative assessments to locate students who were struggling with the material. I sorted the students who didn’t do well on the pre-assessments and the formative assessments,  these students who either are unfamiliar with the material or having difficulties grasping the concepts of the material will be grouped with students who are doing well with the material to help them accomplish their tasks. The groups will work together throughout the unit and I will allow for changes in the groups as needed. 

Record Keeping System: I used is the check list below that includes all the elements of a research paper that I taught in my 2 week unit of study. This check list was be kept for each student in the class I taught so I would know the progress of each student.

It allowed me to monitor student’s progress and determine which students are having difficulty with the material or with particular skill areas. The check list of the components of the research paper has a box beside each component and the component box will be left blank until the student has shown me that they can create or have gained an understanding of the component. In this way I will know if a student is struggling and in what area.

I documented student progress in accomplishing state and district achievement standards by closely aligning my instruction material to the standards and then documenting student progress in accomplishing these standards through the pre and post assessments, the formative assessments, and the rubrics I created. When the students have completed the research paper I used the rubric which is based on the state and district standard to grade the paper, these grades were given to the host teacher to place in her grade book.