Assessment
How To Assess
How & What to Assess
Types of Assessment of Learning
Characteristics of Assessment
Here are Some Strategies for Checking for Understanding & Formative Assessment
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** Link to Checking for Understanding Strategies**
Imagine a classroom where every student is fully engaged, their understanding continuously monitored and supported. This is the power of Checking for Understanding – a practice that transforms the learning experience for both teachers and students.
By frequently Checking for Understanding, teachers can pinpoint areas that need reinforcement and adapt their instruction in real-time. It's like having a finely-tuned radar system, allowing them to course-correct and ensure no learner is left behind.
But Checking for Understanding isn't just about identifying gaps; it's about empowering students to take charge of their learning journey. When students are actively involved in assessing their comprehension, they become invested partners in their educational success.
Checking for Understanding is the key to unlocking differentiation. It enables teachers to tailor their approach to the diverse needs of their learners, ensuring that every student receives the support they need to thrive.
Moreover, Checking for Understanding promotes responsive teaching and learning. By providing immediate feedback and allowing for adjustments on the fly, it creates a dynamic, collaborative learning environment where both teachers and students can adapt and grow together.
Perhaps most importantly, Checking for Understanding fosters learner agency. When students are encouraged to question, explore, and discover, they become active participants in their learning, developing the skills and confidence to navigate their educational paths.
What do We Assess in the PYP
In the PYP teachers are responsible for developing ongoing assessment to measure what students know, understand and can do at various points in an inquiry. The goal, when teachers decide what to assess, is to be able to answer: What will students know, understand, and be able to do as a result of engaging in the learning? Check out this article by Toddle that will help to answer that question.
Guide to Assessments in the PYP
This informative guide and the accompanying resources from Toddle deep dives into 5 key questions:
- Part 1. Why do we assess?
- Part 2. What to assess?
- Part 3. How to assess?
- Part 4. What do we mean by assessment capable students?
- Part 5. What are some ways of reporting on learning?
Four Informative PYP Assessment Webinars
Check out these four webinars from Toddle. They explore:
Making assessments visible in the early years
Developing self-assessors in single subjects
Designing student-centered assessment
Designing success criteria: The key to powerful assessments
Writing Effective PYP Report Card Comments
Dos and don’ts for comment-writing
Structuring a comment
Sample Comments
Anthology of Approaches to Progress Reports
Within the PYP framework, Progress Reports serve to "inform the learning community and reflect on the question 'how well are we doing?' Describing students' progress and achievements, identifying areas for growth, they contribute to the program's effectiveness" (79, Learning and Teaching, From Principles into Practice).
This guide, from Toddle ,delves into the enigmatic nature of the Report Card or Progress Report, addressing key questions: What is the optimal reporting approach? Is there a singular right method? How can our teaching and learning approach be effectively communicated? And, crucially, how can we convey student growth in a parent-friendly manner?
Blog: Assessment: When and How to Assess?
This blog entry by Yuni Santosa discusses the "when and how" to assess from an enhanced PYP perspective
You can find more blogs about assessment here.
Process for Replacing Tests With Meaningful Performance Tasks
In his enlightening blog, A.J. Juliani discusses the shortcomings of traditional tests in accurately measuring student understanding and retention. He advocates for performance tasks and project-based assessments, emphasizing their ability to promote greater inquiry and learner agency resulting in improved understanding and retention.
Even though implementing these methods requires meticulous planning, collaboration, and a shift towards valuing diverse assessment approaches and empowering students in their learning journey, it is well worth the effort.
Also see: Project- Based Learning
** Image Credit: Edutopia
Developing and Using Success Criteria for Meaningful Learning
How would your students respond to the question, “How will I know if I have learned something?” When both you and your students have clarity about learning through high-quality success criteria, there is a greater likelihood that learning will happen and that all students will experience success in their learning. Success criteria can be used as a formative or summative assessment strategy. Whether face-to-face, hybrid, or at a distance, this webinar will introduce how best to support the development and implementation of high-quality success criteria.
Building Rubrics for Authentic Assessment
(Source: Toddle)
**Watch a webinar by Mike Matthews that describes the e-booklet above**
Six Reasons to Try a Single-Point Rubric
A format that provides students with personalized feedback and works to keep students from focusing solely on their grade. It is very formative in nature.
A List of Assessment Examples
Assessments are designed to produce data and/or evidence of learning and teaching. This list of assessment examples offers considerations, when designing assessment for knowledge, conceptual understandings and skills, both individually and with collaborative planning teams.
Ideas for Exit Tickets in the Classroom
Quick, ungraded assessments help teachers know what their students understand from the day’s lesson.
Create Assessments Using Universal Design for Learning
When employing UDL in assessments, the focus is on maintaining rigor while ensuring accessible, grade-level instruction. Integrating frequent feedback opportunities supports UDL principles, enabling personalized steps for students and teachers. In effective instruction, assessment, feedback, and reflection should be integral, fostering growth, shaping identities, and building a sense of community through consistent, actionable input on strategies and learning behaviours.
Also See: Universal Design for Learning
Fostering a Growth Mindset Through Assessment
Teachers can use the principles of competency-based assessment and social-emotional learning to shape a positive mindset within students.