A New Vision of Excellence in Assessment
Summary
TLDRRick's Diggins explores the pivotal role of assessment in American education, emphasizing its potential to foster students' dreams. He argues that effective, instructionally relevant assessment systems must align with evolving school missions, focusing on narrowing achievement gaps and promoting lifelong learning. Diggins advocates for a balanced approach, integrating local assessment with interim benchmarks and high-quality classroom practices to enhance student learning. He also highlights the importance of involving students in the assessment process to encourage a productive emotional response, ultimately cultivating a culture of confidence and continuous improvement.
Takeaways
- π Assessment can help students realize their dreams if certain conditions are met, emphasizing the importance of aligning assessment with the school's mission.
- π« The role of assessment in American education is evolving, with a new focus on producing lifelong learners and reducing achievement gaps.
- π There is a need for a new vision of excellence in assessment, which includes balancing different types of assessments to meet various information needs.
- π The traditional mission of schools was to weed out the unwilling or unable and rank students by achievement, but this approach is shifting towards inclusivity and proficiency for all.
- π The societal expectation is now for schools to deliver lifelong learners capable of adapting to a rapidly evolving society, which is a significant change from past missions.
- π The importance of classroom-level assessment cannot be overstated, as it is foundational for a balanced assessment system and directly impacts student learning.
- π High-quality assessments are crucial for gathering dependable information about student achievement, which in turn informs better instructional decisions.
- π A balanced assessment system should include annual standardized tests, interim benchmark assessments, and high-quality classroom assessments.
- π€ Student involvement in the assessment process is essential for promoting a sense of control over their academic well-being and enhancing learning.
- π‘ The emotional response of students to assessment results is critical, as it influences their motivation and subsequent learning behaviors.
- π οΈ The principles of assessment for learning can create a culture of confidence, helping students understand their learning goals, progress, and how to achieve mastery.
Q & A
What is the central question addressed in the script?
-The central question addressed in the script is whether assessment can help students realize their dreams.
What are the essential conditions for assessment to help students realize their dreams?
-The essential conditions include aligning assessment processes with the school's mission, balancing local assessment systems, and focusing on the local classroom and district level.
How has the mission of schools in America evolved?
-The mission of schools in America has evolved to serve new purposes, focusing on narrowing achievement gaps, reducing dropout rates, and preparing all students for college and workplace training.
What is the new vision of excellence and assessment in American education?
-The new vision of excellence and assessment involves balancing assessment systems at the local level to meet the information needs of all assessment users, using quality assessments to deliver dependable information about student achievement, and involving students in the assessment process.
Why is it important to balance assessment systems?
-Balancing assessment systems is important to meet the information needs of all users, support student learning, and ensure that assessments are used effectively for both formative and summative purposes.
What is the role of classroom assessment in a balanced system?
-Classroom assessment is the foundation of a balanced system. It enhances student learning by providing critical, data-based instructional decision making at the classroom level.
What are the keys to assessment quality according to the script?
-The keys to assessment quality include having a clear purpose, effective assessment design, clear targets, effective communication, and involving students in the assessment process.
How can assessment be used to promote productive emotional dynamics within learners?
-Assessment can promote productive emotional dynamics by helping students understand their achievement status, encouraging them to make productive decisions about their learning, and fostering a sense of control over their academic well-being.
What is the significance of involving students in the assessment process?
-Involving students in the assessment process is significant as it allows them to become active participants in their learning, understand their progress, and make informed decisions about their academic growth.
How can assessment be used to help students make productive decisions about their learning?
-Assessment can help students make productive decisions by providing clear learning targets, regular feedback, and opportunities for self-reflection, enabling them to understand where they are going, where they are now, and how to close the gap.
Outlines
π The Role of Assessment in Achieving Educational Dreams
Rick's Diggins discusses the potential of assessment in helping students achieve their dreams within the American education system. He emphasizes that while assessment can indeed be beneficial, it requires certain conditions to be met for it to be effective. Diggins calls for alignment with a new school mission that focuses on local assessment systems and the evolution of schools to meet societal demands. He highlights the shift in the mission of schools from ranking students to producing lifelong learners capable of adapting to a rapidly changing society. The script also addresses the need for a new vision of excellence in assessment and the importance of narrowing achievement gaps and reducing dropout rates.
π Balancing Assessment Systems for Student Success
This paragraph delves into the concept of a new vision for assessment excellence, advocating for a balanced approach that caters to the information needs of all assessment users, not just the influential ones. It stresses the importance of quality assessments providing dependable information about student achievement. The paragraph also touches on the emotional dynamics of the assessment experience from the learner's perspective, suggesting that balanced assessments can support student learning when integrated effectively into the educational process. The discussion points out that annual standardized tests alone are insufficient and that a combination of various assessment types is necessary for improving schools and student learning.
π Keys to High-Quality Classroom Assessments
The focus of this paragraph is on the quality of classroom assessments and the framework for ensuring their effectiveness. It outlines a five-part quality control framework that includes having a clear purpose, designing assessments that fit the context, selecting appropriate assessment methods, ensuring a representative sample of questions, and creating quality test items. The paragraph also discusses the importance of understanding potential sources of bias and how to prevent them to gather accurate information. Furthermore, it highlights the need for effective communication of assessment results and the involvement of students in the assessment process to promote a sense of control over their academic well-being.
π€ The Emotional Dynamics of Assessment
This section explores the emotional responses of students to assessment results and how these responses can significantly impact their learning. It argues that students' interpretations and decisions based on assessment outcomes are crucial, as they can lead to either productive or counterproductive learning behaviors. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of helping students make productive decisions that foster continued effort and learning, even when faced with challenging assessment results. It suggests that the traditional view of assessment as something done to students needs to shift towards an understanding that students are also active participants in the assessment process.
π οΈ Principles of Assessment for Learning and Confidence
The final paragraph introduces the principles of assessment for learning, which are designed to create a culture of confidence among students. It discusses the importance of providing clear learning targets, regular feedback, and opportunities for self-assessment and reflection. The goal is to empower students to understand their learning journey, recognize their current status, and take steps to bridge any gaps in their knowledge or skills. The paragraph concludes with the assertion that these principles can help students develop a sense of confidence in their abilities to learn and improve, which is essential for narrowing achievement gaps and enhancing overall educational outcomes.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Assessment
π‘Educational Mission
π‘Lifelong Learners
π‘Dropout Rates
π‘Formative Assessment
π‘Summative Assessment
π‘Assessment Literacy
π‘Quality Control Framework
π‘Emotional Dynamics
π‘Assessment for Learning
Highlights
Assessment can help students realize their dreams if certain essential conditions are met.
The focus of improving assessment should be at the local level, aligning with the school's mission.
The mission of schools in America is evolving, necessitating a new vision of excellence in assessment.
Society's directives to schools include narrowing achievement gaps, reducing dropout rates, and achieving universal high school graduation.
The new mission of schools is to produce lifelong learners capable of adapting to a rapidly evolving society.
Traditional school missions focused on weeding out dropouts and ranking students, which is shifting towards a more inclusive approach.
Assessment systems need to be rethought to support the development of lifelong learning proficiencies in all students.
Annual standardized tests alone are insufficient; a balanced assessment system is necessary for improving schools.
Assessment should be used to influence decisions at the classroom level, interim benchmark level, and annually.
Balanced assessment systems support student learning by providing dependable information about student achievement.
Classroom assessment is the foundation of a balanced system and is critical for enhancing student learning.
The quality of evidence gathered through assessments is crucial for effective instructional decision-making.
Assessment literate educators are skilled in gathering dependable information and using assessments to serve their intended purpose.
A five-part quality control framework for classroom assessments includes clear purpose, effective design, clear targets, effective communication, and student involvement.
Students' emotional response to assessment results is critical and can influence their motivation and learning outcomes.
Assessment for learning involves creating a culture of confidence where students understand their learning goals and progress.
Students should be involved in the assessment process to monitor, track, and manage their own learning.
Principles of assessment for learning help students answer critical questions about their learning, such as where they are going, where they are now, and how to close the gap.
Transcripts
[Music]
[Music]
hi everybody
Rick's Diggins here and I want to
address a central question that I think
is important in the in the realm of
assessment in American education and
that is this question can assessment
help our students realize their dreams
and I want to answer the question in a
wide variety of very important ways the
resounding answer is yes it definitely
can
but assessment can only help students
realize their dreams if certain
essential conditions are satisfied let's
go first then to the first key to
helpful productive instructionally
relevant assessment processes they need
to align as I said with a new school
mission which means we need to balance
our local assessment systems in all of
my work the focus of attention in
improving assessment is at the local
level while assessment may evidence may
come to us from a variety of sources
outside the local district all of the
instructional decisions are made locally
and so I want to focus on what needs to
happen at the local classroom building
district level with regard to building
assessment systems that fulfill the
mission let's talk about the evolution
of the mission of schools in America as
our society has continued to evolve so
must its schools to serve new purposes
and so must the role of assessment in
those evolving schools and so I'm second
tending in this presentation that we
need a new vision of excellence and
assessment in American education and I
want to describe for you
some of the details of that new mission
Society has issued to its schools new
directives we see this in the media all
the time we want to narrow what sive
mutsu or gaps well we want to reduce
dropout rates we're looking for
universal high school graduation in the
state of Oregon my home state the
governor is des des has decreed that we
should achieve universal high school
graduation by the year 2025 it's a big
mission statement on the part of school
we want all students and again we hear
this constantly and then in the news all
students ready for college and workplace
training in other words what society is
saying is that we need to produce
lifelong learners students who are
masters the proficiencies that will
allow them to continue to grow with a
rapidly evolving society and and it is
so critically important the social
commentators are saying that is that our
economic and social prosperity depends
on the ability of schools to deliver
lifelong learners well I want to
translate that into what I'm seeing as a
fundamental change in the mission of
this social institution called schools
those were not the missions that most of
us saw in the schools that we grew up in
as a matter of fact I submit to you that
for most adults today the schools that
we graduated from if we graduated had
this mission that is to weed out the
unwilling or unable we call them
dropouts about 25% very stable 25% over
the decades dropout prior to graduation
from high school and then the second
part of the mission has been to rank the
remaining students based on achievement
from the highest achiever to the lowest
achiever and if society saw a
valedictorian and a salutatory and
everybody had a rank in class they were
not approvingly and say yep does the
institution work just as it was supposed
to it was supposed to begin to sort us
into the various segments of our social
and economic system but here's the
problem that has evolved with that with
the rapid evolution of our society and
that is those dropouts and those who
finish low in the rank order fail to
develop what we now define is essential
lifelong learning proficiencies and it's
for this reason then that we hear about
this new mission where all students not
just those at the top of the rank order
become proficient readers writers math
problem solvers and and prepared to live
productively in the digital age I submit
to you that is a fundamental change in
the social institution of the school now
as a result of this we need to rethink
some really important things about this
achievement score gap between those who
meet and don't meet our standards and
and society is saying all students must
meet those standards and and and and the
point I want you to understand is that
in for most of us in the world that we
grew up in assessments purpose wasn't to
narrow the chanter the stand narrow the
gap it was to exacerbate the gap or at
least stabilize it that's what a
dependable ranked order at the end of
high school does that having been said
however I will argue and my presentation
that assessment can become our most
powerful gap narrow but in order to do
that certain conditions need to be
satisfied and that's what we're going to
talk about here's how we can do this the
new vision of excellence and assessment
that I want to to advance is one in
which we balance the assessment systems
at the local level to meet the
information needs of all assessment
users not just the big and powerful ones
this new vision of excellence and
assessment relies completely throughout
the system and I'll describe the system
in just a minute
relies on quality assessments to deliver
dependable information about student
achievement and finally there is this
matter that I think is most unique to
this presentation that I want to talk
about the emotional dynamics of the
assessment experience from the learners
point of view and we're going to do that
in some detail so balanced assessment
with quality assessments helping
students feel a sense of control over
their own academic well-being with
regard to this matter of balance we've
been operating our assessment systems in
the United States for at least 70 years
on the assumption that if we just to
conduct the right the right standardized
tests at the right point in the year and
deliver the results to the right people
schools will evolve in productive ways
there's compelling evidence that that
we've believed that annual standardized
tests yield good schools we've been
doing it for 70 years district-wide
statewide
a national assessment international
assessment I have on good authority that
we've already shipped a scanner up to
the space station so we'll be ready for
interplanetary assessment someone's site
for me please the scholarly reference
that I can go to to learn that that's
been a quality investment in terms of
improving student learning what is the
effect size attributable to these annual
tests attributable to effect size and
standard deviation units have improved
student learning due to this
multi-decade billions of dollar
investment in this belief now it's not
that I'm opposed to annual standardized
testing but but but what we now
understand based on 20 years of good
solid research is that annual
assessments balanced with interim
benchmark assessments balanced with
high-quality classroom assessment now
we're talking turkey in terms of
improving schools the reason is that
critically important data based
instructional decision making decisions
are made at all these levels and if
assessment is the process of gathering
information to inform instructional
decisions and I submit to you that in
any context unless we begin with answers
to these three questions what decisions
who's making it them and what
information do they need we don't have
hope of making good decisions or using
assessment productively in that context
now it turns out that the context of use
of assessments is critical what I mean
by this is that is that we we use
assessments per to influence to
influence decisions at the classroom
level this is important at the classroom
level at the interim benchmark level and
annually those contexts bring with them
different users with different questions
and different information needs we build
balanced assessment systems when we
honor the information needs of all of
those users in addition balanced
assessment systems support student
learning we call this in our parlance
assessment for learning and the question
here is how can we use the assessment
process and its results to help students
learn more that as balanced with the use
of assessment on the summative side
which is to certify or valve
verify learning we call those
assessments of learning where we ask how
much of our students learned up to this
point in time different purposes
different ways of using assessment
formative and summative the mistaken
belief has been that annual annual tests
are sufficient they're not balanced
assessment is sufficient to inform key
decisions and the point I want to make
is that the classroom level of
assessment is the one level of those
three that has been documented in
research to enhance student learning and
so I argue that that that if we can put
all three pieces in place with a
classroom level of assessment is the
foundation of a balanced system then
then we're doing the right thing here
let me say that to you in a different
way and I'm going to read this to you as
it appears if classroom assessment isn't
working productively day to day in the
classroom during the learning that is if
bad decisions are being made day to day
during the learning based on inaccurate
information coming from inept classroom
assessments do you understand that the
other levels of assessment can't
overcome the dire consequences for the
learner the damage has already been done
and you don't fix that every few weeks
once a semester or once a year classroom
assessment is the balance and when we
manage the classroom level of assessment
productively achievement score gains
abound
one key to productive assessment that is
assessment that really supports student
learning when that's the purpose or
verifies or certifies it when that's the
purpose is the quality of the evidence
the information about student
achievement that we gather in this case
what we need to be doing is is using
high quality assessments to gather
dependable information and what I want
to describe for you are some keys to
assessment quality that we think are
important and the question I like to
have you playing around with in your
mind is do your assessments meet these
standards of quality classroom
assessment now in order to to to to set
the stage for that there are two things
that we think defined an assessment
literate educator that is someone who's
a master of the principles of good
assessment first of all they're able to
gather dependable information about
student achievement accurate assessment
we're going to talk about specifics of
that and then they're able to use the
assessment process and its results to to
to to to serve the intended purpose so
it's both the attributes of the
assessment and and attributes of the way
in which it's used now I want to talk
about the former in this case let's talk
about to begin with let's talk about how
to gather good information with quality
assessments we've developed a five-part
quality control framework for classroom
assessments and have built our
professional development programs around
this this this definition of quality
assessment note that there are the two
big keys accuracy on the left side
effective use on the right side and and
and and and under the heading of
accurate assessment we've got to have a
clear purpose and then at the bottom
clear target and those two define the
context of the assessment once we have
those clarified then we can design an
assessment to fit into that context so
let's talk then about this matter of
clear purpose and all we're talking
about here is that we need to be clear
about who is going to use the results of
this assessment and how they're going to
use them because what we need to do then
is to build the assessment to meet the
information needs of that intended user
so we need to be clear about the
question why are we assessing in
addition as a starting place we've got
to start with a
clear answer to the question what is it
by way of student achievement that needs
to be reflected in the assessment in
this case our learning targets need to
be clear to us clearly articulated we
can't dependably assess learning targets
we've not clearly completely and
appropriately defined we also believe
they need to be clear to our students in
some terms that they understand we need
to think about the kind of learning
target that's involved that is there are
different kinds of achievement that we
care about
sometimes we want our students to master
content knowledge sometimes we want them
to master master reasoning proficiencies
sometimes performance skills it turns
out that different learning targets
require assessments of different native
the different Nate different that are
different in nature and so unless we
start with a clear sense of what kind of
learner we're going for selecting a
proper assessment method is is difficult
at best and in addition we need to make
sure obviously that our whatever
assignments we give students or whatever
assessments we develop and use for those
students align with the targets that's
the whole point so once we have the
purpose then and the target defined now
we're ready to create an assessment to
fit into that context and so design is
at hand now in order to design a
high-quality assessment we need to
select an assessment method capable of
reflecting the learning target it turns
out different assessment methods work
differentially well with different kinds
of learning the array of assessment
methods that we have at our disposal is
limited these are the choices there are
no more selected response written
response or essay mode of assessment
performance assessment or direct
personal interaction with with our
students we need to align those we need
to know when to use each of these and
then we know how to need to know how to
use them well and that's what comes up
next so we need to to have an
appropriate sample that is you know any
test is a sample of all the questions
you could have asked but didn't have
time for and so what we do is we ask a
representative sample of those questions
and from the students performance on
those then we draw an inference to their
mastery of the domain that that's a writ
that it's representative of and that
sampling process turns out to be really
really critical and it turns out each
assessment method carries with it
a set of rules of evidence for how to
sample appropriately if we know what
those rules of evidence are and we
adhere to them no problem if we don't
know what they are there's going to be a
problem or don't adhere to them in
addition we need to know how to create
quality test items or assessment
exercises and scoring schemes and it
turns out also that in each context
there's a list of things that can go
wrong that don't have anything to do
with the test itself but that can
distort the results the problems that
come up within that within the learner
distractions in the environment sources
of bias that can creep in to distort the
results now if we know what those
potential sources of bias are in each
context and we know what to do to
prevent them we can gather good
information if we don't know what the
sources are or we don't know how to
prevent them then there's going to be
trouble and all of this is about
becoming an assessment literate educator
that is understanding these things how
to create good quality assessments so we
can design our assessment and administer
it and it will produce results for us
the next key to quality then is on the
effective use side we need to
communicate those results effectively
you know the most dependable assessment
in the world whose results are
miscommunicated or badly communicated is
wasted so effective communication is the
key next step now it turns out that that
we can that the keys to effective
communication again differ profoundly as
a result of the context when we're
communicating in a formative assessment
context where the purpose is to promote
student learning then we need to use to
communicate results in a way in the form
of effective feedback that helps the
student understand how to do better the
next time in addition we can teach
students to communicate the keys to
communicating about the changes in their
own overtime or their achievement status
at a point in time that is we can open
the communication process up and bring
students in during their learning giving
them a productive ways to share
information about their own learning
this on the formative side on the
summative side where we're talking about
grades and grading or standardized tests
we need to make sure that our
assessments track a student as track
student achievement by learning
target so we can summarize that over
time and coalesce it into a particular
grade grades need to communicate
achievement and only achievement and
obviously standardized test scores need
to commend you need to be used
effectively what we understand how to
communicate effectively on the summative
side to notice that both ways of
communicating or keys to effective
communication are different both are
important but they're different an
assessment literate educator understands
the differences between the two and can
meet standards in both context so there
you have our five-part quality control
framework we got to always have clear
purposes we got to have we've always got
to have effective assessment design
clear targets effective communication
and now I want to add in the fifth
ingredient which I'll speak of briefly
and then amplify later on and that is
that we need to involve students in the
assessment process during the learning
to when it's appropriate to do so that
reality is reflected in each of the
other keys to quality we need to
understand that students are important
instructional decision makers too so we
can inform them for purposes of their
decision-making we need to make sure
we're using student friendly learning
targets we can engage our students for
example in the design and use of
practice assessments like those that
they're going to be held accountable for
at some point down the road and derive
important learning benefits from doing
so we can teach them how to communicate
about their own learning
the point is students can be deeply
involved in monitoring tracking and
managing their own learning over time in
the classroom day to day during the
learning all keys to quality there's a
key to productive assessment that is
classroom assessment that supports or
verify student learning that we don't
often think about that I think is really
really critical in this case what I want
to talk about is use of the assessment
process to promote productive emotional
dynamics within the learner assessment
triggering productive dynamics within
the learner in this case I want to
establish that we've said
in all of our work that we need to
assess student achievement accurately
and we need to use the assessment
results productively to to promote
student learning or to verify it when
the purpose is to promote student
learning there's a dynamic that we need
to pay attention to and that is a little
bit unusual given our traditions or our
habits of mind and thinking about
assessment you know we've been operating
for decades on the principle that that
assessment is something adults do to
students and and the different
perspective that I want to bring is that
students assess their own achievement -
and make critically important data based
instructional decisions as a result of
that then what I want to do is is to say
to you that we understand more about
effective use of assessment today than
ever before and part of it means that we
need to make sure when we're using
assessment day-to-day in the classroom
during the learning that students
respond react productively to assessment
results from an emotional point of view
students respond productively because
the students emotional response to
assessment results in any context will
determine what that student does about
those results now it turns out that
students can respond when students
respond productively to their assessment
results we bring them to a place where
upon seeing those results they can say
to themselves I get it I understand what
these results are about III know what to
do next I know what to do as a result of
what I see here they respond
productively when that leads them to the
inference that they're okay they're
saying to themselves I can handle this
regardless whether the results are high
mid-range or low students respond
productively when they can say I
understand I know what to do about it
I can handle this because that brings
them to the fourth bullet in this list
which is crucial where they say to
themselves I choose to keep trying this
is critical because if they respond in a
counterproductive way it leaves them
saying I don't understand the
results or I have no idea what to do
about them where they're drawing the
inference about themselves and I'm no
good at this stuff anyway and they have
to say again the critical fourth bullet
I quit do you see how if we have a
student is not yet met a critical
standard and we bring them to this place
the learning has stopped and they're
doomed these are the dynamics that are
critical this is another revolution in
thinking about assessment in the
classroom do you understand that what
students think about and do with
assessment results is at least as
important as what we adults think about
and do with those results because they
interpret their own results and they
make decisions they use the results of
their own assessments about them to
answer some critical questions some data
based instructional decisions and the
thing is they get to go first so for
example they're continuously looking at
their own academic record in a
particular context and they're asking
questions like this can I learn this or
am I just too dense do you understand
that if they come down on the wrong side
of that it doesn't matter what you
decide about them or they're asking of
their results is learning this worth the
energy that I'm going to have to spend
to attain it I say to you again if they
come down on the wrong side of that it
doesn't matter what you do with your
highfalutin
data management systems and complex
decision-making the learning has already
stopped and you're out of the ballgame
or think about the struggling learner
who's asking this question is trying to
learn this worth the risk that I might
fail again in public because that public
failure just hurts too much yeah I know
you hear Bovada but I don't care what
you think from students hogwash of
course they care yet matters deeply and
it matters personally they are data
based instructional decision-makers and
the dynamics of the
approach to that process turns out to be
critical so the critical question we
must ask is can we help our students
make productive decisions that is the
decisions that will lead to productive
learning on their behalf and the answer
once again as a resulting yes and the
way we do this is through the consistent
application of principles of assessment
for learning note the subtitle creating
a culture of confidence now I know it's
not the world we the assessment
classroom assessment world we grew up in
but it is the one we either create or
stop hoping that the achievement score
gaps will narrow because if we say that
students give it consistently giving up
on themselves ain't going to be no gap
narrowing and they are but we know how
to stop that we know how to prevent that
the principles of assessment for
learning are built around helping
students know the answers to these three
questions where am I going where am I
now and how can I close the gap between
the two and the lessons that we teach
about about mastering principles of
assessment for learning in order to help
students understand where they're going
we want to provide students with a clear
student friendly version of the learning
target from the beginning of the
learning along with examples of student
work that reveal to them the progression
they'll travel on their journey to that
standard to help them know where they
are now we want to offer regular
continuous access to descriptive
feedback and teach students over time to
be able to generate their own
descriptive feedback and become partners
with us in setting goals for what comes
next in their learning to help them to
close the gap we want to design
instruction around focused lessons on
key attributes of good performance
teaching students to revise their work
based on those key attributes and then
engaging students in continuous
monitoring and self-reflection of their
own learning so they can keep track of
and communicate with others about their
achievement status about their
improvement over time and ultimate
achievement status principles of
assessment for learning assessment for
confidence
[Music]
you
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