What is Assessment?

What is Assessment?“When the cook tastes the soup, that’s

formative; when the guests taste the soup, that’s summative.”

Robert Stake

Academy of Mathematics

What is Assessment?

Turn and talk with someone at your table about what you think the state of assessment is in today’s mathematics classroom.

Academy of Mathematics

Learning OutcomesSelf Reflection/assessment on personal awareness of

informal assessment.Compare and contrast informal, formal, formative, and

summative assessmentsRead and discuss current research about informal

assessmentExperience a model math lesson that embeds informal

assessment data collectionCreate Higher order effective questionsPlan and create an informal assessment tool for a math

lesson/game specific to your grade level.

According to the NCTM our focus should shift in four areas.

A shift toward judging the progress of each student’s attainment of mathematical power, and away from assessing students’ knowledge of specific facts and isolated skills

A shift toward communicating with students about their performance in a continuous, comprehensive manner, and away from simply indicating whether or not answers are correct

A shift toward using multiple and complex assessment tools (such as performance tasks, projects, writing assignments, oral demonstrations, and portfolios), and away from sole reliance on answers to brief questions on quizzes and chapter tests

A shift toward students learning to assess their own progress, and away from teachers and external agencies as the sole judges of progress

Academy of Mathematics

How can questioning give us insight into what our students know?

Carefully crafted questions can give us great information into what our students know.

Consider the following scenario…

Academy of Mathematics

Role playA teacher asks her class to create

expressions that equal 25. They could use addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, or any combination of these operations.

Andrew’s response is 6 × 4 + 2

Implementing the Investigations Curriculum, 2007

Academy of Mathematics

Highlight the questions that the teacher asked?Andrew, do you want to look at your

number sentence again?Where should we start? You say to start

with 6 X 4. What is 6 X 4?Then what?Can you remember what you were

thinking when you first did this sentence?Who else sometimes counts from the

wrong number?

Implementing the Investigations Curriculum, 2007 Academy of Mathematics

During the work that precedes the discussion, observe students’ work with the upcoming discussion in mind. Ask yourself:

What is the difficulty that the students are having?

What is a problem that many students are struggling with?

Is there a question that one pair or group came up with that it would be fruitful for the whole class to discuss?

What are the basic approaches to solving this problem that the students are using?

Which students or groups have ideas or approaches that should be shared?Implementing the Investigations Curriculum 2007

Academy of Mathematics

How do I discuss and assess students’ mathematical ideas in my classroom?

Discussions should not bounce among too many ideas or try to include too many different approaches, because it may become hard for students to follow.

By carefully selecting problems, representations, and solutions for the whole class to consider, the teacher focuses discussion on key mathematical ideas and works with the class as a whole to move students’ thinking forward. Implementing the Investigations Curriculum, 2007

Academy of Mathematics

Informal Assessment

Khris Henderson [email protected]

Patty Oliphant348-5193

[email protected]

The word ‘assess’Comes from the Latin verb

‘assidere’ meaning ‘to sit with’.

Adapted from the Ministry of Education

What are summative and formative assessments?

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Adapted from the Ministry of Education

A Look at Formative Assessment

Summative assessment is the process of simply measuring the plants.

Formative assessment, is the equivalent of feeding and watering the plants appropriate to their needs.

Adapted from the Ministry of Education

Blindfold Assessment

Activity

Formative and summative assessment are interconnected. They seldom stand alone in

construction or effect.

The majority of genuine formative assessment is informal, with interactive and timely feedback and

response.

It is extensively and empirically argued that formative assessment has the greatest impact on

learning and achievement.

Adapted from the Ministry of Education

4 types of LearnerVisualAuditoryKinestetic/TactileReading/Writing Preference Learners

With your team create an informal assessment item for each type of Learner for the Benchmark you are assigned.

ActivityReaching the Learner

PBS Effective Questions