ToolKit98

Chapter 2 Integrating Assessment With Instruction

What's in This Chapter?

Have you ever said, "This test sends the wrong messages to students about what is important to know and be able to do," or "This test narrows the curriculum to what’s on the test?" If you’ve ever said such a thing, then you may have experienced a test that does not have "consequential validity." This is the technical term for an assessment that has positive influences on teachers, students, and instruction, and avoids negative side effects. Criticisms of past multiple-choice tests, for example include narrowing instruction and reinforcing the notion that everything has a single "right" answer and there is only one right answer. Such tests would not have "consequential validity."

Nothing about alternative assessment automatically ensures "consequential validity." Negative unintended side effects can still occur. Alternative assessments can also do such things as narrow the curriculum if instruction is focused on the small number of performance tasks on the assessment. This chapter considers the ways assessment can influence teachers, instruction, and students. Understanding these influences can help educators build assessment systems that accomplish what is wanted and avoid undesirable side effects—in short assessment systems that are "consequentially valid."

Chapter Goals

1. Present different conceptions of what it means to integrate assessment and instruction

2. Discuss various ways that assessment can influence teachers and students

3. Assist the readers to build a vision of what they would like assessment to accomplish

4. Discuss the assessment design implications of various visions

Chapter Content

A. Readings

What Does It Mean to Integrate Assessment and Instruction?: The first section discusses various ways that alternative assessment can influence curriculum, instruction, teachers, and students. It assists the reader in developing a vision of what he or she would like assessment to accomplish and in understanding why having such a vision for assessment is essential in designing assessment systems.
Integrating Assessment and Instruction: Continuous Monitoring: The second section expands on one of the views in the first section—the notion of assessment being a tool for continuously monitoring student achievement so that instruction can be rationally planned.
Integrating Assessment and Instruction: Using Assessment as a Tool for Learning: The third section expands on another idea voiced in the first section—that alternative assessments offer more than just a way for tracking student progress. If designed properly, they can also be tools for student learning. That is, student achievement can be enhanced by the process of assessing and being assessed.

Activities in This Chapter

Activity 2.1 Sorting Student Work: This activity is at an intermediate level of difficulty and involves sorting samples of student work into three stacks representing "strong," "medium," and "weak" responses to a performance task. Participants have the opportunity to describe and discuss the characteristics of work that differentiate these stacks. This is an exercise in developing performance criteria, but it also demonstrates how developing performance criteria can help sharpen understanding of the goals held for students, increase teacher expertise, and assist students with understanding how to produce high quality work. The activity includes a description of the steps for developing performance criteria, using self-reflection letters as a running example. The activity uses samples of student work in Appendix B, and sample assessments from Appendix A. Time: 75-120 minutes
Activity 2.2 How Can We Know They're Learning?: This beginning level activity is an adaptation for parents of Activity 2.1. Parents have the opportunity to sort student work and distinguish for themselves the characteristics that make it more or less strong. The activity also helps parents understand changes in assessment and why they are occurring. It uses sample assessments from Appendix A. Time: Part A, 75-90 minutes; Part B, 30-40 minutes
Activity 2.3 Ms. Toliver's Mathematics Class: In this activity, using a video, a teacher demonstrates how she conducts continuous monitoring of student achievement and implements standards-based assessment. It is designed for educators at an intermediate level in their study of assessment. Time: 1½ to 2½ hours
Activity 2.4 Is Less More?: Participants experience an integrated, interactive, standards-based mathematics and science lesson and consider the implications of such a lesson for student assessment. It is designed for educators at an intermediate level in their study of assessment. Time: 2 hours
Activity 2.5 How Knowledge of Performance Criteria Affects Performance: This activity illustrates the importance of performance criteria in helping students understand the requirements of an assignment or task, and illustrates what can happen when criteria for judging success are not clearly understood by students. It is designed for educators at an intermediate level in their study of assessment. Time: 30-45 minutes