What strategies do you use for common assessments?
Are you familiar with common formative?
How does your team use the data to measure student growth? Explain.
Respond to the article and then respond to two comments.
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Alot of what I do in the music classroom is a lot of informal assessment. Technically, I'm assessing my students every day, and most of the time they don't even realize it. Most of what I do is performance based. There are skills they need to know, like reading music and counting that I'm able to test using traditional methods, but I only do that sparingly. Music is a skill and a language that takes practice and repetition to truly master and paper and pencil tests are not conducive to the music making process. When I meet with my encore team we all seem to follow the same process, a lot of informal assessment, before we expect any kind of finished product.
ReplyDeleteHi John, I believe collaboration with your Encore Core team with have a great impact on your student learning. I am excited to hear about the success of the finished product. I am the success of your students will be a result of your team working together to create similar processes and informal assessments. (E. Hamilton)
DeleteHello Mr. Sikorski,
DeleteI think the idea of assessing a student without them ever knowing they are being assessed is awesome. I definitely need to incorporate this idea into my lessons. Sometimes, just the mention of the word "test" makes a student freeze up. Also, some students do not test well. Thank you for the tip.
As far as your encore team it can be difficult to create CFA's with your team because you all teach different skills and test difference performance. CFA's can be given for performance based subjects, yet that doesn't mean they have mastered what they learned and be able to perform it.
DeleteThank you all for the great comments. Ms. Torres I totally agree with your final comment there. Music and Art are mostly performance based subjects and we have this conversation all the time in PLC. We could give more formal assessments more often, but what we do takes practice and time to master. One of my mentors during college always said it's all about the process rather than the product. Do I expect all my students to become masters at the recorder, not at all. But the skills they learn throughout the process of practicing and refining their work are skills that will last them their entire life.
DeleteMs. Westmoreland I also wanted to take a moment to respond to your comment as well. Whenever I give my students something to work on, they always ask me if it's a test. Even if I am treating it as one, I always tell them no. You are right, the moment they know they are on the spot something changes in their brain, the same thing happens to us sometimes. Everything my students do in class is graded. But I guarantee you none of them know that. They know what I expect of them, but I don't tell them they're being graded. I think some of these words we use such as test, assessment, and grading should be academic vocabulary for teachers, but I don't think that students need to know every time they are being assessed or every time they are being graded. It takes away from an organic learning environment and becomes all about grades and performance rather than the actual content they are learning.
DeleteHey John, I like the strategy you use. I like how you don't necessarily do yours on paper but by their performance. The strategies I use for common formative assessments are that I create short exit slips. My exit slips are always no more than 4 questions that summarize what they have been taught to measure what they retained. This helps me see if the students understood the objectives for the day and/or if that we can move on the the next skill on the domain or go back and reteach.
DeleteOur team uses the NWEA MAP Test, Student Learning Objectives (SLO) Assessment, and the IAR. I believe the SLO is a common assessment. However, I am not sure what team collaborated to create this test. My knowledge is limited because I am a new staff member who is still learning. I absolutely love the ideas in this article. It states, the Common Formative Assessments are more efficient because they allow teachers to divide the workload and responsibility for designing assessments. Therefore, I believe the same teachers issuing this assessment should be creating this assessment. Regarding the pitfalls to Common Formative Assessments, I believe they could be avoided if teachers as a grade level team were given the opportunity to collaborate and create common assessments. (E. Hamilton)
ReplyDeleteI did not realize that designing CFAs as a team could help to divide the workload. I never thought of it that way. I do believe we can benefit from more time to collaborate to create assessments.
DeleteI learn new ways each day from our resource teachers on how to better tie in NWEA lessons within our lessons or even for my small group needs.
DeleteI would love to know more ways as well on how NWEA lessons can be incorporated into the whole group if possible. I've found some ways such as Type II or III questions as a bellringer but due to their different levels of understanding, I find it best during small groups.
DeleteFor common assessments, I typically like to have at least a day to review the content that will be on the common assessments. For example, I will typically have a day where students will take notes on something (author's purpose, clauses, author's argument, etc.). The next day, I would have students put their knowledge to use with a practice worksheet, or any questions that relate to perhaps a story we have been talking about. I am a bit familiar with common formative, but as a first year teacher, I am looking to learn more; as well as any new ways to use these assessments in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteMy team measures the students growth through the Standards tracking form. Within this form, we insert data on at least one assessment the students took each week. Every Thursday, my team and I discuss our data with one another, as well as receive feedback from other teachers of our content in our team.
Hi Ms. Gonzalez,
DeleteI like the use of notes one day and putting them to use the next day. I typically use my centers in the same way. We may learn about something and then they will work on it during centers. Do you have any specific way to note take for your class such as T-chart, or any other special way?
Hi Ms. Gonzalez
DeleteI do the same think in my room. I have the students take notes and then the same day or the next day I have them use the notes and their memories to do activities. Sometimes Ill even have them do it in small group.
Hey Ms. Gonzalez. I do something similar for common assessments. I like to see if the students can use the new information they learned to use on an assessment. This way I can see if I taught it well enough or if the students just need more time on the skill. As a new teacher as well, I am also always willing to learn new ways of handing out common formative assessments.
DeleteHey! I do something similar in my class with vocabulary terms. They spend the period taking notes on the words and predicting their meanings. Then, either for homework or at the end of class, they write a sentence using each of their words. It is a great way for me to see how well the students understand the terms, or if I need to go over some of them again.
DeleteHi!
DeleteI also do something very similar in my class. I spend usually Monday frontloading material. This is the day that is heaviest for notes. Every other day that week is students using what they learned during lecture to practice the skills that they learned. I love to do review days before assessments. Students really enjoy things like kahoot and jeopardy for review and it makes the content memorable for them because they are having fun.
Common assessments within my classroom may look like weekly tests. Within our grade level we use common formative for math unit tests. To measure the student's growth our team uses data to discuss common problematic areas noticed after a common formative assessment. Discussing these areas are helpful for understanding areas needing a bit more focused for our scholars as well as a chance to obtain other ways to approach the lesson to better fit the delivery for the following year.
ReplyDeleteHi Diamond,
DeleteIt sounds like the way we give common assessments sounds similar. I also give assessment weekly. We use the data as a team to talk about what worked well and what skills student did not grasp.
This is a great way to see what the students are able to do and not do. This can also help you plan your next lesson.
DeleteCommon assessment within my classroom happens every Friday within our grade level math team, as well as have a common assessment for unit math tests. When we look at the student data we discuss the class average and what questions specifically students had trouble with. It is most likely that all classrooms had difficulty with the same problems. By discussing these questions we talk about what we can do to go over it and reinforce that skill and how can we improve teaching it for next years class.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you guys are able to meet and share ideas for the CFA's. Yet, I feel like Fridays are hard days for our kiddos, since they are taking test all day for other subjects.
DeleteHey! That's awesome that your team is able to meet together to look at student and determine what areas they might have trouble with. You also make an excellent point that it's a great opportunity to think ahead for the students you will have next year.
DeleteI agree with how this helps students for the next years. Almost immediately I was hearing, keep track of what is helpful/ not helpful, what we need to change, or trends we're noticing. By discussing this with your team and keeping track of what might need to be changed for the next year, all these pieces come together to better suit your current class and next incoming class.
DeleteSome common assessments used in my dual language classroom are bi-weekly tests and unit assessments, however, I do a lot of informal assessments in small and whole group to see student engagement and comprehension of the skill we are learning. My team gets together during PLC and we go over the data and compare where students struggled and where students mastered. This allows us to plan if we need to go reteach something or if we need to extend the lesson or change something for the next year.
ReplyDeleteHi America! I like the idea of reflecting upon the data afterwards and taking the opportunity to compare with your team. I think it's a disservice to students when we review the data and don't change our methodology. It's a good thing if you're able to extend lessons or re-teach certain topics.
DeleteHi America! I like the idea of using informal assessments in small and whole groups to see the growth of the student. I give the students selection tests for ELA after we are done with the story. I also get to give the students questions regarding things such as conventions, vocabulary, etc.
DeleteI aim to give assessments every week. Most times, I am able to. In the future, I intend to assess students more informally. I understand many students enjoy blooket and other tech games as a means of learning and assessing.
ReplyDeleteAs far as CFAs go, our team has used shared written tests and writing prompts (to assess student writing). We discuss the results in data meetings, which is extremely helpful and insightful.
Sometimes giving a formal assessment each week can maybe have students be nervous at that class. Informal does work great because it is quick and easy and you are able to plan for what you will need to teach them the next day instead of waiting a whole week.
DeleteAs a new teacher, I am still getting familiar with CFA. In 4th and 5th
ReplyDeletegrade Social Studies, we use Studies Weekly and complete article weekly assessment questions. At the end of the unit we complete the unit assessment. Using these assessment allows us to stay focused on the learning standards and to gather data. For instance that data can help us make adjustments for the future assessments.
Hello Ms. Torres,
DeleteI agree with you that data can help inform you and make adjustments for the future. I also believe when that same data is shared with the student, the student may also be able to make adjustments for the future. (E. Hamilton)
By working with as a group an educator can team up on what abilities they need to test understudies on, what is a typical expertise that understudies battling with? They can discuss their thoughts and what is working. I additionally believe that occasionally having an individual assessment is beneficial upon the situation. For instance, an instructor might need to test a couple of understudies or individual understudy or they need to test different expertise. In general I think having a typical developmental evaluation is the better choice.
ReplyDeleteI tend to use a lot of informal assessments or projects because I know formative assessments tend to stress out students. I would love to be able to give some sort of small formal assessment at the end of the week, but I haven't quite figured out how to implement it because I don't see all my students everyday. I am familiar with common formative assessments - as a team we tend to use common writing prompts for writing Wednesday. We also spend our Tuesday's looking at data and enter standards assessed into the standards tracking form.
ReplyDeleteHi Ms. Hendricks! I absolutely love the empathy you have for your students. A lot of times we, as teachers, forget how it feels to be anxious about formalized tests and assessments. Test anxiety is real, and I think it can lead to a lot of students underperforming.
DeleteHello Ms. Hendricks! I absolutely agree with you on how sometimes formative assessments can be a bit stressful. I remember as a student I would often get test anxiety when I would take exams. However, I often use the writing Wednesday prompts to check the growth of my bilingual ELA students. I sort of see those as formative assessments that the students get to do weekly.
DeleteMs. Hendricks,
DeleteI love how you use informal assessments and projects, formal assessments are stressfull. Those informal and project assessments are more engaging to students and you have a better view of their capabilities.
Your compassion for your students is something I adore. Teachers can easily lose sight of what it's like to have anxiety before formal examinations and evaluations. I believe that many kids fail on tests because test anxiety is a genuine thing.
DeleteThe strategies I use for common formative assessments are that I create short exit slips when the students learn something new. I am familiar with common formatives because I do these weekly. They do this slip at the end of the class period and turn it in before they leave the classroom. My exit slips are always no more than 4 questions. The questions are always questions that summarize what they have been taught to measure what they retained. This helps me see if the students understood the objectives for the day and/or if I need to push back the day for their post-assessment. My 8th grade math team uses the same exit slips for students to measure what the students are learning so that we can move on the the next skill on the domain or go back and reteach.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of using exit slips, especially to assess what the students have learned in a new lesson. I need to try to incorporate this with my second graders some way in my ELA class. This small and quick check shows if its a concept learned or if you have to reteach.
DeleteThose short exit tickets are a great way of gauging how students understand the standard or lesson.
DeleteDr. Vaughn- I wrote the comment above, I forgot to put my name in the message box. I also wanted to mention it is great to have conversations with your grade level team about the exit tickets. Especially if all students are taking the same grade level exit tickets online.
DeleteAs a SPED Pre-K teacher, assessments look very different in my classroom. I observe my students' abilities to perform certain tasks and from there I'm able to gauge their skills in certain areas.
ReplyDeleteHowever, all Pre-K classrooms use the benchmark exam. From that, we're able to derive data that is subsequently entered into our Standards Tracking Form.
Dr. Vaughn
ReplyDeleteWhat strategies do you use for common assessments? I'm a 4th grade general education teacher. I formally assess students during instruction. Common Assessments have been created by the district in Edulastic (Mathematics and Science) and Reading assessments in Wonders. As a team, we do discuss the results of the data during our PLC's.
Are you familiar with common formative? I'm very familiar with common formative assessments.
How does your team use the data to measure student growth? Explain. We use this data to see if we need to change the structure of our lessons or instruction, modify supplemental materials and intervention groups and see if we need to possibly change the pacing guide for the following year to address other standards/skills or learning gaps.
Hi Dr. Vaughn,
ReplyDeleteYou stated that you are very familiar with common formative assessments. I would love to speak with you further on this subject. I am not sure that our building collaborates to create formative assessments.
The comment mentioned above is from Ericka Hamilton (E. Hamilton)
DeleteAs a 4th grade team, one of the most common ways that we use CFA's is through Edulastic, Wonders, and Studies Weekly. Another way our team conducts CFA’s is by using similar writing prompts during writing Wednesdays. My team specifically uses student data to tackle how we plan to teach new skills. In PLC’s our conversations are based on what is working in our classrooms and what areas we could improve in. We bring those student samples and student data to those PLC’s to talk about trends that we may see across the grade level.
ReplyDeleteStrategies my team and I use for common assessments are ensuring students are using Wonders, Studies Weekly, IXL, and Edulastic. We're able to look at and discuss that data either that day during our PLC or at the next upcoming PLC on that subject. Some teachers have strong suits whereas others may not so while discussing the data it's good to have that open dialogue to support each other in our team.
ReplyDeleteI try my best to give my students assessments every week. However there are times where we might need a extra week to finish. We sometimes take it every other week. In our PLCs we discuss how we can do CFAs with all our students to see where all at as a team.
ReplyDelete