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Back To Module ListModule Main | Module Description | Instructional Outcomes | Instructional Proficiencies | Instructional Events | Instructional EvaluationStudent Involved Assessment Author Marlaine Chase, ED.D., University of Saint FrancisModule Description The purpose of this module is to assist pre-service candidates, in-service teachers, parents and other interested persons in exploring key concepts related to assessment practices in the classroom that are more student-centered. It is designed to help educators of students with exceptional needs demonstrate competencies in knowledge base, performances and dispositions in alignment with Standard #8 of the IPSB approved standards (1998). It also aligns with INTASC new teacher training standard #8 and with The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) "Learned Society" standard #8.
The Indiana Office of Educator Licensing and Evaluation Standards for Teachers of Students with Exceptional Needs: Mild Intervention and Intense Intervention states: The educator of students with exceptional needs is competent in selecting, administering, and interpreting a variety of formal and informal assessment strategies and utilizes this information to design, implement and evaluate instruction and to guide students in self- assessment.
The focus of this module is on acquiring information to support the belief that teachers must view students as active partners in the assessment process and the most important users of assessment data.
Students are the most important stakeholders in the assessment process. It is what students know, how they think, what they can produce and how they feel we are constantly attempting to quantify. Once quantified, we have an established benchmark from which to view student progress over time. Progress assumes that there is some positive change in student performance that indicates student success as a learner. Success is usually recorded as student achievement in the academic arena. All of this presupposes that students are motivated to actively engage in activities/exercises that are designed to result in improved performance.
Because students ultimately choose whether or not they get "actively involved" in their own learning, one of the greatest challenges facing today’s educators is helping students decide they really do "want to learn more and to do more" and become even better at doing both.
This is especially important when teachers are working with students with exceptional needs and their parents. In some cases, these students may be fearful of failure. They have experienced too much failure in the past. Often students must repeatedly fail for long periods of time before they are identified, referred and determined eligible for special education and related services. By this time students may have developed a variety of strategies to avoid becoming actively engaged in any learning. One strategy is learned helplessness. Another is procrastinating. There are many others. Student behaviors indicate that they will do almost anything or do absolutely nothing if they can protect themselves from feeling bad or mad or sad because they don’t think they can be successful. These students lack self-confidence in their abilities. One major cause of low self-esteem may be related to the emphasis placed on their disability rather than on their abilities. A second major cause may be that students have trouble understanding exactly what is being expected of them. Their parents may not understand either. Sometimes expectations are too difficult. Other times expectations may not be high enough and so students lack motivation to address them. Without clear communication among teachers, students and parents the chances that student efforts will reflect success are greatly reduced.
Upon completion of this module the individual will be able to:
2. provide evidence of change in his/her knowledge base of assessment terms.
3. design a format for clearly communicating performance assessment expectations to students and their parents.
4. create a plan for using action research to improve teaching and learning performance based upon assessment results and involving students and parents as partners.
INDIANA OELD Standards for Teachers of Students with Exceptional Needs: Mild Intervention OR Intense Intervention
Standard #8 ASSESSMENT
The educator of students with exceptional needs is competent in selecting, administering, and interpreting a variety of formal and informal assessment tools and utilizes this information to design, implement and evaluate instruction and to guide students in self-assessment.
The educator of students with exceptional needs:
Disposition #2: values the rights of students and parents in the assessment process.
First, the 3 characteristics needed to create an effective learning situation in the classroom are identified.
Second, the Savoie/Hughes process for designing PBL is discussed.
Third, Marzano’s 6 assumptions about a creating a learner-centered classroom are explored.
Click on References icon to check out some more resources. If you are not sure about the creating a problem-based learning assignment, you may want to check out some of the following sites:
TO BEGIN DESIGNING YOUR PROBLEM: You can also use the Savoie/Hughes process information in the middle of this webpage or look carefully at this document for the 4 steps.
OR read about rubrics as assessment tools.Examine the section of this publication that discusses ways to avoid pitfalls when designing and using PBLRubrics and Assessment Assessment in a unit on the environment Great resource for considerations at the secondary level located at high school applications
These are great sites for exploring designs for PBL including assessment, rubrics and examples
OR Terry Smith PBL resources with examples of use with 4th gradersPBL tutorial
d. Northern Illinois University tutorial on PBL OR watch a video at e. California resources on Project-based Learning
This gives examples of PBL activities that have strong assessment components. Assessing student learning: Available Resources ACRL Association of College & Research Libraries. f. Guide and Activities-Projects and Rubrics
Here are some basic descriptions of curriculum activities to engage students in their own learning. Check out the General Activities Summary section. g. Instructional-design-problem-based-learning is a great introduction to key aspects of problem-based learning.
h. http://pblmm.K12.ca.us/ClassExamples/projectgrid.html
Check this out for specific examples of PBL activities to use to complete this instructional event. On the homepage for their site there is a PBL Web Ring icon for use to engage in discussion with others who have an interest in PBL. i. ASCD Store
Check out the ASCD store website and type Torp in the search box. Authors Linda Torp and Sara Sage have written an ASCD publication entitled “Problems as Possibilities: Problem-Based Learning for K-12 Education”. The book can be purchased in hard copy or as an e-book from ASCD or it is available in bookstores. i. Checklist for assessing your PBL efforts
Adapted from the work of Jane Westberg and Jason Hilliard titled Fostering Learning in Small Groups: A Practical Guide. This is A Self Checklist for Planning and Conducting Problem-Based Learning. It is a great resource for evaluating the process you used to create a PBL activity for your class. TASK: Now analyze the rubric you plan to use to determine student achievement on the problem-based task.
The assessment tool to use here can be found on the Internet at Kathy Schrock’s DiscoverySchool.com site. The tool is called Rubric to Assess a PBL and Rubric.
Having trouble creating a rubric?
If you are having trouble creating a rubric, here are some sites with examples:
EXPLORE helpful websites:
A rubric to score compare/contrast essays provides a rubric to score Compare/Contrast Essays.
Sample rubric can help with scoring debate skills.
Sample rubric for evaluating the Verbal Effectiveness of a Student in the Role of Oral Presenter.
Sample rubric for evaluating the Verbal Effectiveness of Students in the Role of Group Discussion Member.
Awesome Library website-type in assessment rubrics in the search box and access another great resource for rubrics.
Instructional EvaluationEvaluation for successful completion of this module is based on evidence of performance on the stated instructional objectives:
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