Introduction

Now that you’ve had a chance to view the introductory module and learn or get a refresher on some important terms, let’s discuss the multiple purposes of assessment.

By the end of this module, you should be able to identify the different purposes of assessment and understand how to use the assessment blueprint to document the primary purpose of an assessment.

Supplemental Materials:

Worksheet Note-Taking Template Narrator’s Script PowerPoint Deck List of Sources

Introduction

The focus of this module is the first element of assessment design—alignment.

By the end of this module, you should be able to define alignment for the purpose of the modules and explain why it is important. You should also be able to explain how to “unpack” a standard to understand its content and use the assessment blueprint to document the skills embedded within it.

Supplemental Materials:

Worksheet Note-Taking Template Narrator’s Script PowerPoint Deck List of Sources

Introduction

You’ve now learned about alignment and rigor, the first two of five elements of assessment design, and you are well on your way toward writing or selecting well-designed assessments for your students.

The focus of this module is the third element of assessment design—precision.

By the end of this module, you should be able to describe what precision means for the purpose of these modules and make an imprecise item more precise. The video in this module is shorter than many other modules. We do, however, provide additional examples of how to design precise selected- and constructed-response items in Part III of this Toolkit.

Supplemental Materials:

Worksheet Note-Taking Template Narrator’s Script PowerPoint Deck List of Sources

Introduction

Grading papers and quizzes, assigning grades and scores to projects and performance tasks. Teachers do these things every single day. And so the fifth component of assessment design—scoring—will likely be the most familiar to you. This module, we hope, will help make you an even more effective scorer of your students’ work and demonstrate for you how the more effective your scoring practices are, the more likely your assessment results will be reliable.

By the end of this module, you should be able to define what scoring means for the purpose of these modules and explain how and why you should use well-designed tools, such as answer keys, scoring guides and rubrics, to score many assessments. You should also be able to explain what distinguishes one tool from another.

Mastering how to write a well-designed rubric is beyond the scope of this module. We recommend the following resources and examples of well-designed rubrics to help you continue your learning about rubrics. (Available June 2015)

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and CareersPerformance Level Descriptors: Mathematics These rubric describe four levels of student performance for all math Common Core standards grades 3-12.

Kansas State Department of Education. “Assessment Literacy Project.” This resource includes a video and supplemental to help educators learn about the different types of rubrics, how to recognize a well-designed rubric and how to design and score rubrics.

New York State Education Department. “Teaching Is the Core Assessment Literacy Webinar Series – Part 5: Rubrics and Other Scoring Methods.” This resource includes a video and associated PowerPoint presentation to help educators learn to write and select rubrics that match intended learning outcomes and to check for consistency among scorers.

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. “General Scoring Rubrics Mathematics.” This holistic scoring rubric describes levels of student performance on 4-, 3-, 2-, and 1-point mathematics assessments items.

Student Achievement Partners. “Scoring Rubric for Text-Based Writing Prompts.” This rubric describes four levels of student performance for text-based writing prompts. It is primarily for writing about a text, but you could use a subset for another writing task.

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers. 2014. “Grades 6-11 Condensed Scoring Rubric for Prose Constructed Response Items Research Simulation Task and Literary Analysis Task.” These rubrics describe five levels of performance for PARCC’s research simulation, literary analysis, and narrative tasks.

Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD). “K-12 Rubrics.” This resource includes writing rubrics for every grade level aligned with college- and career-ready standards, including informational, opinion, narrative writing rubrics and research rubrics. (Note that rubrics are the same within K-2, 3-5, and 6-12 with the exception of the standards).

Supplemental Materials:

Worksheet Note-Taking Template Narrator’s Script PowerPoint Deck List of Sources

Introduction

In the last module, you learned about selected-response assessment items and, in particular, multiple-choice items. The module explored how to write selected-response items, when to use them, and what their strengths and weaknesses are for classroom assessment. You learned about how to write effective multiple-choice questions, right down to the level of how to create meaningful distractors.

The focus of this module is a different type of item—the constructed-response item. Again, you have probably written many constructed-response items. Our hope is that this module will help you take what you know and can do to the next level and that the completion of this module will be one more step you take on your journey to becoming a master assessment designer for your classroom.

Supplemental Materials:

Worksheet Note-Taking Template Narrator’s Script PowerPoint Deck List of Sources

Introduction

You have finished watching videos about three different types of assessment items. Next we will discuss portfolio assessments. Portfolios are not a particular type of assessment item; they are full-bodied assessments, capable of housing a collection of other assessments that come together as a powerful display of student learning. Portfolios should be part of every masterful classroom assessment designer’s toolkit.

By the end of this module, you should be able to define a portfolio assessment, distinguish between its two types, identify the benefits and challenges of using portfolio assessments, and know that there is a “what-who-how” framework that you can use to design them.

Supplemental Materials:

Worksheet Note-Taking Template Narrator’s Script PowerPoint Deck List of Sources