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Characterisitics

Tracks student progress on variety of assessments over a period of time; Promotes the skills of the student self-assessment and goal setting; Has a stated purpose and intended audience which are important to the entire process; May include entries that the student and teacher consider as important representation of learning; Can provide a focus for a conference or an interview involving the student, the teacher and parents; Provides the opportunity for students to practice, assess and select their own work.

Teachers Role

makes regular formative assessments during the portfolio process to determine individual needs and progress toward specified learning expectations in order to provide further instruction; Provides regular feedback to students regarding their performance related to pre-stated criteria in order to help the students to improve Determines or negotiates with the students the purpose for the portfolios , the criteria for selections (e.g., number of items, categories) and the time frame for use; Reads the reflections and comments on the students assessment of personal learning

Considerations
is

developed collaboratively by teachers and students, including shared development of the purpose of the portfolio and criteria for selecting samples for inclusion; Requires standardization regarding what is included if the portfolio is used for evaluative processes;

Recording Devices/Tools

Provide various means of organizing the recordings of information about student achievement. Teachers can choose or develop recording devices which suit the teachers style, the students and the activity or learning being assessed. These are: 1. Anecdotal Record 2. Checklist 3. Rating Scale 4. Rubric 5. Learning Log

Anecdotal Record

Is a short narrative describing both a behaviour and the context in which the behaviour occurred; Should objectively report specific and observed behaviours Describes student performance detail and in writing. in

Purpose

Provide an ongoing record of written observation of student progress To record objectively, significant observations that are not part of a formal assessment which might otherwise be forgotten or remembered incorrectly; Record observations of unanticipated performances behaviours, incidents, or events.

Characteristics
Provides rich portraits of an individual students achievements; Records observation which have special significance and cannot be obtained from other classroom assessment strategies; May appear unstructured since this tool is used to record spontaneous, unexpected demonstrations and/or behaviours, statements; Records information on a form which specifies the learner, the date of observation, and a factual description of the event or behaviour; Shows information collected over time and carefully analyzed in order to make accurate judgments about student growth over time; Is often used to document a students behaviour for later reference.

Teachers Role
determines which observations are to be considered significant and important; Pre-plans the general format of the form wit labels (e.g., name of student, date, time, setting, description) States in clear, concise language exactly what is observed; Should record information while the event or behaviour is fresh in the teachers mind; Records incidents with a purpose (e.g., in terms of instructional decisions, progress related to a specific goal); Establishes a systematic procedure for collecting records on all students, ensuring that no individual is overlooked.

Considerations

Is

time-consuming to read, write and interpret; often used in conjunction with other assessment strategies; interpretations or recommendations separately from the description of the students performance;

Is

Records

The Checklist

Is a list of actions or descriptions that a rater (teacher) checks off as the particular behaviour or expectation is observed; Is a written list of performance criteria which is used to assess students performance through observation, or may be used to assess written work; Is a list of skills, concepts, behaviours, processes and/or attitudes that might, or should, occur in a given situation.

Purpose

Record whether a specific skill or behaviour was evident or not evident ; Record the presence or absence of specific behaviours in given situations; Record a performance that can and should be shown to students to help them see where improvement is needed.

Characteristics
Is used when the process or product can be written into components that are judged to be present or absent; adequate or inadequate; Provides a list of key attributes of good performance that are checked as either present or absent; Can be used with large number of criteria; Can be used in a variety of settings to establish the presence or absence of a series of conditions; Enables the teacher to record whether a specific skill or behaviour was evident or not evident, or more specifically, whether the behaviour was observed or not at the time the checklist was used; Includes specific concepts, skills, processes, and/or attitudes which are to be assessed;

Is diagnostic, reusable and capable of charting student progress; Is an efficient way to obtain information about a students improvement over time by using the same checklist more than once; Is useful for diagnosing an individual students strengths and weaknesses; Consist of a list of statements which are expected to be exhibited; Usually uses a check mark, or other indicator which is placed in the appropriate space on the checklist form to indicate that it has occurred; Is useful for students in self and peer assessment.

Teachers Role Observes, judges, and determine if a students performance meets the criteria outlined on the checklist; Records the occurrence of the skill, behaviour, concept, process and/or attitude on the checklist; Does not evaluate the quality of the work or contribution but indicates that it occurred or was completed; Should make a sufficient number of observations about a student before an evaluative judgment is applied.

The Rating Scale


Is a simple tool for assessing performance on a several-point scale ranging from low to high. It may have as few as 3 points, or as many as 10 points; Assesses the extent to which specific facts, skills, attitudes, and/or behaviours are observed in a students work or performance; Is based on a set of criteria which allows the teacher to judge performance, product, attitude, and/or behaviour along a continuum; Is used to judge the quality of a performance.

Purposes
Provide detailed diagnostic information on a students performance, product, attitude, behaviour in reference to pre-stated criteria Record the frequency or even the degree to which a student exhibits a characteristics; Records the range of student achievement in relation to specific behaviours; Describe performance along a continuum.

Characteristics
Provides a rating scale or range of responses for each item that the teacher is assessing; Can be analytic or holistic. Analytic rating scales describe a product or performance on multiple dimensions (e.g., in a writing task the dimension, mechanics, and creativity). Holistic ratings consider all the scoring criteria simultaneously, rather than assigning separate scores.

Teachers

Role

Uses a scale to describe the student; Makes decisions about the students work on the basis of descriptions, categories, or topic and assigns a numerical or qualitative description.

Considerations

Uses statements to rank, describe or identify criteria; Uses carefully chosen words to describe the meaning of various points on the scale so that they have the same meaning to different raters (teachers, student, peer). Is used best as a single rating scale and applied across all performance criteria. Using many different scales requires the teacher to change focus frequently, distracting attention from the performance and decreasing rating accuracy.

The Rubrics

Is a series of statements describing a range of levels of achievement of a process, product or a performance; Contains brief, written descriptions of the different levels of student performance; Defines desired expectations with specific performance outlined for each level; Is a descriptive rating scale which requires the rater to choose among the different levels; Uses criteria and associated descriptions to assess the actual performance.

Purpose

Summarize both student performance and product against pre-stated criteria; Make scoring of student performance more precise than using a list of items; Provide a clear description of what quality work looks like.

Characteristics Consists of several descriptions, each for a different level of quality; Addresses several qualities (criteria) simultaneously within the same scale and at different levels; Uses the same set of variables to judge at each level of rating; Uses specific descriptions of each of the variables for each point along the continuum; Communicates to students, teachers and parents what is expected in terms of quality work; Provides a summative representation of a students performance; Is used effectively in conjunction with exemplars which are concrete examples of student work at various levels.

Teachers

Role

Selects which of the descriptions comes closest to the students performance.

Considerations

Can be used in conjunction with selfassessment and peer review; Involves student in the process of identifying important performance which gives him/her ownership of the criteria and provides concrete examples of good and poor performance or products; Can be designed for a specific task such as a design project, or it may be designed for a generic skill such as problem-solving.

The Learning Log


Is an ongoing record by the student of what she/he does while working on a particular task or assignment; Makes visible what a student is thinking and/or doing through frequent recording over time.

Purpose

Show student progress and growth over time; Provide the student with the opportunities to gather and interpret information, to ask questions, and to make connections.

Characteristics

Is a useful tool if students are working on a project which stretches over several days or even weeks; Can provide a helpful focus for discussion during a conference where progress is assessed; Provides unlimited opportunities for individualized reading and writing on s consistent basis.

Teachers

Role

Provides the guidelines for the maintenance of the learning log;


Provides regular feedback to the students.

Considerations

May present a challenge for some students who have difficult time expressing their thoughts in writing;
Provides students with opportunities for reflection about their progress toward a stated goal.

Non-Test Monitoring and Assessment


Many of the following suggestions are similar to the suggested teaching strategies. Those who advocate increased use of nontest monitoring and assessment argue that instruction and assessment at their best are intertwined. Good instruction involves observing and analyzing student performance and the most valuable assessment activities should be learning to experiences as well.

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2.

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4.

Oral and written reports- Students research a topic and then present either orally or in written form. Teacher observation- The teacher observes students while they work to make certain the students understand the assignment and are on task. Ex. Cooperative Learning Journal- Students write daily on assigned or personal topics. Ex. What is the thing you remember about yesterdays lesson. Portfolio of Students work- Teacher collects samples of students work and saves for determined amount of time. Ex. Dated sample of students writing, test, etc.

5. Slates or Hand Signlas- Students use slates or hand signals as a means of signaling answers to the teacher. Ex. Review Questions- write answers and hold up slate. 6. Games- teachers utilize fun activities to have the students practice and review concepts. Ex. Science trivia 7. Projects- The students research on a topic and present it in a creative way. 8. Debates- the students take opposing position on a topic and defend their position. Ex. The pros and cons of an environmental legislation 9. Checklist- The teacher will make a list of objectives that students need to master and then check off the skill as the student masters it. 10. Cartooning- Students will use drawings to depict situation and ideas. Ex. Environmental Issues

11. Models- The students produce a miniature replica of a given topic. Ex. Molecules 12. Notes- Students write a summary of a lesson. 13. Daily Assignments- The Students complete work assigned on a daily basis to be completed at the school or at home. Ex. Worksheet Issues 14. Anecdotal Record- The teachers record a students behaviour. Ex. A daily log of students success. 15. Panel- A group of students verbally present information. Ex. A discussion presenting both the pros and cons of the Environmental Issues 16. Learning centers- Students use teacher provided activities for hands-on learning. Ex. An activity folder for frog dissection

17. Demonstration- Students present a visual enactment of a particular skill or activity. Ex. Proving that air has weight. 18. Problem Solving- student follow a step-bystep solution of a problem. 19. Discussions- Students in a group verbally interact on a given topic. Ex. Environmental issues 20. Organize note sheets and study guidesStudents collect information to help pass a test. Ex. One 3x5 note card with information to be used during a test.

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