5560 Classroom Assessment

Develop an Assessment Exercise

Renee R. Carpenter

June 20, 2004

Develop an Assessment Component No. 1: Identifying Learning Targets

In a unit on diversity in our community, second grade students will become more aware of the differences that exist in our classroom, the school, and the community. The students involved in this unit of study are second graders in a regular classroom setting. They include Limited English Proficiency and Exceptional Children’s students.

In order to complete this unit and the learning targets identified the students will study cultural diversity using our social studies book, internet articles and books on culture from the library. They will also participate in a Multi-Cultural Day organized by the teacher. Each culture identified as members of our classroom, school or community will be represented by an adult member of the school or community. These representatives will share characteristics of their culture through oral presentations. These presentations will include clothing, music, games, and artifacts particular to each culture.

In order to accomplish this each learner:

Learning Target #1: will list the diverse cultures found in our classroom, school, and community through a whole group brainstorming activity conducted to complete a class bubble map, titled “Our Cultures.”

  • This is a low level learning target, as identified in Marzano’s Model of Thinking Skills. Listing of concepts is a Knowledge Thinking skill and requires students to demonstrate knowledge with the students’ own words serving as acceptable evidence of learning and understanding.

After identifying the cultures, each learner:

Learning Target # 2: will classify the characteristics of each culture.

  • These characteristics will be listed on a teacher created graphic organizer, under specific classifications.
  • This is an intermediate level learning target as identified by Marzano’s Model of Thinking Skills. Classification requires Application Thinking and involves the learner applying prior knowledge and understanding to new situations, recognizing when or what information is needed to complete a novel task (research organizer).

Upon classifying the cultural characteristics and completing the graphic organizer, the students will analyze the relationships that exist between and among the cultures. In order to analyze these relationships each learner:

Learning Target #4: Will compare similarities and differences between the culture of the United States and the cultures of other countries, by completing a venn diagram.

  • This is an intermediate learning target, as identified by Marzano’s Model of Thinking Skills. Compare and contrast is a form Organizing Thinking in the higher order thinking skills’ framework. When comparing and contrasting, students compare the properties of objects or events.

Upon completion of the venn diagrams, each learner:

Learning Target # 5: will orally share his or her comparisons with students in a small group setting, by repeating the characteristics and the placement of each characteristic on the venn diagram.

  • This is a low level learning target as identified by Marzano’s Model of Thinking Skills. Repeating facts is a Knowledge Thinking Skill and student comprehension is evidenced by the student’s own words, both orally and written (venn diagram).

During the small group activity, each learner:

Learning Target # 6: will orally defend the placement of facts within their venn diagram, if necessary, while critiquing the placement of facts within the venn diagrams of their peers.

  • This is a high level learning target as identified by Marzano’s Model of Thinking Skills. Defending and critiquing is an Evaluation Thinking Skill and requires the student to judge credibility, worth, or practicality. To perform this learning target, students must evaluate by assembling and explaining the interrelations of evidence and reasons in support of their conclusions.

Once all cultural comparisons have been shared, each learner:

Learning Target # 7: The learner will combine new information about various cultures with their knowledge of the United States’ culture in order to compose a journal entry identifying the culture they feel is most like the typical culture of the United States (as previously examined in our unit). Using at least four sentences, the learner will name and describe the chosen culture and give at least three reasons why that culture is most like the typical culture of the United States.

This is a high level thinking skill as identified in Marzano’s Model of Thinking Skills. Integrating Thinking Skills require students to relate and integrate information as they put together elements to form a new concept, thus synthesizing the ideas.

Once the journal entries are complete, each learner:

Learning Target # 8: will self-evaluate their journal entry, using a teacher created rubric.

  • This is a high level thinking skill as identified in Marzano’s Model of Thinking Skills. Evaluation Thinking Skills require the student to judge the quality of a task, using established criteria and explaining how those criteria are, or are not, met.

Continued on next page

Develop an Assessment Component No. 2: Specifications for a Test

Learning Target: The learner will examine each culture, identifying and listing the characteristics of each.

Test Specifications: Given 15 questions, the students will identify characteristics specific to given cultures. The questions will consist of 5 multiple choice, 5 matching, and 5 True/False.

Sample Items:

Multiple-Choice

Directions: Read each item carefully. Choose the best answer choice from the options provided. Circle the correct answer.

1. Which culture used an alphabet made up of letters like the ones below?



  1. Africa
  2. Costa Rica
  3. Israel
  4. Mexico

2.In which culture do students leave school around the age of 10 in order to begin working?

  1. Costa Rica
  2. Israel
  3. Mexico
  4. Africa

Guidelines for Writing Multiple-Choice Items

  1. Write stems (the introductory question or incomplete statement) that are clear.
  2. Write at least 3 options (answer choices).
  3. One correct option
  4. Two to three distractors that are incorrect but reasonable options.
  5. Identify and include only one concept to be tested per test item.
  6. Include more information in the stem and as little as possible in the options.
  7. Do not include extraneous information.

Example: Children in the United States go to school until about the age of 18. However, students of this culture stop going to school when they are about 10.

  1. Arrange options alphabetically, unless another order is more logical.
  1. Be sure options
  • avoid repetitive words
  • are parallel in type of content
  • have grammar consistent with the stem
  1. Exclude “all of the above” and “none of the above” options
  2. Emphasize (bold, highlight) adjectives or adverbs when they reverse or significantly alter the meaning of a stem or option.
  3. Do not include clues within the stem .
  4. The level of reading required for items should be below the students’ ability.
  5. Vary the location of correct responses.

Matching

Directions: Match the cultures on the right with the characteristics on the right. Write the matching letter for each in the blank.

CharacteristicsCulture

_____ People read from right to lefta. Africa

_____ Walking is this culture’s main form of transportation b. Israel

c. Mexico

Guidelines for Writing Matching Items

1. Ensure the use of homogeneous lists.

2. Use short options, with the shorter options in the right column.

3. Use more responses than premises

4. Order the responses in a logical way

5. Place full lists (premises and responses) on one page

6. The level of reading required for items should be below the students’ ability.

  1. Write options (premises and responses) that are clear.

True/False

Directions: Read each statement below. Decide if it is true or false. Circle the correct response.

  1. In Africa, you can see lions, tigers, and elephants walking around freely.

TrueFalse

  1. In the United States, students pay to go to school.

TrueFalse

Directions for Writing True/False (Binary Choice) Items

  1. The item should measure the specified target.
  2. The level of reading skill should be below the students’ ability.
  3. One of the two choices must be unequivocally correct.
  4. The item must represent a single proposition.
  5. State the item as simply as possible.
  6. Include an equal or near equal number of response types.
  7. Emphasize (bold, highlight) adjectives or adverbs when they reverse or significantly alter the meaning of a stem or option.
  8. Exclude the word not.
  9. Exclude adjectives or adverbs that imply an indefinite degree or have absolute meanings.
  10. The level of reading required for items should be below the students’ ability.

Assessment Type

This type of assessment is criterion-referenced and includes 5 multiple-choice, 5 matching, and 5 True/False(Binary Choice) items. These items will help determine the level of mastery the students have demonstrated. The development of a scoring plan for the test items will determine the level of knowledge of the cultural characteristics the students have or have not demonstrated. With this assessment, the feedback component, completion of the venn diagrams and monitoring of the small group discussions, I will be able to make determinations for future instruction or identify areas needing additional instruction or remediation of the identified learning targets.

Scoring Plan

Points: The total amount of points available on this 15 item test is 30 points. The points are broken down as follows:

  • 5 Multiple-Choice1 points eachTotal5 points
  • 5 Matching1 points eachTotal5 points
  • 5 True/False1 points eachTotal 5 points

Total points available15 points

Feedback:

Students scoring less than 12 of the total 15 points will meet with me to determine possible reasons for the errors made. Some possibilities are listed below:

  • Unfamiliar vocabulary or terms
  • Difficulty reading questions or choices
  • Did not understand directions
  • Unfamiliar with the material being assessed

All students will receive either verbal or written feedback on any errors made on their test.

Develop an Assessment Component No. 3: Craft a Performance Assessment

Learning Target:

The learner will combine new information about various cultures with their knowledge of the United States’ culture in order to compose a journal entry identifying the culture they feel is most like the typical culture of the United States (as previously examined in our unit). Using at least four sentences, the learner will name and describe the chosen culture and give at least three reasons why that culture is most like the typical culture of the United States.

This Learning Target involveshigh level thinkingskills as identified in Marzano’s Model of Thinking Skills.

The nature of this learning target is best assessed by a performance assessment as supported by the following requirements:

  • The performance on this task will generalize to comparable tasks.
  • The task has teachability with the possibility students will become more proficient as a result of the teacher’s efforts to improve their performance.
  • This performance task is fair to all students, avoiding bias except in the case of Limited English Proficient students and students identified as Exceptional Children. If necessary, an alternate assessment conducted orally will be administered. This alternate assessment will follow the same guidelines as the written performance assessment.
  • The task is feasible, with very little if any cost, space and equipment needed. A minimum to moderate amount of time will allow for the completion of the task by all students.
  • The task has some authenticity. For example, in the real world one may be asked to describe their qualifications for a particular job and then give reasons why they are qualified for said job.
  • The student responses elicited by the task can be reliably and accurately evaluated to an acceptable degree.

Structure of the task:

Students are expected to use the new information learned about cultures specific to our classroom, school, and community to make comparisons to the culture of the United States. After making those comparisons they are expected to select the one culture they believe is most like the United States. In a journal entry, they are to name and describe the selected culture, using 3-4 sentences and to give at least 3 reasons why they believe this culture best compares to the United States.

In order to receive the highest possible score – 20 points - on this product (journal entry), each student’s response should name the culture being compared to the United States and include four descriptive sentences along with three reasons to support their choice. These reasons should be based on similarities between the two cultures. The entry should also be written so that the spelling, punctuation, capitalization and grammar are precise and do not interfere with the meaning of the entry.

Anything less than this and the students will receive ratings as follows:

  • A score of 0 will be given if all components are determined Unable to Score or no journal entry was attempted.
  • A score of 1-5 will receive an overall rating of Well Below Average.
  • A score 0f 6-10 will receive an overall rating of Below Average.
  • A score of 11-15 will receive an overall rating of Average.
  • A score of 16-20 will receive an overall rating of Above Average.

The determination for these ratings are set forth in the performance assessment rubric that follows.

Continued on next page

Rubric for Cultural Comparison Journal Entry

Above Average /

Average

/ Below Average / Well Below Average / Not Able to Score
(N/S)

Description

Point Distribution:
8,6,4,2 / Includes 4 sentences that identify and describe the culture / Includes 3 sentences that identify and describe the culture / Includes 2 sentences that identify and describe the culture / Includes 1 sentence that identifies and describes the culture / No description sentences are written
Reasons or Justification of Choice
Point Distribution:
8,6,4,2 / 3 reasons based on similarities between the 2 cultures / 2 reasons based on similarities between the 2 cultures / 1 reason based on similarities between the 2 cultures / Reason(s) are given, but are not based on similarities between the 2 cultures / No reasons are given
Use of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar that does not interfere with understanding of journal entry.
Point Distribution:
4,3,2,1 / Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar are precise and do not interfere with understanding. / Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar are adequate and do not interfere with understanding. / Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar make the journal entry somewhathard to follow and sometimes interferes with understanding. / Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar make the journal entry significantly hard to follow and interferes with understanding. / Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar make the journal entry impossible to follow or understand.

Scoring Guidelines: Each area of the performance assessment will be scored analytically. The final score will be determined by a total of points attained from each component of the performance assessment. When an area is determined not able to score (N/S), a zero will be given for that component.

Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar are assessed only to ensure the journal

entry is readable by the scorer and that the level of the skills demonstrated do not interfere with the scorers ability to understand the performance of the student on the identified learning target. Point distribution for this component: 1 point will be given for Well Below Average, 2 points will be given for Below Average, 3 points will be given for Average, and 4 points will be given for Above Average.

For the Description and Reasons components the point distribution is as follows: 2 points for Well Below Average, 4 points for Below Average, 6 points for Average, and 8 points for Above Average.

Overall Score:

Each performance assessment will be assigned an overall score of 0-20.

  • A score of 0 will be given if all components are determined Unable to Score or no journal entry was attempted.
  • A score of 1-5 will receive an overall rating of Well Below Average.
  • A score 0f 6-10 will receive an overall rating of Below Average.
  • A score of 11-15 will receive an overall rating of Average.
  • A score of 16-20 will receive an overall rating of Above Average.

These ratings align with grades as shown in the box below.

Unable to Score 0
Well Below Average1
Below Average2
Average3
Above Average4

References

Kehoe, Jerard (1995). Writing multiple-choice test items. Practical Assessment,

Research & Evaluation. 4 (9). Retrieved November 7, 2003 from

Olson, George H. (2005). FDN 5550 Syllabus,

Popham, W. James (2005). Classroom Assessment: What teachers need to know, 4th Edition. Boston, MA:Allyn & Bacon.