Foundation Badge #1: Formative assessment and digitally-mediated assessment

Key Points/Main Idea/Connections

The traditional view of school, from a teacher’s perspective, was once, teach the unit and give the unit test at the end.  Today, we are seeing a shift away from that linear process because of our ability to use digital literacy and tools for effective instruction and assessment.  “One key improvement fashioned by technology is the ability to integrate assessment seamlessly into the process of learning itself,” and, therefore, these two terms, assessment and instruction, are not isolated events (Schwartz & Arena, 2013, p. 13).  While we may use various modes of assessments - nimble assessments, choice-based, online programming, or games – to gather various types of data, we are giving ourselves effective ways to monitor student learning and the success of instructional models (Schwartz & Arena, 2013).  In their book, Measuring what matters the most: Choice-based assessments for the digital age, Schwartz and Arena (2013) note how inherent this integration of instruction and assessment is to video games, specifically James Gee’s work. “In good video games, assessment is an integral part of the design, and it is built into the core mechanics of the learning” (Schwartz & Arena, 2013, 13).  Here James Gee explains more on his thoughts about the crucial connection between video games and learning. Darling-Hammond (2014) discusses a continuum of assessments. 

What digital based assessments do is provide opportunities for performance based assessment, in contrast to close ended testing.  Darling-Hammond (2014) describes a continuum of assessments, which expands from narrow assessments to assessments of deeper learning.  (Other continuums and ways of organizing assessments can be found here). Those on the deeper end of learning tap into higher level thinking skills, which “authentically represent how work is developed and evaluated outside of school” (Darling-Hammond, 2014). 

Tasks that assess problem solving, reasoning, evaluation skills, and demonstrate a true cognitive process do validate student’s learning beyond rote memory and regurgitation. However as I read Darling-Hammond’s (2014) work, I couldn’t help but think of my own students and their struggles. “The most basic form of performance task may simply require a students to solve a multipart problem and explain his or her solution, write several paragraphs that analyze a piece of text or other evidence, or synthesize and recognize information into a coherent whole” (Darling-Hammond, 2014).  What this quote assumes is that the ability to do these things is a skill all students possess. Working with dyslexic students and others with language based disabilities, I can tell you this isn’t true.  Between issues with executive functioning, processing inabilities, or working memory deficits, many of my students would fail this kind of assessment.  Students who struggle with one (or more) of the issues I listed, would not be able to break apart a multi-step problem, analyze each piece and then put it all back together as a whole response without significant scaffolding (compare this to decoding a word – breaking apart a word into letters, which represent sounds, analyzing how those sounds relate, and then putting it all back together to “read” the word).  But, break down that task into multiple questions that guide the student through the process and they will be successful.  But, is doesn’t happen overnight. It can take years of a student practicing a strategy/skill to become successful because their brain has to be re-trained.  So, while I 100% appreciate the importance of performance-based, higher level thinking assessments, I have worked with too many children who are given these and feel like failures because teachers don’t understand the pitfalls inherent to them for students with language based disabilities. 

List of ideas for my classroom –

1. We use IXL.com for math practice at my school.  In the upcoming year, I want to transition my use of the website from independent student practice to assessment by taking advantage of their data collection and graphs.

2. Have students work on a digital portfolio throughout the year that demonstrates the various themes found in text (novel or short story; print or digital) that we encounter. (This will have to be extremely well throughout and planned due to the issues I mentioned above). This would be in place of the dread book report…..

3. Truly merge instruction and assessment by practicing performance based assessments that tap into deeper level thinking skills in every class.  I will set aside time in every class period for students to work through tasks similar to those described in Darling-Hammond’s (2014) book, with the hopes of my students developing the skills to tackle these independently by the end of the semester.

References:

Darling-Hammond, L. (2014). Next generation assessment: Moving beyond the bubble test to support 21st Century Learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass. Retrieved from: http://summer7940e.wikispaces.com/file/view/Darling%20Hammond%202014.pdf/552681280/Darling%20Hammond%202014.pdf

Edutopia. (2012). James Gee on learning with video games. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnEN2Sm4IIQ

Schwartz, D. & Arena, D. (2013). Measuring what matters the most: Choice-based assessments for the digital age. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Retrieved from: http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/measuring-what-matters-most/