Local Assessment System

Overview

An assessment system is more than a collection of different tests.  In order to be a system, the design must consider how the collection of test instruments work together to form a complete whole.  Of course, there are lots of different ways to gather information about student learning, but to quote Ted Coladarci in his paper, Measured Measures, “a collection of assessments does not entail a system any more than a pile of bricks entails a house.”  Therefore, Rhode Island suggests that all these features listed below  must be in place to have a local assessment system:

1. Measures uses both state and local GLEs/.GSEs

2. Is conducted at multiple levels: classroom, school, district, and state

3. Uses various assessment methods beyond paper and pencil

4. Provides opportunities for students at different levels of understanding and attends to universal design

5. Allows for multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate knowledge, understanding, and skill development

6. Builds students' capacity to self-evaluate

7. Provides feedback to students and families and the larger educational community in ways that support the intended purpose of each assessment method or test in the system

8. Defines the purpose of each assessment to ensure that they complement each other

Measures both state and local GLEs/GSEs -- Most of the information about student learning is gathered in each student’s classroom on a daily basis.  The teacher continually uses informal assessment techniques and instruments to determine if or how well students are learning the targeted skills and knowledge in both the local and the state-level GLEs/GSEs.  These formative approaches provide immediate information so the teacher knows whether to continue that instruction or adapt it.  They provide ways for teachers to “check in” with students to ensure that they understand what is being taught and they can provide opportunities for students to have a role in assessing their own progress.   While the state-level GLEs/GSEs are measured on the state assessments each year at each grade level, it is essential that instruction also focus on the local GLEs/GSEs.  These local GLEs/GSEs are the building blocks of skills and knowledge upon which student learning of the state-level GLEs/GSEs occurs.  Without systematic attention to instruction of the local GLEs/GSEs, students will not have a strong base for demonstrating their understanding on the state assessments.

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Conducted at multiple levels:  classroom, school, district and state -- A comprehensive local assessment system includes measures of student performance at the classroom, school, and district levels as well as state mandated large scale assessments. In local assessment systems, information about student learning is gathered in each student’s classroom on a daily basis. These are approaches that provide immediate information so the teacher knows whether to continue that instruction or adapt it. Occasionally, more formal assessments are needed, such as for screening or diagnosing particular difficulties some students may be having.

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 Uses various assessment methods beyond paper and pencil -- No single method or type of test is sufficient as a general assessment strategy.   Various types of paper and pencil assessment methods, such as those described below, are necessary but so are methods such as observations or running records.  The GLEs/GSEs represent a variety of learning targets for students and the methods of assessment selected to measure each type of target needs to be carefully selected.

• Selected response (e.g., multiple-choice, matching, true-false) methods are typically preferable to constructed response or performance based methods when assessing recall and basic understanding of a large body of content.

• Constructed response (e.g., worked problems, short answers, essays) methods are preferable to selected response methods when assessing conceptual understanding or applications and when it is important to understand students’ process in creating a response.

• Performance based (e.g., projects, demonstrations) methods are superior when assessing work that extends over time and requires synthesis of learned information or deeper applications.

• Observations (e.g. oral reports, presentations, acting) methods are preferable when what is being assessed is more authentically measured through observing students performance.

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Provides opportunities for students at different levels of understanding and attends to universal design - Text unavailable at this time

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Allows for multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate knowledge, understanding, and skill development- Text unavailable at this time

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Builds students’ capacity to self-evaluate -- A variety of assessment results, both formal and informal and also providing opportunities for revision and improvement, can and should contribute to the determination of a student’s grade.

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Provides feedback to students and families and the larger educational community in ways that support the intended purpose of each assessment method or test in the system

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Defines the purpose of each assessment to ensure that complement each other  Appropriate uses of the results of one, some, or all of the multiple and varied assessments are determined by the purposes for and the methods through which the information was gathered.  Program evaluation and the curriculum resision process should consider both informal and formal assessment results.   Occasionally, more formal assessments may be needed, such as for screening or diagnosing particular difficulties some students may be having.  Periodically, summative assessments, that may be either formal or informal, will be administered to gather information about what has been learned during a defined period of time at particular grades or in certain content areas.

Results from district and state assessments are also useful in providing external benchmarks for determining if locally-produced classroom or school assessment results are consistent.  This can be done by teachers working together to develop a common assessment.

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Assessment Tasks

Assessment Tasks are authentic and rigorous activities that relate to the instructional outcomes and allow students to demonstrate what they know and can do. These may include oral and written responses, problem solving, journals, and exhibitions. They determine how well students are learning, as well as how well they have attained the content expectations.  Assessment tasks need to be integrated throughout the curriculum to provide on-going and comprehensive information about each student’s learning.

 

Below are several links to websites with assessment tasks that are available for educator and public use. These sites also include support materials related to the tasks that explain what the tasks are measuring. Student familiarity with an extensive array of assessment tasks can build confidence in his/her ability to demonstrate knowledge in a variety of ways. 

Assessment Task Links: