problem 6 - assessment Flashcards
what is formative assessment
a process through which assessment-elicited evidence of student learning is gathered & instruction is modified in response to feedback
used by teachers to adjust their ongoing instructional procedures or by students to adjust their current learning tactics
used during the learning process
what is summative assessment
evidence on records about current student achievement
used after the learning process
low level vs high level formative assessment
low = basic & either excludes some characteristics or only introduces each characteristic as an explicit component to be fully developed
high = a complete dedication to fully integrating the characteristics into teacher & student practice
what are 4 reasons why students learn more through formative assessment?
- Frequent, ongoing assessment = finetuning of instruction & student focus on progress
- Immediate assessment helps ensure meaningful feedback
- Specific assessments = students see concretely how they can improve
- FA is consistent w constructivist theories
performance vs mastery goals
performance = emphasizes comparison of students abilities – e.g. grade
- promote by making student evals public, attributing perf to individual ability & rewarding students who outperform others
mastery = emphasizes learning, understanding, improving, mastering new skills & taking on challenges
- promote by evaluating student progress, providing opportunities to improve, treating mistakes as part of process, varying eval methods & making evals private
students who pursue mastery share many pos achievement characteristics but those who pursue perf show more debilitating achievement characteristics
how can teachers ensure their formative assessment leads to student motivation & learning?
- Provide clear learning targets
- Offer feedback about progress towards meeting learning targets
- Attribute student success & mastery to moderate effort
- Encourage student self-assessment
- Help students set attainable goals for improvement
how do high stakes tests affect instruction?
The goal of schooling is being restricted to passing STs – school becomes limited to developing basic academic & cog skills = emphasis on other major goals (like developing creativity) are diminished
neg effect on students in-depth learning & understanding – the tests cover a wide range of topics = less likely to devote the time needed for in-depth exploration of a topic
test scores have become the sole measure of teacher & school quality – severely limits what is considered to be good teaching & education
how do high stakes tests affect student & teacher motivation?
HS tests are extrinsic motivators bcuz they focus students on the end result: passing the test
- Rewards given to students if they pass make it clear that an imp aim of schooling is to do well HS tests = promotes extrinsic motivation
students might enjoy subjects less in LT even though they appear to be more motivated in ST by extrinsic rewards
- HS testing can undermine students’ intrinsic motivation
Teachers also experience increased stress from pressure of tests = neg attitudes towards job, lower teacher morale, less enjoyment & increase in teacher attrition
how do high stakes tests affect students with learning disabilities?
students w disabilities underperform on HS tests compared to others, regardless of accommodations
- when tests were developed, very little attention was given to how the tests would impact disabled test takers
increases anxiety, decreases motivation & self-esteem
how do high stakes tests affect students from low economic families?
clear correlation between poverty & low academic achievement
- HS test used to blame educators in high-poverty schools for lack of success
Poor students disadvantaged bcuz teacher quality has large effects on student achievement & poor students are typically taught by less qualified teachers
Poor students also don’t have access to resources in their home life to adequately prepare them for certain STs
how do high stakes tests affect students from minority groups?
AA & H students continue to score well below W students on academic achievement tests = achievement gap
AA students may be disadvantage on HS tests bcuz of stereotype threat
- might score lower than expected bcuz of a fear that they will confirm the neg stereotype that AA students score lower than W students
deep vs surface strategy to learning/studying
deep = focusing on meaning & understanding
- e.g., integrating the theoretical & practical components (deep strategy) w the intention to understand the material (deep motive)
surface = focusing on recall & reproduction
- e.g., listing & drilling several discrete pieces of info (surface strategy) to reproduce them in the exam & pass the course (surface motive)
how do learning strategies differ per person & situation?
Although students favor a specific approach, they may vary it according to situational factors, like assessment
- Assessment shapes how much, how (their approach) and what (the content) students learn – most students learn the forms of knowledge & develop the cog skills they are asked to demonstrate
Scouller study method (assessment)
- 206 (164) students
- Data obtained from 2 sources: a 3-part questionnaire & students’ course results
- 3-part questionnaire: learning approaches, perceptions of levels of intellectual abilities assessed & preferences for assessment method of this course
Scouller study results: strategies, motives & perceptions
Preparing for MC exam = sig more likely to use surface strategies + report surface motives
- Perceived MC exams as assessing knowledge-based (lower-level) intellectual abilities
Preparing for AE = sig more likely to use deep strategies + report deep motives
- Perceived AE as assessing higher levels of intellectual abilities
