Articulating Outcomes--Thinking Like an Asssessor

So, we've planned objectives, now what do we do?  According to backwards mapping, we now need to look at what types of assessments we will use to reveal if learning is actually taking place.  Two kinds of assessments we will use are formative and summative assessments.

Formative assessments are low-stakes ways to gather data on what students know and if lesson activities are meeting learning objectives.  If gaps are discovered in student learning, instruction can be modified to address areas of deficit. Formative assessments can be entrance/exit tickets, quizzes, class discussions, observations, etc.

Summative assessments are evaluations given at the end of a chapter or unit of study to see if learning objectives or standards have been met.  These are high stakes, graded assignments that hold a large weight in marking student achievement and progress.  Summative assessments include California's Common Core aligned Smarter Balanced Assessment, end of chapter tests, written projects, presentations, etc.

I need to use both kinds of assessments to judge progress my students are making toward these objectives:

1. By the end of the unit, students will be able to identify fiction from nonfiction texts.
2. By the end of the unit, students will be able to use dialogue to: 1) move their story along, 2) increase suspense in the story, or 3) to help the reader connect with a character's personality.
3. By the end of the unit, students will be able to demonstrate effective use of writing that utilizes our five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.
4. By the end of the unit, students will be able to write using logical sequencing such as chronological order.
5. By the end of the unit, students will be able to create an original fictional narrative.

A formative assessment I would use to check progress on objective number one is a process that was taught to me as "Hand In, Pass Out."  I would verbally give descriptions of nonfiction and fiction texts without identifying them as such.  Students would write the correct label for each description on a piece of notebook paper without placing their name on it.  The kids think this is really fun since I'm a hawk about getting names on work.  Once we've finished with the "quiz," the kids pass the papers forward.  I would shuffle them and then pass them right back out to the students.  We would go over the correct answers and the rationale for each answer. Students would mark answers correct or incorrect. I would then do a survey to see how many questions each students answered correctly. The goal is to get the students to 100% accuracy.

A summative assessment for our entire fictional narrative unit would be for students to write an original fictional narrative.  This story would allow the students to show their mastery of all the unit's objectives.  Students' progress would be graded by an analytic rubric showing all the characteristics of effective writing as outlined by the standard and the objectives.  Students would have access to this rubric prior to turning in final drafts of their stories.  Here is an example of what that rubric might look like:

To wrap it up, student progress is best tracked by a combination of formative and summative assessments.  Formative assessments can help teachers find gaps in their teaching, and summative assessments give teachers data driven evaluations to track mastery of standards.