Welcome to the Hastings Public Schools Assessment Wiki--which aligns with our Vision and Beliefs of our Balanced Assessment System

The Hastings Public Schools uses a Balanced Assessment System to

“Assure the essential. Expand the possible.”

National: Annually in grades 3, 6 and 9

State: Annually in grades 3 - 8 and 11

District: Two - four times per year in each content area

Building/Team: As needed throughout the year

Individual Teacher: As needed throughout the year

Please choose from the menu or click on the "Forms of Assessment" link to see examples of Teacher Observation, Selected Response, Extended Written Response, and Performance Task methods of assessment. There are also resources available to create or browse banks of checklists, rubrics, and graphic organizers--be sure to Match Types of Target with Kinds of Evidence.

(Disclaimer: What we as a District refer to as "Teacher Observation", this article calls "Personal Communication.")

Authentic Assessment Toolbox (with lots of examples)

NEW!!!

On-the- Spot Assessment Tools

In this AMLE Magazine article, Ohio district administrator Bryan Drost recommends eight free digital tools to check for understanding and maximize student involvement:

• Padlet www.padlet.com is a virtual wall on which students can express thoughts on a topic. It’s also possible to embed audio and video and have students join a threaded discussion.
• Recap https://app.letsrecap.com is a video-based assessment tool that allows teachers to pose a question, have students respond with a short video recorded on a cell phone, and then get feedback.
• Today’s Meet https://todaysmeet.com allows students to engage in live “backchannelling” while a classroom activity or video is taking place.
• Active Prompt http://activeprompt.org allows teachers to upload any image and ask students a question about it; students move a dot on their device to indicate their answer.
• Flubaroo www.flubaroo.com is a plug-in for Google Sheets that allows teachers to quickly score student quizzes.
• Zaption http://zaption.com allows teachers to take already-made videos (like a YouTube clip), publish interactive lessons, and track student understanding.
• Nearpod and Pear Deck www.nearpod.com and https://www.peardeck.com allow teachers to embed interactive assessments into a slide deck and get student responses via their cell phones.
• Quizlet Live http://quizlet.live allows students to practice teamwork and communication skills while the teacher checks for understanding.

12Marshall Memo 652 September 12, 2016

“8 Digital Formative Assessment Tools to Improve Motivation” by Bryan Drost in AMLE

Magazine, September 2016 (Vol. 4, #2, p. 42-43); Drost is at drostbr@gmail.com

Research has shown that effective assessment for learning practices have the potential to greatly increase both student achievement and motivation.Black and Wiliams (1998) identify the key classroom assessment features that result in these large achievement gains as:

• Assessments that result in accurate information
• Descriptive rather than evaluative feedback to students
• Student involvement in assessment

For classroom formative assessment practices to both motivate students and increase student achievement, students need to know the learning target, know where they are at in regards to the learning target, and know what they can do to close the gap. In Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Richard J. Stiggins lists 7 strategies of assessment for learning. They are as follows:

1. Provide a clear and understandable vision of the learning targets.
2. Use examples and models of strong and weak work.
3. Offer regular descriptive feedback.
4. Teach students to self-assess and set goals.
5. Design lessons to focus on one aspect of quality at a time.
6. Teach students focused revision.
7. Engage students in self-reflection, and let them keep track of and share their learning.

"Iowa Department of Education - Iowa Department of Education." Welcome - Iowa Department of Education. Government of Iowa. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://educateiowa.gov