Virtual Assessments

Rebecca Hoff has some insight into ways that help with students cheating in her Pre-Calculus course here.

These types of assessment take more time, so ask less questions, a lot less. Use the critical standards for each course to figure out what warrants your time to grade. Only do one video question if you are using this, and limit time to 2 minutes (watch at 1.5x speed- this is a huge time saver.)

Have students self assess first. If doing an oral assessment give one question where they claim their understanding is at a high level. I use the topics in the teacher notes for the opening in each chapter (they also have linked questions if their e-book is open. Here is an example for 2A(topics) and self assessment.

While having students revise their tests after submitting seems "unfair" to the ones who knew how to work the problems on the day of the test, it will likely give you a more accurate understanding than having students look up answers or use photomath. There is less cheating if they have a chance to revise. More background on rough draft math (blog post) or podcast if you would rather listen.

You learn a lot about what students understand by listening. It turns out they can write down exactly what looks like understanding, but when you listen, you find it is shallow. The opposite is true as well. Students who make a simple mistake have a deep understanding.

Virtual Assessments with Desmos: This is new to me but I think has some good potential as students can actually sketch their solutions, and receive feedback during an assessment. See how some teachers are using Desmos and why in the latest Desmos Live presentation. Here is a copy of the activity builder for assessment mentioned.

CPM Assessment during remote instruction

Teachers and administrators are clamoring to figure out what instruction will look like in the fall. And while instruction is the most important piece of this complicated puzzle we are trying to solve, assessment must also be considered, if the plan is to continue to give students grades. Remember that any reference to “falling behind” is completely arbitrary. Those milestones have all been arbitrarily set, and as a community, stakeholders can decide that the more important milestones are the emotional and physical well-being of our students and teachers.

If teachers must assess students, however, how should they do that? The first step is accepting that with everything else, from instruction to meetings to discussions, not being normal we should not expect assessment to proceed as it normally would. Now is the time to be open to new ways of assessing students, ways that will allow for students to be flexible in demonstrating their understanding and for teachers to be flexible in the feedback they are providing.

Simply delivering tests online has not proven effective. Teachers reported that when they gave some form of online testing, they felt cheating was rampant, because there is no way to verify who the students were communicating with or what other sites they might have open in their browsers. Some teachers who did not have access to any form of online testing had students do their work on paper, take a picture of their paper or scan it in, and send that to the teacher. These teachers also felt that there was a significant amount of cheating. Some teachers felt that the results of these tests often did not reflect the students’ understanding of the material.

We have heard of the most success from the teachers that took this opportunity to completely rethink assessment. Some teachers assigned a more open project where individual strengths and understandings could shine. Others scheduled five minute one-on-one quizzes, given and answered orally. Teachers reported that this worked well if the student had an individual white board to write on that could be easily held up and shown to the teacher via a camera. One teacher had students make videos covering specific concepts or problems, and submit the video as the assessment. An elementary teacher reported having students create podcasts in a blog. If elementary students can figure out the technology to create a podcast (these were second graders!) then middle and high school students should have no problem if they have access to the technology. Imagine an assessment where students are asked to make a three-episode podcast discussing the key learnings of the chapter! Or where the students discuss how to solve three different problems during three different episodes. This different format for testing might have the additional benefit of allowing some students who may not have typically excelled at tests to highlight their strengths. You might discover which students have a great speaking voice, which are natural comedians, or which can be creative sound editors.

In the chapter closure section for each of the high school courses, there are options for a portfolio activity. These can be used to assess students. You can add a self-assessment piece by including a prompt such as Think about how well you understand this problem. Does your work reflect your level of understanding? Is there more you can add to convince me you do understand? More ideas and teacher experiences with remote assessments can be found by searching for the key word “assessment” in the Articles, Advice, and Resources

section of the Teaching CPM Remotely module in the Professional Learning Portal.

With everyone struggling to make remote learning work, remember to have grace and be flexible. It would not be wise to have stringent due dates for assignments. Perhaps you can establish a window for alternative assessments to be due. For example, a project can be due October 1 and be worth 50 points. If it is turned in a week earlier, 5 bonus points are added to the scored work. If it is turned in a week late, the most that can be earned might be 45 points. Points could vary depending on the date it is turned in, but do not ever let the points be so low that it is not worth the student’s time to do the assignment.

Ideas for non traditional assessment.

• Choose a key problem and have students explain on video how to solve.

• Choose 3 questions and meet one on one with students in place of a final exam.

• Weekly assessments with feedback.

• Include student self assessments.

• Team tests in breakout rooms.

At the end of the week, students write what their favorite mistake was on the problems they worked, why, and what they now know.

No matter what method you use this fall to assess students, you probably will not have as much information about student understanding as you have had in the past. You probably knew a lot about what your students knew just by circulating during class time, listening to the conversations. And that piece is missing. Embrace this opportunity to explore new ideas and different ways to assess and grade students. Be sure to share your ideas with your colleagues and with CPM, so we can share it with even more teachers.