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Summative and Formative Assessment
Introduction
Introduction
The District Benchmark test focuses on the math skills students are expected to master each quarter. This benchmark is given multiple times per year and the test evolves each quarter to represent the skills the students are expected to have been exposed to during that period of time. This method of assessment is very direct, as it is all written and students do not explain their thoughts orally. Using an assessment in this format is important because it helps prepare students for later grades, when most of their math assessments will be written.
In this section I discuss student results on our first quarter math benchmark, which focuses on counting and cardinality, including counting one-to-one, completing number lines, and writing and identifying numbers. Looking at these results helps me understand how successful my instruction has been, and what instructional changes I may need to make to help students master certain skills in the future.
Class Results
Class Results
Looking at class results as a whole helps me identify learning trends that I can act upon in my instructional time. Below are a variety of graphs created by our district program, Illuminate Education, which highlight how my students performed in comparison to my school site and to the district at large. I use each piece of this information to make inferences about how many learners are progressing and what future supports they may need.
Of my 23 students included on this assessment, 6 achieved Mastery or above, and 12 achieved Basic of above, which means that 11 received scores below Basic. Our class average score was 60%. Our breakdown is pretty even between students who achieved Mastery, Basic, Approaching Basic, and Unsatisfactory. Keeping this in mind, I could potentially pull small groups of 5-6 students at a similar level and have them practice particular skills they all struggled on in a small group setting to increase understandings and applications of these skills. This homogenous group would focus specifically on one skill with teacher assistance.
Overall, my students performed 3% above the average at our school, and 3% below the average in our district. The district score indicates a significantly higher percent of students at Master than my class has shown, a 13% difference. This means that I should consider how I can increase each group of students' overall performances so that students can go up at least one category (for example, how to help students from Approaching Basic reach Basic if not Mastery).
By looking at student individual results like this, I can study trends to see which questions students were correct on average less that 60% of the time, indicating an area of concern. I can also see which questions students were correct on 80% of the time or high, indication a deeper understanding.
These are the conclusions that I made after reviewing this data. In order to create opportunities to practice our skills with low accuracy, I decided to add "writing the missing number" games into our fluency practice at the beginning of our math lessons, to review "coloring the same number of dots" during our next flex day, and to make "act out a provided addition problem" part of our morning meeting at least once per week for the next month. To help students understand why we are working with these skills, I will explain each skill in a metacognitive way so that students understand the goals they are trying to reach. Hopefully this extended exposure to these low accuracy skills will help students better understand these concepts next time the are addressed on an assessment.
Individual Example
Individual Example
When I look over and grade assessments, I consider which skills students are mastering and which they may need extra support to understand. This informs my instruction as I consider when I can help students work on skills they are struggling with. I will choose which skills to address individually during morning centers, while at math centers, in whole group during math instruction or during calendar math. Depending on the skill and class needs, I will find extra time to practice and then reassess students' mastery of benchmark skills throughout the year to make sure my students are where they need to be academically to reach end of year goals.
Below are three different examples of student benchmark responses, and how I would use this data to inform my instruction.
Conclusion
Conclusion
In my class I use this assessment similar to the District Diagnostic, except mostly considering the standards we have already covered. This test highlights which students were able to reach our current goals and which students are struggling with particular standards. I then use this information to plan extensions and remediations, as well as to communicate individual goals with students and teachers. Some of these standards on this test we have not yet covered at this point in the year, such as independently creating an addition equation and also using a picture to write a subtraction equation. We will begin to address these skills in the next unit in a month's time, so for those questions I can use this benchmark to determine which students show advanced understandings.
Since this is our first benchmark of the year, many skills included in this such as counting, writing, and recognizing numbers are necessary building blocks my students will have to develop in order to understand more complex skills later on. If a child performs poorly on this benchmark, I can see which standards they struggle with the most and plan opportunities to help them build up that skill, from moments in calendar math to small group or individual interventions.
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