Assessments



Rubrics and Checklists and Web.......Oh, my

When we assess student work, the purpose of the assessment is to determine whether or not our students have learned and understood just what it was they were supposed to. Regardless of the assessment you are using, there are a few important points to remember:


 * Before you even begin your lesson plan, you should first ask yourself the question "What do I want my students to know and be able to do?" or "What standard to I want to address in this lesson?"
 * Step two, then, will be to build your assessment - lay out specifically the criteria that must be met to answer those questions - to reach those goals.


 * After you complete steps one and two, designing your lesson will be a little easier - you'll know just what to focus on.
 * Finally, before you begin the lesson, distribute the assessment to your students (or make it available online) and discuss, as a class, just what the requirements are.

There are a number of sites that will help you find assessments to meet your needs. Some are examples of assessments complete with lesson plan ideas, others are sites with assessment examples. Here's hoping you'll find a few tools you'll enjoy using.

**//Assessment Ideas //** Overview of Alternative Assessment Approaches has a list of all kinds of strategies - some of which are very different!

I Love that Teaching Idea! - There's nothing like ideas from teachers who've tried them in their classrooms.

Intel - Assessing Projects - click on "Secondary Assessment Plans" to see a few for upper grades

PALS offers lesson plans in science which include performance assessment tools. Lessons can easily be adapted to other subjects.

Laura Candler's File Cabinets and Laura Candler's Strategies, while not strictly assessment sites, offer teaching strategies, lessons, and materials, many of which are free, although she does plug her books and workshops.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px; text-align: left;"><span class="wiki_link_ext">Putting the Pieces Together - Teaching strategies using technology and Marzano's Instructional Strategies.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%; text-align: center;">//** Quick Checks for Understanding **//

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">Response cards and <span class="wiki_link_ext">Exit slips are two quick ways to see if your students are understanding what's going on.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; text-align: left;">Teacher's Work Room can be a little hard to navigate, especially since each section does not have its own URL. The best thing to do is find the link for "Site Menu" at the top, then click on "Assessment" and "Checking for Understanding" in the first box on the left.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; text-align: left;">Although the site says "Kindergarten Resources" many of the resources can be used for any grade level.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Linda's Learning Links is a site I think teachers in the primary grades will enjoy. It has a section with some basic (and cute) scoring rubrics. Another section has Listening Center Response Forms. You have to download the forms for both of these sections to look at them, but I'm sure you'll find a few you want to keep. The site map might be a place you want to check out.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;"> - nice for younger students.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;"> - students select assessments to complete a tic-tac-toe

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px; text-align: left;">Two excellent tools are rubrics or checklists. A rubric is set of specific criteria that list the requirements for completing a project and a scale that describes the level of achievement as criteria are met. The Educational Technology Training Center in Burlington, New Jersey give a nice overview in their document entitled "Rubrics at a Glance" <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px; text-align: center;">. [|Rubrics at a Glance.pdf] <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 22.4px; text-align: center;">**//Checklists/Self Assessments//**

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"><span class="wiki_link_ext"> ABC Teach Writing Checklist - it's not pretty, but an idea for creating one of your own.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"><span class="wiki_link_ext">MCAS Mentor Writing Rubrics Checklist - older students could use this to check their work.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"><span class="wiki_link_ext">Project Based Learning Checklists - arranged by subject and grade.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">**Nelson Education** offers some simple assessments for young children.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">This site offers a hodge-podge of assessments – one of which is for someone who is in a class to learn English.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">** Exemplars ** offers tools for students to use in self or peer evaluation. I especially like “Group Work” as a tool for younger students.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 22.4px; text-align: center;">**//Rubrics//**

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;">EdTech Training Center <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"> (Some good examples – not all work, but the ones that do are valuable.)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"><span class="wiki_link_ext">Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - Assessments and Rubrics - huge list of assessment links.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"> <span class="wiki_link_ext">RCampus – prepared rubrics – search for what you need

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"> <span class="wiki_link_ext">Rubrics4Teachers – Also pre-designed rubrics

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"> <span class="wiki_link_ext">Rubistar - Create your own rubric, or search from ready-made rubrics.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 20.8px; text-align: center;">**//Web Based Goodies and Other Ideas//**

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"><span class="wiki_link_ext">Wordle - Fun and attractive way to engage students and assess as well. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;">48 Ways to Use Wordle in Your Classroom

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"> <span class="wiki_link_ext">Photo Essays - Even the youngest students can do this with the help of older students.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"> <span class="wiki_link_ext">Museum Box - Create a virtual shadow box.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"><span class="wiki_link_ext"> Kid Blog - Safe site on which students can create journals, book reviews and more. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;">Example from Most Holy Redeemer School <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;"><span class="wiki_link_ext">Example from Mr. Coley’s Book Blog <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;">( when you get to these blog, you have to select “Posts from this year”) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 19.2px;">Other Examples and ideas for using Kid Blog -