scholarly journals Learning progressions as models and tools for supporting classroom assessment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Alonzo
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Classroom Assessment ◽  
Student Thinking ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Learning Progressions ◽  
Complex Phenomena ◽  
Teacher Classroom

Like all models, learning progressions (LPs) provide simplified representations of complex phenomena. One key simplification is the characterisation of student thinking in terms of levels. This characterisation is both essential for large-scale applications, such as informing standards, but potentially problematic for smaller-scale applications. In this paper, I describe a program of research designed to explore the smaller-scale use of LPs as supports for teacher classroom assessment practices in light of this simplification. Based on this research, I conclude that LP levels may serve as a generative heuristic, particularly when teachers are engaged with evidence of the limitations of LP levels and supported to use LPs in ways that do not rely on their levels.

scholarly journals Building Teacher Capacity within the Evolving Assessment Culture in Canadian Education

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don A. Klinger ◽  
Louis Volante ◽  
Christopher Deluca
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Classroom Assessment ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Teacher Capacity ◽  
Canadian Education ◽  
Assessment Culture ◽  
The Impact

Lost in the focus on large-scale educational assessments for accountability purposes is the important role of teachers' classroom assessment practices. Teachers must understand the use of both large-scale and classroom assessment practices and theories, and professional development remains the primary method to develop these assessment capacities. However, traditional models of professional development typically have little, if any, effect. In recognition of the importance of building teachers' assessment capacity, and the limitations of traditional professional development, the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, Canada, developed a Classroom Assessment Workshop Series to begin to build a systemic assessment framework for teachers. Through pre- and post-series surveys with 300 participants, and interviews and focus groups with facilitators, the authors' review and research explored the impact of the series on teachers' beliefs, self-efficacy, and knowledge of assessment practices and theory. The authors also explored the challenges that teachers experienced as they worked to understand and implement current conceptions of assessment. While teachers certainly valued the community created through the series and the opportunities to share their experiences, the findings found that teachers struggled to understand the theoretical foundations and use these foundations to further develop their own assessment practices. The research highlights the need for teachers to embrace a philosophy that integrates formative assessment practices and theories into their teaching and learning while also identifying the challenges associated with creating such an assessment culture. Current models of professional development may be more aligned with principles of effective professional learning, but truly changing teachers' classroom assessment practices may require a much more prolonged effort than those being provided.

scholarly journals The Evolving Concept of (Language) Assessment Literacy. Implications for Teacher Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-130
Author(s):  
Ildikó Csépes
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Classroom Assessment ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Assessment Literacy ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Assessment Decisions ◽  
Context Specific

Language teachers’ assessment knowledge and skills have received considerable attention from language assessment researchers over the past few decades (Davison & Leung, 2009; Hill & McNamara, 2012; Rea-Dickins, 2001; Taylor, 2013). This seems to be linked to the increased professionalism expected of them in classroom-based assessments. However, teachers seem to face a number of challenges, including how large-scale standardized language exams influence their classroom assessment practices. Teachers’ assessment literacy, therefore, needs to be examined in order to explain their assessment decisions. In this paper, we review the concept of (language) assessment literacy, how it has evolved and how it is conceptualized currently. Recent interpretations seem to reflect a multidimensional, dynamic and situated view of (language) assessment literacy. Implications for teacher education are also highlighted by presenting research findings from studies that explored teachers’ and teacher candidates’ assessment literacy in various educational contexts. As a result, we can identify some common patterns in classroom assessment practices as well as context-specific training needs. Finally, we make a recommendation for tackling some of the challenges language teachers are facing in relation to classroom-based assessment in the Hungarian context.

scholarly journals Exploring Formative Assessment and Co-Regulation in Kindergarten Through Interviews and Direct Observation

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Braund ◽  
Christopher DeLuca ◽  
Ernesto Panadero ◽  
Liying Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Formative Assessment ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Classroom Assessment ◽  
Peer Assessment ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Student Thinking ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Student Agency ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Relationship

Formative assessment practices have been theoretically connected to the development of self-regulation with mounting empirical evidence. Co-regulation is the process whereby a more capable individual (e.g., teacher or peer) attunes the behaviours, emotions, or cognitive processes of an individual (a student) to align with goals or expectations and is being recognized as a strategy for developing self-regulation. Formative assessment practices may facilitate co-regulation, however, much of the literature has focused on older student populations. This phenomenological study explored the relationship between formative assessment and co-regulation in eight Kindergarten classrooms. Eight Kindergarten teachers and four Early Childhood Educators (ECE) completed semi-structured interviews in 2019 during two time periods with each participant completing two interviews. To supplement the interviews, 56 h of classroom observations were completed in each classroom, totaling 448 h of observations across eight classrooms. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically. Four themes emerged: 1) Authentic assessment and self-regulation practices, 2) Feedback as foundational, 3) Formative assessment and co-regulation have shared purposes, and 4) Connections between classroom assessment and co-regulation. Participants described their classroom assessment and self-regulation practices as authentic and natural for students while also providing examples of their interactions with students as a form of co-regulation. Feedback was articulated as foundational to both classroom assessment and co-regulation. Participants illustrated examples of feedback from peers (including through modified peer-assessment). Shared purposes between formative assessment and co-regulation placed students at the centre of the learning process, encouraging agentic behaviours, and scaffolding student thinking. The final theme underlined the need to broaden conceptualizations of assessment in Kindergarten. Findings suggested student agency as the bridge between classroom assessment and co-regulation, and a bidirectional, mutually supportive, relationship between formative assessment and co-regulation.

scholarly journals Pre-service Teachers’ Decision-Making and Classroom Assessment Practices

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cherry Zin Oo ◽  
Dennis Alonzo ◽  
Chris Davison
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Classroom Assessment ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Integrate Assessment ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Supervising Teachers ◽  
Assessment Strategies

Classroom assessment practices play a pivotal role in ensuring effective learning and teaching. One of the most desired attributes of teachers is the ability to gather and analyze assessment data to make trustworthy decisions leading to supporting student learning. However, this ability is often underdeveloped for a variety of reasons, including reports that teachers are overwhelmed by the complex process of data analysis and decision-making and that often there is insufficient attention to authentic assessment practices which focus on assessment for learning (AfL) in initial teacher education (ITE), so teachers are uncertain how to integrate assessment into teaching and make trustworthy assessment decisions to develop student learning. This paper reports on the results of a study of the process of pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) decision-making in assessment practices in Myanmar with real students and in real classroom conditions through the lens of teacher agency. Using a design-based research methodology, a needs-based professional development program for PSTs’ assessment literacy was developed and delivered in one university. Following the program, thirty PSTs in the intervention group were encouraged to implement selected assessment strategies during their practicum. Semi-structured individual interviews were undertaken with the intervention group before and after their practicum in schools. This data was analyzed together with data collected during their practicum, including lesson plans, observation checklists and audiotapes of lessons. The analysis showed that PSTs’ decision-making in the classroom was largely influenced by their beliefs of and values in using assessment strategies but, importantly, constrained by their supervising teachers. The PSTs who understood the principles of AfL and wanted to implement on-going assessment experienced tension with supervising teachers who wanted to retain high control of the practicum. As a result, most PSTs could not use assessment strategies effectively to inform their decisions about learning and teaching activities. Those PSTs who were allowed greater autonomy during their practicum and understood AfL assessment strategies had greater freedom to experiment, which allowed them multiple opportunities to apply the result of any assessment activity to improve both their own teaching and students’ learning. The paper concludes with a discussion of the kind of support PSTs need to develop their assessment decision-making knowledge and skills during their practicum.

Classroom Assessment Practices Questionnaire

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard D. L. C. Gonzales ◽  
Charito G. Fuggan
Keyword(s):  
Classroom Assessment ◽  
Assessment Practices

Improving the Efficiency of Large-Scale Agent-Based Models Using Compression Techniques

2012 ◽  
pp. 301-326
Author(s):  
Mitchell Welch ◽  
Paul Kwan ◽  
A.S.M. Sajeev ◽  
Graeme Garner
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Agent Based Models ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Agent Based Modelling ◽  
Livestock Disease ◽  
Interacting Agents ◽  
National Model ◽  
Complex Phenomena ◽  
Modelling System

Agent-based modelling is becoming a widely used approach for simulating complex phenomena. By making use of emergent behaviour, agent based models can simulate systems right down to the most minute interactions that affect a system’s behaviour. In order to capture the level of detail desired by users, many agent based models now contain hundreds of thousands and even millions of interacting agents. The scale of these models makes them computationally expensive to operate in terms of memory and CPU time, limiting their practicality and use. This chapter details the techniques for applying Dynamic Hierarchical Agent Compression to agent based modelling systems, with the aim of reducing the amount of memory and number of CPU cycles required to manage a set of agents within a model. The scheme outlined extracts the state data stored within a model’s agents and takes advantage of redundancy in this data to reduce the memory required to represent this information. The techniques show how a hierarchical data structure can be used to achieve compression of this data and the techniques for implementing this type of structure within an existing modelling system. The chapter includes a case study that outlines the practical considerations related to the application of this scheme to Australia’s National Model for Emerging Livestock Disease Threats that is currently being developed.

Teacher Professional Growth in Summative Assessment and Meaningful Learning: A Case Study in Pre-Vocational Geography Education in The Netherlands

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-84
Author(s):  
Erik Bijsterbosch ◽  
Tine Béneker ◽  
Wilmad Kuiper ◽  
Joop van der Schee
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Classroom Assessment ◽  
Meaningful Learning ◽  
Summative Assessment ◽  
Geography Education ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Teacher Professional Growth ◽  
Teacher Professional

Teachers’ classroom assessment practices tend to encourage rote learning instead of meaningful learning. To enhance teachers’ classroom assessment practices, teacher involvement in assessment construction appears necessary. To foster teacher professional growth in relation to this issue, a professional development programme on summative assessment and meaningful learning in pre-vocational geography education in the Netherlands was designed. In 2016, a prototype of the programme was tested and evaluated in a small-scale case study. The results suggest that the programme was feasible and practical and contributed to change in teachers’ knowledge, skills and practices.

scholarly journals How ‘Networked’ are Online Collaborative Concept-Maps? Introducing Metrics for Quantifying and Comparing the ‘Networkedness’ of Collaboratively Constructed Content

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 267
Author(s):  
Noa Sher ◽  
Carmel Kent ◽  
Sheizaf Rafaeli
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Concept Maps ◽  
Quality Measures ◽  
Thought Process ◽  
Academic Settings ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Complex Phenomena

With the growing role of online multi-participant collaborations in shaping the academic, professional, and civic spheres, incorporating collaborative online practices in educational settings has become imperative. As more educators include such practices in their curricula, they are faced with new challenges. Assessment of collaborations, especially in larger groups, is particularly challenging. Assessing the quality of the collaborative “thought process” and its product is essential for both pedagogical and evaluative purposes. While traditional quantitative quality measures were designed for individual work or the aggregated work of individuals, capturing the complexity and the integrative nature of high-quality collaborative learning requires novel methodologies. Network analysis provides methods and tools that can identify, describe, and quantify non-linear and complex phenomena. This paper applies network analysis to the content created by students through large-scale online collaborative concept-mapping and explores how these can be applied for the assessment of the quality of a collective product. Quantitative network structure measures are introduced for this purpose. The application and the affordances of these metrics are demonstrated on data from six large-group online collaborative discussions from academic settings. The metrics presented here address the organization and the integration of the content and enable a comparison of collaborative discussions.

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