Developing a Clear Assessment Story

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Assessment is an integral part of our education system, helping us understand how students are progressing in their learning day to day and year over year. If our leaders and educators do not have the knowledge and tools to build aligned, coherent systems of assessment and analyze the data effectively, they are losing a key opportunity to better support student learning growth year over year.  Building assessment and data literacy among educators and leaders is essential to the success of our schools and systems.

When we talk about assessment literacy, we are talking about how well schools understand the design and purpose of their assessments, and how best to use them in the classroom to support instruction. In an ideal world, the insights from formative classroom practices, interim assessments given throughout the year, and end-of-year assessments should align and tell the same story.

In an ideal world, the insights from formative classroom practices, interim assessments given throughout the year, and end-of-year assessments should align and tell the same story.

Data literacy is a separate, but equally important piece of the puzzle. Once assessments are aligned and the right stakeholders understand their purpose, it is important to ensure that the data from each assessment is being used effectively to support day-to-day decision-making at every level – from the teacher in the classroom, to the school and district leaders, all the way up to state leaders and policymakers.

Creating a common language

At Cognia, we provide customized professional learning in response to client needs. Our support on assessment and data literacy has helped clients build more sustainable, balanced assessment systems that provide the right data at the right times. In our work with schools, districts, and states, we see a common assumption that all assessments are created equal and will yield the same kind of data across the board. We start dismantling these assumptions by developing a common language around assessments and how they are used. We focus on the importance of all stakeholders understanding the differences between formative, interim, and summative assessments, and what a balanced assessment system is and how it should work.

For example, here are some common definitions for these terms:

Term	Definition
Assessment	A process of collecting evidence to make informed decisions.
Assessment literacy	An understanding, from educators, leaders, and stakeholders, of the design and purpose of assessments in order to assess learning and support instruction in an aligned and effective way.
Data literacy	An understanding of how to effectively use key data from each assessment given to students to support effective decision-making and adjustments to practice for educators, leaders, and stakeholders.
Formative practices	The strategic collection of evidence of student learning during daily lessons, from well-crafted questions, classroom activities, observation of student discourse, and everything in between.
Interim assessment	Assessment administered multiple times throughout the academic year to help educators track students’ progress against end-of-year learning objectives and curricular goals, thus providing insights to help adjust teaching, identify curriculum gaps, and support student success.
Summative assessment	Assessment that takes place after the learning has been completed and provides information and feedback that sums up the teaching and learning process.
Balanced assessment system	A system of aligned formative, interim, and summative assessments that provides a body of evidence that provides coherent, actionable data to inform instruction and guides improvement in learning.

 

Developing an assessment strategy

Once we establish these common understandings, we discuss the strategy for developing or selecting the right assessments, what information they provide, and how they fit together. This work should not be solely the responsibility of classroom teachers; instead, it should involve instructional leaders, school leaders, and district leaders to ensure it is sustainable and aligned with the goals of the school, district, and even the state.

Instructional leadership needs to answer the questions:

• How do you make sure all assessments given in a building flow together and point towards the same story?
• Which assessments are included in this story?
• What does this alignment look like specifically in your school and district?
• How do you support teachers in making sure all their classroom assessments, down to the formative questions they ask, are aligned to standards appropriately?

Aligning with end-of-year assessments

In the world we live in, we place a lot of emphasis on accountability through end-of-year summative assessments, so naturally, those are essential to assessment literacy work for schools. From a test design perspective, we already know those assessments are high-quality and aligned with standards, with significant effort put into ensuring their reliability and statistical validity. So, if we see low proficiency in those assessments, what does that mean?

It can be an indicator of a fundamental misalignment of how we assess students daily against those same standards. What we have found in many schools, beyond just standards misalignment, is a mismatch in the complexity level at which students are being assessed. When we talk about the “level” of assessment tasks, we refer to Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK), a framework for evaluating the complexity of learning expectations. Each DOK level outlines a different level of complexity – some examples of tasks within these levels include recalling facts in level 1, analyzing relationships between concepts in level 2, authentic problem-solving and abstract thinking in level 3, and iterative, reflective thinking in level 4.

Instruction and classroom assessments in a given school might be at DOK1, focusing more on recall of facts and reproducing processes, whereas their end-of-year assessments operate at DOK2 or DOK3, moving towards the use of key skills and delving into abstract reasoning and inference. This mismatch leaves students unprepared to demonstrate their knowledge and meet the demands of end-of-year assessments.

DOK Level	Level Description
1	Recall and Reproduction
2	Skills and Concepts
3	Strategic Thinking
4	Extended Thinking

 

We support schools by helping them align their classroom assessment practices to ensure they reach the right level of complexity and more accurately reflect students’ knowledge. This work often requires shifting the lens on alignment to see the whole picture, all the way down to the lesson plan. If we are not looking at how our higher-stakes assessments speak to our formative practices, classroom instruction, and curriculum at the most granular level, we are missing parts of the story. In an ideal world, “assessments at all levels would be linked back to the same underlying model of student learning and would provide indication of student growth over time” (Pellegrino, J., Chudowsky, N., and Glaser, R., 2001).

If we are not looking at how our higher-stakes assessments speak to our formative practices, classroom instruction, and curriculum at the most granular level, we are missing parts of the story.

Leaders and educators need to analyze the questions on their classroom assessments to ensure they’re fully aligned to the standards they are trying to teach, that the DOK in their assessments is varied appropriately, and that they are teaching their students the appropriate academic vocabulary to succeed on high-stakes assessments. Once a school makes these adjustments, they will know they are having an impact when they see student growth towards standards improve – and similar results across our classroom formative practices, interims, and the end-of-year summative.

Driving data analysis with meaningful questioning

One of the biggest problems we run into, even in a school with well-aligned assessments, is that they might bring data into a professional learning session and end up just analyzing it for the sake of it. Instead, this analysis needs to start with a driving goal or question – that is where our data literacy work comes in.

The session might begin with the question, “What do we need to know about our students after this professional learning session?”

Once the present stakeholders answer that question, they need to determine which datasets will help us answer it, as not all of them will have the exact information needed. Then, we can dive into the right data set and analyze. That initial goal-setting and careful consideration of the data move schools towards a more intentional use of both assessments and data, so they are not wasting time and are having productive conversations that point towards their end goals.

Next steps: Expanding assessment literacy to students, families, and beyond

Even when the educators and leaders in a school and district have a clear understanding of their assessments and are leveraging the data effectively, the work is not done. Schools need to ensure that students, their families, and other important stakeholders are also informed and able to leverage assessments and their data effectively.

Assessments are meant to help students, so educators should ensure students understand their purpose. Transparency around learning targets, thoughtfully designed rubrics, and meaningful feedback are just a few ways teachers can support students in understanding assessment.

Assessments are meant to help students, so educators should ensure students understand their purpose.

When students are given this clear “why” behind their assessments, it helps them to:

• Understand their own strengths and weaknesses
• Be empowered to create a plan for improvement
• Be motivated to maintain or improve their learning
• Be placed in appropriate classes and programs

Beyond the students, outreach and work with families and the broader community can also support students in their assessments. When families understand the purpose of an assessment and what the results are truly telling them, they can better understand their child’s learning progress and provide support where needed.

Zooming out, in an ideal world, we also need to ensure that stakeholders like school boards, state leaders, and policymakers are all on the same page in regard to assessment and have the proper insights into assessment to:

• Provide schools and districts with guidance
• Identify areas of educational need to target with improvement efforts
• Allocate resources effectively to benefit students
• Determine how well current education programs are doing, and if students are benefiting from current programs and policies

The work of assessment is a continuous practice and process, one worth investing time to understand more deeply and improve over time. Doing the work of assessment and data literacy as educators and leaders is key to creating sustainable assessment systems that truly serve students’ needs and provide lasting growth and impact.

If you would like more information about our customizable solutions for your institution, please reach out to your local Cognia representative.

References

Pellegrino, J., Chudowsky, N., and Glaser, R. (2001). Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment. National Academies Press, Washington DC.

Stiggins, R.J. (1999), Evaluating Classroom Assessment Training in Teacher Education Programs. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 18: 23-27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-3992.1999.tb00004.x

Webb, N. (2002). Depth-of-Knowledge Levels for Four Content Areas. Madison: Wisconsin Center for Educational Research.