Focusing on Assessment: So What Do They Really Know?

I am going to wrap up my Focusing on Assessment series of blog posts with a review of Cris Tovani's So What Do They Really Know?: Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning. Tovani's voice captured my interest in 2006 when my mentor gave me a copy of her I Read It, But I Don't Get It.  Needless to say, I was very excited to hear that she had another book coming out!

Once again, her voice resonated with me throughout the book. While reading, it is easy to tell that she is a master teacher who thinks reflectively about her teaching throughout the years. I appreciate that she doesn't buckle to the pressure to do certain aspects exactly the same as some of her colleagues, but rather, she takes criticism/suggestions as something to reflect about and consider what is truly the best for her students.

Tovani started out the book talking about the current context of education and views of assessment. She also provided some thought provoking scenarios to consider the question stated in the title. This was a nice way to frame the rest of the text. Then she continued on to highlight how she uses assessment in her classroom, as well as providing insights into the journey that led up to the decisions she has made about assessments. Her assessment ideas are practical and serve multiple purposes, such as building connections with students, while also considering what instruction they need next the most, reflecting her belief about the connection between assessments and the value in getting to know students. Throughout she provided many examples of her students' actual responses, while providing glimpses into her thought process related to the specific responses. Her writing provides a vivid picture of how her classroom operates.

One of my favorite statements from the book stood out because it closely aligns with how I feel, stating, "Grading. I hate it. As a teacher, it is what I wrestle with most. I know it is one of the necessary evils of the job, but I find myself constantly struggling with issues of management and equity," (p. 129). No matter the grade level, I always "wrestle" with this as well. I was excited to read this chapter toward the end of the book to see how she responds to this struggle. I think that captures well why I love Tovani's writing in general - I can connect with her so much and I look forward to the "conversation" that I will have with her through reading her books, viewing her as a valued mentor.

Happy New Year! Enjoy continuing to think about assessments in 2012!

Focusing on Assessment: Accessible Assessment for Older Grades

Earlier this week I wrote about how much I love the new resource, Accessible Assessment. I mentioned that it is recommended for grades 2-6, but that I would share ideas for using it in 6th-12th grade, as the resource still has a lot to offer for older grades.

Here are a few reasons why the resource is still relevant for older readers:

• The level of reflection that it supports is valuable for teachers at all levels to consider how they can closely examine how mindfully and intentionally they are using (or not using) assessments
• The concept that reading assessments should consider affective, global, and local assessments, rather than a more narrow view is still applicable
• The resource has flexibility to select from their provided assessments or adapt
• The resource provides an excellent framework for planning assessment throughout the year and recording data in a way that is manageable. Even if some aspects with the actual assessments need to be adapted for older grades, the helpful framework is still relevant.

While reading I could tell that some aspects were more appropriate for younger readers; yet, I thought about how that is where adaptation and/or differentiation comes in. For example, many adolescent readers that I have worked with did not need support with phonics, so I would not administer their local assessment related to this area to all students. In fact, even the authors recommend optimal grade levels to administer the assessment, rather than for all grades. Instead, it would be an aspect that I would keep in mind that may impact some of my older readers. When I notice that potential need for further support, then I would have ideas for assessments that may be appropriate. 

Another potential adaptation that I thought of as reading is that the authors provide a Reading Attitude and Identity Survey. It seemed very familiar to another survey that I was familiar with and previously used with my students, Adolescent Motivation to Read Profile (Pitcher et al., 2007), which was adapted from Gambrell et. al (1996). Once I double checked the article that talked about the adolescent version, I realized that they were similar because the survey provided in Accessible Assessment was also adapted from Gambrell et. al (1996) as well. Thus, teachers of adolescents who want to use the concept of being more cognizant of affective aspects in their classrooms could use or adapt the AMRP, rather than using the survey provided in the book. However, they could still use the rationale and suggestions of how to organize the data and consider teaching implications from Accessible Assessment.

The grade level reading passages included in Accessible Assessment only provide two passages each for grades 2-5, so this is another area that would need to be adapted for older readers. For the last few years I used QRI in my classroom. It provides a lot of informative information but can also be time-consuming. I had already made decisions, as suggested in the QRI text, in order to decide how I wanted to use the tool since it would be way too time-consuming to use it to its full capabilities with every single student; nonetheless, conducting QRIs still used quite a bit of class time. However, when reading Accessible Assessments, I liked some of their ideas about grade-level passages that aligned with their over-all concept of manageable assessments. Since the passages included with the resource would not be appropriate for most older readers, I would suggest trying out some of their ideas with grade-level passages from other resources. 

Overall, the underlying philosophy and beliefs behind Accessible Assessment, as well as the level of deep conversations that it inspires, transcend a wide range of age groups. This post contains a few of my thoughts on how I would utilize the resource with adolescents. While I pointed out some aspects that would need to be adapted for older students, there were many other ideas that would still be appropriate for older readers without adapting. Many aspects would nicely weave into the conferring portion of reading workshop. I am sure that other secondary teachers would also notice the value and would be able to add valuable contributions to an on-going discussion about assessment at the secondary level.

Articles cited:

Gambrell, L. B., Palmer, B. M., Codling, R. M., & Mazzoni, S. A. (1996). Assessing motivation to read. The Reading Teacher, 49, 518-533.

Pitcher, S. M., Albright, L. K., DeLaney, C. J., Walker, N. T., Seunarinesingh, K., Mogge, S. ... Dunston, P.J. (2007). Assessing adolescents' motivation to read. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(5), 378-396.

Focusing on Assessment: Accessible Assessment

I read Accessible Assessment: How 9 Sensible Techniques Can Power DATA-DRIVEN Reading Instruction in order to consider recommendation for inclusion as a required text for coursework at my university. When I first heard about the text, it captured my attention, seeming like it would be a good fit with the current context of education, including the move toward the Common Core State Standards. It also seemed to recognize the need for assessments that are meaningful and manageable. Furthermore, information I read about the book provided glimpses into the scope of the assessments, ranging from affective, global, and local, an aspect that stood out, knowing that they were not narrowly defining what counts for readers. I knew that I would want to take a close look at this resource because if it was as good as it sounded, it would have so much potential.

The back cover states, "Accessible Assessment isn't like many of today's complex, time-consuming assessment programs. It combines nine informal techniques into a manageable, calendarized framework that makes sense and drives highly targeted, differentiated instruction." Once I started reading, it was easy to see that the back cover provided a very accurate description.

Another asset of the text is the strong underlying layers of support for rich discussions. Not only did the authors outline their ideas and provide rationales for the inclusion, they provided a framework and encouraged discussions for deep reflection and dialogue. They made it clear that they were not simply "selling" their assessment ideas. For example, they stated, "Users of Accessible Assessment need to keep in mind that they can decide from among the nine assessments provided, from among those they currently use, or from research-based sources to design an assessment protocol that addresses affective, global, and local knowledge" (p. xv).

The introductory section frames the rest of the book by explaining their literacy beliefs and discussing four essential questions that they bring up while discussing each of the assessments throughout the text. They also provided a strong rationale for why they think the recommended assessments can have a positive impact on teachers and students, as well as an example of how one teacher could utilize the book, modeling the active participation involved in the assessment process, rather than approaching the resource with a receptive approach.

Following the introduction, the authors detail each of the assessments in a very user-friendly, organized fashion, divided by the three types of assessments (affective, global, and local). For each individual assessment within the three sections, the authors started with their four essential questions that not only scaffold reflective teaching but also provide a rationale for the assessment. Then they provide support materials (when applicable) and clear descriptions of the assessments, as well as suggestions for how to use the data. Each of the instructional implications sections highlighted whole-group instruction, small-group reading, independent reading, and cross-content suggestions. In addition, they provided specific examples of how to make the concepts present in the classroom. The end of each section was one of my favorites - teacher and student self-assessment, yet another layer to support continual development of capacity.

The end of the book includes further explanation of the assessment beliefs that drove their decision making process while creating this resource, drawing from research and experience. The following statement caught my attention, "The beliefs are an out-growth of our combined eighty years of experiences that span teaching and assessing reading in grade levels and content areas from kindergarten through college, and with both novice and veteran teachers," (p. 153).

The more I read, the more I loved it and recognized the value of the resource for a range of scenarios: higher education coursework, mentoring, teaching, summer literacy camps, etc. Though the text is marketed for grades 2-6, many of the assessments would still be relevant for older students. I will write a future post about what I would recommend for 6th-12th grade teachers. Their range of experiences (highlighted in the paragraph above) are very present in the text making it truly beneficial for educators in a variety of positions and at different stages in their careers. I will be recommending the text to the director at the school where I taught the last three years and to my department for inclusion in course(s).

Focusing on Assessment: The Hook Behind the Resources

I started this post intending to write about Accessible Assessment after talking a little bit about a common thread between it and So What Do They Really Know? Yet, I realized that my writing was going in another direction. I still had more to say about just why the types of assessments we use are so vital and as a result, why both of these texts hooked me because of their close alignment to my literacy beliefs.

The current context of education definitely has a sharp focus on data and assessment, yet I am at times worried with the type of assessments that are valued and the decisions that educators make about students based on limited data and/or without considering the full student. I know that at times teachers are not allowed to control some of the decision making process, and depending on the context, they may fall anywhere on a spectrum ranging from feeling like they are treated like a technician to feeling like a professional. Yet, I still have strong beliefs that regardless of where teachers encounter themselves, the more they understand about assessment and data the better, allowing them to carefully analyze expectations and practice in order to improve as a practitioner.

My dissertation in progress is a narrative inquiry, so I have been closely analyzing and considering my personal teaching experiences including both ends of the spectrum. My third year teaching, I was in a context where I mainly taught sixth graders with scripted reading instruction with strict expectations to follow the curriculum with fidelity, leaving little room for implementing other aspects that I highly valued.

At the time I was completing a practicum for my reading endorsement, and revisiting my practicum journal has reminded me just how conflicted I felt. The way that I taught that year clashed with my personal literacy philosophy, yet I did not necessarily feel confident that I "had all the answers". I knew what I would do if given the flexibility, but I also knew that along with that, I would need to have a supportive environment that would allow for space to build capacity over time.

During that year, placements were made primarily on measures of oral reading "fluency" (narrowly defined as speed) and in-program placement tests. I knew the needs of students in my classes were very different, and Marsha Riddle Buly influenced this thought process the summer prior when she taught a course that I attended while on exchange to Mexico. She shared articles* that she had written about findings from a study she and a colleague conducted about the varied needs of students who did not meet state assessments in Washington.

Experiences with one parent in particular stand out from that year - a parent who wanted answers, wanted to know what her child truly needed to grow as a reader. She checked in with me, as well as a couple of school leaders. I did not feel that she received the information she needed to know, a true diagnostic assessment. I was able to notice a lot about her in class, but the program and in-program assessments did not really get at the big picture, and I was told to focus on instruction. However, I knew that diagnostics and instruction were intertwined. This was an area where I would want to continually grow, and I knew that in order to truly understand my students' needs and have the flexibility to adapt instruction to tailor to those needs, I needed to look for a new position.

The few years after I had the opportunity to continually build on my base of knowledge and teach in a way that aligned with all those thoughts of how I would respond to student needs if I was not bound to a scripted program. I became familiar with a wider range of assessments and data, some more helpful than others and some easier than others to manage time-wise.

Based on my experiences, that is why as I read Accessible Assessment and So What Do They Really Know? the authors' assessment philosophies stood out so much. With those thoughts in mind, I think I will be ready to continue on with a look at each of these resources in my next posts.

*References for Riddle Buly articles.
Riddle Buly, M., & Valencia, S. W. (2002). Below the bar: Profiles of students who fail state reading assessments. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 24(3), 219-239.

Valencia, S. W., & Riddle Buly, M. (2004). Behind test scores: What struggling readers really need. The Reading Teacher, 57(6), 520-531.

Focusing on Assessment: What Really Matters?

Last week I mentioned that I would be doing a series of posts Focusing on Assessment, including thoughts about two books I just read, Accessible Assessment and So What Do They Really Know? In the next couple of days I will talk about each of these resources separately, but first I wanted to highlight one aspect that stood out right away as I was reading each of the books. Throughout the resources the intentionality behind assessments and the recognition that not all assessments and data are equally helpful for teachers was ever-present. All of the authors advocated for helpful assessments, those assessments that can truly provide teachers with data to inform instruction. 

As an educator, when reading resources, it is essential to see that the authors have an understanding of the current context of teaching and of the demands on teachers' times. The authors of both books did so. The resources were distinct, yet they had that common thread of strong convictions about why assessment is necessary and the types of assessments that they value. Ideas did not represent a narrow definition of assessment, but rather a clear understanding of various factors that teachers must consider in order to really know their students and their needs. 

Focusing on Assessment Series

Winter break is always a chance to catch my breath and to deeply reflect. This winter break I am reading different books, but a couple of the books that I am reading focus on assessment. I thought it was a perfect time of year to have a series on my blog centering around assessment.

For the last few years winter break was a time for me to read and assess writing work samples in English and in Spanish (1 in each language for each of my students). It was always time consuming to say the least, but I always loved the process because it gave me a chance to really notice and reflect on the writing in front of me, as well as what I knew about the students and insights into them as writers and readers from classroom interactions.

This year with my position in teacher preparation, I don't have any assignments to correct over the break since the term ended. Instead, I am enjoying reading, writing, and reflecting.

In this series, I will specifically focus on the following two books:

Accessible Assessment: How 9 Sensible Techniques Can Power DATA-DRIVEN Reading Instruction

So What Do They Really Know?: Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning

Deeper Reading

From the time I read Kelly Gallagher's Readicide, I knew that he was an educator whose writing would always catch my attention. It was a pleasure to finally read another of his books, Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12, and I am excited that I have a couple more of his books waiting to be read because once again I loved Gallagher's voice.

Last year, a colleague and I talked frequently about moving students toward a deeper level of understanding. As such, I closely connected with concepts I read about in Comprehension Going Forward this summer. As the title implies, Gallagher's book is another great contribution to an on-going conversation about moving beyond surface-level comprehension.

At the start of the book, he discusses baseball as a metaphor for the way that adolescents read. Drawing from experiences with his daughters, comparing their understanding of the game to his own, as well as watching them develop their knowledge-base over time, Gallagher made connections to adolescents as readers. Referring to his daughters and baseball, he stated, "They now read the game at a fairly sophisticated level, but they were taught how to do so. They did not acquire their skill spontaneously or randomly," (p. 3). The book continued on to explore implications for teachers to scaffold the way students read.

Published in 2004, this is one of Gallagher's earlier books; however, it is still highly relevant. While reading, I frequently thought about current discussion about the CCSS emphasizing a need for deep understanding. Gallagher's book is a blend of anecdotes, rationales for needs, and strategies to address needs. He explains each of the strategies and provides specific examples of many. It is evident that his suggestions are based on close-observation of students and intentional teaching over time. I have frequent notes in the margin of how I will implement his suggestions.

It felt great to finally read a professional development book for pleasure again. This break I am looking forward to reading more of the books that I have been wanting to read for  a long time.

Teacher Educator: Who I Am

This fall I did a lot of reflecting about who I am as an educator when I am not teaching in the context of middle school reading and writing workshop. It took a lot of reflecting to consider the type of teaching that I would do. I considered how other professors taught the content, and as such their course syllabi and assignments served as mentor texts. I was considering how to shift to a new teaching context and still have my teaching and learning philosophy present in my practice.

It is not like I never taught other content areas. I had taught ESL, Spanish, a 6th grade self-contained classroom, social studies, and a couple of adjunct teacher preparation courses... It was just that for the last year I had been so absorbed in workshop teaching, that it took me a while to zoom back out and closely consider who I would be as a teacher educator. I knew what I loved about teaching middle schoolers, especially with reading and writing. I knew from a course that I taught last spring that there were certain components that I loved with my middle schoolers that were present with adults, such as interacting/discussing content. I knew that one main role as a teacher educator was to frequently model various teaching practices, and to allow pre-service teachers space to construct their own understandings of who they want to be as teachers.

Thus, though I knew certain aspects at the onset, I still was not quite sure about others. I worried about aspects that I would miss. Nonetheless, over the course of this fall term, I realized that there are more aspects that transfer over to my current position than I had originally anticipated. Here were some of my realizations:

• Pre-service teachers can still use support with writing. There is a place for writer's workshop. Winter term I am excited to scaffold a couple of research paper assignments by utilizing workshop philosophy. Inspired by Penny Kittle, I will guide students through examining mentors of product, and I will write with my students as a mentor of process. 
• Along the same lines, students need support in other areas, such as content area reading. At the start of the course, I was thinking that reading books from my favorite education publishers focusing on k-12 education would be more of a special treat, an avenue to support k-12 teachers or to consider how I could have improved what I did as a teacher. However, I did not think they would be as highly relevant to my position in higher education. I thought I would really miss that excitement of reading and seeing ideas that would immediately apply to my practice. Yet, once again, to my delight I realized that many of the ideas did still apply. As I am finally getting a chance to read more professional development books for pleasure again, I am realizing that the texts serve to inform my practice, as well as providing ideas to share with students to supplement course texts. 
• Just because my students are adults now, and not middle schoolers, doesn't mean that they have everything all figured out. Some still need support in balancing various aspects of life and to have effective time management. Others need support in dealing with stress. Teacher-student connections are still highly important. There is a need to get to know students and to understand their strengths and areas for growth.

As I look at my list of realizations, I think, Of course that would be the case. I am not sure why I did not think of these aspects from the onset. Nonetheless, I have been glad to notice there are more constants in education of different age levels than I had initially realized. I started the year excited for a new opportunity to stretch myself as an educators, to learn and to grow. Yet, I was also worried that I might miss my regular teaching position too much.

The initial disconnect that I felt between who I was and who I was becoming as an educator was evident in the lack of blogging throughout the fall. I thought about how for so long my blog had narrowed in on workshop teaching, that I was not sure if my new experiences were relevant to this specific blog. As I have noticed more connections, I am realizing that indeed they are. 

I look forward to reading more professional development books, as well as blogging more regularly about my current experiences.

Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards

When I saw that NCTE had a new series of books focusing on implementation of the Common Core State Standards at different grade levels, I could not wait to read the middle school edition. Tonya Perry with Rebecca Manery wrote Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards: English Language Arts Grade 6-8. I appreciated that the authors emphasized the language in the standards highlighting the intent for the CCSS to provide guidance in what to teach while educators can still determine how to teach it. In contrast to other resources that appear to be disseminating their ideas as the way to implement the standards, this book provided a range of scenarios and contexts.

In the introduction, series editor Anne Ruggles Gere stated, "Regardless of teacher responses, the CCSS are now part of the educational landscape. But these standards do not replace the principles that guide good teaching. Some things remain constant regardless of new mandates. [...] This book is designed to support you in meeting the challenges posed by the CCSS. It stands on the principle that standards do not mean standardization or a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching," (pp. 2-3). These thoughts encompass well what we cannot forget as CCSS implementation rolls out. We should all play a role in considering whether implementations closely examine individual contexts or whether they simply try to seek the answer in how to implement the standards.

Before highlighting implementation scenarios, the book starts with a chapter titled "Demystifying the Common Core State Standards." Last week I was sharing the book in one of my literacy classes because I read it as part of my final project. A colleague stated that a diagram provided was the best she had seen in order to illustrate the set-up of the ELA standards. The question/answer format of the chapter also appealed to her.

In the section sharing how different schools have started to discuss and integrate the standards into their classrooms, the examples are coupled with questions/exercises to prompt other educators/schools to interpret the CCSS and consider their own contexts.

An excerpt from the final section of the book, Building, illustrates once again the emphasis of the text, "[...] building with the CCSS in mind does not mean checking boxes for individual standards; it means integrating a careful examination of the CCSS with the contexts and practices of our classrooms, always putting students at the center," (p. 68).

I thoroughly enjoyed the voice and tone of this book and would be excited to read the others in the series.

Adolescent Literacy at Risk?

I originally checked Rebecca Bowers Sipe's Adolescent Literacy at Risk? The Impact of Standards out from the library, in an attempt to not spend as much money on books; however, I quickly realized that I would want my own copy. I already have others in the NCTE Principles in Practice Adolescent Literacy series, and similar to those I already had, this book was thought-provoking and an important voice to add to the discussion on the current context of adolescent literacy.

When one of my professors saw the title, he was worried that the book might be too skewed against standards, rather than a balanced view. I explained to him that it actually was not. Far from it, Sipe provided a knowledgeable voice sharing her rich experiences with and historical information about the standards movement. While she discusses a range of standards, one large focus in the book outlined her experiences co-authoring Michigan's English standards and then seeing implementation into classrooms.

While reading the book, I thought about how standards in and of themselves are not necessarily good or bad, but rather the process involved with implementation is vital. This will be key to keep in mind with the Common Core State Standards. As educators we need to advocate for dialogues about how to implement the standards into our contexts with a close eye on our students needs, rather than seeking one-size-fits-all solutions.

Here are some quotes that stood out to me from the text:

"As standards came to represent high expectations, it became increasingly clear that for higher standards to succeed, we could never entertain notions of standardization in our interpretation or delivery of them," (p. 11).

"The movement to more finite descriptions was intended to offer teachers of definition of what should be considered across a program of study, not a prescription for what had to happen in a particular unit of instruction. This is an important distinction, and one we felt strongly about. Standards, not standardization, drove our work," (p. 32).

"To our frustration, the message that was so central to our work--local development of curriculum based in these inclusive standards--has gotten somewhat lost along the way," (p. 33).

"Standards provide a definition of what is possible, but standards are not curriculum documents," (p. 41).

"If standards are to achieve even a portion of their early promise--and I still believe this is possible--educators everywhere must consider carefully the role of standards in curricular planning, and collectively we must avoid being bogged down in an assembly line approach to covering expectations that fails to fully account for organic and fluid instruction that good teaching represents," (p. 43).

These are just a handful of excerpts that caught my attention while reading that are even more powerful when read in context of the whole book. Throughout the text Sipe emphasized the need for dialogue.

We can all ask ourselves:

What am I doing to influence the way in which Common Core State Standards are implemented at my school/in my community?