Wednesday, September 12, 2012


 

Assessment Plan
Dawn Stevane
EDU645: Learning & Assessment for the 21st Century (MRB1231B)
Instructor:  Richard Newman
September 11, 2012

 
            I choose to do my assessment plan on poetry, I love poetry and figured to find a way to teach the children so they can share the same love as I do. The purpose of this plan is to be able to teach the children to master organization skills. Using this plan will help students show how they learned to organize what they have been taught.  While using this plan the students will be able to show their learning outcomes by demonstrating how they can use their organization skills in and out of school. I think that the children will learn through my plan that reading poems or any other literature is fun.

            When it comes to the assessment context of the assessment the students will be able to demonstrate the different types of poems in their journals. One of the main purposes of this assessment is to be able to support the learning outcomes of organization that will be used with the following types of lessons such as essays, fill in the blanks and multiple choice questions. This type of test was chosen because it is design to test to see how they are understanding what they have learned and to let them know that because the right words is in the answer does not mean that that is the correct answer and that they should read the whole answer and look at all the other choices to ensure them of picking the correct answer because everything that looks right doesn’t mean that it is right.

            In the assessment context the students and I will use this time to be creative, I believe teaching and modeling what the students are learning, if the teacher follows the steps to writing poetry the students will follow the steps as well. The students will have to be, good listeners in order to follow instructions for their final presentation at the end of this session. During this unit week’s student will be assessed, by multiple choice questions, oral exam, journal writing skills, short answer and essay questions.  

            The Holistic rubric does not list all the separate levels of performance for each criterion but instead it assigns a level of performance. The holistic rubric does tend to be used when a quick or gross judgment needs to be made. But if the assessment is a minor one such as homework it may be sufficient to use the holistic judgment to check or review the student’s work then this should be good enough just for this purpose only.

            When we do an assessment there is some testing constraints that can be used when testing that can be imposed on the students that need to be in place in order for them to be able to achieve the highest level of accomplishment that is possible. There has to be enough time for the students to be able to take the test so that they will not feel that they need to rush and by doing this they will have plenty of time to time the test without pressure. It is also the teacher’s part to make sure that other children will not be allowed to cause distractions while the other children are taking their test. The teacher will have behavior plans that will be put in place to prevent distractions. When having the children learn to not bother the other children you are teaching them the skills that they need to understand and be respectful.    

            Writing an essay can be very important when it is being used for the students to understand how important it is when they know how to use the functions that goes along with using the five management skills of organization. The learning outcome behind the essay is to get the students to know what the instruction objective because they need to know that there may be times that there will be advantages and disadvantages to using these types of management depending on the formats that could influence the choices of their answers. The questions should

Be centered on the ages of the children. The question was designed to be able to support what they have learned. The learning outcome need to be developmental appropriate for the students to be able to understand what was taught to them and be able to execute the same results when given the information on a test.

            The students will be provided with all the materials need for them to be able to be prepared for the test such as paper, pencils and the test questions. If the students have all the material needed for the test they should do well on it. The amount of time given is 60 minutes totally for completing a performance test. Student were given materials four sheets of school lined paper stapled together alone with two number pencils. Verbal and written instruction about completing their essay paper were to be at least one page writing about the author and instructions on how to answer and define vocabulary words.

             Students were instructed to do their best but to circle any question they were unsure of and return back to before the testing session ended. Remain seated and sit quietly until all tests have been completed and turned in. All students will have knowledge of the scoring criteria that is inserted into their testing materials; the scorning system is consistent and fair. There is one proctor assigned to class during testing sessions students may not ask her help in reading materials. The second testing session students will be assigned to a computer and given one hour to create a power point presentation to demonstrate prior knowledge what they have learned, for this is a very weighted score. By now parents and students should know the standards by which I will score their project and assessment. Information used from (Kubiszyn & Borich, pg.201, 202). 

            After reading some of Shel Silverstein pomes I began to think of activities and ways to introduce poetry writing to my struggling fourth grade language arts class. In addition, the purpose of my assessment plan will function as a guide for me during my teaching career as it allows me to stay on track, the sole purpose is to remember what was taught in this course that “instructional objectives should be a clear and concise statement of skill or skills that your students will be expected to perform after a unit of instruction” (Kubiszyn & Borich, pg.110, 2010).  Let’s see where our poetry writing journey will take us. My 4th grade Language Arts class will be expected to write poetry and define the terms.
 

References:

Kubiszyn, T. & Borich, G. (2010). Educational testing & measurement: Classroom application and practice (9th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ.



Purpose and Learning Outcome, Assessment Context, Holistic Rubric & Testing Constraints


Grade 4

Subject Language Arts: Poetry Writing

Purpose:

The purpose of this Poetry writing project is to develop an assessment plan, as I bring this course to an end I first need to take my journey a step further having knowledge how to organize, reliable method of teaching, learning and assessment plans for field of early education. In my reading and through our assignment it is important to have a strong objective and learning outcomes are also important for this assessment plan. My intention is to demonstrate to my students reading poems or any literature can be fun.  After reading some of Shel Silversteim pomes I began to think of activities and ways to introduce poetry writing to my struggling fourth grade language arts class. In addition, the purpose of my assessment plan will function as a guide for me during my teaching career as it allows me to stay on track, the sole purpose is to remember what was taught in this course that “instructional objectives should be a clear and concise statement of skill or skills that your students will be expected to perform after a unit of instruction” (Kubiszyn & Borich, pg.110, 2010).  Let’s see where our poetry writing journey will take us. My 4th grade Language Arts class will be expected to write poetry and define the terms.

Learning Objective:

The skills that I wanted my students to focus on are the writing activities and journal writing. I will be grading on creativity, neatness. Student and parents will receive a rubric assessment for this unit, that would assess the student’s proficiency after completing the three week poetry writing unit and activities and their journal writing exercises; and a Journal Checklist that would be used for following the guidelines to assess the content knowledge they learned.

Learning Outcomes:

We will spend time learning to analyze, reading the biography of Shel Silverstein as well as memorize a poem, individually recite a poem, recite poetry together as a class, improve their pronunciation skills.

Assessment Context:

In the assessment context the students and I will use this time to be creative, I believe teaching and modeling what the students are learning, if the teacher follows the steps to writing poetry the students will follow the steps as well. The students will have to be, good listeners in order to follow instructions for their final presentation at the end of this session. During this unit week’s student will be assessed, by multiple choice questions, oral exam, journal writing skills, short answer and essay questions.  

 

The following Journal Checklist will be used to assess the content of this assignment:

 Does the journal:

1. Demonstrate the acquisition of key skills?

2. Include tips and discussion notes?

3. Include original poetry?

4. Include activities and pre writing exercises?

Holistic Rubric:

While creating the holistic rubric for this assignment my “students are required to have knowledge and remember testing items such as apply what they have learned, analyze, created, fine and identify” (Kubiszyn & Borich, pg.118, 2010

Grading Percentage                                                              Percent

Oral Discussions                                                                      10%

Paper Pencil Test                                                                     25%

Creative Writing                                                                       25%    

Project                                                                                     40%

Total:                                                                                       100%                                      

Rubrics

Below are the test items and scoring rubric, the rubrics are used to assess students’ proficiency with poetry writing activities. Students will be evaluated on whether they are improving or whether they may need additional instructional help or support from the teacher or support team.

Scoring

5                      Proficient                  A high degree of competence.

4                      Capable                    An above average degree of competence.

3                      Satisfactory              A satisfactory degree of competence.

2                      Emerging                  A limited degree of competence.     

1                      Beginning                 No Key elements are adequately developed.

 

 

Testing Constraints:

The amount of time given is 60 minutes totally for completing a performance test. Student were    given materials four sheets of school lined paper stapled together alone with two number pencils. Verbal and written instruction about completing their essay paper were to be at least one page writing about the author and instructions on how to answer and define vocabulary words. Students were instructed to do their best but to circle any question they were unsure of and return back to before the testing session ended. Remain seated and sit quietly until all tests have been completed and turned in. All students will have knowledge of the scoring criteria that is inserted into their testing materials; the scorning system is consistent and fair. There is one proctor assigned to class during testing sessions students may not ask her help in reading materials. The second testing session students will be assigned to a computer and given one hour to create a power point presentation to demonstrate prior knowledge what they have learned, for this is a very weighted score. By now parents and students should know the standards by which I will score their project and assessment. Information used from (Kubiszyn & Borich, pg.201, 202). 

 

 

References:

 

Kubiszyn, T. & Borich, G. (2010). Educational testing & measurement: Classroom application and practice (9th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ.

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/shel_silverstein/poems/14833

 

 

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Validity, Reliability, and Accuracy


Validity, Reliability, and Accuracy
Dawn Stevane
EDU645: Learning & Assessment for the 21st Century (MRB1231B)
Instructor:  Richard Newman
September 3, 2012
 
            Week five assignment is to choose a learning outcome and draft an assessment that supports the outcome and also explain how you used validity and reliability in your assessment. I will use the poem Batty by Shel Silverstein. I will read the poems from Shel Silverstien and this will help the children by using rhyme and repetition. By reading these poems to the children they will help the children to gain their memorization skills and learn to create an enjoyment and interest in poetry. Even though they are short they are just the right poems to try and figure out what the message is in the poems.

            The learning outcomes will be:

The student will memorize a poem, the student will individually recite a poem, the students will recite poetry together as a class, and the students will improve their pronunciation skills.

 

 The objective to the first lesson will be the children will start to recognize the rhyming words from each line. The children are given a copy of two poems.

Test Item:

The students will read the poem to try and memorize it. The students will find the rhyming words in each line. Then will answer questions to figure out what the poem is about.

Questions about poem one are; What words rhyme with light?,  How many times is the word light used?,  Does the word light have the same meaning each time it is used?,  When is light used as a noun, verb, or an adjective?

Questions for poem two are; What words rhyme with rain?, What word rhymes with head?, When is rain used as a noun, verb, or an adjective?

 Poem 1 Batty By Shel Silverstein

 The baby bat

 Screamed out in fright,

 “Turn on the dark,

 I’m afraid of the light.”

 Poem 2 Rain by Shel Silverstein

I opened my eyes

And looked up at the rain,

And it dripped in my head

And flowed into my brain,

And all that I hear as I lie in my bed

Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.

 I step very softly,

I walk very slow,

I can't do a handstand--

I might overflow,

So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said--

I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.

 

            When the class has finished reading the poem they will discuss what they have learned and then they will write in their journals about the poem and also try and write a poem in their own words about the poem the read or anything they can think of. Then they will compare the poems of everyone else and look how the poem should be written while the teacher writes it in the board with the correct punctuation. The teacher will ask the students which poems are similar and why. The will also discuss which poem they liked and which poems they disliked and why. The students will write these notes in their journal so they can have all different types of poems in their journal to research the different kinds of poems.

            Then the children will read other poems form the author of the first poem and compare each poem because they are all different and have different styles. Some poems are short and some poems are long, some have rhyming words and others don’t have a word that rhymes at all. After writing their own poem in their journal the children will draw a picture that represents what they think their poem means.

Hypothetical Assessment

            I have chosen theoretical; if students were assessed on every element of the learning outcomes (e.g. multiple choice items, essay items, authentic assessment, true false, matching etc.) then the teacher would have covered every learning objective describe. If the students researched, listen to the read materials, took notes completed their journal writing assignments, explained and defined the major differences of poems, drama, and prose, were able to refer to the structural elements of the follow writing process to create poetry at first glance this should have been fairly easy.  

            The class should be able to relate and make a connection to the author by following the provided activities creating a list of words using nouns and adjectives as well as brainstorming, and writing ideas for their own poems this was in the first day of introduction to poetry writing.

The objective was to introduce students to Poetry Writing; by expanding their knowledge through visual connections, auditory while learning and explaining the terms and having fun do this project. The student should be able to demonstrate proficiency when completing the test items.

Testing Constraints

Students were told to do their best but not to spend too much time on a question they were unsure of but to circle the number and if  time permits return to that question and work on the question some more. At best students will have to apply their cognitive thinking skill. The teacher will write on the board the time they may begin and the time they will end. A 10 minute warning will be announces down to times up. The students will be provided testing materials two number two pencils and each student will be given four stapled sheets of paper to record their answers on. The students will be instructed what to do next. Write complete sentences and at least one page essay about the author and add at least three or more sentences to complete poem one and poem two.

Rubrics

Below are the test items and scoring rubric these rubrics are used to assess students’ proficiency with poetry writing activities.

5 -                    Proficient
4                      Capable                                  

3                      Satisfactory                           

2                      Emerging                                    

1                      Beginning                                 

            In conclusion I will make sure that the children learn the lesson before I move on. I will go over it until the children understand it. I will also have after and before school help of the children need it. It is important to make sure that the children understand  a lesson before moving on.

 References:

Kubiszyn, T. & Borich, G. (2010). Educational testing & measurement: Classroom application and practice (9th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ.




 

 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Analyzing and Improving a Test using Statistics


Analyzing and Improving a Test Using Statistics
Dawn Stevane
EDU645: Learning & Assessment for the 21st Century (MRB1231B)
Richard Newman
August 27, 2012

 

            The Mean Score for Each Question

            What is the definition of mean? Mean is the average of the numbers. A good question is how we find the mean score for each question? I had to research it because it has been a long time since I had a math course. You find the mean by adding up all the numbers, then dividing by how many numbers there are.  The questions provided had five questions each of the questions had a total based upon ten students. The first question had a total of 18, the second question had a total of 14, the third question had a total of 2, the fourth question had a total of 20, and the fifth question had a total of 2.  There were a total of 56; if you divided the total by 5 questions then you will get 11.2. The mean score for each question is 11.2. These scores reflect what the students may have scored on each question.

            The Mean Score for the Entire Test

The mean score for the entire test can be calculated by also finding the average for each question and then divided the sum by the number of students and questions. The sum for the scores of each question is 56.  There are ten students that may have been administered the test so we can add the tenth student to the sum of the score for the test of 56 and also add the number of questions and then divide the three (students, questions, and sum of score). The mean score for the entire test is 23.6. I came up with this score by adding the sum of 56 to the amount of students which was 10, and also adding the number of question, which is 5, and then divide the total by three entities of the questions, students, and sum of scores.

 

 

 

A Graph that Represents the Scores

 

 



 

 

 

            Qualitative and Quantitative analysis are used to find the bad items on a test. Quantitative item analysis is a numerical method for analyzing a test items utility, with data that can be measured (Kubiszyn and Borich, 2010). Away to remember Quantitative is quantitative equal’s quantity. Qualitative item analysis is non-numerical method for analyzing a test items utility, with data that can be observed not measured (Kubiszyn and Borich, 2010). A way to remember Qualitative is qualitative equals quality. In this chart it shows the scoring that each student received for the questions. The quantitative items in such chart show the analysis of the questions whereas the qualitative analysis reflects the amount of students that test was administered to. The qualitative analysis of the test shows the more subjective part of the chart, and the quantitative analysis was more objective. The quantitative analysis of the chart would be taking the ten students who have selected correct answers and divide by the total number of students who made an attempt. Student 5 answered all five questions correctly, whereas there were nine other students who did make an attempt to answer all of the answers correctly.

            The test questions that were given to each student were to short and did not give the test taker enough evidence to use qualitative and quantitative research. There was enough evidence to be able to evaluate the qualitative research. But, the quantitative item analysis assesses the quality of the chart and it was able to identify the distracters that are not doing what they should be doing. The Quantitative part of the test was the questions were multiple-choice questions. In using the mean score of the questions, I found that quantitative was also utilized as quantitative is taking the total number of students who select the correct answer and then divide that by the number of students who attempted the item.

 

            By observing the answers from students in this graph, we can determine if miskeying has taken place, did the student guess or was there ambiguity. This is where qualitative item analysis plays a part in determining if the problem is a lack of mastery or a poorly written item. Qualitative item analysis checks the validity of the item and any technical faults that may exist. You want to match items and objectives and edit any items that are poorly written. The benefits of these two types of analysis are that they must be used together to get the best results. They allow you to find out where the problem areas are and make sure your test questions past the validity test.

            In my opinion there is no test or score that is completely valid or reliable “the tests come with varying degrees of goodness” Kubiszn & Borich (Chapt. 18). If they are used together than the teachers can grade the tests effectively. Their benefits to learning and assessment are “they help us decide whether to retain or eliminate an item, which distracters should be modified or eliminated, whether an item is miss keyed, whether guessing occurred, and whether ambiguity is present—quantitative analysis” (Kubiszyn and Borich, 2010). The risks to learning and assessment if these types of analyses are not administered are as follows: Qualitative analysis is limited because it shows the items that have errors but it doesn’t help you to find them. Quantitative analysis is timely and the teachers can get very frustrated using type of analysis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Kubiszyn, T. & Borich, G. (2010). Educational testing & measurement: Classroom application and practice (9th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ.

 



 

 

 

 

Response to Intervention


 

Response to Intervention (RTI) Approach
Dawn Stevane
EDU645: Learning & Assessment for the 21st Century (MRB1231B)
Instructor:  Richard Newman
August 6, 2012

 
           Response to intervention is a system that uses assessments, instruction, and decision making to help students with and without special needs. It is made up of three tiers of an intense intervention for those students who need help. The first and largest tier is where about eighty percent of the students, they will stay at this level throughout their schooling. The second tier is where those students who had trouble with tier one will be helped more and this is usually about fifteen percent of the students in the school. The third tier is when the student is still having trouble and will be refereed for a full evaluation to see if the student is qualified for special education services. The students will go back to tier one if they understand and if not then they will stay in tier two until they get the information, if not then they will move to the third tier and be evaluated.

            Tier one is the first is when all students are tested to see which children are need help in the specific academic areas. If after the children finish the testing and they are not in need of any extra help the will go back in to the regular class. The children that still need help will go in to the second tier. The second tier is for the students that need a little more help, they will receive more help and take tests again to see if they made any progress. If they made progress they will go back to the regular class. If they did not get it then they will go to the third tier of the program. At this stage the children have individualized help depending on what they need help with. Like for example reading, math, and speech.

            Implementing RTI in the classroom is a challenge and is not as hard as you think it is. First you have to figure out what the child needs by making a plan to figure out what services that child needs help with. It is also important to make sure that the implementations at culturally responsive and evidence based assessments that will be easy to understand. Making sure that you have ongoing meetings like ppt’s, to discuss the child’s progress and if they are getting it and need more help. If they need help then you can change the plan to help them understand it or help them move ahead. There is lot of benefits from using the RTI approach, one of them is the early detection of children with special needs. It also helps the children that enter school that have trouble reading and speaking English as well. Once they identify which students are struggling, they would be monitored to see if they understand and then they can move up in their education if they are understanding. RTI is an education reform that is starting to be used in the classrooms all across the world. RTI helps determine the difference in the poor instruction to a students learning delay. The RTI model will help suggest that a student’s disability may need special education programs and services.

            The challenges that the teacher face with the RTI approach is; that they think that some children will be misdiagnosed that they have a disability they not even have one. Another challenge is when the people that implemented the RTI approach move on to another school and the teachers just go back to what they used to do and say that every child had disability and the really didn’t when they used the RTI approach. Ways to overcome the challenges is to keep using the RTI approach and don’t stop using it when the children are doing better.  Also I would just make sure that the teachers understood that the RTI approach is a good thing and if we keep using it, it will help both students with disabilities and children without disabilities. The children without disabilities will be helped on areas that they are falling behind and that they don’t understand. For the students with disabilities they will get help and they will not be misdiagnosed while using the RTI approach.

            There are three main reasons why early intervention in a child’s education is very important to get a child ready to be able to do well in their society. A child learns more and develops quickly when they are in pre-school. This is the best opportunity to give them all the knowledge as possible because their brain is absorbing it. Timing is a very important part of early intervention in a child’s education. If a teacher doesn’t take advantage of this the child will have difficulty learning a skill at a different time.

            The children will also have a higher self-esteem when they learn and depend less on people helping them. Education is very important aspect in a child’s life as they grow older and become a productive part of the society. It will also open up a great a lot of great opportunities for you as well. RTI approach will help a child have more knowledge that will help them to solve any problem that comes their way. The teachers will also be able to have a smooth running classroom if every child feels comfortable in the classroom, they will learn better and not make the classroom as stressful.

            Is early intervention really cost effective? That is a good question some people will say yes and some would say that it is up what you resources you know and if you know how to use them properly to get what you need. The highly specialized, comprehensive services necessary to produce the desired developmental gains are often, on a short-term basis, more costly than traditional school-aged service delivery models (Kidsource). A study showed that children that start out as early as preschool will not need as much special education if they start early with help on the areas that they need help in.

             There are also three critical features to make sure that early inventions programs are effective. The three program features are: (a) the age of the child at the time of intervention; (b) parent involvement; and (c) the intensity and/or the amount of structure of the program model (Kidsource). Like I said before the earlier that you start with the diagnosis and the intervention the better the child will receive his/her education. Having the parents involved in the child’s education is very important and it also will help the parent because they can get ideas and suggestion on how to handle certain things at home. Also by doing this this will make the stress on parents and this will make the children more comfortable in the classroom.

             The RTI teachers should be open to change in how students are identified for intervention; how interventions are selected, designed, and implemented; how student performance is measured and evaluated; how evaluations are conducted; and how decisions are made, members of the observation team when the child’s learning problems involve reading, service providers in the RTI process, sharing expertise with the other professionals on the team, suggesting interventions that are integrally connected with the core reading program used

in the classroom, and be willing to adapt a more systemic approach to serving schools, including a workload that reflects less traditional service delivery and more consultation and collaboration in general education classrooms (reading.org).

            When the RTI specialist is serving the children they should be patient and provide them with a fun and relaxing environment to learn in. The specialist should also get together with the teacher and parent to start early intervention in the school as well as at home. It is also important to observe the children in the home as well as in the school. The ways to improve and keep RTI going is easy to do but you need the right people who care about the children. The first way is for the teacher and or specialist makes sure that he/she evaluates the achievement of the student. Make sure that the student receives the help that the need until they are not needed anymore. Make sure that the plan change as the children grows and doesn’t need that plan anymore.

           

           

           

References:

Kubiszyn, T. & Borich, G. (2010). Educational testing & measurement: Classroom application and practice (9th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ.