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Think, pair, share can be used at the beginning, middle or end of a lesson. The teacher posses a question or problem and the student starts out thinking on their own. Then the students will collaborate with a peer. Last but not least the students then share with the class their answer. This is a great tool to give students a chance to try it first on their own but then get support from a peer. Also, sharing with the class after talking to a peer receives a lot of pressure. This is an ideal tool for students that are not confident in their skills and students that need motivation by intreating with a class activity. A weakness of think, pair, share is that some students might not work well in pairs.

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The Think-Pair-Share strategy is designed to differentiate instruction by providing students time and structure for thinking on a given topic, enabling them to formulate individual ideas and share these ideas with a peer. This learning strategy promotes classroom participation by encouraging a high degree of pupil response, rather than using a basic recitation method in which a teacher poses a question and one student offers a response.

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Teachers can conference with their students during a lesson to see the student's understanding of the concept. Teachers and students can have one on one conferences where the teacher asks questions about their understanding and can scaffold to help the student. Teachers can also have have group conferences to talk to the students about what they know and what they have questions about. Teachers can take notes to keep track of the student's level based on the conversations and observations. Students that do not speak up in front of the class benefit from this one on one time to talk things through. Also students that are stuck benefit from the scaffolding. However, this assessment is time consuming.

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By: Adrienne Lanier

Recently, I had to take my son to the pediatrician for what I only knew as a stubborn, uncooperative ringworm. I had been treating the infection with what I knew best. Well, actually I started with my grandmother's "tried and true" home remedy of bleach! Once I realized it wasn't working, I stepped back into the 21st century and tried a topical cream. Every day the same routine, cream in the morning before school then cream and a bandage at night before bed. I had been going through this process for over 3 weeks with no success so I decided to go to the doctor.

I was confident, I would surely find the answer to my concern. When the doctor began his examination, I knew I needed to prepare myself for the dreaded question, "What have you tried?" I teetered for a bit wondering if I should truly share my experimentation with Grandma's old school solution. My response, "Ah, hydrocortisone cream " He paused for a moment and I knew I was in for it. You see, I knew deep down my strategy with the bleach was clearly an 'old wives tale', but I was sure I should have had the upper hand with the topical cream.

Just as I worked very hard to rid my son of the ringworm with what I thought would attack the problem, as teachers we often work tirelessly to correct errors in our student's thought processes or procedures. One reliable best practice I often used in my classroom was teacher-student conferences. These conferences allowed me an opportunity to work with each of my students to specifically target their strengths and weaknesses. This time spent talking to students in either a small group or individually gave me a chance to actually see where they were struggling. I was able to readily distinguish my students who didn't understand the structure of a text, how to think about the text while reading to understand or even their individual struggles with word attack strategies.

With so many initiatives for teachers to 'fit in a school day, teacher-student conferences were definitely not something I was completely open to initially. However, with a little research and practice, I began to see the light at the end of the foggy tunnel. A few tips helped me, and more importantly, my students, create a positive momentum towards an exceptional achievement.

1. Be sure to have a specific purpose for your conference. Whether you need to set goals with your students or to teach the student a particular skill, setting a purpose is essential. This gives the teacher an opportunity to chunk learning and students are able to meet attainable and personal goals.

2. Use the press-release strategy versus diving right into the process. We must model effective conversations. If we jump in head first, our students will depend on us to give them the answers without being an active participant, and we are doomed before we start. Instead, create a conversational structure and model it for your students. This may take more than a few attempts but, before you know it, you will be able to release responsibility to them during conferences.

3. Flexibility is key! There are times when conferences call for you to meet with students individually while other times allow for group conferences. If you have several students struggling with writing using various sentence beginnings, meet with the group at once. Although the students are in the same group, they may be able to see how their classmates are using their sentence beginnings and assist one another with recognizing and over-coming this learning curve. If students are needing more individual attention, then set aside time to meet with students one-on-one. Allow flexibility as the time to do which type of conference will be revealed through student needs and data analysis.

4. Keep it short and safe. Remember, this is a time to support the student's learning. We should keep it short as we do not want to overwhelm students with too many tasks at one time, especially on a skill they are showing weaknesses. Ensure the conference environment is safe. Students thrive when they are allowed to take risks. If a student does not feel as though they can make mistakes, they will generally shut-down and give up or get discouraged. School is known as the places for flags without the penalties. This is the one place students are given an opportunity for a do-over or multiple do-overs, if needed.

Student-teacher conferences provide a unique experience for teachers to meet with students to ensure they are employing the best strategies to achieve their maximum potential. I used to love the cliche "practice makes perfect", until I realized my students were practicing but, they were practicing incorrectly, which leads to even more confusion and frustration for both the student and the teacher.

This brings me back to that day in the doctors office reflecting on my "practice" of treating my sons ringworm. I was using what I thought I knew to be best but, my "parent-doctor" conference helped us both realize, I had the right consistency but, the wrong application. Now, my mantra is "Perfect Practice Makes Perfect!" What do you think about teacher student conferences?

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The Importance of Teacher-Student Conferences

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By: Adrienne Lanier Recently, I had to take my son to the pediatrician for what I only knew as a stubborn, uncooperative ringworm. I had been treating the infection with what I knew best. Well, actually I started with my grandmother's "tried and true" home remedy of bleach!

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The teacher will brainstorm with the class before he or she begins the lesson. The teacher will ask the class what they know about the subject to understand their prior knowledge. A strength of this tool is students helping students pull all the information they know about the subject together. A class brainstorm itudents that enjoy class discussion from this assessment but students that do not speak up in front of the class do not benefit as much.

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Formative Assessments: Why, When & Top 5 Examples

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Pretests are given at the beginning of the unit to see what the students knows about the unit. This helps the teacher know what to teach. The weakness of pretests is that students can get nervous when they are given a test even though it is not taken as a grade. When students are intimidated by the test format they might not show their full knowledge. The strength of a pretest is in the variety of ways the teacher can use the data to strengthen their teaching from the beginning of the unit.

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The teacher can assign two roses and a thorn for the students to reflect after a lesson. Students write down and turn in two things they understand and one thing they still have questions about. This way the teacher will know what she need to reteach. The teacher can see who the struggling students are without the rest of the class knowing. This tool can also be used as structure for peer reviews. As a peer review the student can write down two thing their peer did well in their assignment and one thing they need to improve on. This can be beneficial for students that need structure with their notes and students that do not speak up. A down fall to this tool is the writing skills required, therefor this would not be easy for younger grades.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Students can turn in a draft of what they have completed for feedback. The student is displaying what they know but are given the chance to get feedback on what they did well and receive help on what they need to improve on. The students' drafts can be peer review or teacher reviewed. The teacher can take note on what students are struggling with and can reteach or reexplain directions. This helps students that do not see their mistakes easily. It makes the students aware of their strengths and weaknesses. The weakness is some students might not put in their full effort if they know they are going to have someone help them fix everything in their paper.

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Formative assessment

The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. More specifically, formative assessments:

help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work

help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately

Formative assessments are generally low stakes, which means that they have low or no point value. Examples of formative assessments include asking students to:

draw a concept map in class to represent their understanding of a topic

submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a lecture

turn in a research proposal for early feedback

Summative assessment

The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.

Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value. Examples of summative assessments include:

Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.

CONTACT US to talk with an Eberly colleague in person!

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Formative vs Summative Assessment - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University

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After a concept in taught to the class the teacher will ask all of the students to show with their hands how well they understand. One finger is the lowest level of understanding and five fingers is the highest level of understanding. This can be used during instruction to gage weather the teacher can move on or needs to explain it again. Students that don't understand at first benefit from having the chance to communicate that to the teacher without having to call attention to their selves. This is the quickest way for the teacher to assess during a lesson but there is no proof that students understand as much as they are communicating with their fingers.

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Formative Assessments: Why, When & Top 5 Examples

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Midterm exam's reinforce and evaluate what students have learned halfway through the course. This allows students to demonstrate what they have learned without having to study an overwhelming amount of content waiting until the end of the course to be tested. It breaks up the information to help the students that get overwhelmed with a large work load. It is important to measure students achievement and knowledge of the subject but on the other hand students can have testing anxiety when in testing environments.

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Exams are a great way to reinforce and evaluate students' understanding of the course content and main ideas. There are several different ways to approach exams including an in-class essay, short essays, multiple choice, short answer, fill in the blank, matching, quote/passage identification, character identification, etc. with plenty of flexibility for what an instructor deems important. Most instructors that choose to assign exams give both a midterm and final, though some just choose a comprehensive final. Of those who do give both, the midterm and final exam often look similar in style and content so students can expect consistency in the testing methods. Many instructors choose to test the first half of the course's information in the middle of the semester through a midterm and the rest of the semester at the final. In other words, the course's information is not cumulative and lets students focus on the most current concepts so they do not need to remember trivial details such as minor characters from the first text at the end of the semester.

Midterm Exams: Midterm exams often come at the midpoint in the semester. As stated previously in the overview, instructors sometimes divide the class into two sections so that the course's information is not cumulative. This strategy emphasizes making the overall picture or most recent concepts most important instead of testing on characters or plot lines from the first text of the semester.

Midterm Exam Examples:

Final Exams: Final exams are similar to midterms except given at the end of the semester. Keep in mind that according to university policy,

"Final examination week is part of the regular semester. Student attendance shall be consistent with University policy. The final in-class examination period is intended for the end-of-semester examination. No in-class examination constituting more than 10% of the final course grade may be given in undergraduate courses during the week preceding the final examination period of the semester; laboratory, performance and other alternative classes (e.g., courses in the individualized mathematics program) excluded."

This does not indicate that instructors must give a final, only that they must use the time. If you do decide to give a final, here are a few sample finals to give you ideas for your own. Many of them follow the same format and structure of the midterm exams.

Final Exam Examples:

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Exams are a great way to reinforce and evaluate students' understanding of the course content and main ideas. There are several different ways to approach exams including an in-class essay, short essays, multiple choice, short answer, fill in the blank, matching, quote/passage identification, character identification, etc.

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End of the unit tests is given to the students at the end of the unit when all of the content has been taught and they are going to move to the next unit. Students are given a series of written questions reflecting the content in the unit. The format of the questions can come in a variety of forms such as multiple choice, true or false, fill in the balk, and short answer. The test is used to see if the students reached the goals of the unit before the teacher moves onto the next unit. The teacher can use the information from the test for the next unit if the unit is related to the previous one. Many students are motivated to practice and reinforce the concepts learned through out the unit to study for a unit test. However, Students with testing anxiety and/or trouble focusing can snuggle with unit tests.

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Summative assessments are used to evaluate student learning, skill acquisition, and academic achievement at the conclusion of a defined instructional period-typically at the end of a project, unit, course, semester, program, or school year. Generally speaking, summative assessments are defined by three major criteria:

The tests, assignments, or projects are used to determine whether students have learned what they were expected to learn. In other words, what makes an assessment "summative" is not the design of the test, assignment, or self-evaluation, per se, but the way it is used-i.e., to determine whether and to what degree students have learned the material they have been taught.

Summative assessments are given at the conclusion of a specific instructional period, and therefore they are generally evaluative, rather than diagnostic-i.e., they are more appropriately used to determine learning progress and achievement, evaluate the effectiveness of educational programs, measure progress toward improvement goals, or make course-placement decisions, among other possible applications.

Summative-assessment results are often recorded as scores or grades that are then factored into a student's permanent academic record, whether they end up as letter grades on a report card or test scores used in the college-admissions process. While summative assessments are typically a major component of the grading process in most districts, schools, and courses, not all assessments considered to be summative are graded.

Summative assessments are commonly contrasted with formative assessments, which collect detailed information that educators can use to improve instruction and student learning while it's happening. In other words, formative assessments are often said to be for learning, while summative assessments are of learning. Or as assessment expert Paul Black put it, "When the cook tastes the soup, that's formative assessment. When the customer tastes the soup, that's summative assessment." It should be noted, however, that the distinction between formative and summative is often fuzzy in practice, and educators may have divergent interpretations and opinions on the subject.

Some of the most well-known and widely discussed examples of summative assessments are the standardized tests administered by states and testing organizations, usually in math, reading, writing, and science. Other examples of summative assessments include:

End-of-unit or chapter tests.

End-of-term or semester tests.

Standardized tests that are used to for the purposes of school accountability, college admissions (e.g., the SAT or ACT), or end-of-course evaluation (e.g., Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams).

Culminating demonstrations of learning or other forms of "performance assessment," such as portfolios of student work that are collected over time and evaluated by teachers or capstone projects that students work on over extended periods of time and that they present and defend at the conclusion of a school year or their high school education.

While most summative assessments are given at the conclusion of an instructional period, some summative assessments can still be used diagnostically. For example, the growing availability of student data, made possible by online grading systems and databases, can give teachers access to assessment results from previous years or other courses. By reviewing this data, teachers may be able to identify students more likely to struggle academically in certain subject areas or with certain concepts. In addition, students may be allowed to take some summative tests multiple times, and teachers might use the results to help prepare students for future administrations of the test.

It should also be noted that districts and schools may use "interim" or "benchmark" tests to monitor the academic progress of students and determine whether they are on track to mastering the material that will be evaluated on end-of-course tests or standardized tests. Some educators consider interim tests to be formative, since they are often used diagnostically to inform instructional modifications, but others may consider them to be summative. There is ongoing debate in the education community about this distinction, and interim assessments may defined differently from place to place. See formative assessment for a more detailed discussion.

Reform

While educators have arguably been using "summative assessments" in various forms since the invention of schools and teaching, summative assessments have in recent decades become components of larger school-improvement efforts. As they always have, summative assessments can help teachers determine whether students are making adequate academic progress or meeting expected learning standards, and results may be used to inform modifications to instructional techniques, lesson designs, or teaching materials the next time a course, unit, or lesson is taught. Yet perhaps the biggest changes in the use of summative assessments have resulted from state and federal policies aimed at improving public education-specifically, standardized high-stakes tests used to make important decisions about schools, teachers, and students.

Debate

While there is little disagreement among educators about the need for or utility of summative assessments, debates and disagreements tend to center on issues of fairness and effectiveness, especially when summative-assessment results are used for high-stakes purposes. In these cases, educators, experts, reformers, policy makers, and others may debate whether assessments are being designed and used appropriately, or whether high-stakes tests are either beneficial or harmful to the educational process. For more detailed discussions of these issues, see high-stakes test , measurement error , test accommodations , , score inflation , standardized test , and value-added measures .

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Summative assessments are used to evaluate student learning, skill acquisition, and academic achievement at the conclusion of a defined instructional period-typically at the end of a project, unit, course, semester, program, or school year. Generally speaking, summative assessments are defined by three major criteria: The tests, assignments, or projects are used to determine whether students [...]

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Venn diagrams are a compare and contrast tool. Students can record what they know falls into one section or the other or both. This helps students that are visual learners to organize the information. This can be formative during the lesson or it can be summative at the end of the unit. However, one thing teachers need to be conscious of is students need to be taught how to use a venn diagram before just being told to use it.

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This interactive tool allows students to create Venn diagrams that contain two or three overlapping circles. Students identify and record concepts that can be placed in one of the circles or in the overlapping areas, allowing them to organize their information logically. Students may view and edit their draft diagrams, then print the finished diagrams for reference. In some cases, the Venn diagram tool has been customized to complement a specific lesson or activity.

Are you using mobile devices in your classroom? If so, check out Venn Diagram for iPads and Android tablets!
It Doesn't Have to End That Way: Using Prediction Strategies with Literature
After listening to the beginning of a story, students use details in the text, personal experience, and prior knowledge to predict the way the story will end.
From Fact to Fiction: Drawing and Writing Stories
Students gather factual information about frogs and toads to create nonfiction and fiction stories. Drawing is used for prewriting.
Book Sorting: Using Observation and Comprehension to Categorize Books
Students utilize their reading and writing skills as they think critically in order to sort books in multiple ways.

Investigating Animals: Using Nonfiction for Inquiry-based Research
Inspired by their curiosity about animals, students work together to research an animal of their choice and present the information they gather to an authentic audience.
Building a Matrix for Leo Lionni Books: An Author Study
In this author study, students listen to and discuss four books by Leo Lionni. They identify similarities and differences in the stories and then compare two stories of their choice.
What's the Difference? Beginning Writers Compare E-mail with Letter Writing
Students compare e-mails to traditional letters, identifying style and intended audience for each. They then write both an e-mail and a letter about the same topic.
Using Personal Connections to Build an Understanding of Emotions
What makes you happy? What makes you sad? Connecting words to feelings enriches vocabulary and helps with concept development.
Introducing the Venn Diagram in the Kindergarten Classroom
In this lesson, kindergarten students manipulate hula hoops and real objects, as they use Venn diagrams to problem solve, explore, and record information to share with others.
Diagram It! Identifying, Comparing, and Writing About Nonfiction Texts
Students compare the traits fact and fiction by using a Venn diagram to compare fiction and nonfiction books about Native Americans.
Improving Fluency through Group Literary Performance
Students participate in shared reading, choral reading, and readers theater, using books by Bill Martin, Jr. Repeated readings and literary performances help students with their reading accuracy, expression, and rate.
How Does My Garden Grow? Writing in Science Field Journals
Students plant a garden and study its growth using the inquiry process of questioning and exploring. As they research and study, students record their observations in a field journal.
Combining Read-Alouds With Economics in the Primary Grades
Students learn that what you read in books can really add up when they analyze literary texts for economic concepts.
Literature Response in Primary Classrooms
This step-by-step literature response template for use with read-alouds asks students to use drawing and writing to respond to increasingly-complex prompts which address literary elements as well as personal connections.
Inspire Healthful Reading Using Unconventional Texts
This minilesson encourages children to seek out and appropriately react to nutrition labels and to make healthy food choices, integrating science, math, health, and literacy.
Name Tag Glyphs
In this lesson, students practice a way to communicate without words by using a glyph. They create a name card using information about themselves. Students also interpret glyphs made by others.
Comparison and Contrast Guide
The Comparison and Contrast Guide outlines the characteristics of the genre and provides direct instruction on the methods of organizing, gathering ideas, and writing comparison and contrast essays.
Compare & Contrast Map
The Compare & Contrast Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to organize and outline their ideas for different kinds of comparison essays.
Venn Diagram
The Venn Diagram app allows users to compare and contrast information in a visually appealing way.
Author Joel Chandler Harris was born in 1848.
Students study how regional dialect is written phonetically by reading a segment of Harris' story, as well as two others, and compare them using the Interactive Venn Diagram.
Edward Stratemeyer, creator of book series such as Nancy Drew, was born on this day in 1862.
Students select several books from one of Stratemeyer's series to read, discuss shared elements in the books, and use the 3-Circle Venn Diagram to compare story elements.
Celebrate John Venn's Birthday!
Students celebrate the birth of English logician, philosopher, and creator of the Venn Diagram by building community within the classroom by comparing and contrasting likes, dislikes, and characteristics about one another.
The Crystal Palace hosted the first display of life-size dinosaur replicas in 1854.
After learning about Hawkins' dinosaur replicas, students work individually or in small groups to investigate a dinosaur of their choice, comparing their findings to Hawkins'.
Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese in 1941.
Students use the Interactive Venn Diagram to compare the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the attacks on America on September 11, 2001.
It's Winter in the Northern Hemisphere!
Students brainstorm words or images that they associate with winter, select and read a picture book about winter, and compare the two using the interactive Venn Diagram.
Introducing Ideas and Vocabulary with the Concept Sort
A Concept Sort is a vocabulary and comprehension strategy used with students to introduce new topics and/or familiarize students with new vocabulary.

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This interactive tool allows students to create Venn diagrams that contain two or three overlapping circles. Students identify and record concepts that can be placed in one of the circles or in the overlapping areas, allowing them to organize their information logically. Students may view and edit their draft diagrams, then print the finished diagrams for reference.

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Standardized tests measure what students are learning across the nation. They are given to the students typically annually. This ensures that students learning is meeting the standards they should be at each level they are at. The weakness is that students with testing anxiety or slow workers struggle to show their knowledge with standardized tests.

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A standardized test is any form of test that (1) requires all test takers to answer the same questions, or a selection of questions from common bank of questions, in the same way, and that (2) is scored in a “standard” or consistent manner, which makes it possible to compare the relative performance…

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A final project gives students a chance to show their understanding of the subject in many different outlets. Students can show their understanding by creating a video, an art display, a book, a presentation, and many more. This is ideal for students that do not work well with a testing environment. Students are able to show all that they learning by creating something. The down side to final projects is the time consumption.

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1st Grade Student Final Scratch Jr. Project

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Students can check off what they have accomplished and understand during a unit, lesson, or task. Then the student knows where they need to improve and what they need to work towards. This allows the students to take ownership of their progression. Students that loose focus benefit form having a guide to tell them what they are aiming to accomplish. The weakness of this tool is that students might not be honest with their checklist.

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Students take a moment to write down what they understand about the subject at the beginning, middle, and end of the lesson. This strategy is great for students that have a hard time remembering content after a lesson. Taking a moment to recap what you know as the lesson progresses can be very helpful to remember what they learned. Also it provides useful notes to see how far one came and a reference point to look back on. However, some students might find this tedious and can be unmotivated.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Students create a written report on the book they read. The report is a display of all the information pertaining to the book. This is a detailed assessment to show what the student knows and got out of the book. This assessment appeals to students with good literacy skills and students that do not do well in testing environments. However, this is a time consuming assessment and can be difficult for students with low literacy skills.

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I love that my kids start reading again so much once school starts ( read: I'm not so great about convincing them to read over the summer)! And they are finally at the age when they all have to do real book reports. I'm not a great homework helper, but I try to make up for it with printable worksheets that really will help them do a better job in school.

These book report forms are suitable for both beginning readers and older children. The first is simply a form they can fill out that becomes their book report. The second set is an outline primer plus a page for them to handwrite their report (if you don't already make them use a word processor!).

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I love that my kids start reading again so much once school starts ( read: I'm not so great about convincing them to read over the summer)! And they are finally at the age when they all have to do real book reports.

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The student writes down three things they learned, two things they found interesting, and one thing they have a question about. This tool can be used after watching a movie, a lesson, or a learning task. This provides structure for students to summaries what they got out of the movie, lesson, or task. Students benefit from the structure of the notes and gives them the chance to recap on their understanding. The teacher can also take up the notes and see how to continue the lesson. There is a lot of writing so the lower grades probably will not use this tool.

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For Primary Grades PK-1, this strategy should be used in whole-group rather than as an independent task, with the teacher charting ideas. Of course, since many children will want to participate, there might be more than 3-2-1 ideas/questions in each section.

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With a checklist the teacher can keep track of his or her students achievements as the teacher observes the student. This assessment helps the teacher organizes the students progress and understand where to help the student. Analyzing the teacher's checklist, students that are falling behind can then be given more help and students that are ahead can be given appropriate work at their level. The great thing about a teacher check list is the efficiency of it, it can be at any time and takes only a second to record. The weakness to the checklist is also its simplicity, it is not detailed data.

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A final portfolio displays all of the students' skills and knowledge learned in the classroom by the end the unit. This can be presented by a variety of work collected throughout the unit. This illuminates pressure for students that have testing anxiety. The students don't need to show all their knowledge based on one test in a high pressure environment. Students that are hard workers in class will be noticed for their work. One downfall to final portfolios is that students do not have a chance to recap or practice what they learned again at the end.

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Pretty much no one likes standardized tests. The concept is nothing new, of course - the New York State Regent Exam dates back to Civil War times. A century and a half later, the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) hinged all of the federal government's reward and punishment on a school's " Adequate Yearly Progress " (AYP), a now-infamous composite measure of school performance primarily based on test scores. In the decade since, test-bashing has become something akin to a national pastime, and folks are acting out.

Earlier this year teachers in Seattle flat out refused to administer mandated state exams, claiming that the tests were a misuse of precious school resources, unfairly used as part of teacher evaluations, and an inaccurate indication of student learning. And Seattle isn't alone. The organization United Opt Out National has assembled a state-by-state guide for opting your kids out of testing, claiming, "high-stakes testing is destructive to ALL children, educators, communities...and the democratic principles which underlie the purposes of public education."

Let's say they're right and standardized tests have got to go. What would be a scalable alternative? One possible solution percolating amongst education reformers may surprise you: portfolios. The practice of assessing learning with portfolios has deep roots in the arts world, visual arts and creative writing especially. Could portfolios save our public school students from a life of drill-and-kill?
The Mechanics
A portfolio is a collection of individual work samples (some of which may have been graded previously), assessed as a whole. It's a way of combining disparate items into one aggregate assessment demonstrating the application of skills and concepts learned in a classroom setting. Portfolios can be either summative or formative in structure. A summative portfolio focuses on the product or end result of the student's learning such as, for example, a digital recording of a final performance, a scientific lab report, or a final series of photographs. A formative assessment takes into account the student's process of learning and can include works-in-progress or evidence of the effort leading to the final product. This type of portfolio might include an actor's annotated script, the shape and light charcoal studies for a still life painting, or math problem demonstrating the steps in between question and answer.

There are three key elements of assessing learning with portfolios:

Clearly defined skills and/or knowledge to be assessed,

Work samples, determined either by the student or the teacher or both, and

A rubric with which to score collection of work with clear descriptors for each level of success, usually using a point system, and ideally made available to students before portfolios are submitted. (Examples can be found here.)

Sometimes the items included are accompanied by written reflection on the process of creating the final product or the intention behind the work. To demonstrate content knowledge, more traditional academic writing may be included as well.
Part of a Larger Movement
Portfolios are one assessment tool under the larger umbrella of an emerging mode of student evaluation called performance assessment. According to Beyond Basic Skills: The Role of Performance Assessment in Achieving 21st Century Standards of Learning by Linda Darling-Hammond and Frank Adamson:

For many people, performance assessment is most easily defined by what it is not: specifically, it is not multiple choice testing. In a performance assessment, rather than choosing among pre-determined options, students must construct an answer, produce a product, or perform an activity.

Using performance assessment, a student might be asked to write a letter to the editor about a historical event from a specific point of view, draw a series of electrical circuits explaining how changes in configurations would affect the flow of electricity, or demonstrate the ability to use a map by actually navigating.

Performance assessment is rising in popularity as the Common Core State Standards inch closer to full implementation. These new learning standards, adopted by 45 states, four U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, require "a greater focus on critical thinking, synthesis and analysis, problem solving, communication, media and technology." States including Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Ohio are starting to adopt performance assessment systems-which reveal students' ability to apply information, not just to remember and regurgitate it-to meet the new standards.

Not all performance assessment techniques include portfolios. But portfolios (whether arts-specific or not) are an important piece of the performance assessment puzzle, and learning from the arts' experience with portfolios could be useful as performance assessment reform initiatives move forward in schools and districts across the country.
Portfolio Assessment in Practice
Some schools and districts are already making use of portfolio assessment. The Beacon School, a public high school in New York City, has been celebrated as a national model of portfolio assessment since it opened in 1993. From the beginning, Beacon leaders wanted to assess their students using methods similar to those employed in graduate schools. Students assembled a portfolio of long-term projects and representative samples from all of their classes - science, history, English, foreign languages - and defended their work to a faculty panel.

By the end of its first decade, Beacon's plans for portfolio assessment had been somewhat derailed. In the late 1990s New York State began to require students to pass the state's Regents Exam to graduate. This new requirement meant time was diverted from labs and projects to test preparation. In his 2004 reporting on the Beacon School, writer Jay Matthews explained, "even the most ardent advocates [of portfolios] have acknowledged that samples of student work cannot compete with the ability of standardized testing to quickly and cheaply determine the overall performance of a school district."

The school still maintains as much of its original assessment strategy as possible. Its website stresses the dual priorities of the school and the state: "Beacon offers a dynamic, inquiry-based curriculum for all students that exceeds standards set by the New York State Regents. Technology and arts are infused throughout the college preparatory curriculum. Each year students must present performance-based projects to panels of teachers, and pass New State Regents tests and community service to graduate."

School districts in Tennessee are using portfolio assessment for a different purpose that harkens back to its arts-based roots and combines student evaluation with teacher evaluation. In Tennessee's teacher evaluation system, 35% of a teacher's employment review is based on test scores. This is a problem for the 70% of teachers in most schools who do not teach a state-tested subject, but portfolios may offer the solution. As reported back in 2012 in The Commercial Appeal newspaper, "[The head of Memphis City Schools arts education, Dru Davison,] and 40 Memphis art teachers wrote a four-page rubric for what peer reviewers should see in the student work for each of 40 art disciplines, from marching band to jazz band." Each teacher chooses samples of his or her students' work to form the teacher's review portfolio, which is then assessed by a blind peer group based on the pre-determined rubrics. The Tennessee Fine Arts Growth Measures System, as it's called, is in the pilot phase in Memphis City Schools and is starting to garner some national attention. Participation is voluntary for Tennessee school districts. More than ten are participating this school year, up from three last year.

Laura D. Goe, a research scientist at the Educational Testing Service, told EdWeek about the initiative, "Tennessee has the right idea in promoting this effort to achieve some rigor and comparability in a set of content that is difficult to measure...To me, it is a model for where we want to ultimately go [with teacher evaluation], and where I think we will go in most subjects."
Challenges
The case studies in Tennessee and the Beacon School are intriguing and reflect well on portfolios as a school-wide, district-wide, and maybe even statewide option for evaluating students and even teachers. Could portfolio assessment become a core mechanism for measuring student learning, on the scale of standardized tests?

Statewide and national testing systems depend on reliable, valid results. Reporting on The Beacon School, Jay Matthews wrote, "the argument between advocates of standardized tests and advocates of portfolios usually ends with each side saying it cannot trust the results produced by the other." For portfolio assessment, it is often the problem of subjectivity that causes concern among test supporters.

Standardized tests, with so-called selected response questions such as multiple choice or true/false, don't need to be graded by humans. Such questions can arguably be biased, and there is the possibility of human error in the setting of the machines and the handling of the scoring sheets, but the grading is never subjective thanks to grading machines, which also make the process comparatively faster and less expensive. By contrast, portfolios must be graded by humans and grading between raters or even the same raters at different times can be inconsistent. A good rubric and rigorous training can eliminate some personal bias, but not all ( see page 22 of Beyond Basic Skills for more information). This problem is a big one if portfolios are to be adopted on a large scale. The ability to reliably compare standardized tests makes it possible to identify outliers among schools, districts, and states, to learn from overachievers, and support underachievers. If the assessment itself and the grading method are not the same for all students, the evaluation won't be useful for these purposes.

Fortunately, there are large-scale testing systems that already deal with this problem. The Advanced Placement exams taken by high school students in advanced classes in subjects like history and English, for example, are composed of a series of essay questions of various lengths. Students take the exams and then their teachers ship their answer booklets off to be graded by trained " readers." The writing portion of the SAT is another example. The volume of exams to be graded by each trained reader means that for a handful of SAT essays, factual errors may be overlooked as readers are rewarded for speed. In such cases, students end up demonstrating their knowledge of the grading system rather than their writing ability. While there may be issues with the quality of grading vs. quantity of exams, the fact that the SAT has been accepted for years as a satisfactory (if far from perfect) method of judging students' college readiness should mean that the subjectivity challenge of grading portfolios is nothing new or prohibitive.

In education, it all comes down to implementation. If a student's portfolio is filled with work samples that aren't authentic demonstrations of knowledge and skills learned, it is no better an indicator of learning than a long chain of multiple-choice questions with memorized answers. For portfolio assessment to succeed as a nationwide option for student evaluation, appropriate learning goals must be set with rigorous and specific rubrics. Teachers must also be well trained in administering and scoring assessments, and students well prepared. It's a novel concept to some, but if portfolios continue to spread as a viable, scalable assessment method, we might emerge from the era of crushing accountability into a new age - one in which testing has a positive effect on learning.

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Portfolios: The Next Wave of Student Assessment?

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Pretty much no one likes standardized tests. The concept is nothing new, of course - the New York State Regent Exam dates back to Civil War times. A century and a half later, the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) hinged all of the federal government's reward and punishment on a school's " Adequate Yearly Progress " (AYP), a now-infamous composite measure of school performance primarily based on test scores.

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Quizzes are given within the unit to assess what the students know. Quizzes can come in a verity of forms such as multiple choice, true or false, fill in the blank, and short answer. The data from the students' quizzes can be used to gage what the students are ready to move onto and what the teacher needs to reteach. Quizzes assess a small part of the unit, therefor can be beneficial to students that get overwhelmed with high content tests. The bad thing about quizzes is some students still have testing anxiety.

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Formative assessment

The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. More specifically, formative assessments:

help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work

help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately

Formative assessments are generally low stakes, which means that they have low or no point value. Examples of formative assessments include asking students to:

draw a concept map in class to represent their understanding of a topic

submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a lecture

turn in a research proposal for early feedback

Summative assessment

The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.

Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value. Examples of summative assessments include:

Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.

CONTACT US to talk with an Eberly colleague in person!

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Formative vs Summative Assessment - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University

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The teacher asks the students how well they understand and the students give a thumbs up, thumbs down, or anything in-between bases on their understanding. The students keep their thumbs against their chest so that the other students can not see their answer. The teacher can then move on if there are all thumbs up or can reteach if there are students that don't understand. This is a great way to see if anyone is struggling without singling them out. Students that are not comfortable asking for help feel more conferrable communicating through this tool. This tool is very quick and easy but is very limited to prove what the students do know.

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Another formative assessment which is simple and quick--letting you know immediately how well the students are understanding the concepts is the thumbs up and thumbs down technique. Just ask them how well they "get it" by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down sign. I also allow them to show degrees of understanding by putting their thumb anywhere on the spectrum between up and down (hence the "all-around" in the title).

Other variations, that I've heard teachers use, are to put the sign right up against the chest, so that others in the classroom have a hard time seeing it or having students close their eyes when they do it. These may be necessary in the beginning of the year, in some cases, but should wain as trust builds in the room and students learn it's all right to admit they don't understand something or that they are wrong about something.

It's quick. It's simple.There's no reading involved. It's just an easy way to check for understanding and let the teacher know if she can go on or if she has to change tactics on the fly and take a different approach. And that's what formative assessment is all about-changing things up so that all the students get it in the end.

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Formative Assessment: Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Thumbs All-Around

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Another formative assessment which is simple and quick--letting you know immediately how well the students are understanding the concepts is the thumbs up and thumbs down technique. Just ask them how well they "get it" by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down sign.

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Chalk talk is an informal activity that gets the students out of their seat and bouncing off of each others ideas. Chalk talks can be done before or after a lesson to see what the class knows and where to further instruction. This is favorable for the students that need to get out of their seats and interacting with the whole class. The weakness of using a chalk talk is that it is a class effort, the teacher may not be able to gage the level of understanding from each student.

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One of my favorite teaching strategies is chalk talk. I can't help but think that the reason I like it so much is the fact that it gets the students thinking rather than talking out.

Chalk Talk is simple. The #1 rule is no talking. You talk with the chalk. Various students are given chalk (markers) to come to the board and write answers to a question or supporting details based on a certain a topic. When they finish, they give the chalk (markers) to another student to add more answers or supporting details. Once everyone in the class has come to the board students can go up a second time if they wish. It is like a silent form of class discussion.

Chalk Talk Ideas

What you put on the board as a teacher is of central importance. Consider these ways to use chalk talk in your classroom:

1. Mind Map: Write a topic or a question in the middle of the board and circle it. Have students write supporting details or answers in bubbles around the center topic.

Create a KWL chart on the board. Have students silently fill out the K (Know) portion at the beginning of class and then the W (Want to Know) section immediately after that. Then, at the end of the lesson, have students complete the L (What I Learned) section. (You an really use any you can use any kind of graphic organizer)

3. Venn Diagram: Draw two intersecting circles on the board. Label each circle and have students write similarities and differences within the circles.

4. Freestyle Brainstorming: Suggest a topic and just have students write words or phrases that come to mind in connection with that topic. This is a great way to get students attention and interest at the beginning of class.

Chalk Talk Tips

Allow the students some time to think about the answers. Chalk talk can be a great way to follow up bell work at the beginning of class.

Summarize and clarify what was written on the board. Don't just move on after the activity is completed. Summarize what the students wrote.

Think critically about the responses. Take the words or statements and pose them back at the students. Ask students to take a stance for or against what other students wrote on the board.

Give limits to the amount of writing the students can do. Older students sometimes write multiple sentences on the board. This takes too much time and is hard to summarize for the class.

Have students make connections. Often students write what they have thought of at their desks without paying any attention to what others have written. Challenge them to respond to what previous students wrote by drawing lines between other ideas or connecting what they write to previously written thoughts that are on the board.

Analyze the results. Have students categorize what other students wrote into various topics. You can suggest the topics as a teacher, but give them the opportunity to do the thinking. Model the analysis first so they understand what you are asking.

Watch the clock. This activity can take too long if you let it. Don't let chalk talk dominate the precious class time you have to actually foster opportunities for learning new things.

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One of my favorite teaching strategies is chalk talk. I can't help but think that the reason I like it so much is the fact that it gets the students thinking rather than talking out. Chalk Talk is simple. The #1 rule is no talking. You talk with the chalk.

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Doodle it can be used after a lesson as the student or group of students draw what they understand instead of writing it. This appeals to students that do not have strong literacy intelligence. Also art is a great way to engage the students in a fun way and give them the chance to show what they know. The weakness of Doodle it is that this tool can not be used for every subject.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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A ticket out the door gives the students a chance to demonstrate their understanding of what they learning in the class that day. Teachers can create an essential question relating to the lesson for the student to answer before they leave. Students that need practice or recaps to help them remember benefit from a exit ticket. However, some students might feel too much pressure to work past so they can leave.

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Formative Assessments: Why, When & Top 5 Examples

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Teachers can have the class use personal whiteboards in a class review game. The teacher gives a question or problem for the students to answer on their board and then the students raise their boards for the teacher to see their answers. Students that are hard to motivate benefit from an interactive review game. Also every student is participating at the same time therefor no one is singled out. The weakness is students can look ate their neighbor and get the answer.

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Jeopardy can be used as a review game. The teacher creates questions based on the unit and students work in teams to answer questions and win points. The students practice collaborating with their peers and are motivated by the points. Assessing students' knowledge of the content through a game helps students demonstrate what they know in a low pressure environment. The weakness of jeopardy is the teacher does not get an individual representation of what the student knows because they are working in teams.