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What is diagnostic assessments？

Diagnostic Assessments fill that void of a teacher not knowing what his/her students do or do not know about a particular subject.  Diagnostic Assessments are meant to be quick fire (Formpl, 2022), and allow you, the teacher, to streamline our unit planning and method of teaching.  Another aspect of Diagnostic Assessments, are that they are not associated with students grades, instead this assessments act as a indicator of students' strengths and weakness into a particular subject. All in all, Diagnostic Assessments are quick and simply formative assessments that gives the teacher a basic understanding into what their students already know about a subject.

Examples of diagnostic assessments:
1. 5 finger Test.  Students indicate how well they know or don't know about a subject by raising their hand.  1 finger = knows little, 5 fingers = knows a lot.
2. Fun quizzes, such as kahoot.
3.  Journaling.  Students can be provided with basic quesitions such as, What I know about this subject, What I would like to know.
4. Alike.  Write a number of key words about a subject.  The goal is for students to recognize a pattern and correctly guess what the words have in common.

Resources:
Formplus. (2021, October 28). Diagnostic Assessment in Education: Purpose, strategies, examples. Formplus. Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://www.formpl.us/blog/diagnostic-assessment  November 28, 2022, from https://www.formpl.us/blog/diagnostic-assessment

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What is a performance assessment?

A performance assessment involves applying and showing skills and knowledge through various performance tasks. The purpose of a performance assessment is to improve the student learning experience and evaluate the effectiveness of lesson plans. These assessments measure how well a student can apply the knowledge they've learned, not if they can recall the knowledge. Performance assessments often use the following components:

Developmental checklists

Portfolios of student work

Progress reports

The importance of performance assessments:

Assessments can help educators identify if students are making progress and what adjustments to make to the class curriculum to ensure students are successful in their education. Performance assessments are also very helpful while evaluating the effectiveness of course lesson plans. A teacher may decide to use a diagnostic performance assessment prior to starting a new lesson to gain perspective on students' current level of knowledge of a topic and give the assessment once more at the end of the lesson to understand if the activities throughout the course were helpful to the students.

The use of performance assessments:

Educators use performance assessments to identify if students have knowledge of a subject or are gaining knowledge in a subject throughout the year. Educators can administer a performance assessment at any point, though they often use them at the beginning and end of the course. A performance assessment often asks students to use problem-solving skills or critical thinking to produce a report, experiment or give a performance that displays their ability to apply what they have learned.

Three types of performance-based assessment:
products, performances, or process-oriented assessments

Using a rubric we can measure what the student knows, a few examples of a perfomance assessment could be:
- Oral presentations
- Booklet/scrapbook
- Role playing
- Exposition
- Experiment with prototypes
- Create a story or book about a topic
- Do something in the community (for example, recycle bins)
- Poems or essays
- Debates or Socratic seminars
- Create data graphs
- Create a movie/shortfilm, podcast or a painting
- Create social media account with posts about an specific topic.

Resources:
https://study.com/academy/lesson/performance-assessments-product-vs-process.html
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/performance-assessment

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What is assessment for learning?
‘Assessment for learning (AFL), also known as formative assessment, refers to any assessment activity that guides learning. Unlike summative assessment which evaluates pupil knowledge and achievement after a period of learning is complete, assessment for learning involves evaluating small content areas as part of the ongoing learning process.’

Different Types of Assessment for Learning

Summative assessment is the assessment of learning. Teachers use summative assessment when they are assessing how far a child has come and what they have achieved. Examples include end of topic tests, GSCEs, and A Levels.

Formative assessment, or AFL, shapes learning. The most effective form of formative assessment takes place live, minute-by-minute, day-by-day. It is assessment that takes place while students are still engaged in the learning. Formative assessment allows students to identify and address any misconceptions before their summative assessments.

There are some forms of assessment which can be both formative and summative. If students completed a test paper in class to assess their knowledge at the end of a unit, but then mark it individually, or as a class or a group to receive immediate feedback that addresses misconceptions, then this would encompass both forms of assessment.

Examples of assessment of learning:
- Class discussions
- Mid-unit quizzes
- Exit tickets
- Outlines and organizers
- End of unit exams

The Benefits of AFL

The many benefits of using effective assessment for learning include:

Improved relationships between teachers and students.

Improved attainment and achievement.

Improved confidence, resilience, and self-esteem amongst learners.

Improved classroom culture and teaching and learning environments.

Improved productivity and sense of motivation.

Improved metacognitive talk in the classroom.

Five main processes that take place in assessment for learning:
(i) Questioning enables a student, with the help of their teacher, to find out what level they are at.

(ii) The teacher provides feedback to each student about how to improve their learning.

(iii) Students understand what successful work looks like for each task they are doing.

(iv) Students become more independent in their learning, taking part in peer assessment and self-assessment.

(v) Summative assessments (e.g. the student’s exam or portfolio submission) are also used formatively to help them improve.

Resources:
https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/how-to-use-assessment-for-learning-in-schools/
https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/6-types-assessment-learning/

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Formative + Summative Assessment (Grace)

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Formative + Summative Assessment (Grace)

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What are formative v. summative assessments? How are they used?
Formative assessments are formal or in formal evaluations of learning throughout a course that are not necessarily graded. Often formative assessments are not graded however students receive thorough feedback on the assessment so they can improve for the summative assessment.

Summative assessments often evaluate learning at the end of a unit or at the end of a lesson to measure learning with a grade. Often these take the form of tests, quizzes, projects, etc.

Examples of formative assessments:

1. DIPSTICKS

Like using a dipstick to check the oil in a car, teachers can use short, quick checks virtually to make sure that students are on track—both academically and emotionally.

At the start of a live class, pose a general question about the previous day’s lesson, like “Does everyone feel comfortable with what we learned about [fill in the blank]?” and have students respond individually by dropping an emoji or a thumbs-up/thumbs-down in their chat box or video window. Students can also hold up a sticky note or piece of paper to the screen with a response. They don’t all have to be serious questions; funny questions can help get students engaged at the start of a lesson. In this Twitter thread, teachers share fun question ideas like: “Are Pop-Tarts a kind of ravioli?” and “Would you rather have no elbows or no knees?"

Another option: Ask students a more specific question about content you’ve recently covered, then have them assess their understanding on a 1–5 rating scale. They can hold up the appropriate number of fingers as signals during a live class online. The popular stoplight approach also works. Ask students to show a color based on how they feel about the topic you’re teaching: green—go ahead to the next topic; yellow—proceed slowly as I’m still processing; or red—stop, I don’t understand.

2. DIGITAL JOURNALS AND ONE-PAGERS

Not all students process information at the same speed or like to raise their hand and be acknowledged publicly during class. After-class reflection exercises that give students a private space to reflect a little more deeply, and signal both what they understood and what they did not, are easy to continue remotely.

Teachers can create a “Journal Jot” online document for each student using Google Docs or a platform like Blackboard to measure how well students are retaining information, recommends Rebecca Alber, an education professor in Los Angeles, California. In their journal, students can respond individually to prompts like K-W-L: what they know, what they want to know, and what they learned; or 3-2-1: three things you found out; two things you found interesting; one thing you didn’t understand.

Teachers can also adapt Jill Fletcher’s one-pager activity to virtual settings. Fletcher, a curriculum coordinator in Kapolei, Hawaii, asks students to write down key themes, questions, and ideas about a topic or lesson on a single page (kind of like a study guide), and include artwork or imagery if they would like. Have students create their one-pagers in a tool like Canva or Google Slides, or they can draw them by hand and submit as a photograph.

3. ELEVATOR PITCHES AND TWEETS

To help students synthesize important takeaways from a lesson, ask them to take one to two minutes during live class time to summarize everything they learned on a particular unit by typing it into a Google doc, in a chat box, or on a virtual message board like Padlet.

You can also ask for student volunteers to share their elevator pitch, or verbal summary of what they learned, with the class in 60 seconds or less. As a 21st-century spin, Matt Levinson, a principal in Seattle, Washington, suggests having students summarize the lesson in a tweet or Instagram post, staying to character limits.

4. SQUARE, TRIANGLE, CIRCLE

Giving students choice with formative assessments is really important, says Anderson, as not all students show their thinking the same way.

Anderson recommends Square, Triangle, Circle, an activity wherein students choose a shape and its associated question prompt. A square means something that is now “squared away” in their thinking. Choosing a triangle tasks students with extracting three important ideas from what they learned, while a circle asks students to discuss something “circulating”—ideas that are not yet fully formed—in their minds.

For asynchronous learning, students can write their responses independently in an online document as a reflection exercise. Or, in a synchronous lesson, teachers can make the exercise collaborative by asking students to pick a shape and then dividing them into groups based on the shape they chose. Students can briefly discuss their reflections with classmates in breakout rooms and share back to the class to close out the learning.

5. MAKE ART YOUR ASSESSMENT

While teachers may question if old classroom standbys (and popular classroom wall decorations) like collages, mind maps, and sketches can work virtually, teachers we spoke with say they’re still finding ways for students to use art, music, and drama to share their thinking.

Students can create an ad to describe and market a particular concept, draw a comic chronicling a historic event or explaining a scientific principle, write a poem or a song, or act out a chapter from a book or scene from a play. Using a phone, students can record themselves using apps like Voice Memos or photograph/film their work with the phone’s camera to upload and share virtually.

6. PEER-TO-PEER EVALUATIONS

When learning outside the classroom, it’s especially important to foster relationships between students. You can do both at the same time, drawing a bead on what your students have learned while encouraging deeper peer connections.

Assign each student a virtual buddy for the week, or pair off students at random to get them talking across the class—and assessing each other's learning.

In pairs, students can be placed in breakout rooms on Zoom or another videoconference platform to do many of the same activities they once did in the classroom to check for understanding. Give each student a general rubric, or use the TAG feedback process to evaluate their peer’s assignment; have them share the feedback with you as well. Or have students teach each other a concept while recording themselves (audio or video) and upload the file for you to review. These activities can also be adapted for asynchronous learning using tools in Google Classroom.

For synchronous classes, organize a talk show panel. Assign three to four students roles to represent different ideas or themes of a unit, such as having students in history class impersonate leaders from different countries during World War II. Have each student discuss their perspective in front of their peers, and allow the rest of the class to ask questions to probe their thinking.

7. VIRTUAL EXIT TICKETS

Using exit tickets, or students’ responses to prompts or questions on a slip of paper at the end of class, is a popular formative assessment practice that easily transfers online.

Teachers can keep a running Google Doc for each student to keep the information private, or broaden it to the whole class by posting questions on a platform like Flipgrid so that students can see and comment on others’ responses.

To get a wider view into students’ thinking, use open-ended prompts like these:

What I found most interesting today was…

Today was hard because…

What do you understand well?

What’s something that’s still shaky?

What’s something I [teacher] don’t realize?

What takeaways will be important three years from now?

How does this relate to [something learned before]?

How would you have done things differently today?

Today was hard because…

https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-ways-do-formative-assessments-your-virtual-classroom

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Pen-and-paper pop quizzes are no more: thumbs-up/thumbs-down, hand signals, online polls, discussion boards, and chat boxes have become the new mainstays of formative assessments in virtual classrooms.

Teachers don't need to completely reinvent their traditional formative assessments, however, according to Mike Anderson, an educational consultant in Durham, New Hampshire. He recommends that teachers modify familiar practices-like exit tickets and think-pair-shares-so they work virtually. "Formative assessments might feel harder now in virtual classrooms-you can't just walk around class and look over a kid's shoulders-but I'm not sure they have to be harder."

In fact, many of the popular digital apps and sites like Nearpod, Flipgrid, Padlet, and Seesaw, can actually work in tandem with the tried-and-true assessments that teachers honed in their classes pre-pandemic. Nearpod, for example, enables teachers to embed short quizzes, polls, surveys, and games into a lesson so that teachers can check for understanding before moving on to the next concept.

But don't go overboard, says Andrew Miller, director of teaching and learning at the Singapore American School, emphasizing that teachers should be careful not to overwhelm students with too many virtual assessments and too many new tools. Focus on two or three tools at most, he recommends, and be sure you always define a clear and differentiated purpose for using each. It's also important to remember non-tech solutions, like the simple but invaluable one-to-one conversations that can yield information about students' progress-and their well-being.

"In our distance learning environment, we run the risk of being further isolated. By scheduling individual sessions with students, we can assess their learning and provide feedback with a real human connection," Miller says.

Here are some different ways that teachers can use formative assessments in the virtual classroom:

1. Dipsticks

Like using a dipstick to check the oil in a car, teachers can use short, quick checks virtually to make sure that students are on track-both academically and emotionally.

At the start of a live class, pose a general question about the previous day's lesson, like "Does everyone feel comfortable with what we learned about [fill in the blank]?" and have students respond individually by dropping an emoji or a thumbs-up/thumbs-down in their chat box or video window. Students can also hold up a sticky note or piece of paper to the screen with a response. They don't all have to be serious questions; funny questions can help get students engaged at the start of a lesson. In this Twitter thread, teachers share fun question ideas like: "Are Pop-Tarts a kind of ravioli?" and "Would you rather have no elbows or no knees?"

Another option: Ask students a more specific question about content you've recently covered, then have them assess their understanding on a 1-5 rating scale. They can hold up the appropriate number of fingers as signals during a live class online. The popular stoplight approach also works. Ask students to show a color based on how they feel about the topic you're teaching: green-go ahead to the next topic; yellow-proceed slowly as I'm still processing; or red-stop, I don't understand.

2. Digital Journals and One-Pagers

Not all students process information at the same speed or like to raise their hand and be acknowledged publicly during class. After-class reflection exercises that give students a private space to reflect a little more deeply, and signal both what they understood and what they did not, are easy to continue remotely.

Teachers can create a "Journal Jot" online document for each student using Google Docs or a platform like Blackboard to measure how well students are retaining information, recommends Rebecca Alber, an education professor in Los Angeles, California. In their journal, students can respond individually to prompts like K-W-L: what they know, what they want to know, and what they learned; or 3-2-1: three things you found out; two things you found interesting; one thing you didn't understand.

Teachers can also adapt Jill Fletcher's one-pager activity to virtual settings. Fletcher, a curriculum coordinator in Kapolei, Hawaii, asks students to write down key themes, questions, and ideas about a topic or lesson on a single page (kind of like a study guide), and include artwork or imagery if they would like. Have students create their one-pagers in a tool like Canva or Google Slides, or they can draw them by hand and submit as a photograph.

3. Elevator Pitches and Tweets

To help students synthesize important takeaways from a lesson, ask them to take one to two minutes during live class time to summarize everything they learned on a particular unit by typing it into a Google doc, in a chat box, or on a virtual message board like Padlet.

You can also ask for student volunteers to share their elevator pitch, or verbal summary of what they learned, with the class in 60 seconds or less. As a 21st-century spin, Matt Levinson, a principal in Seattle, Washington, suggests having students summarize the lesson in a tweet or Instagram post, staying to character limits.

4. Square, Triangle, Circle

Giving students choice with formative assessments is really important, says Anderson, as not all students show their thinking the same way.

Anderson recommends Square, Triangle, Circle, an activity wherein students choose a shape and its associated question prompt. A square means something that is now "squared away" in their thinking. Choosing a triangle tasks students with extracting three important ideas from what they learned, while a circle asks students to discuss something "circulating"-ideas that are not yet fully formed-in their minds.

For asynchronous learning, students can write their responses independently in an online document as a reflection exercise. Or, in a synchronous lesson, teachers can make the exercise collaborative by asking students to pick a shape and then dividing them into groups based on the shape they chose. Students can briefly discuss their reflections with classmates in breakout rooms and share back to the class to close out the learning.

5. Make Art Your Assessment

While teachers may question if old classroom standbys (and popular classroom wall decorations) like collages, mind maps, and sketches can work virtually, teachers we spoke with say they're still finding ways for students to use art, music, and drama to share their thinking.

Students can create an ad to describe and market a particular concept, draw a comic chronicling a historic event or explaining a scientific principle, write a poem or a song, or act out a chapter from a book or scene from a play. Using a phone, students can record themselves using apps like Voice Memos or photograph/film their work with the phone's camera to upload and share virtually.

6. Peer-to-Peer Evaluations

When learning outside the classroom, it's especially important to foster relationships between students. You can do both at the same time, drawing a bead on what your students have learned while encouraging deeper peer connections.

Assign each student a virtual buddy for the week, or pair off students at random to get them talking across the class-and assessing each other's learning.

In pairs, students can be placed in breakout rooms on Zoom or another videoconference platform to do many of the same activities they once did in the classroom to check for understanding. Give each student a general rubric, or use the TAG feedback process to evaluate their peer's assignment; have them share the feedback with you as well. Or have students teach each other a concept while recording themselves (audio or video) and upload the file for you to review. These activities can also be adapted for asynchronous learning using tools in Google Classroom.

For synchronous classes, organize a talk show panel. Assign three to four students roles to represent different ideas or themes of a unit, such as having students in history class impersonate leaders from different countries during World War II. Have each student discuss their perspective in front of their peers, and allow the rest of the class to ask questions to probe their thinking.

7. Virtual Exit Tickets

Using exit tickets, or students' responses to prompts or questions on a slip of paper at the end of class, is a popular formative assessment practice that easily transfers online.

Teachers can keep a running Google Doc for each student to keep the information private, or broaden it to the whole class by posting questions on a platform like Flipgrid so that students can see and comment on others' responses.

To get a wider view into students' thinking, use open-ended prompts like these:

What I found most interesting today was...

Today was hard because...

What do you understand well?

What's something that's still shaky?

What's something I [teacher] don't realize?

What takeaways will be important three years from now?

How does this relate to [something learned before]?

How would you have done things differently today?

Today was hard because...

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7 Ways to Do Formative Assessments in Your Virtual Classroom

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Pen-and-paper pop quizzes are no more: thumbs-up/thumbs-down, hand signals, online polls, discussion boards, and chat boxes have become the new mainstays of formative assessments in virtual classrooms. Teachers don't need to completely reinvent their traditional formative assessments, however, according to Mike Anderson, an educational consultant in Durham, New Hampshire.

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What is the student's knowledge base?

What is the student's performance base?

What are the student's needs?

What has to be taught?

It should not grade or rate a student's level of learning, it's simply to identify where the student is at in their learning so interventions can be done to address any gaps in understanding.

Resources:
https://www.edutopia.org/assessment-guide-importance
https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/RM-18-01.pdf