EDU 6160 – Blog Post Assignment #4

For this week’s blog post assignment, I will be responding to a parent’s criticism that multiple choice tests do not indicate their child’s performance and should not be used. Given my subject area of health/fitness, the usual criticism I receive is in regards to participation, attendance policies and performance, not testing. However, my mentor and I do give students a unit pre-test and post-test that is multiple choice test. If a parent were to criticize this practice, I would respond to that parent in the following manner.

Before interacting with this parent, whether over email, the phone or in person, I would definitely converse with my mentor about the interaction and request for her to be present for the conversation. Once my mentor is a part of the conversation, I would inform the parent about the use and reasoning behind multiple choice tests in our class. I would begin by saying that multiple choice tests are utilized in our class to inform us about the quality of our instruction and determine the level of student understanding. This is accomplished through the use of both a pre and post-test. I would explain that prior to instruction and practice, at the beginning of the unit, students take a pre-test. This score is recorded in the gradebook, but replaced by the post-test at the end of the unit.

With the scores of the pre-test, my mentor and I use averages in order to determine which content students struggled most with. In doing so, we are able to ensure that the content is covered and understood over the course of the 2-week unit. After instruction and practice, students that participated and actively engaged in the unit should have no problem getting every single problem on the post-test correct. As shown in Figure 1, the student’s tennis unit test scores drastically improved on the post-test.  This type of testing is actually preferred by students, because they are not being graded on their ability or skill level to perform the activity rather their knowledge about the activity. Additionally, in a given class period, we are limited to less than 45 minutes in a gym setting. A multiple choice test allows for us to efficiently cover a wide range of unit content in a timely matter (Shermis and Di Vesta, 2011, p. 154). Ultimately, when it comes to testing, “What is of concern is that, whatever their format, they measure what they are supposed to measure, function in the way they are expected to function, and enable effective implications and interpretations” (Shermis et al., 2011, p. 302).

References 

Shermis, M. D., & J., D. V. (2011). Classroom assessment in action. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. 

EDU 6160 – Blog Post Assignment #3

In this week’s post, I will describe a rubric to be used in a future unit with attention to strengths and limitations. A rubric is a set of guidelines or rules used for evaluating and grading students’ performance. For the content area of health/fitness, on a daily basis, my mentor and I evaluate students based on attendance, participation, behavior, fitness progress and skill development. Currently, students assess themselves at the beginning and end of the semester based on Figure 1. Prior to turning in the rubric, a guardian must sign that they have read their student’s behavior self-assessment. This sets a clear understanding of the expectations over the course of the semester. 

In our lifestyle activities class, units last the duration of two weeks with a pre-test in the beginning and post-test at the end. Students are only graded based on their post-test scores for each unit. However, I believe that it would be beneficial to implement a rubric in order to evaluate students’ unit performance. In order to develop an effective rubric for a future unit, I will first consider the following: 1) Students being involved in creating the rubric. As stated by Shermis and Di Vesta (2011), “Students must be brought into the process gradually and consistently. They should have a part in developing the rubrics, and eventually there should be no mystery or ambiguity regarding how the performance is to be judged” (p. 142). By involving students in the process of developing a rubric, I will be able to assume that every student understands what is to be learned during the unit and why each grade was earned at the end of the unit. Also, this allows for me to ensure that the rubric is written in a student-friendly language that communicates clear expectations. 2) Rubric categories and ratings. As indicated by Shermis et al. (2011), “An effective means by which evaluators address quality is to analyze the performance into its key subdomains

and assign ratings to each performance dimension” (p. 133). Figure 2 presents a set of tennis skill categories (i.e. serving, striking and teamwork) and progress rating scale for each category with descriptions. By considering both 1 and 2, I believe that I will be able to effectively develop a unit rubric in order to evaluate student progress and performance.

References

Game, Set and Match! (2014, May 5). Retrieved October 22, 2016, from http://pegraded.blogspot.com/2014_05_01_archive.html

Shermis, M. D., & J., D. V. (2011). Classroom assessment in action. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. 

EDU 6160 – Blog Post Assignment #2

In this post, I will discuss the formative and summative assessments plans that are currently being used in my class. Over the course of the next two weeks, in my Lifetime Activities class, my mentor and I will be instructing a tennis unit. In this unit, students will learn and practice tennis rules, strategies, and team play.

Our formative assessment plan for this tennis unit is to observe students’ level of performance during a tournament called King’s Court. This type of tournament style play requires students to be in pairs. Each pair will be assigned an outdoor tennis court. There are a total of 8 courts with 2 pairs on each tennis court. This allows for a class of 32 students to be playing at one time. With two instructors, every 4 courts will have a referee and guide. If a pair wins a match, they will move up towards court 8. If a pair loses a match, they will move down towards court 1. During King’s Court, as instructors, we will be able to know who is struggling (i.e. pairs that are moving towards court 1) and who is excelling (i.e. pairs that are moving towards court 8). Additionally, prior to exiting out to the tennis courts, depending on where we are in the unit, my mentor and I will instruct students on a skill or strategy that needs to be applied during play. For example, during day 4 of the unit, my mentor and I will teach students how to use the term “Fault” in a match. During play, my mentor and I will expect students to utilize the term properly. As guides on the court, we will be able to reiterate and instruct students further on how to use the term. This allows for us to determine each students’ level of performance and adjust or support accordingly. As indicated by Shermis and Di Vesta (2011), formative assessment is for revising instruction use.

         Our summative assessment plan for this tennis unit is to give students a tennis pre-test and tennis post-test. On the first day of the unit, prior to learning any content, students will be tested on their current knowledge of tennis. The pre-test scores tend to be lower on average. My mentor and I highlight which questions students struggled most on. During the unit, we will make sure that the answers to questions are communicated and understood by students. On the last day of the unit, after two weeks of tennis instruction and play, students will be tested on their tennis knowledge. The post-test scores tend to be higher on average and are applied to the gradebook. As indicated by Shermis et al. (2011), summative assessment is to find status use (i.e. either comparing with others or for reaching a standard).

References

        

Shermis, M. D., & J., D. V. (2011). Classroom assessment in action. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. 

EDU 6160 – Blog Post Assignment #1

This blog post is for my first EDU 6160 Applied Inquiry and Teaching Assessment Methods’ assignment. In this post, I will share a teacher’s opinion of statewide testing. I decided to research and write about this topic of statewide testing in regards to my content area of physical education. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) developed assessments that are designed to measure physical education Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) for grades 5, 8, and high school (Rakoz, 2016). The teacher that I spoke with focuses on the fitness performance aspect of assessment by performing FitnessGram tests. The FitnessGram accesses the five components of fitness (i.e. aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition) through the performance of the one-mile run, 20m pacer test, sit and reach, body max index (BMI), sit-up test and push-up test (FitnessGram, 2016). The teacher that I spoke with records student assessment scores in WELNET Focused Fitness software (district/state data tracking) and their gradebook. Depending on the student’s age and gender, each test has a state developed score range determining whether or not the student is below average (failing grade), average, proficient or advanced (passing grade). Thus, implying that the FitnessGram is a criterion-referenced assessment, meaning that, “A score is interpreted by comparing it to a performance standard” (Shermis and Vesta, 2011, p. 28). The teacher that I spoke with believes that the FitnessGram allows for them to effectively assess their students’ fitness level and efficiently track progress over the course of a semester. As an aspiring educator, the teacher that I spoke with recommended that I understand the following quote when giving assessments, “The important question is not how assessment is defined but whether assessment information is used…” (Palomba and Banta). Thus, the teacher that I spoke with believes that their assessments are valuable because the data is applied to student grades and, “It also provides surveillance data allowing for identification of trends and informs curricular and programmatic decisions related to quality and quantity of physical education” (FitnessGram, 2016).

References

FitnessGram. (2016). Retrieved October 8, 2016, from http://www.fitnessgram.net/default.asp

OSPI. (2016). Retrieved October 8, 2016, from http://www.k12.wa.us/

Rakoz, L. (n.d.). Washington State OSPI-Developed Health Assessment [Letter written 2016 to Washington Teachers of Health and Fitness]. In Superintendent of Public Instruction. Retrieved October 8, 2016.

Shermis, M. D., & J., D. V. (2011). Classroom assessment in action. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.