4. Selecting Pre and Post Assessment Strategies:

Rationale:

It is important to be able to determine the extent to which each and every student met your objectives. Clearly, you'll want to know if your students learned what you taught them. In order to assess learning, you must have a baseline or pre-assessment of what students know prior to instruction as well as an indication of what they know after instruction. Your assessment strategies will help you to determine the extent to which students met the learning objectives you developed.

Directions:

Look at each learning objective and develop a method to assess student performance of the behavior described in the objective. You should:

• Use the explicit learning objectives to decide upon a strategy to measure and record each learner's performance before and after instruction.

• Develop a strategy that will enable you to efficiently record individual performance.

• Make sure you can use the information you have collected to make comparisons between pre and post instruction performance.

The same objectives must be assessed prior to and after instruction. In your report, include a description of how you will conduct your assessment strategy and a sample of the assessment you used. For example, if you used such assessments as rubrics, checklists, or written exams, include a blank copy of the assessment instrument. Be sure that you will have information for every learner that identifies his or her level of performance before and after instruction. You might also save information you recorded about ongoing student performance during instruction.

Some examples of good strategies for assessing student performance used in previous Teaching Cycle Projects include:

• the analysis of running records to determine students' use of reading strategies

• using anecdotal records to record students' progress in using manipulatives to solve problems

• conducting observations with check lists to assess motor skill development

• using rubrics to assess writing performance

• various paper and pencil tests

Some specific examples of assessment strategies for the objectives presented in #2 are:

• Dribbling a basketball

  ADD ASSESSMENT HERE

• Using a microscope

  ADD ASSESSMENT HERE

• Using prediction strategies while reading

  ADD ASSESSMENT HERE

Checklist:

The items to include in this section of the report are:

• a description and copy of the assessment strategy you will use prior to and after instruction

• a description of the strategy you will use to record ongoing performance during instruction

• a rationale for any changes in your selection of assessment strategies