Module 1:

Comprehensive, Balanced
Systems of Assessment
Kentucky Department of Education
Learning Goals
Participants will understand:
▸ the characteristics of a comprehensive, balanced
assessment system;
▸ the purpose and appropriate use of different
types of assessment; and
▸ the elements of the cycle of assessment.

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Success Criteria
Participants will be able to:
▸ evaluate different types of assessment used in
your classroom and school;
▸ identify appropriate use of the student evidence
they elicit; and
▸ describe the purpose of different assessment
tools and strategies to parents and students.

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Comprehensive, Balanced
Systems of Assessment

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Assessment Literacy
Assessment literacy is defined as the knowledge about how to
assess what students know and can do, interpret the results of
these assessments, and apply these results to improve student
learning and program effectiveness.
Webb, 2002

Assessment literacy consists of an individual’s understandings

of the fundamental assessment concepts and procedures
deemed likely to influence educational decisions.
Popham, 2011

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 Assessment Literacy and
Classroom Practice

Why is assessment What is the role of

literacy important for students in terms of
teaching and learning? being assessment
literate?
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Why Do We Assess?
Assessment provides a variety of evidence of student
learning to inform educational decision-making:
▸ Measure the impact of our policies, practices, and programs
▸ Support equity by providing insight into the educational outcomes of
different subgroups
▸ Make comparisons between students, groups and systems
▸ Provide information to inform continuous improvement
▸ Support teaching and learning of the guaranteed curriculum
▸ Inform decisions about classroom practice, instructional support and
intervention
▸ Provide guidance about next steps for teachers and students in a
classroom 7
Informing Teaching and
Learning
Different stakeholders, different decisions:
▸ Kentucky Department of ▸ Coaches
Education staff ▸ Classroom teachers
▸ District leaders ▸ Students
▸ School leaders ▸ Parents

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Comprehensive, Balanced
Assessment Systems
Assessments at all levels—from classroom to state—will
work together in a system that is comprehensive, coherent,
and continuous. In such a system, assessments would
provide a variety of evidence to support educational
decision making. Assessment at all levels would be linked
back to the same underlying model of student learning
and would provide indication of student growth over time.

Knowing What Students Know:

The Science and Design of Educational Assessment
(National Research Council, 2001, p. 9) 9
Key Elements of a
Comprehensive, Balanced
Assessment System (1)
▸ Uses a full range of measurement approaches to
provide evidence of student learning that can inform
decision-making at all levels of the system
▸ Provides evidence of student learning across all
learning expectations

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Key Elements of a
Comprehensive, Balanced
Assessment System (2)
▸ Aligns to common learning expectations
▸ Uses assessment and the resulting evidence of
student learning for the purposes for which they
were intended
▸ Creates conditions for effective assessment
practices
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Types and Purposes of
Assessment

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Purposes of Assessment
We use assessments for four primary
purposes:
▸ Formative
▸ Diagnostic
▸ Interim
▸ Summative

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Formative Assessment
Process
Description Purposes
▸ The process used by ▸ Provides immediate or very
teachers and students to rapid feedback to teachers
notice, recognize, and and students
respond to student learning ▸ Provides evidence that can
in order to enhance that be used to adapt teaching
learning, during the learning and learning
to specific learning
standards and/or goals.
Bell & Cowie, 2000
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Diagnostic Assessment
Description Purposes
▸ Formal strategies and/or ▸ Identifies potential
tools used to identify specific learning strengths and
strengths and weaknesses difficulties and/or areas
in student learning relative that require further
to specific learning development
standards and/or goals ▸ Provides teachers with
information to inform
next possible
instructional steps

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 Interim/Benchmark
Assessment
Description Purposes
▸ Compare student ▸ Monitors students’ academic
understanding or progress toward longer-term
performance against a set of goals
learning standards or ▸ Assesses curriculum,
objectives instructional strategies, and
▸ May be administered at pacing
specified intervals over the ▸ Informs school improvement
course of an academic year planning
▸ May be common across ▸ May predict a student’s end-
classes or schools of-year performance 16
Summative Assessment

Description Purposes
▸ May be referred to as a ▸ Provides an overall
“culminating assessment” description of students’
or an “end-of-course” learning status
assessment ▸ Monitors and evaluates
▸ Provides information on student achievement at the
students’ knowledge and group level
skills relative to learning ▸ Informs program-level and
standards school-improvement
planning
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 Assessment Cycles and
Levels of Information
Assessment Immediacy of Actionable
Grain-Size Frequency
Type Information
Formative Small Minute-by-minute, Immediately informs teaching and
day-by-day learning

Diagnostic Small As needed Immediately informs teaching and

learning

Interim Medium Intervals throughout the Supports future planning

year

Summative Large End-of-learning periods, Informs decisions at the

often the end of the year programmatic level

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 What Type of Assessment?

Don’t overthink it Be ready to share Goal is learning,

your thinking not getting it
“right”

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Lab Report

▸ What type of assessment is it?

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Exit Ticket

▸ What type of assessment is it?

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Primary Spelling
Inventory

▸ What type of assessment is it?

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Common Formative
Assessment

▸ What type of assessment is it?

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 Reflection on Types and
Purposes of Assessment

Questions? Clarifications? Observations? How is this

information
relevant to
your practice?

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Cycle of Assessment

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Evidence of Student
Learning
Observable evidence of what students know and can do in
relation to learning expectations should be be central to all
assessment practice.

Evidence should guide:

▸ the development of assessment items and strategies; and
▸ the reasoning about student performance to inform an
appropriate response.

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Assessment Cycle

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Learning Expectations

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 Eliciting Evidence
An assessment is valid if it accurately measures what it is
intended to measure.

Alignment Strategies and Items Bias and Equity

Does it measure the Does the strategy or item type Is it free from
content, rigor, and context allow students to provide unnecessary barriers so
of the targeted learning appropriate evidence? that all students can
expectations? show what they know
Have I elicited sufficient and can do?
evidence to reason about
student learning?

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Interpreting Evidence
Key considerations
▸ Student ownership
▸ Interpretation tools and strategies
• Individual student responses
• Patterns across groups of students
▸ Multiple measures

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Acting on Evidence
Expectations/
Summative Interim Formative
Actions
Learning Most of the standards Groups of standards Components of
Expectations individual standards

Possible Actions • District professional • Instructional • Student feedback

learning planning • Instructional
• Program evaluation • Interventions and modifications
• Curricular planning additional support

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Reflection

How might students use What is one thing you are

evidence of their own reflecting on regarding
learning? your own practice?

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 We ask that you complete a short survey to share your thinking and
provide the KDE with feedback on how we can best meet your needs.
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