Assessment

The term “data-informed instruction” refers to a teacher’s use of assessment for (a) evaluating the effectiveness of her instruction (i.e., did the students master the targeted learning outcome) as well as (b) the appropriateness of her actions (e.g., did she present the type of feedback that she believed to be most optimal; are there aspects of her instruction that need to be made more intense). These assessment uses are emblematic of the remark, “When one teaches, two learn.”

Chapter Primer

Presently, the chapter’s purpose is to introduce you to some basic concepts related to assessment.

Learning Objectives

The learning objectives pertain to the sections presented below: (a) Planning for Assessment ; (b) Monitoring Progress Versus Progress Monitoring; (c) Formative and Summative Assessment; and, (d) Mastery Measurement and General Outcome Measurement. After working through the content, you should be able to

• State the differences between monitoring progress and progress monitoring
• Define the terms formative assessment and summative assessment
• State the differences between mastery measurement and general outcome measurement
• List the two types of General Outcome measurement
• Define the two types of General Outcome measurement

Planning for Assessment

Before a teacher begins to present instruction, she must create a plan to conduct proper assessment and evaluation activities. Assessment refers to collecting data (i.e., information), whereas evaluation refers to making a value judgment based on the data.

A teacher may decide to conduct assessment activities for a variety of purposes, including – but certainly not limited to – (a) making decisions regarding how to adjust her instruction either “in the moment” or from one lesson to the next, (b) measuring a student’s progress concerning academic achievement, and (c) assigning grades.

Monitoring Progress Versus Progress Monitoring

As a teacher presents instruction, she monitors her students’ progress in various ways, such as examining the time it takes them to make a response, the quality of their verbal responses, and the accuracy of the work put forth in their permanent products (e.g., their completion of worksheets). The teacher then uses this data to determine how to conduct her lessons. For example, she might decide that, during her lessons, she needs to double the amount of time she affords students to make a response.

Additionally, at regularly scheduled times using valid and reliable formal assessment procedures, a teacher will conduct what is known as progress monitoring. A progress monitoring activity is designed to produce data a teacher can use to determine whether a student has mastered one or more targeted learning outcomes and evaluate a student’s progress concerning how a student has been performing since the previous time progress monitoring occurred.

Formative and Summative Assessment

In general, how a teacher collects data, meaning how she conducts an assessment, is characterized in one of two ways. One way is formative assessment. The other way is summative.

A formative assessment involves frequently collecting data while instruction is presented to students. The information collected reflects several features of instruction, including the appropriateness of the teacher’s instructional strategy and curriculum materials, the manner of a student’s modes of responding, and the progress the student is making toward attaining the targeted learning outcome.

A summative assessment is a single evaluation administered after instruction to measure student learning outcomes. It is typically used for grading purposes (i.e., evaluation) rather than to inform instruction.

An analogy that is presented in the online, self-paced course titled “What is Progress Monitoring?” involves the role of formative and summative assessment in the scenario of a cook preparing and then serving a meal. As a cook prepares a meal, he conducts taste tests and adjusts the meal based on these taste tests. This is formative assessment. When he serves the meal to a customer who comments on it, the customer’s comments are a summative assessment. Similarly, as a teacher presents beginning reading instruction about letter sounds, and adjusts her instruction based on student performance data, this is formative assessment.  When she presents a one-minute oral reading test for progress monitoring, this is summative assessment.

Mastery Measurement and General Outcome Measurement

Previously, you were introduced to the topic of progress monitoring, which is an activity designed to produce data a teacher can use to determine whether a student has mastered one or more targeted learning outcomes, as well as evaluate a student’s progress concerning how a student was performing the previous time progress monitoring occurred. According to The IRIS Center (n.d.), “progress monitoring is a type of formative assessment in which student learning is evaluated regularly to provide useful feedback about performance to both learners and teachers. It consists of frequently administered, brief measures (sometimes called tests or probes). Although teachers score the tests to determine the extent of student progress, they do not use these scores to assign grades.” Another noteworthy point about progress monitoring is that there are two types: mastery measurement (MM) and general outcome measurement (GOM). Each is explained below.

Mastery Measurement

The IRIS Center (n.d.) stated that “mastery measurement allows the teacher to evaluate a student’s level of performance on one specific skill to help ensure mastery before moving to another.” Therefore, according to the Center, “mastery measurement is a valuable tool for evaluating a student’s understanding of, and proficiency in, a single target skill” (e.g., reading irregular high-frequency words or solving basic addition facts). More specifically, “mastery measurement

• allows the teacher to evaluate a student’s level of performance on one specific skill to help ensure mastery before moving to another, and
• enables the teacher to make instructional changes promptly when students are not mastering the target skill.”

General Outcome Measurement

The IRIS Center (n.d.) remarked that a “general outcome measurement is a means of evaluating and tracking student progress across the entire curriculum by administering frequent measures.” Furthermore, the center noted two general outcome measures: curricular sampling and performance indicator.

The IRIS Center stated, “With curricular sampling, every skill taught across the year is included on each measure. However, with a performance indicator, a student’s scores on the measure (e.g., word identification fluency, oral reading fluency, maze) are predictive of his overall performance in an area (e.g., reading).”

Finally, The IRIS Center (n.d.) noted that “both types of general outcome measures allow teachers to

• monitor student progress over time, and
• identify students who are not making adequate progress and promptly provide additional or alternative instruction.”

References

The IRIS Center. (n.d.). Progress monitoring: Mastery measurement vs. General outcome measurement [Information Brief]. https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/modules/pmm/pdf/IRIS_PM_InfoBrief_011420.pdf#content

No Cost Resources Pertaining to This Topic

Each item below is a no cost resource that presents information pertaining to some aspect of this chapter’s focus, which is assessment. To access a resource, use the link provided.

Progress Monitoring: Mastery Measurement vs. General Outcome Measurement This is an Information Brief from The IRIS Center. According to this brief, progress monitoring is a type of formative assessment in which student learning is evaluated on a regular basis to provide useful feedback about performance to both learners and teachers. There are two types of progress monitoring: mastery measurement (MM) and general outcome measurement (GOM), often referred to as curriculum-based measurement (CBM).

Monitoring Student Progress Toward Meeting IEP Goals This is an Information Brief from The IRIS Center. According to the brief, monitoring a student’s progress toward meeting her IEP goals is critical to determining whether the services and supports outlined in the IEP are providing her with educational benefit. Accordingly, the IDEA requires IEP teams to document how student progress will be measured.

Common Questions for Progress Monitoring This is an Information Brief from The IRIS Center that answers six questions about progress monitoring which, according to the Center, is a scientifically-based practice used to assess students’ academic performance and evaluate the effectiveness of instruction, and that can be implemented with individual students or an entire class. The six questions are as follows:

• What is progress monitoring?
• How does progress monitoring work?
• What are the benefits of progress monitoring?
• Who should be practicing progress monitoring?
• What challenges face progress monitoring?
• Are there other names for progress monitoring?

Progress Monitoring: Mathematics This online module which is available from The IRIS Center introduces users to progress monitoring in mathematics, a type of formative assessment in which student learning is evaluated to provide useful feedback about performance to both learners and teachers (Estimated completion time: 2 hours). Due to its relevance to another subject matter area, reading, it is important to highlight the following note from The IRIS Center: “Because the overall progress monitoring process is almost identical for any subject area, the content in this module is very similar to that covered in the module Progress Monitoring: Reading. The main difference is that this module highlights information related to progress monitoring for mathematics.”

Progress Monitoring: Reading This online module which is available from The IRIS Center introduces users to progress monitoring in reading, a type of formative assessment in which student learning is evaluated to provide useful feedback about performance to both learners and teachers (Estimated completion time: 2 hours). Due to its relevance to another subject matter area, mathematics, it is important to highlight the following note from The IRIS Center: “Because the overall progress monitoring process is almost identical for any subject area, the content in this module is very similar to that covered in the module Progress Monitoring: Mathematics. The main difference is that this module highlights information related to progress monitoring for reading.”