Figure 8.13. Key Points in Technical Quality of Assessments: Short-Cycle
Formative Assessment- Evidence gathered by the teacher is aligned to specific student learning goals
derived from standards - Evidence gathered is timely and contains information that can inform teaching
- Validity of formative assessment mainly lies in the use of evidence: information
gathered yields substantive insights to students’ current learning status that
will be used for pedagogical action in order to move students toward achieving
learning goals - Reliability pertains to gathering enough information (e.g., multiple sources)
about student learning in order to make a reasonable, accurate judgment for
subsequent instructional decisions - To ensure freedom from bias, evidence gathering is personalized to students so
all students have the opportunity to show where they are in their learning and
have the prospect of moving forward from their current learning status.
Conclusion
Skilled use of assessment tools and processes is critical for ensuring students’ achievement of the
CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy and the CA ELD Standards. Only when teachers and leaders have a range
of accurate information about student learning are they in a position to make decisions that advance
learning. Key to informing the decisions educators need to make is a balanced and comprehensive
system of assessment that provides different levels of detail for different decision-making purposes.
Within such an assessment system, districts and school personnel need to strike the right balance in
terms of the range of available assessments to teachers from the state or district, to those adopted by
individual schools, to assessments embedded in curriculum materials, to ongoing day-by-day formative
assessment practices that teachers engage in during instruction.
Assessment operates in the service of learning and involves careful consideration of the decisions
that teachers need to make, when during the school year they need to make them to ensure student
progress, and the assessment tools and processes they need to inform their decision-making. In
combination with the right assessments for the right purposes, teachers’ skillful use of assessment
to support learning is critical to ensure that students in California meet the ambitious language and
literacy standards that have been set forth.
872 | Chapter 8 Assessment